Chaplin Memorial Award for Excellence in Japanese Language Teaching

2022 Call for Nominations

The Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award will again be conferred in 2022, administered through the Association for Asian Studies. In accordance with the wishes of the Chaplin family, each year a prize of $1,000 will be awarded to either a current graduate student or a full-time instructor of Japanese for excellence in Japanese language teaching at the college-level. A full-time instructor who has completed graduate study within the last three years in an area that directly involves Japanese language teaching is eligible to apply. Possible academic fields of specialization are Japanese language pedagogy, linguistics, anthropology, or literature. Current graduate students must demonstrate their intention to enter the teaching field in a North American university. Professor Michiko Kaneyasu (Old Dominion University) serves as Chair of the Selection Committee, Professor Joan Ericson (Colorado College) serves as representative of the Northeast Asia Council of AAS for the committee, and Professor George Chaplin serves ex-officio.

Individuals interested in applying (self-nomination) and faculty members interested in nominating an eligible graduate student or instructor (nomination) — should download an application form below.

You may also request the application form via email by contacting Dr. Michiko Kaneyasu (mkaneyas@odu.edu).

Completed applications must be submitted to the following email address by January 28, 2022: mkaneyas@odu.edu. The award will be announced in the AAS #AsiaNow Blog.

2021 Award

The Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award Committee is pleased to announce that Dr. Yunchuan Chen (Assistant Professor of the Practice of Japanese, Duke University) is the recipient of the 2021 Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award for Excellence in Japanese Language Teaching. Dr. Chen has a wide range of teaching experience in Japanese language and linguistics. He also researches Japanese linguistics and second language acquisition with a passion for bridging linguistic research and language teaching. Dr. Chen is described as a dedicated and innovative teacher who is also a promising scholar. He has also taken a leadership role in promoting students’ participation in extracurricular activities and research on the Japanese language. The selection committee is confident that Dr. Chen will continue to make important contributions to the field of Japanese language education in the future.   

Past Awards