Problems related to the teaching of Japanese syllabaries (Hiragana and Katakana) and characters (Kanji) in early childhood were presented in the symposium. Three main issues worth discussing seem to be 1)teaching methods appropriate to each developmental stage 2)individual differences in early childhood ; and 3) influences of the use of language in everyday life on the acquisition of Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. It will be more meaningful to discuss these issues while keeping in mind the importance of psycho-physical development.
Following were the main discussions: Considering early childhood language characteristics, we should have in mind that the acquisition of Japanese letter will be accelerated not by outside factors but by inner development of each child himself. We must consider the fact that almost all children before entrance into primary school either in rural or urb an areas acquired 46 `Hiragana simple tone' syllables, but there are no exact systematic leading plans or teaching techniques among educators and psychologists as yet. There must be an optimal period for learning Hiragana and it might be some time before the entrance into primary school.
Children in their early age can be roughly classified into three groups: a) those who acquire most; b) the moderates who acquire about 20 letters out of 46 or 72; and c) the last group who acquire least. In the child learning process and its time-developmental sequence, exist the general phenomena of the so-called “stagnate phase” and “acute acquisition phase”.It might be thought that between these stages, there is another very critical stage: the awareness of the role of symbols or the attention to them.
Among other problems discussed were: Hiragana being the best recognized letters, child's discriminating ability, mirror-writing, reading or writing word's direction (longitudinal way or lateral), teaching letters in group nursing etc
Consequently, the total development of the child should be considered associated with the teaching of reading and writing.(Abstracted by T. Kobayashi)
