Observation of sentence writing of beginning students of Japanese shows that even if they can write kanji, they do not use it when writing a sentence. This indicates that in spite of the fact that they know the kanji itself and how it is used in a sentence, they can not write it in a sentence. In order for the student to learn to use kanji in written sentences, we think it is necessary to instill 'written kanji sense' by teaching the process of how kanji and kana are combined and how one decides whether to use kanji or kana. This presentation will propose a method for teaching this 'written kanji sense'.

View full abstract

Concerning the use of "koto" and "no" in Japanese language, depending on the governing verb one can use either both interchangeably, or only one them. If one can use both, however their meaning is not exactly the same, but depends on the selection made. The following two rules may show how to distinguish between the two words by use of understanding the degree of realization implied in the embedded sentence. (1) Given that the embedded sentence expresses the realization of something, "no" is used if the event of the embedded sentence and the event of the main sentence occur at the same time, however "koto" is used, if not. (2) If the embedded sentence is not a realization of something, "no" is used if the possibility of realization is considered high, "koto" however is used, if not.

View full abstract

As of January, 2007, the Japanese language editors of the Reading Tutor Web Dictionary (http://marmot.chuta.jp/) have completed the entries for 8,000 words which include 25,000 example sentences. Words used in the example sentences have been limited to words up through level 2 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. To make more effective use of the data in the dictionary for both learning and for materials development, a search system has been created for example sentences. This system enables the user to not only look for the meaning of the word and its example sentences, but to also search for other sentences in the dictionary which contain the word in question. Furthermore, the system links the user to a translated version of the example sentences and the head words of words in the sentence. It is hoped that users can make use of the system to deepen their understanding of compound words and collocations.

View full abstract

In this paper, we developed shadowing practice material and conducted lessons. The classes were recorded using digital video cameras and analyzed. The observations reveal that the pause plays an important role in the shadowing practice. Also, it was found that shadowing tends to occur at the sentence-final positions, when the learners cannot follow the complete sentence.

View full abstract

After a brief description of the acquisition processes of vowel length perception, this study attempts to explain variation in these processes with individual differences of Korean learners of Japanese as a second language. Findings demonstrated that 1) the Korean learners improved in their perception of the long-vowel over time, 2) first and second year students were unable to perceive the difference between long and short vowels. The individual differences measured by psychometric questionnaire were learning experience, motivation, learning strategies. The results may explain variation in acquisition.

View full abstract

Vietnamese learners of the Japanese language have been shown to have difficulty with the sounds ja, ju, jo, and also shi. This presentation presents research which examines the effects of the visual presentation of a 'pitch curve' which focuses the learners' attention on the prosodic features of intonation and accent. The six advanced Vietnamese learners who participated in this study were instructed in this method for five three-to-four-hour lessons after which they were interviewed. The analysis of the results demonstrated remarkable improvements in their pronunciation.

View full abstract

In this research, investigation on the text reading aloud was made among the learners of Japanese as a second language and the problems with pronunciations are mainly reported. From the voice data obtained by the investigation, the positions of pause and errors of reading were classified according to the hearing judgment. As the results, the variation of the reading aloud speed, the inappropriate positions of pause, and the increase of the number of rereading were found depending on the levels of Japanese. Especially in the beginners' level, the problems of pause appeared notably.

View full abstract

The necessity of systematic prosody teaching has been expressed. And, based on this educational materials have been developed. However, reported cases of actual prosody teaching are still few. Here, through an attempt at experimental prosody teaching emphasizing the 3 points of introduction of prosodic visualization and the phonological rule, and promotion of self-monitoring, along with problem and effects of the instructions being verified, the transition of the learner's pronunciation and listening abilities are observed. The results showed transition (of learners) with demonstrable progression of consciousness-raising, though there are individual differences. Further, a relationship between pronunciation ability and listening ability, and self-monitoring was also suggested.

View full abstract

This study examined the effects of shadowing on accent accuracy in Japanese. Participants were asked to read the given script and word list aloud and were compared before and after the shadowing practice. Results showed that prosody shadowing practice can contribute to corrections of prosodic errors but not accent accuracy of each word. To improve pitch accent accuracy through shadowing, teachers should give numerous affirmative feedbacks on the students' performance. Moreover, applicable accentual rules must also be instructed so that students can confirm them with their own performance.

