Yoshiko Saito-Abbott is Full Professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB). She received her Ph.D. in Foreign/Second Language Education at The Ohio State University. She has taught all levels of Japanese language and culture courses including Service Learning, Business Japanese, and Foreign Language Methods.

She has been actively involved in Professional Development activities regionally and nationally. Since 1998 she has managed a state and federally funded professional development project for world language teachers, the Monterey Bay World Language Project. She has given numerous presentations and workshops on Standards-based instruction, instructional technology, and second/foreign language acquisition, and has published in journals such as AATJ, CALICO, Foreign Language Annals, and Modern Language Journal.

She has served on many regional and national committees and boards for organizations including NCJLT and ATJ, AATJ, AERA (American Educational Research Association), and the College Board. She was a founder and Chair of the Digital Stream Conference from 1998 to 2008. She established the Texas Professional Development for Japanese Teachers, which certified teachers of Japanese for the first time in Texas. She served as Vice President/Secretary and as the Affiliate Liaison of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ), President of (AATJ), and the Editorial Board member of Foreign Language Annals (FLA). She is currently serving as an advisor and a trainer of the Japanese Language Education Assistant Program (J-LEAP), and Professional Development Director of the AATJ.

She wants to continue to promote and facilitate the importance of learning Japanese language and culture including linguistics, history, literature and other areas of scholarly exchange, and to advocate the role of Japanese within the World Language community.