We carried out a questionnaire survey to find out what difficulty foreign students are having in their Japanese communication. According to its results, they have difficulty in understanding context-dependent expressions and Japanese style of turn-taking. We should improve Japanese education to bridge the intercultural communication gaps.

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This article based on the research method by Takahashi (1969), Yoshikawa (1976) and Taniguchi (1999) provides an overview of collecting both Japanese-Chinese parallel Corpus and usage of 「～ておく」in Chinese. Furthermore, it analyzes how to explain the grammar to Chinese Japanese learners from Chinese perspective and reaches the following conclusion. The Chinese characters“了”which means accomplishment of an action;“在”“着”which shows the duration of a state;“好”which expresses completion;“想”“要”represents the speaker’s wish and“给”which stands for the relationship of grace have different meanings. It will be beneficial for Chinese learners to gain the usage of 「～ておく」if the difference can be explained clearly.

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This paper not only analyzes daily conversations about invitation but also emphasizes the expression of response rejection. Comparing Japanese native speakers with Chinese Japanese learners, similarities and differences can be gained. Follow-up interview can prove the mentioned hypothesis. Synthesizing researches and analyses, it is clear to see that there is an existing difference of expression between Japanese native speakers and Chinese Japanese learners. In addition, even high level learners may not handle effectively when they are refused.

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This is a practical report based on case study research in the classes for Japanese Phonetic from 2011 to 2014. By teaching portfolio, learners of the portfolio and the e-portfolio which has been shared between teachers and learners, that report is a summary of the Results and Issues (Adachi 2013, 2014). In addition, I would like to introduce the Results and Issues s of the new initiatives of the 2015 academic year.

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The CEFR appears in the Japanese teaching as “JF Standard”. On one side thereby, the idea of skills are introduced in the teaching of Japanese for the first time; on the other hand, action-oriented approach of the CEFR is not yet well understood, because the Japan Foundation believes that a specialized reference framework in the Japanese language as “JF Standard” is necessary because of the nature of Japanese writings. As the first textbook of the Japanese adopting “JF Standard”, the manual “Marugoto” also shows that the action-oriented approach is not well understood in Japanese teaching: this manual has two volumes, and a volume (“Katsudoo”) includes the speech acts, while another volume (“Rikai”) treats the linguistic contents. But in the action-oriented approach, the learner learns the linguistic contents to achieve the communicative goals, and it is impossible to treat separately the speech acts and linguistic contents. In the “Katsudoo”, the learner learns only minimal expressions to achieve the communicative goals without syntactic or grammatical explanation. This volume can not offer the learner the complicated task that approaches the social task. Therefore, despite the absence of the presentation of the speech acts in this volume, the “Rikai” offers the task, because this volume gives the learner the tools to achieve it. As for interculturalism, the manual introduces it with the comparison of the Japanese culture and the proper culture of the learner. This helps decentration of the learner. According to the CEFR, this manual introduces portfolio that relies on the “JF Standard”. But this portfolio can not be used to plurilingualism, because it can only be used for learning Japanese: by definition, the “JF Standard” is only the framework for the Japanese language, unlike CEFR.

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The recent global situation has raised controversial questions about identities which seem to be an urgent matter. This paper attempts to analyze the process of producing identity through the conception of Lacanian subject and Stuart Hall’s theory in order to understand what difficulty of identities is. We create our identities through the Other within our practices. Indeed, identities are produced through, not outside, difference. That is because identities are the consequence of communication to others, and this is the process of producing identity. Children identifying with their parents, Women identifying with an actress in soap operas, citizens identifying with their president. Our lives and identities depend upon these processes. This approach of identities is hard to understand, but to put it simply, identities are practices how we adapt ourselves to societies or circumstances or discourses of which have been already composed.

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