Hideo Tomita joined the Kenyon faculty in 1988. At Kenyon, he has taught all levels of Japanese as well as courses on linguistics and language acquisition, including "Introductory Japanese Linguistics" and "Issues in Second Language Learning." He has also taught Japanese during summer at various institutions such as Middlebury College and International Christian University in Tokyo.
Tomita specializes in Japanese linguistics and he has been developing Japanese grammar that adequately responds to the questions of students who study Japanese as a foreign language. In 2007, he published a book, "Essentials of Japanese Grammar for Teachers," from Kurosio Publishers, Tokyo. Tomita's current research interest is in a cross-linguistic study of propositional modality (i.e., roughly speaker's attitude toward his utterance). He focuses his language teaching on practice that enables students to discern the proper use of the language according to the context.
Areas of Expertise
Japanese linguistics (syntax, semantics, discourse analysis, pragmatics), communicative language teaching.
Education
1995 — Doctor of Philosophy from The Ohio State University
1988 — Master of Arts from The Ohio State University
1986 — Master of Arts from The Ohio State University
1975 — Bachelor of Arts from Keio University
Courses Recently Taught
JAPN 112Y
Intensive Introductory Modern Japanese
JAPN 112Y
This second half of a yearlong course is a continuation of JAPN 111Y. The second semester continues to introduce basic Modern Standard Japanese and provides students with language skills through intensive practice and with knowledge of various aspects of the Japanese culture. Students are expected to build a solid foundation in the Japanese grammar while developing communicative skills in Japanese. Students will also learn approximately 100 kanji. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Offered every spring.
JAPN 214Y
Intermediate Modern Japanese
JAPN 214Y
This second half of a yearlong course is a continuation of JAPN 213Y. The second semester continues to build a solid foundation in the Japanese language while developing communication skills in Japanese. By the end of the course, students will have learned all the basic grammar of Modern Standard Japanese and the cumulative total of 400 kanji. Coursework involves extensive assignments for speaking, listening, writing and reading, which will include materials about Japanese culture written in Japanese. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Offered every spring.
Academic & Scholarly Achievements
2007
Tomita (2007). Essentials of Japanese Grammar for Teachers. Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers.
2005
Tomita (2005). "JFL: Accommodating College Students' Intellectual Interests and Focusing the Use of Technology." In Kamada et al. (eds.) Recent Developments in Language Education: In Honor of Professor Seiichi Makino's 70th birthday, 223-241. Tokyo: Hitsuji Publishing.
2003
Tomita (2003) "An Integrated Approach to Advanced Level Japanese with Video Clips." Paper for CATJ (Central Association of Teachers of Japanese) 15th Annual Conference.
1998
Tomita (1998). "SPOT Test Result: The Case of Middlebury Summer Program." Tomita, H (ed.) Working Papers of the Japanese School vol.1,108-22. Middlebury Summer Japanese School.
1997
Tomita (1997) "An Analysis on Acquisition of the Japanese Particles WA and GA by L2 Japanese Learners--Difficulty Caused by Contrasting Cues." Japanese Language Education Around the Globe 7, 157-174. Japan Foundation.