Chikako Takahashi

Lecturer in Japanese

Office: 520 Kent Hall
Office Hours: MW 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Phone: (212) 854-5502
Email: ct2423@columbia.edu

Educational Background

Classes Taught

Research Interests

Second Language Phonetics Learning
Pronunciation in Second Language Instruction
Japanese Information Structure

Chikako Takahashi holds a PhD in Linguistics from Stony Brook University. Her research focuses on how speakers’ pronunciation and perception of their first and second (or third) languages are influenced by their language learning experience. Prior to coming to Columbia, she has taught Japanese courses at Japan Society and Linguistic courses such as Phonetics and Phonology, Sociolinguistics, and Second Language Acquisition at the undergraduate and graduate levels at various institutions.

Publications

Journal Publications (Peer-reviewed) 

Hwang, J., Takahashi, C., Baek, H. Baek, Yeung, A. HL., and E. Broselow (2022). Do L1 tone language speakers enjoy a perceptual advantage in processing English contrastive prosody?   Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.

Takahashi, C. (2019). No transposition in Harmonic Serialism, Phonology, 36, 4.

Takahashi, C. (2012). Impact of Dictionary Use Skills Instructions on Second Language Writing, Working Papers in TESOL and Applied Linguistics, Teachers College, Columbia University, 12 (2).

Proceedings Papers

Yeung, A., Baek, H., Takahashi, C., Buttner, S., Hwang, J., and E. Broselow (2020). Too little, too late: A longitudinal study of English corrective focus by Mandarin speakers. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, 5(1). 270-281.

Yeung, A., Baek, H., Takahashi, C., Duncan, J., Benedett, S., Hwang, J., and E. Broselow, (2019). Pitch range, intensity, and vocal fry in non-native and native English focus intonation. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, 36, Acoustic Society of Americ

Takahashi, C. (2018). No Metathesis in Harmonic Serialism. In Gallagher, G., Gouskova, M., and S. Yin, (eds.), Supplemental proceedings of the 2017 Annual Meeting on Phonology. Washington, DC: Linguistic Society of America. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/amp.v5i0.4232.

Takahashi, C., Kao, S., Baek, H., Yeung, A. HL., Hwang, J., and E. Broselow, (2018). Native and non- native speaker processing and production of contrastive focus prosody. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America (Vol. 3)

Takahashi, C. (2017). Information Structure of Japanese Ditransitives. In Funakoshi, K., S. Kawahara, and C. Tancredi, (eds.), Japanese/Korean Linguistics, 24, Stanford; CSLI Publications

Kao, S., Hwang, J., Baek, H., Takahashi, C., and E. Broselow, (2016). International teaching assistants’ production of focus intonation. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, 26, Acoustic Society of America

Recent Presentations

Chikako Takahashi, Effect of second language learning factors on first language phonetic change. American Association for Applied Linguistics 2022 Conference, March 19-22, 2022 (Poster Presentation)

Chikako Takahashi, L1 vowel perceptual drift as a result of L2 vowel learning: L1 Japanese -L2 English bilinguals’ perception of high front vowels. The 96th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Jan. 6-9, 2022, Washington, DC.

Keiko Okamoto

Lecturer in Japanese

Office: 516 Kent Hall
Office Hours: MW 3:10-4:10
Phone: (212) 854-5502
Email: ko47@columbia.edu

Educational Background

MA: Japanese Pedagogy, Columbia University
BA: Linguistics, International Christian University

Classes Taught

JPNS UN1101 First Year Japanese I
JPNS UN1102 First Year Japanese II
JPNS UN3005 Third Year Japanese I
JPNS UN3006 Third Year Japanese II

Research Interests

Japanese Reading
Japanese Phonetics

Keiko Okamoto has many years of experience teaching Japanese. She has taught at Columbia University, Princeton University, NYU, Spence School, and has been a Senior Instructor at the Japan Society, among other locations. She received her BA in Linguistics at International Christian University (Tokyo), where she minored in Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language. At Columbia University, Ms. Okamoto has taught a wide range of Japanese levels, ranging from beginner to early-advanced.

Publications

“Systematic Long-Term Approach to Improving Reading-Aloud Skills” (Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the JLTANE, 2014; co-author)
“Listen to the Voice! Express the Voice!” (The 20th Princeton Pedagogy Forum Proceedings, 2013; co-author)
“Reading HIYAKU: Using Courseworks/Wikispaces” (Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the JLTANE, 2012; co-author)
“Exploration through “Hiyaku”: Considering Authenticity of Context”(The 18th Princeton Pedagogy Forum Proceedings, 2011; co-author)
Hiyaku: An Intermediate Japanese Course (Routledge, 2011; co-authors: Shigeru Eguchi, Miharu Nittono, Fumiko Nazikian, Jisuk Park)

Miharu Nittono

Senior Lecturer in Japanese

Office: 520 Kent Hall
Office Hours: TR 4:00-5:00
Teaching Hours: MW 11:40-12:55, MTWR 1:10-2:15
Phone: (212)854-5500
Email: mn70@columbia.edu

Educational Background

EdD: Teachers College, Columbia University
MA: TESOL at Teachers College, Columbia University
MA: Waseda University

Classes Taught

JPNS UN2201 Second Year Japanese I
JPNS UN2202 Second Year Japanese II
JPNS GU4516 Fifth Year Japanese I
JPNS GU4517 Fifth Year Japanese II

Research Interests

Japanese Linguistics
Japanese “Hedging”

Miharu Nittono is a senior instructor of Japanese at Columbia University, where she has taught all levels of Japanese. She also has experience teaching intensive summer courses in Japanese, including “Japanese Language and Culture” at Sophia University in Tokyo as an invited professor. She has also served as the Administrative Director of the MA Program in Japanese Pedagogy at Columbia University.

Publications

Hiyaku: An Intermediate Japanese Course (Routledge, 2011; co-authors: Shigeru Eguchi, Fumiko Nazikian, Keiko Okamoto, Jisuk Park)
“Follow the Old Ways: A New Approach to Kanji Learning” (The Seventeenth Princeton Japanese Pedagogy Forum Proceedings, 2010)
“We’re doing traditional rakugo!: Striving towards acquiring the ‘five’ skills through performing rakugo” (The Sixteenth Princeton Japanese Pedagogy Forum Proceedings, 2009)
“Show & Short: A Journey through 10 Years of Student-Written Short Stories” (The 20th Annual Conference of the Central Association of Teachers of Japanese (CATJ20), 2008)
“Contrasting Group Size and Hedge Use” (The Fifteenth Princeton Japanese Pedagogy Forum Proceedings, 2008)
“Avoidance and Appeal: A Two-Fold Motivation for Japanese Hedging Use” (Sophia International Review, 2007)
“Hedging at Work: How Occupations Affect the Use of Hedging in Japanese Interactions during Non-Work Conversations” (The Fourteenth Princeton Japanese Pedagogy Forum Proceedings, 2007)
“Two-Fold Conversation Management Function of Japanese Hedging: Speaker-Centered and Listener-Centered” (Humanities Conference 2004 Proceedings, 2006)
“The Golden Mean: Japanese Speakers’ Use of ‘Downtoners’” (Hawaii International Conference on Arts and HumanitiesProceedings, 2005)
“Japanese Hedging in Friend-Friend Discourse” (Teachers College, Columbia University, 2003)