Multilingual DLA Assessor Workshop Held in Ishikawa Prefecture

November 11, 2026

On Saturday, October 31, 2026, the Center for Intercultural Studies, in collaboration with the Ishikawa Prefecture International Exchange Association (a public interest incorporated foundation) and with the support of Ishikawa Prefecture, held the “Multilingual DLA Assessor Workshop: in Ishikawa” at the Ishikawa Prefecture International Exchange Center (Kanazawa City).
This workshop marks the third in a series, following previous sessions held at our university in February 2026 and in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, in July 2026. Building on the achievements to date, it was organized as a forum for practitioners from across regions to exchange ideas and learn from one another.

This workshop was designed as an open training session to teach methods and approaches for comprehensively assessing and understanding the “language abilities” of children from multicultural and multilingual backgrounds—not only in terms of Japanese proficiency but also from the perspectives of their native languages and multiple languages—and to link this to educational support tailored to each child’s potential. On the day of the event, 17 participants involved in multicultural support and education in their local communities took part, engaging in enthusiastic learning and dialogue through specialized lectures and group discussions.

As multiculturalism advances within local communities, the importance of providing academic and language support to children with foreign roots or those raised in multilingual environments is increasing in both school settings and community support programs. It has been pointed out that traditional assessment approaches tend to focus too narrowly on the level of Japanese language proficiency, often leading to the rich native language resources and cognitive strengths that children possess being overlooked.

Against this backdrop, as part of a research project commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), our center collaborated with researchers and school teachers in Japan and abroad to develop the “Language Proficiency Scale” and revise the Dialogic Language Assessment (DLA), and we have published the results through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This workshop was planned and conducted with the primary objectives of comprehensively understanding children’s “language skills” from a multilingual perspective; developing practical skills for appropriate assessment and support using DLA; and helping participants acquire the foundational knowledge and mindset necessary for assessors to identify children’s strengths and potential and support their growth. We also widely invited “Language and Culture Supporters”—a group comprising our university’s alumni and others—to participate in this event.

Professor Yoshimi Kojima, Director of the Center for Intercultural Studies, served as the instructor. The workshop was held free of charge as part of an initiative to expand the pool of specialized support personnel in the community, and 17 people participated. The workshop featured a lecture on the theoretical background of DLA, as well as practical discussions among the participants.

The open-ended comments in the participant survey conducted after the training indicated that participants had reevaluated their previous views on assessment and gained new perspectives, and that their understanding of the stages and steps, assessment criteria, cognitive tasks, and the DLA process had deepened.

The Center for Intercultural Studies will continue to strengthen its collaboration with local governments and educational institutions to contribute to the creation of an environment where children from multicultural and multilingual backgrounds can learn richly by leveraging their own strengths.

　 (This text was translated by AI.)