Dr. Priya Ananth is a Professor of Japanese in the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at MTSU. She holds a B.S. from the University of Delhi, an M.A. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Literatures from Ohio State University. She came to MTSU in 2008. She has taught all levels of Japanese language courses, in addition to creating and teaching courses in professional Japanese, Japanese and foreign language linguistics, and Japanese culture, and leading study abroad to Japan. As program coordinator, she has been instrumental in developing the Japanese program curriculum through creating a Japanese major concentration as well as a Japanese language minor. She received the Outstanding Advisor Award from the College of Liberal Arts in 2012.

Priya's scholarly work encompasses areas that are both disciplinary and interdisciplinary. Her works have appeared in peer-reviewed publications such as the Journal of Japanese Linguistics; Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition Journal; Journal of the Canadian Association of Japanese Language Education; Kyoto University Linguistic Research Journal; Practical Assessment Tools for College Japanese; and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology. She has published two co-edited monographs recently: Incorporating Foreign Language Content in Humanities Courses, published by Routledge Press in 2019, and Intercultural Engagement through Short-term Faculty-led Study Abroad: A Practitioner’s Guide with Multidisciplinary Perspectives from a Public University, published by MT Open Press in 2023. She also has presented at numerous conferences at the national, regional, and state levels.

Priya has chaired the Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award Committee, a national committee administered by the Association of Asian Studies that recognizes excellence in Japanese language teaching. She was conference chair for the 2017 Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese annual conference hosted at MTSU for which she received a national grant from the Japan Foundation. Additionally, she served on the steering committee for the Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest for 12 years and received several national grants and corporate sponsorships for its organization over the years. She was recognized by the Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese as the 2019 SEATJ Teacher of the Year for her outstanding teaching and leadership in the field of Japanese language education. 

« Read Less

Books / Edited Books / Monographs

• Intercultural Engagement through Short-term Faculty-led Study Abroad: A Practitioner’s Guide with Multidisciplinary Perspectives from a Public University (co-editor with Seok Jeng Jane Lim). MT Open Press, Middle Tennessee State University. 2023. Link Here. 
• Incorporating Foreign Language Content in Humanities Courses. (co-editor with Leah Tolbert Lyons). London: Routledge. 2019. Link Here
• Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese Conference. (editor). Middle Tennessee State University. 2017. Link Here
• Acquisition of Tense and Aspect in toki ‘when’ Clauses in Japanese as a Second/Foreign Language, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio [Ph.D. Dissertation]. 2007. Link Here

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• Creating Intercultural Learning Opportunities in a Study Abroad Japanese Culture Course. Intercultural Engagement through Short-term Faculty-led Study Abroad: A Practitioner’s Guide with Multidisciplinary Perspectives from a Public University. Priya Ananth and Jane Seok Jeng Lim (eds.), pp. 77-94. MT Open Press, Middle Tennessee State University. 2023. Link Here
• Intercultural Competence and Theoretical Framework (with Jason Lee Pettigrew). Intercultural Engagement through Short-term Faculty-led Study Abroad: A Practitioner’s Guide with Multidisciplinary Perspectives from a Public University. Priya Ananth and Jane Seok Jeng Lim (eds.), pp. 29-52. MT Open Press, Middle Tennessee State University. 2023. Link Here
• Learnability Issues in L2 Japanese: Prosody and Ambiguity Resolution (with M. Kamiya), Journal of Japanese Linguistics. Vol. 36 (1), pp. 3-28. De Gruyter Mouton Publishing. 2020.
• Japanese and English in Contact: Linguistic and Cultural Perspectives. Incorporating Foreign Language Content in Humanities Courses. Priya Ananth and Leah Tolbert Lyons (eds.), pp. 63-76. London: Routledge. 2019.
• Teaching Students to Speak Fluent Research (with T.M. Brinthaupt), Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 258-270. American Psychological Association. 2018.
• Effect of Prosody on Disambiguation: A Case of Universal Quantifier and Negation (with M. Kamiya), Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition Journal, Issue 1, pp. 97-123. Poland: University of Silesia Press. 2015.
• Assessing Written Skills in Research Paper Projects. Practical Assessment Tools for College Japanese. Kondo-Brown, K., Brown, J.D., Tominaga, W. (eds.), pp. 39-44. Honolulu: National Foreign Language Resource Center. 2013.
• Time Matters in Japanese Teaching Materials, The Journal of Canadian Association of Japanese Language Education (The Journal CAJLE), Vol. 13, pp. 84-114. Toronto, Canada. 2012.   
• Form-Meaning Associations in Japanese – Analysis of Native and Non-Native Corpus Data, Kyoto University Linguistic Research Journal (KULR), Vol. 30, pp. 1-33. Kyoto University Press. 2011.
• Japanese Temporal Connectives - tara, tokoro, toki - A Pragmatic Analysis, Kyoto University Linguistic Research Journal (KULR), Vol. 26, pp. 1-39. Kyoto University Press. 2006.  