View full abstract

In order to measure development of the perception of pitch accent, Tokyo accent perception tests (The Iwashi Tests) were administered seven times to upper-beginning learners of Japanese. The Iwashi Tests is designed to develop an ability to perceive Japanese pitch accent. The results of each of the tests were provided to each student the following week. The test items were then replayed while the students subvocalized. This feedback resulted in the continual improvement of the perceptual test scores which was interpreted as a development of the ability to perceive Japanese pitch accent.

View full abstract

Sakaguchi(2000) observed how Japanese teachers analyze synonyms and clarified what teachers should be careful of in conducting the analyses. Based on these results, we conducted a survey for producing a textbook for strategy training of synonym analysis geared toward current and aspiring Japanese language teachers. We found that strategy training that promotes information extraction from example sentences and using that as a base to analyze synonyms is likely to be effective.

View full abstract

For learners from non-kanji back grounds, who are not real beginner, it remains difficult in recognizing and reproducing kanji correctly. In this paper, we analyzed the kanji written in tests, homework and quiz for upper-elementary learners and, found the following points; 1) they can recognize the main feature of kanji, but 2) they show some common errors in writing (e.g. in the variation of horizontal line, the components which are multilayered vertically.) Based on this analysis we claimed that effective components for learners have to be taught as a main item in kanji class.

View full abstract

In this research the following results were pointed out by analyzing acceptability of the N1+N2, N1 no N2 between Vietnamese native speakers who study Japanese (level-high and level-low group) and Japanese native speaker. (1)VNS tends to omit the particle "no" comparing to JNS. (2)Phrases, which have been taught grammatically, tend to show similar acceptability to JNS. (3)As for the acquisition of Japanese noun phrases, Learning grammatically would be effective to the L2 learners.

View full abstract

One of the most difficult things that Korean native speakers usually find in learning Japanese is to learn its aspectual form '-teiru.' In this work, we first, survey how it is treated in the Japanese text books, and then analyze it in comparison with the Korean aspectual forms. After pointing out some problems in Japanese education, we discuss them and propose how '-teiru' should be taught to Korean students.

View full abstract

This paper looks at the instruction the writer has given to second-year foreign students regarding Informative Presentations, trying to teach them academic skills necessary for an integrated practice of Japanese. When verbalizing their subject material, the writer has observed that the students seem to lack in the following four abilities. Firstly, they are unable to focus on a theme and its contents; secondly, they are weak in judging what is pertinent data; thirdly, their descriptions lack coherency and succinctness, as well as consideration for their audience. The above can presumably be caused by their illogical thinking, insufficient data and a low level computer literacy skills, which the learners themselves have come to recognize to be areas of difficulty.

View full abstract

This paper analyzes the result of an investigation of the solutions to differential problems by Chinese learners of Japanese. The investigation is constituted by Japanese questions and differential problems. The rate of correct answers show that the students have difficulties in solving the problems which are written in Japanese. As the result of an analysis on Japanese expressions used in solutions of differential problems by Japanese-low groups and Japanese-high groups, it is clear that the Japanese-low group use only "noun WA noun" structure and some basic conjunctions and that it is difficult for both groups to use expressions of naming and replacement in Japanese without model descriptions.

View full abstract

The purpose of this paper is to establish whether Peer Response urges students' active elaboration. The research focused on the variety of revision resources the students use when they elaborate their draft without teacher correction during 3 month activities. The results are 1) 7 kinds of revision resources were utilized, 2) Usage of revision resources changed during the term, but the variety increased in the last period. Therefore, a certain amount of time is necessary for students to get used to Peer Response activities. Their active elaboration could be urged by continuous Peer Response.

View full abstract

This study examines the course design of Japanese conversation skill training sessions for the mid-elementary level students. The class activities were arranged based on Jakobson's (1960) six communicational functions, i.e., referential, emotive, conative, phatic, metalanguage, and poetic functions. Also, the students practiced formatting various types of conversational floors, i.e., single person floors, collaboratively floors, dialogue-typed floors and monologue-typed floors. I will demonstrate how these communicational functions and floor types are applied for class activities to practice Japanese conversations.

