Episode 63 dives into the topic of pop-culture as a motivator for a language acquisition. Pop-culture is a necessary and fairly important part of any language-learning journey. In this episode we explore two global and yet so different languages – Japanese and English. Together with the guests, Valeria Ohata and Paul Rüsse, we will prove you that watching anime or Marvel movies is not procrastination, but in fact, is a pop-culture fueled language learning!

Bibliography:

Liu, Y., & Lin, A. M. (2017). Popular culture and teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). Language, education and technology, 1(1), 87-101.

Chen, Y. C., & Chen, P. C. (2009). The effect of English popular songs on learning motivation and learning performance. WHAMPOA-An Interdisciplinary Journal, 56, 13-28.

Rets, I. (2016). Teachers’ Perceptions on Using Popular Culture when Teaching and Learning English. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 232, 154-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.10.040 

Nye, J. S. (2021). Soft power: the evolution of a concept. Journal of Political Power, 14(1), 196–208. https://doi-org.ezproxy.tlu.ee/10.1080/2158379X.2021.1879572

Shintaku, K. (2022). Self‐directed learning with anime: A case of Japanese language and culture. Foreign Language Annals, 55(1), 283-308.