The Misunderstandings of Advanced Japanese Learners While Reading Japanese Novels

A Case Study of Chinese Graduate Students in Japan

Abstract

This study examines how advanced Japanese learners misunderstand the meanings of texts within Japanese novels. Four native Chinese speakers studying at a graduate school in Japan participated in the survey, which collected concurrent verbal reports. The results revealed two types of misunderstandings: (a) text cohesion-related misunderstandings, such as when readers make incorrect inferences about unmarked agents or speakers; and (b) misunderstandings related to the interpretation of words and sentences. Based on these observations, this paper suggests two practices that may be effective for reading Japanese novels: namely, (i) learning skills to improve comprehension for text cohesion and different sentences; and (ii) promoting readers' contextual interpretation of words and sentences.