 Articles in Conference Proceedings

• Role of Tense, Aspect, and Modality in Japanese Subjunctive Constructions. Buckeye East Asia: Occasional Papers, Vol. 1, pp. 1-12. The Ohio State University, Ohio. 2022. Link Here
• A Corpus Data Analysis of the Subjunctive Use of -teiru and -teita in Native Japanese Spoken Discourse. Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), pp. 233-250. University of Memphis, Tennessee. 2020.
• Aspectual Contrast between -ta and -teita in Japanese Subjunctive Expressions. Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), pp. 7-18. Wake Forest University, North Carolina. 2019.
• Summative Assessment for Group Projects. Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), pp. 3-16. College of Charleston, South Carolina. 2013.
• A Need for a Needs Analysis. Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), pp. 130-139, Clemson University, South Carolina. 2012.
• Teaching Verbal Morphology in a Japanese Classroom: Learning from the Corpus Data Analysis of Native Speakers. Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), pp. 1-11. Wake Forest University, North Carolina. 2009.
• Search for a Basic Unit of Analysis in East Asian Language Pedagogy. Proceedings of the 16th Central Association of Teachers of Japanese (CATJ), pp. 50-60. Purdue University, Indiana. 2004.  

Published Book Reviews

• Manga Vision: Cultural and Communicative Perspectives, in Japanese Language and Literature, Vol. 51 (1), pp. 173-180. American Association of Teachers of Japanese. 2017.
• Modern Japanese Grammar: A Practical Guide and Workbook, in Journal of Japanese Linguistics, Vol. 31, pp. 105-108. De Gruyter Mouton Publishing. 2015.  

Other Published Works

• Japanese: The Spoken Language Parts 2 and 3, Interactive DVD Program, by Mari Noda and Masayuki Itomitsu. Contributed to editing, archiving, performance and quality assurance. Macromedia Incorporated, Yale University Press. 2008.
• Wagashi no Sekai (World of Japanese Confections). The Japanese Language and Culture Research Journal, pp. 199-226. Nagoya University Press. 1996.