View full abstract

We propose a new conversation class for advanced students which is not focused on accuracy and fluency, but on developing the thought contents and on how to think it. We designed a theme many learners can be interested in, in order to rouse a strong volition to speak, and which will raise a positive attitude to participate. The practice items are 1) objection, 2) different point of view, 3) paraphrasing, 4) illustration and 5) effective persuading. After the course, we asked the learners for a self-assessment. At the beginning of the course, many of the assessments indicated a negative learning experience but this changed gradually and at the end of the course many learners reported a positive learning experience.

View full abstract

This is a report on the introduction of a kanji textbook for beginners. The aim of this textbook is to enable students to learn 300 basic kanji more easily and quickly in the following steps. 1) Students memorize 150 kanji by original stories with illustrations. Also by memorizing one keyword for each kanji or the meaning of every component of the kanji, they can practice their skills to guess the meaning of new kanji or new kanji combinations. 2) Students then learn the reading of kanji or kanji combinations. By then, they will be able to match the kanji script with the vocabulary they should already know. 3) Repeat the same for the remaining 150 kanji.

View full abstract

"Nagoya University Japanese Language Education Media & Systems Group" has finished a project of transforming the listening text book "Modern Japanese I & II", three listening books of worksheets and accompanying tapes (Nagoya University Japanese Language Education Research Group, University of Nagoya Press) into web-based material. I would like to introduce IJLC and also talk about where we need to pay particular attention to when we change paper-based material to CD and computer-based material. Then I would like to discuss how we could implement IJLC effectively into classroom teaching.

View full abstract

This paper describes the development of a Japanese composition support system called Natsume, which, based on the idea of data-driven learning, provides learners with plenty of authentic examples when writing Japanese compositions. Specifically, we examine Natsume's display function for co-occurrence expressions through experiments and learner surveys and identify some aspects for improvement.

View full abstract

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a scientific vocabulary learning system based on bilingual lexical maps. Takano, Joyce, and Nishina (2006) have shown bilingual lexical maps-representations spatially emphasizing semantic and conceptual relations between sets of foreign word pairs-to be effective for vocabulary learning. Designed to incorporate learner strategies, the system is multi-lingual (English, Chinese, Korean, Indonesia and Japanese), and the present version targets physics. The results from both post-use evaluations and qualitative analysis of errors suggest that the system is effective for specialist vocabulary learning, promoting systematic grouping and learning of the target vocabulary.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract

Ascend Foundation espouses the philosophy of a Japanese language program that has been designed and developed for the Filipino, by the Filipino, and of the Filipino. The foundation aims to create an ideal environment where the Filipino Japanese teachers can continue to grow, be challenged and foster greater cooperation between all people, institutions and agencies involved in Japanese language education. The organization hopes to encourage active participation from the Filipino side in an effort to usher in a new era of Japanese language education in the Philippines. This paper documents the development of a pilot class for caregivers conducted by Ascend Foundation beginning October 2006, enumerating problems encountered in the process and proposing possible solutions to these problems.

View full abstract

This paper looks into the relation between the motives, strategies of pronunciation learning and the pronunciation evaluation. From the answers to the questionnaire, I obtained the data of learners' strength of motives and the use of strategies. Learners' pronunciations were obtained by carrying out the pronunciation task. Then native Japanese speakers evaluated them based on "naturalness". From the result of the evaluation, learners were divided into upper group and lower group. The outcome showed that "self consciousness in pronunciation" "paying attention to the movements of lips and tongue" and "consciousness of others' opinions" were related to high evaluation.

View full abstract

In the conversation, elementary level learners often use strategy of "Moo Ichido Ittekudasai" to make the other person to repeat phrases or sentences, when they didn't get what he/she have said. This presentation shows that, through analysis of phone conversations between elementary level learners and native Japanese speakers, this strategy might be less effective for extracting some appropriate assistance from conversational partners than learners expect, despite high reliance by them, and also discusses the necessary conditions under which this strategy works effectively for carrying out smooth communication.

View full abstract

A voice guide of movie was made in a Japanese language class by the cooperation of teacher and students. In the class, the students made a sentence of voice guide first, and the teacher gave comments to the sentence and feedbacked. By repeating these processes, highly interactive conversation was realized in the class, and it gave a large satisfaction to the students. Voice guide of movies can be also utilized in a class of prosodic features.

