日本語を学ぶ韓国人ろう者のライフストーリー ― 複線径路等至性モデル(TEM)を用いて ―

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the life story of a deaf Korean person by using the Trajectory Equifinality Approach (TEM) and explore if there exists the potential for contributing to the Deaf minority through Japanese education as a foreign language. TEM is a methodology from the perspective of cultural psychology for describing life within irreversible time in an individual’s life course and aims to describe the transaction between human and environment. Moreover, rather than focusing on the structure of the story, TEM focuses on the process. In this research, three semi-structured interviews were held. The interviewee is a deaf Korean man in his twenties. His story was reconstituted by a time series and analyzed by TEM in four phases. The analysis by TEM showed that transferring to a school for the Deaf was a Bifurcation Point (BFP1) for acquiring KSL for L1, and attending an alternative school for the Deaf was a BFP2 for acquiring Korean for L2. By acquiring L1 and L2, he became motivated to learn and read books, and they became Obligatory Passage Points (OPP) which led to the Equifinality Point (EFP): he started studying Japanese. Furthermore, the free time gained by quitting his job and starting to teach KSL to deaf Japanese people has become two BFPs which leads to the second EFP: he continuously contacts people overseas. For deaf people, it is not easy to study a foreign language, but this analysis shows the potential to broaden their own world. The reason he could broaden his own world is that he could easily access a Japanese class in a church for the Deaf or a Japanese teacher. Thus, Japanese education can contribute by improving accessibility for minorities, such as Deaf people, by providing them with the opportunity to study Japanese.