I commenced my teaching career in Tokyo at the secondary level after completing BA in English language and literature. Although I enjoyed teaching English to Junior High School students in those days, I always wished to pursue further studies related to language learning and teaching. When I immigrated to Australia in 1999, I decided to study MA in Applied Japanese Linguistics at Monash University.

While I was undertaking MA at Monash, I became interested in research topics, including language selection by learners as well as teachers. In particular, I became very interested in conducting research into language use and learning in Japanese language learners' social networks.

My MA research presented a case study of the social networks of four upper-intermediate level Japanese language learners studying at an Australian university. It examined the relationship between the learners' networks and second language acquisition in their home country. I expanded this earlier study into my PhD study. Through the use of ethnographic interviews with six learners of Japanese at an Australian university, as well as analysis of their natural interactions, this study focused on the major social factors affecting the construction of opportunities for these learners to use and learn Japanese. I qualified for the PhD in October 2008, graduating in March 2009.

I have worked as a Japanese language teacher at a TAFE and at Monash for over 10 years. At Monash, I have taught a variety of classes, including applied linguistics units. I have been a coordinator of beginning, intermediate and advanced level Japanese units. I enjoy preparing creative teaching materials and interacting with students in the classroom. I have been appointed to a continuing lectureship from the beginning of 2010.

My research interest includes teaching Japanese as a foreign language, language learners' motivation and identities, their second language use and learning outside classroom, heritage language education.  I have been recently involved with collaborative reserach projects with researchers in Japan and UK.  The topics of these projects include how immigrants’ language repertoire and their evaluation of this repertoire change over time.