Abstract
What kinds of processes do Japanese language learners use in reading Japanese? To study this issue, we divided students into three major groups according to their native language background: Kanji Group, Non-Kanji Group, and Partial Kanji Group (for students who live in an environment where Kanji is visibly present, even though they don't use it in their own language). In 1999, we reported on three students in the Non-Kanji Group using Video camera. In this paper, we report differences in reading processes between students in the Kanji Group (5 Chinese students) and students in the Partial Kanji Group (4 Korean students). In this experiment we found the following two points: 1. Higher level students in both groups (Chinese and Korean) use both dictionary and DL System often. 2. Three out of five Chinese students used a dictionary after finding the pronunciation of a Kanji from the DL System, but Korean students did not use a similar process. Based on these results, and on the results obtained in our previous study (ref. 7), we want to further develop our support system for reading skills in Japanese for foreign students of the Japanese language.
