Dr. Kaoru Ochiai is a Croft Instructional Associate Professor of Japanese in the Department of Modern Languages and the Croft Institute for International Studies at the University of Mississippi. She is the Director of the Japanese program.
Research Interests
Dr. Ochiai's research interests include:
- Sociolinguistics
- Pragmatics
- Methodological Study
- Japanese Intonation and Accent
Biography
Dr. Kaoru Ochiai earned her B.A. in English language and literature from Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo in 1999, and her M.A. in 2002 and Ph.D. in 2008 in Teaching English as a Second Language from The University of Mississippi. Her professional interests include pronunciation pedagogy, teaching methodologies, and comparative cultural studies of the United States and Japan. Dr. Ochiai teaches courses from elementary to advanced Japanese courses including Business Japanese.
Dr. Ochiai has been President of the South Central Association of Teachers of Japanese (SCATJ) since 2014 and is a member of the Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ).
Publications
Articles:
Kaoru Ochiai. (2024). The Effects of Self-Directed Perception Training on Japanese Noun Accent by American Learners of Japanese. JALT Journal, 46(2), 169-196.
Kaoru Ochiai. (2008). Impression Management by American Learners of Japanese: Does the level of self-enhancement cause mis-presentation of ‘self’? Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Mississippi. (Publication number AAT3361194).
Kaoru Ochiai. (2003). “Different Perceptions of Politeness and Use of Language in Making Requests between Japanese and Americans.” Mississippi Language Crusader. Vol. 41, 12-26.
Presentations and Workshops:
Schaefer, V., Warhol, T., & Ochiai, K. (2022, November). Using subtitled/dubbed dialogues to expand the JFL linguistic repertoire. Talk presented at American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual (hybrid) Convention and World Languages Expo, Boston, MA.
Vance Schaefer, V., Warhol, T., Ochiai, K., and Sedeek, Y. (2022, April). A pragmatics-focused task-based approach for developing a linguistic repertoire and codeswitching /styleshifting in L2 Arabic or Japanese to enhance communicative competence. Presented at 2022 National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) Virtual Conference.
Schaefer, V., & Ochiai, K. (2022, March). Using haiku to teach mora timing and special moras in Japanese as a second language. Presented at the American Association of Teachers of Japanese Annual Spring Conference (AATJ) Conference in Association of Asian Studies (AAS) (Virtual with synchronous interaction).
Schaefer, V., & Ochiai, K. (2021, June). Haiku as mini Japanese pronunciation lessons. Teaching tip presented at the 2021 Pronunciation Second Language Learning and Teaching (PSLLT) Conference, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada (Virtual with synchronous interaction).
Courses Taught
- Japn 101 and 103 Elementary Japanese I and Practical Review
- Japn 102, 104 Elementary Japanese II and Practical Review
- Japn 201, 203 Intermediate Japanese I and Review
- Japn 202 and 204 Intermediate Japanese II and Review
- Japn 301 Conversation and Composition I
- Japn 302 Conversation and Composition II
- Japn 401 Advanced Japanese I
- Japn 402 Advanced Japanese II
- Japn 501 Contemporary Japanese
Education
Associate Hospitality and Tourism Management, Mt Hood Community College (1994)
B.A. English, Aoyama Gakuin (1999)
M.A. Curriculum and Instruction, The University of Mississippi (2002)
Ph.D. Education, The University of Mississippi (2008)