« Read Less

National and International Conference Presentations

• Intercultural Competencies across Disciplines in Study Abroad Programs, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, Washington D.C., May 30-June 2, 2023.
• Tense and Modality Relationships in Japanese Counterfactuals, The American Council for Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL), Washington D.C., November 22-24, 2019.
• Structural Ambiguity Resolution in L2 Japanese, The American Council for Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL), New Orleans, LA, November 16-18, 2018.
• Teaching Humanities Courses with Foreign Language Content, The American Council for Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL), San Diego, CA, November 20-22, 2015.
• A Business Japanese Course for Intermediate Levels, The American Council for Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL), Philadelphia, November 16-18, 2012.
• Thematic-unit Based Approach to Teaching Business Japanese, The Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ), Honolulu, HI, April 2, 2011.
• Teaching Business Japanese to College Students in the United States, The American Council for Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL), San Diego, November 19-22, 2009. 
• New Paradigm in Japanese Verbal Classification: Blending Semantics and Morphology, The National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL), Madison, WI, April 23-26, 2009.  
• Form-Meaning Associations in Japanese: Analysis of Native and Non-Native Corpus Data, The Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ), Chicago, March 26, 2009.  
• Form-Meaning Association in toki ‘when’ Clauses in Japanese – A Corpus Analysis of Native Speakers’ Data, The Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Atlanta, April 2-6, 2008.
• Acquisition of Aspect in toki ‘when’ Clauses in Japanese, The Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Boston, March 22-25, 2007.
• Time Matters: How to introduce Tense and Aspect in a Japanese Language Classroom? The Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ), Boston, March 22, 2007.  
• Presentation of Time Expressions in Japanese Language Teaching Materials, Center for Language Studies International Conference (CLaSIC 2006), National University of Singapore, December 7-9, 2006.
• Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition, Kin 3 Round Table Meetings (Research Forum), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, November 11, 2004.  

Regional Conference Presentations

• Comprehension and Production of Subjunctive Expressions by Second Language Learners, The Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (KFLC), University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, April 18-20, 2024.
• A Corpus Data Analysis of the Subjunctive Use of -teiru and -teita in Native Japanese Spoken Discourse, The Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, February 22, 2020.  
• Foreign Languages and Humanities Curriculum, Round Table Discussion, South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA 91), Atlanta, GA, November 15-17, 2019.
• Aspectual Contrast Between -ta and -teita in Japanese Subjunctive Constructions, The Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, March 2, 2019.  
• Scope Ambiguity Resolution in L2 Japanese, The Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, February 10, 2018.
• Teaching Language Contact Process: A Case of Japanese and English, The Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC, February 19, 2016.
• Effect of Prosody on Disambiguation in L2 Japanese: A Case of Universal Quantifier and Negation, The Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), Chapel Hill, NC, March 7-8, 2015.
• Summative Assessment for Group Projects, The Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), Charleston, SC, March 9-10, 2013.
• A Need for a Needs Analysis, The Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), Clemson, SC, February 25-26, 2012.
• Teaching Verbal Morphology in a Japanese Classroom -Learning from the Corpus Data Analysis of Native Speakers, The Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ), Winston-Salem, NC, March 21-22, 2009.  
• Inherent Aspect in toki ‘when’ Clauses in Japanese as a Second Language, The Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA), The University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, October 20-22, 2006.
• Role of ‘Performance-based’ Input in a Foreign Language Environment, Southwest Conference on Asian Affairs (SWCAS), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, September 29-30, 2006.
• Search for a Basic Unit of Analysis in East Asian Language Pedagogy, The 16th Central Association of Teachers of Japanese (CATJ) Conference, Purdue University, La Fayette, April 3-4, 2004.

State-level Conference Presentations

• Teaching Students to Speak Fluent Research, Ninth Annual Conference of the Psychology Educators of Tennessee (PET), Cumberland University, Lebanon, TN, October 13, 2018.
• Designing Instructional Web sites, with Mark Bender, Technology across Humanities Curriculum Conference, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, October 16, 1999.

Invited Lectures

• Kaigai ni okeru Nihongo kyōiku -‘pahōmansu’ wo tōshita gakushū (Japanese Language Education Overseas – Learning through ‘Performance’), Kyoto International Cultural Association, Inc, Invited Lecture Series, Kyoto, Japan, November 5, 2005.
• Daini gengo de aru nihongo no ‘toki’ jūzokusetsu no tensu-asupekuto no shūtoku ni tsuite (Acquisition of Tense-Aspect in toki ‘when’ Subordinate Clauses in Japanese as a Second Language), Japan Foundation Fellows Seminar, Kyoto, Japan, September 30, 2005.