View full abstract

Japanese learners need to learn "written language" for academic writing. "Written language" includes wide-ranging concepts such as genre (e.g. newspaper, academic paper)", rhetoric, and form. Japanese learners especially need to acquire specific vocabulary and expressions for academic papers and to distinguish them from "spoken language" that they have already learned. However, there are few materials and exercises for learning and distinguishing specific vocabulary and expressions for academic papers. This paper defines specific vocabulary and expressions for academic papers as "written language" in a narrow sense and discusses the needs of a "written language syllabus".

View full abstract

What did trainees learn in practical training of teaching Japanese? Trainees learned not only teaching method but also norms of interaction and own communication. In training in Japan, they noticed about life of foreigners in Japanese society. In training in foreign countries, they awoke to a limit of existing knowledge and they began to ask themselves why they teach Japanese.

View full abstract

This study investigated perceptual tendencies of long/short vowels of native speakers of Finnish, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. An identification test using two syllable words with various vowel lengths in the word-initial or the word-final positions was carried out. Finnish and Japanese speakers showed similar perceptual tendencies. Chinese and Korean speakers, regardless of their Japanese proficiency, showed that especially in the word-final position, they did not distinguish vowel length contrast clearly. These results suggest that characteristics of learners' first language relates to identification of Japanese long and short vowels, and in order to reduce the confusion of long and short vowels, learners need to be trained continually, considering vowel position in a word.

View full abstract

Korean occasionally speaks the first and second moras in same pitch in their Japanese speech. Therefore, this study is analysis of spoken datum by Korean who studies Japanese and investigates if the environment of initial vowel or consonant affects the pitch pattern. As a result, it is found when the initial environment is vowel and nasal consonant, the pitch pattern of initial two moras tends to be Low-High. While the initial environment is voiceless fricative and voiceless plosive, the pitch pattern tends to be High-High. In this paper, I report about details of the result.

View full abstract

This report suggests that practicing shadowing in an L2 academic presentation class for learners of Japanese as a second language, is effective in developing learners' listening comprehension and prosodic pronunciation skills. L2 learners of Japanese have more pronunciation problems when reading aloud text as compared with spontaneous conversation. After features of Japanese accent and intonation were introduced and discussed with the aid of a prosody graph, the class began practicing shadowing. It appeared to be effective in 1) raising awareness of prosodic features and their pronunciation, 2) helping learners notice what they could and could not comprehend in listening tasks, 3) developing learner autonomy.

View full abstract

This research is analysis of phonetic confusion of the Japanese "Ja-gyo" and "Ya-gyo", "Ja-gyo" and "Cha-gyo" by the Cambodian learners. As a result of investigations that it divided into three levels of the lower, middle, and higher rank group, it showed that there are two phonetic confusions and error changes in each level. From these results, consider an effective method of instruction and the order of presentation.

View full abstract

Through an audio teaching program, we have made a research of the change in teacher's criterion for the judgment to the student's comprehension. In the program, the educators will first watch an educational video together, discuss about that and finally make a review of the whole class. When the program started, educators could judge the student only from her remarks and responses, but eventually they became able to make a judge from various points of view.

View full abstract

Recent research of cognitive linguistics makes the metaphor not only the art of rhetorical and poetical flourish, but also an important part of human conceptual thought. Similarity of thought is expressed through the use of the metaphor and it can also create inspiration like Newton's falling apple. This idea of the metaphor can be found in the structure and the etymology of kanji characters. In this research, a cognitive linguistics approach of the metaphor is applied to kanji characters and vocabulary education. This approach through the utilization of kanji creates the foundation for abstract thinking.

View full abstract

When native speakers of Chinese study the Japanese language, the misuse of Sino-verbs is viewed as a problem not only with regard to semantics, but with regard to grammar as well. However, comparative research on Sino-verbs has been conducted on words that occur both in Chinese and Japanese languages mainly from a semantic point of view, while little research has been done from a grammatical standpoint. This is especially true in the case of Sino-verbs that take on the case particle "ni", which Chinese learners of Japanese often confuse with the case particle "o". This study focuses on the structural characteristics of Sino-verbs from the point of view of comparative linguistics and aims to provide suggestions to improve Japanese language education by clarifying the usage of case particles "ni" and "o" with Sino-verbs.

