Building Knowledge and Cultivating Proper Attitudes through an Introductory Course in Japanese Language Education

Abstract

This paper examines how knowledge and attitudes toward the “Social, Cultural, and Regional” categorization needed in the training stage are developed and cultivated in an introductory Japanese language education course for first-year university students. Analysis of the students’ self-reflection sheets revealed that students gained knowledge through individual work, in-class dialogue, and post-class reflection. However, it was also suggested that students developed proper attitudes toward relevant issues not only through in-class polyphonic dialogue and post-class self-reflection but also by considering subject matters sympathetically from the perspective of Japanese language learners.