Dr Masaki Shibata

• Biography/ Background

  Masaki Shibata was awarded his Ph.D at UNSW, Sydney. His doctoral thesis explores linguistic resources which Japanese speakers use to negotiate their arguments/propositions, drawing on the Systemic Functional Linguistics theory. Based on his analytical framework, he explores how Japanese speakers/writers negotiate their arguments in political and media discourse.

  He started his teaching career in tertiary education in 2014. He has coordinated and taught Japanese language at Georgia State University and Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. After moving to Australia for his doctoral study, he coordinated and taught intercultural communication and Japanese language at Macquarie University (2016-2018), Japanese language (beginner, intermediate, and advanced Japanese) at The University of Sydney (2018-2019). In 2020 he started his career at The University of Adelaide teaching Japanese language for beginner levels (Japanese 1A/Japanese 1B). He looks forward to supervising postgraduate students for linguistics studies (pragmatics/semiotics/critical discourse analysis). 

  His recent publication is on how whaling news has been presented in Japanese online news articles (2023). This study demonstrates how pro-whaling perspective is promoted by quoting pro-whaling voices and negatively evaluating anti-whaling voices. 

  Masaki also works on beach safety issues for migrants in Australia. His recent publication explores overseas-born beachgoers' perceptions of Australian beach safety signage (2023). This study demonstrates that many beachgoers including Australians are misunderstanding the safety message. For example, "swim between the flags" is understood as an area for only recreational swimming; thus, if they couldn't swim, they need to stay outside the flags. 

  This study has been reported by over 70 media outlets, and with this study he received  Executive Dean’s Merit for Excellence in Research Award in 2022 (Faculty of Arts, Business, Law, and Economy)

  Masaki is also a volunteer lifesaver at Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club, Sydney, and have extensive experience of teaching swimming in Japan, the U.S., and Australia for over 10 years. I am also an ocean swimming competitor.

• Qualifications

  
  Doctor of Philosophy in Arts and Media
  
  University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW. December 2018
  Thesis title: Exploring the resources of stance and dialogic positioning in Japanese
   
  Masters in Teaching English as a second language (TESOL) and Applied Linguistics 
  Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia, U.S.A. May 2013
  Thesis title: A Contrastive Systemic Functional Analysis of Causality in Japanese and English Academic Articles
  
   
  Bachelor of Arts in English and Secondary Education 
  Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka, Japan, March 2009
  Received the Japanese Secondary Education Licence (Subject: English)
  
  

• Research Interests

  He is interested in exploring linguistic differences in political and media discourse between different languages. He explores linguistic options for negotiation in Japanese drawing on the Appraisal Framework (Systemic Functional Linguistics) for his doctoral thesis.

  He has analysed how Japanese speakers use reported speech to enhance their own argument and suppress an opposing point of view. This study reveals differences in linguistic resources (lexico-grammatical resources) between Japanese and English languages.

  Previously, he has analysed the discourse of a Japanese politician who was called "Japanese Donald Trump" by the Japan Times (media organisation). He examined how the speaker deploys evaluative languages to demonstrate his power against other politicians.

  In addition to these studies, he has examined the use of reported speech in the political debate (i.e.who is cited by who and how they are cited). This study showed that the less popular the political party is, the more they cite professional voices (e.g. quoting a Supreme Court Judge).

  In addition to the political language, he has also examined the media representations of whaling in Japanese and Australian news articles. This study appears to show that both Japanese and Australian media use emotive and persuasive language for or against whaling. However, they use different linguistic resources to persuade their readers. 

  On top of his linguistic work, he is also a lifesaver at Tamarama beach and a competitive ocean swimmer. With his own experience of lifesaving and research expertise, he is currently exploring how beachgoers from different cultural backgrounds perceive the current existing beach safety signage in Australia. He is also investigating and developing effective ways of delivering beach safety knowledge to international students enrolled in Australian universities. 

• Publications

  ·         Shibata, M. (2023) "Dialogic Positioning on Pro-Whaling Stance: A Case Study of Reported Speech in Japanese Whaling News". Japanese Studies. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10371397.2023.2191839

  ·         Shibata, M. (2022) "Exploring International Beachgoers' Perceptions of Safety Signage on Australian Beaches". Safety Science 158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105966

  ·         Shibata, M. (2021) "Reported Speech as Persuasion: A Discourse Analysis of Japanese Journalism". Japanese Studies.41 (2), 221-239. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10371397.2021.1947788

  ·         Shibata, M. (2020) “Why do politicians cite others in political debates?: A Functional analysis of reported speech in a Japanese political debate”. Journal of Language and Politics 19 (4), 604-623. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19061.shi

  ·         Shibata, M. (2018) Why is Toru Hashimoto called “a Japanese version of Trump” or “Hitler”? : Linguistic examination of the Hashimoto’s attack on his opponents, Japanese Journal of Political Science 19 (1), 23-40.

  ·         Shibata, M. (2017). Hashimoto Toru no Tooron ni okeru negoshieeshon: Naze kare wa “Hitler” “Donald Trump” nado to yobareru no ka, Kotoba to Moji (7), 25-35

Entry last updated: Monday, 1 May 2023

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