Rate My Professor Akiko Meguro

Akiko Meguro serves as Senior Lecturer of Japanese Language in the Department of East Asian Studies at Dickinson College, a position she has held since 2003. She also acts as the coordinator for the college's study abroad programs in Japan. Meguro earned a B.A. from Tohoku University in 1994 and an M.A. in 1996. She specializes in Japanese language pedagogy and Japanese Applied Linguistics. Her research interests encompass interlanguage pragmatics, particularly Japanese refusals, and the application of cutting-edge technology in Japanese language education. In her courses, such as JPNS 101 and 102 Elementary Japanese, she establishes foundational skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, accompanied by an introduction to Japanese culture. Advanced courses JPNS 231 and 232 focus on enhancing fluency through composition, oral presentations, and discussions.

Meguro integrates innovative practices into her teaching, including regular language exchanges with native Japanese speakers via Skype and social networking platforms like mixi. She has created multimedia resources for Japanese learning, such as the welovejapanese.com website. Her pedagogical developments have earned recognition through Dickinson College Non-Travel Awards, including funding in 2004-2005 for creating listening comprehension exercises using TV video clips and support for workshops on developing effective online Japanese courses. Notable publications include her 2001 article "ビデオクリップを活用したオンライン教材開発の試み" in The Journal of Japanese Language Education Methods. Collaborating with Todd Bryant, she co-authored "Finding Language Partners in Unexpected Places: Skype and Social Networking for USA-Japan Telecollaboration" in Telecollaboration 2.0 (2010) and "AI Chatbots for Beginning Language Learners" (2025). Meguro has contributed to initiatives like a ChatGPT-based chatbot for first-year Japanese classes and the "Konnichiwa, Chatbot!" project for fast-track language learning. As an academic technology fellow, she advances technology-enhanced language instruction at Dickinson College.