On the Problems of Ambiguity of Japanese Word: "Hatsuga (Germination)" for the 5th Grade Pupils

Abstract

The Japanese 5th grade pupils have lessons concerning "seed germination", in which they learn both stages where seeds sprout and sprouts appear upon the ground. They are familiar with the latter stage because they have had experiences to grow plants at previous grades, while they have never observed the former stage. In their previous experiences, they learned the latter stage by the phrase ":me ga deru " or " me o dasu " , which are expressed by Japanese characters. The word " hatsuga " meaning "germination" in English is the expression of "me ga deru " or "me o dasui" by a series of two Chinese characters. In the lessons concerned they encounter the word " hatsuga " for the first time in their learning experiences, and they are taught both stages mentioned above by the same word " hatsuga " . How their cognition of germination may be affected by the use of the word " hatsuga " ? This study aims at investigating not only their cognition of germination itself but also that of the word " hatsuga" by questionnaire methods and following results were obtained. (1) A half of the pupils before having lessons concerned did not know the word " hatsuga " even in their daily lives. (2) Almost all the pupils knowing the word " hatsuga " before having lessons concerned understood that it meant "plants sprouting" or "sprouts appearing". (3) The pupils after having lessons concerned recognized both the stages mentioned above as " hatsuga " . (4) They believed that they understood that " hatsuga " meant "plants sprouting" or "sprouts appearing", but in fact, they were thought to believe that " Hatsuga " was " some thing appearing from somewhere " and moreover, that something appearing was "me" meaning "sprouts" in word-for-word translation in English. This was proved by the fact that almost all of them called the root appearing from the seed " me " . These results made us propose that in teaching lessons concerning " seed germination" the word " hatsuga " should be turned into more concrete expressions like "A root appears from the seed." and "Sprouts appear upon the ground.", or only the stage in which sprouts appear upon the ground should be dealt with.