The way to rewrite school messages in Easy Japanese

Effects of assuming a rhetorical level for the parents or guardians of foreign children

Abstract

Schools located in areas with large populations of foreign workers have problems communicating, not only with the foreign children who need to learn Japanese, but also with their parents and guardians. To facilitate good communication in these circumstances, Easy Japanese, that is, Japanese with basic, simple words and expressions, is useful. However, not all Japanese people, including teachers, are able to use Easy Japanese fluently. One way to write intelligible and accurate text is to assume a certain level of text rhetoric that readers can understand. This study asked student teachers to assume the rhetorical level of second-grade primary school textbooks or picture books for lower grades, corresponding to the level of Easy Japanese, and to rewrite a school message using Easy Japanese. In the experiment, the text rewritten in this way included appropriate words, simpler expressions that were easy to understand, and more accurate expressions. This result is important to consider in designing a method for teachers to learn how to use Easy Japanese.