Yasuko Kanno Bücher

Language and Education in Japan offers the first critical ethnography of bilingual education in Japan. Based on two-year fieldwork at five different schools, the book examines the role of schools in the unequal distribution of bilingualism as cultural capital. It argues that bilingual children of different socioeconomic classes are socialized into different futures and are given unequal access to bilingualism through schooling. While bilingualism is considered desirable for children of privilege, it is deemed a luxury that immigrant and refugee children cannot afford.

Focusing on the systemic undereducation of high school English learners, this book examines how high schools inadvertently restrict their postsecondary opportunities. Through a longitudinal ethnographic case study of a diverse Pennsylvania high school, it highlights the disconnect between available resources and the actual educational outcomes for English learners, revealing the complexities and challenges faced within the educational system.

This book provides an in-depth look into the systemic undereducation of high school English learners and the role of high schools in limiting ELs' postsecondary options, despite the availability of resources and the best of intentions, through a longitudinal ethnographic case study of a diverse high school in Pennsylvania.