Rate My Professor Shimako Iwasaki

Shimako Iwasaki is a Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, at Monash University. She earned her PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research centers on conversation analysis and interactional linguistics, examining language and social interaction in everyday ordinary conversations, institutional settings, and cross-/inter-cultural communications. Particular emphases include Japanese conversations, signed languages, and tactile signed interactions among deafblind individuals in Japan and Australia. Employing conversation analytic methods and multimodal approaches, Iwasaki investigates linguistic, embodied resources, sensory modalities, and strategies that participants use to accomplish social actions.

Iwasaki has published extensively in leading journals and edited volumes. Key publications include "Grammar and the “timing” of social action: Word order and preference organization in Japanese” (Language in Society, 2005), "Initiating Interactive Turn Spaces in Japanese Conversation: Local Projection and Collaborative Action” (Discourse Processes, 2009), "Misunderstanding and Repair in Tactile Auslan” (Sign Language Studies, 2014), "Handling Turn Transitions in Australian Tactile Signed Conversations” (Research on Language and Social Interaction, 2022), "Assessing benefits: a comparative evaluation of English-Japanese online intercultural exchanges (OIE) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic” (The Language Learning Journal, 2024, with I. Hamada), and encyclopedia entries such as "Continuer”, "Transition-relevance place (TRP)”, and "Turn-constructional unit (TCU)” (Encyclopedia of Terminology for Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics, 2024). She has secured funding for projects like "Deafblind communication: Building professional competencies” (2021–2024), "Engaging in intercultural dialogue to address global challenges” (2023–2024), and the 31st Japanese/Korean Linguistics Conference (2024). Iwasaki actively promotes Japanese language education through engagement with Victorian Japanese communities, membership in the Victorian Japanese Speech Contest committee, and her role as Language Specialist for the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Her research contributes to understanding multimodal interactions and supports UN SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being.