« Read Less

Recent Grants

• Digital Seed Grant ($2000), James E Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University, (for faculty-led programs book project), 2022-2023.
• OIA Internal Funding ($2800), Office of International Affairs, Middle Tennessee State University, (for faculty-led programs book project), 2022-2023. 

National Grants

• Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Learners Event Grant, $1000, 2019 (Link Here) 
• Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Education Project Grant, $3500, 2016-2017 (Link Here)
• National Foreign Language Research Center (NFLRC) Summer Institute Grant, University of Hawaii, 2012
• Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Learners Event Grant, $600, 2011
• Fulbright-Hayes Group Project Grant, Teacher Training Program, Saitama, Japan, 2010
• Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Learners Event Grant, $600, 2010

Corporate Sponsorships

• Event Sponsorship, Nissan North America, 12th Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest, $2500, 2019
• Event Sponsorship, Nissan North America, 11th Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest, $2500, 2018

National Fellowships

• Japan Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Kyoto University, 2004-2005
• Okita Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Japanese Studies, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Government of India, 1997-1999
• Japanese Government (Monbusho) Scholarship in Japanese Studies, Nagoya University, 1995-1996

Teaching Awards

• SEATJ Teacher of the Year Award, The Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese, 2019
• Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award, Excellence in Japanese Language Teaching, Northeast Council of Association for Asian Studies, 2007

Mentoring Award

• Outstanding Advisor Award, College of Liberal Arts, Middle Tennessee State University, 2012

Service Award

• SEATJ Service Appreciation Award, The Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese, 2018

Best Graduate Student Award

• Tanakadate Award, Best Graduate Student of Japanese, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University, 2007

« Read Less

2019  

• 2019 President’s Newsletter (p. 15) Link Here   
• 2019 SEATJ Teacher of the Year Award Link Here  
• 2019 Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest Link Here
• 2019 JET Program Link Here    

2018  

• 2018 Humanities Magazine “Learning Beyond the Classroom” (pp. 20-22) Link Here  

2017

• 2017 AATJ Newsletter (pp. 1, 10, 12) Link Here

2015-2009  

• 2015 Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest Link Here
• 2013 Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest Link Here
• 2013 Japanese Film Week Link Here
• 2012 Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest Link 1 Here  Link 2 Here (p.10)
• 2011 Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest Link Here
• 2011 Genki for Japan Charitable Drive Link 1 Here Link 2 Here  Link 3 Here
• 2010 Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest Link 1 Here  Link 2 Here
• 2009 Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest Link Here (p.2)

« Read Less

Current and Recently Taught Courses

• JAPN 3030: Advanced Japanese III 
• JAPN 4040: Advanced Japanese in Cultural Contexts I
• JAPN 4050: Advanced Japanese in Cultural Contexts II
• JAPN 4020: Modern Japanese Literature: Literary Selections from the Meiji Period
• JAPN 3015: Professional Japanese I 
• JAPN 3035: Professional Japanese II
• JAPN 3570: Introduction to Japanese Linguistics 
• JAPN 4570: Topics in Japanese Linguistics
• JAPN 4010: Topics in Japanese Language and Culture: Understanding the Japanese Mind
• JAPN 3900: Japan Study Abroad: Traditional and Popular Culture of Japan
• JAPN 4900: Directed Readings in Japanese (Independent Study)
• HUM 3000: Topics in Foreign Language Linguistics: Japanese and English in Contact
• JAPN 4015: Special Topics in Advanced Japanese Language and Culture

Previously Taught Courses

• JAPN 1010: Elementary Japanese I
• JAPN 1020: Elementary Japanese II
• JAPN 2010: Intermediate Japanese I
• JAPN 2020: Intermediate Japanese II
• JAPN 3010: Advanced Japanese I 
• JAPN 3020: Advanced Japanese II 
• JAPN 1000: Introduction to Japanese Language and Culture (EXL)

« Read Less