2018 Volume 170 Pages 62-77
The purpose of this study is to identify the process and the factors of how four international students learning Japanese at a university in the Kansai region overcame their difficulties in learning Japanese in order to pursue learning and improve their proficiency, through the activity of creating and performing a play in the Kansai dialect together with Japanese volunteers. An analysis of interviews with the four students using TEM (Trajectory Equifinality Modeling)revealed that they followed a process with some commonalities but showing differences in timing and circumstances, and that they overcame anxiety about speaking and performing in Japanese and established new identities through several crucial actions. These actions are: 1) deciding to perform a play in spite of fear and anxiety; 2) changing their perception of being shy to one in which shyness itself is seen to be strange; and 3) going on stage in spite of trembling and sweating. Moreover, it was considered that the spotlight actually eased their tension, and that the laughter and applause from the audience made the students feel that their own behavior objective to “get a laugh from the audience” had been achieved, which also was a transformative experience.
