Ph.D. (University of Tokyo)

English Linguistics (esp. cognitive semantics, pragmatics), Applied linguistics (English education, lexicography)

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7779-0085

My main research interest is in describing meanings of English expressions from the perspectives of semantics (esp. frame semantics) and pragmatics. Methodology includes quantitative corpus linguistic approach as well as qualitative and theoretical approach. I’m also keen on applying the results of linguistic research to dictionaries and textbooks, hoping to make contributions to English education in Japan.

My teaching responsibilities include academic English classes whose aim is to facilitate students’ productive and receptive English abilities and introductory classes on linguistics for School of Interdisciplinary Science and Innovation. In these classes, I try to take full advantage of ICT to make the courses more efficient and effective. I’m a writer and a member of the editorial committee on compiling learners’ dictionaries and textbooks, which is an attempt to apply my study results to practical publications.

My professional activities outside the university include making the results of KAKENHI projects public by giving presentations to general people including high school teachers and taking part in academic conferences as a staff or a committee.

Research Interests

• Lexical and Sentence Simplification for English Education
  keyword : simplification, paraphrase, NLP, CEFR, English
  2016.04.
• Interdisciplinary Text-mining
  keyword : Text-mining, natural language processing, interdisciplinary study
  2015.04.
• CEFR levels and linguistic features
  keyword : CEFR, text corpus, grammar, vocabulary analysis, criterial features
  2012.04.
• English lexicography from the perspective of linguistics
  keyword : lexicography, corpus, collocation, metaphor
  2007.04.
• Meanings of connectives
  keyword : connective, conjunction, frame semantics, FrameNet, Relevance theory
  2005.04.

Academic Activities Membership in Academic Society

• The English Linguistic Society of Japan
• KASELE
• JASELE
• The Japan Association of College English Teachers
• Iwasaki Linguistics Circle
• Japanese Cognitive Linguistics Association
• Japan Association for English Corpus Studies
• The Association for Natural Language Processing
• The Japanese Association of Sociolinguistic Sciences
• The Society of English Grammar and Usage

Awards

• Advanced Robotics Best Survey Paper Award

Educational Activities Other Educational Activities

• 2020.05, Together with a team of students from the ISI, we published a book titled "Word Quest" (Kyushu University Press). It is worth mentioning that the project-based learning, which is one of the ideals of the department, was carried out continuously for more than a year and resulted in the publication of a book. In addition, in collaboration with faculty members from different fields, we were able to create an English vocabulary book that covers the humanities and sciences. This book is now being used as a designated teaching material in the Intensive English classes. The Nishinippon Shimbun interviewed us and published an article about our achievement..

Professional and Outreach Activities