Michiko Yoshida      YoshidaUTD@gmail.com　　

 

Education

             ·            Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas at Dallas, TX, USA. 2007

             ·            Ph.D. in Japanese Linguistics coursework completed, Japan Women’s University, Tokyo, Japan.    1995

             ·            M.A. in Japanese Linguistics, Japan Women’s University, Tokyo, Japan.   1992

             ·            B.A. in Japanese Linguistics, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan.  1990

 

Selected Research Publications (Michiko Nakakita Yoshida) 

Doctoral Dissertation:

             ·            Yoshida, M. (2007). Children’s use of prosodic information to understand and produce phrasal distinctions in American English. University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA.

Data: A set of speech perception and production data from children (5- and 7-year-old) and adults, with the interests in the roles of pitch and durational pattern (syllable and pause) to disambiguate sunflower, pot and sun, flowerpot.

Methods: Information-integration theoretical approach, re-synthesized speech, mathematical modeling, acoustic analyses, and within-subject perception-production data set.

Main Findings:

(1) Cue-trading between pitch and durational cues by child listeners as well as adults.

(2) A developmental cue weighting shift with increasing pitch effect on perception.

(3) Acoustic evidence for previously underestimated child talkers’ prosodic disambiguation of own utterances.

(4) Similar patterns of age-related changes in perception and production. 

 

Refereed Journal Articles:

           ·          Kubota, R., Gardner, K., Patten, M., Thatcher-Fettig, C., & Yoshida, M. (2000). Mainstream Peers Try on English Language Learners' Shoes: A Shock Language Experience. TESOL Journal, 9(4), 12-16.

           ·          Nakakita, M. (2000). Use of daro and desho in discourse. Nihongo Kyouiku (Journal of Japanese Language Teaching), 107, 26-35.

           ·          Nakakita, M. (1996). Semantic constraints in the interpretability of “resultative adverbial phrases." Nihongo Kyouiku (Journal of Japanese Language Teaching), 89, 123-132.

 

Refereed Conference Presentations:

           ·          Yoshida, M., Katz, W. F., Henley, S. S., & Golden, R. M. (2007, July). Modeling children’s and adults’ prosodic-cue perception for compound word ambiguity resolution. Poster presented at the 40^th annual meeting of the Society for Mathematical Psychology, Irvine, CA.

           ·          Marchman, V. A., Xuan, L., & Yoshida. M. (2005, April). Vocabulary composition mirrors monolingual patterns in bilingual children: A study of English- and Mandarin-learning toddlers. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.

           ·          Marchman, V. A., Xuan, L., & Yoshida. M. (2005, April). The validity of parent report measures of vocabulary in Mandarin- and English-speaking toddlers living in the US. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.

           ·          Kubota, R., Gardner, K., Patten, M., Thatcher-Fettig, C., & Yoshida, M. (2000, March). Mainstream peers try on English language learners' shoes. Oral presentation at the 34^th annual convention and exposition of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL 2000), Vancouver, BC, Canada.

 

Conference Presentation Abstracts:

           ·          Yoshida, M. & Katz, W. F. (2006). Children’s production of prosody: Disambiguating sets of compound nouns. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 119, 3421. (Abstract for a poster presented at the 151^st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America).

           ·          Yoshida, M. & Katz, W. F. (2004). Children’s use of prosody to identify ambiguous sets of compound nouns. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 116, 645. (Abstract for a poster presented at the 148^th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America).

 

Other Journals:

Department of Japanese, Japan Women’s University, Tokyo, Japan.

           ·            Nakakita, M. (1995). Resultative adverb phrase: Manner and degree. Kokubun Mejiro, 34, 67-75.

Department of Japanese, Japan Women’s University, Tokyo, Japan.

           ·            Nakakita, M. (1993). Compound of adjective and light verb suru. Kokubun Mejiro, 32, 156-163.

           ·            Nakakita, M. (1991). Compound of onomatopoeia and light verb suru. Kokubun Mejiro, 31, 247-256.

 

Experience

Assistant Researcher　2008-Present

           ·            WDB Corporation (a Japanese research work agency), Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan.

Analyzing research data and managing labs at an international research institute of communication sciences.

 

Language Specialist　1999-2000

           ·            Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Assisted school-parent communication as a Japanese-English interpreter/translator.

Designed and instructed cross-cultural communication workshops for school personnel.

 

Japanese Instructor　1999

           ·            Greater Mission St. Paul Baptist Church, Durham, NC, USA.

Designed and instructed introductory courses of Japanese language and culture for English-speaking children at a summer school. 

 

Lecture in Japanese Linguistics　1995-1998

           ·            Department of Foreign Language, Meikai University, Chiba, Japan.

Designed and lectured on Japanese linguistic systems for undergraduate students.

 

Lecture in Japanese Language and Culture for International Students　1995-1998

           ·            Department of Foreign Language, Meikai University, Chiba, Japan.

           ·            Department of Society and Information, Gunma National University, Gunma, Japan

Trained international students for advanced spoken and written Japanese, including politeness strategies (Keigo) and academic writing. 

 

Researcher　1995-1998

           ·            Section for Development of Language Teaching Materials, The National Language Research I statute, Tokyo, Japan.

 Leaded a research project team, co-wrote a teacher’s manual, and coordinated meetings,

 

Instructor　1994-1996

           ·            Arc Academy (Training institute for the Japanese Language Teaching Competency Test), Tokyo, Japan.

Lectured linguistics courses and instructed test preparation classes to adults with diverse business background.

 

Writer/Editor/Proofreader

           ·            Chu-jirin (Japanese-language dictionary, unpublished),　1993-2005

Sanseido (Japanese publishing company), Tokyo, Japan

           ·            Shosetsu Kogo Jiten (Japanese archaic word dictionary, 1999),      1996-1997

Shueisha (Japanese publishing company), Tokyo, Japan. 

           ·            Shueisha Pocket Kokugo-Jiten (Japanese-language dictionary, 1996),   1996

Shueisha (Japanese publishing company), Tokyo, Japan. 

           ·            Zen-yaku Kogo Reikai Jiten (Japanese archaic word dictionary, 1993),     1990-1992

Shogakukan (Japanese publishing company), Tokyo, Japan. 

Wrote and edited word descriptions.

Selected usage examples of archaic words and translated them into modern Japanese.