View full abstract

This study investigated the relationships between vocabulary learning strategies and learner's 2 types of vocabulary size (receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary) in Hungarian JFL context (N=101). In the data collection, I used a questionnaire to investigate learners' strategy use, and passive vocabulary size and controlled active vocabulary test to measure their vocabulary size. I identified several approaches of vocabulary learning by multiple regression analysis and cluster analysis, and found the characteristics of two successful vocabulary learners groups and unsuccessful one. The majority of the successful learners frequently used wide variety of learning strategies, and controlled their own study by metacognitive regulation, but the unsuccessful learners' strategy use is passive and they did not control their studies by themselves. In addition, the minority of successful learners who are superior especially for productive vocabulary size select strategies effectively. They are guessing meaning of vocabulary, using dictionary, memorizing through encoding, and activating of vocabulary. As a result, this group keeps the largest vocabulary size among these participants.

View full abstract

It is difficult for learners of Japanese to choose words appropriate in contexts as they write. Dictionary entries regarding "stylistic levels" of each word are indispensable for learners. This paper reports on the results of eighteen Japanese-language dictionaries and four thesauri. Twenty out of these twenty-two contained some information regarding stylistic levels of words. Twenty descriptors were used in all, but each dictionary employed four to seven of them. Those descriptors are often not clearly defined and learners of Japanese will have difficulty utilizing those information. On the other hand, some relatively new dictionaries have helpful reading sections describing different usages of related words.

View full abstract

In this study, we shows that synthetic uses of Korean expressions corresponding to Japanese "youda", "rashii" and "si-souda, is related with synthetic function by comparing corresponding relations between Japanese "youda", "rashii", "si-souda" and the Korean. These corresponding Korean expressions are "-kes kath-ta" and "-tusha-ta" in sentence conjunction and adnominal form except for sentence-final expressions. Sentence-final expressions, which are limited by the position, are followed to synthetic uses, while "youda" and "si-souda" commonly correspond to the Korean "-kes kath-ta" since it is used as subjective and objective synthetic information comparing to deductive "rashii" on the basis of subjective hearsay information, and deductive "rashii" on the basis of objective hearsay information corresponds to "-moyangi-ta"

View full abstract

In most Japanese classes in Taiwan, -te aru is usually taught related to "ARU", which shows the existence of inanimate things. The only further explanation of -te aru relates to the fact that it indicates the resulting state of someone's intentional action. However, -te aru has more usages than just showing the existence of inanimate things or their states brought about by actions. For example, if you don't want the listener to feel that you have done in his/her favor, you can use -te aru instead of -te ageta. This paper discusses the meaning and function of -te aru from a pragmatic viewpoint.

View full abstract

This study analyzed error correction difficulties among learners and the role of teacher's support through peer response. The second and third drafts, after peer response and teacher's feedback respectively, were examined. It was shown that grammatical corrections were difficult in the following order: (1) conjunctions, (2) particles, (3) transitive/ intransitive verbs, complex particles. Moreover, rewriting was difficult in the following order: (1) avoiding same expressions (word/phrase level), (2) rewriting for comprehensibility (word/phrase level), (3) rewriting with more relation to the entire composition (sentence/paragraph level). Teachers should thoroughly understand error correction difficulties among learners and gradually instruct students when necessary.

View full abstract

This article aims to consider the relation between the following three aspects: experience in "multicultural class," students' interest in international exchange and students' linguistic behavior in the class. The subjects were the participants in the 2006 July joint session, which multinational students from three universities in northern Tohoku area took part in. The subjects from two universities had regular experiences in "multicultural class" at their home university and on the other hand students from the other university did not. A consciousness survey was conducted three times on all of them and the conversation of two groups were audio taped. The data from this research suggests that experiences in "multicultural class" can affect both students' interest and linguistic behavior.

View full abstract

In the present study, we examined the perceptions of undergraduate international students concerning activities conducted in listening and conversation classes. This research was conducted using the responses of 60 undergraduate international students from questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaire was comprised of 10 questions; students were asked to answer using one of the following responses: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree. The results showed that some of the international students questioned conversation practice between language learners and use of model conversations from textbooks; on the other hand, many of the international students had a positive perception of activities that included watching movies, dramas, and news programs. Furthermore, the results of interviews based on the answers from the questionnaires revealed reasons why the international students considered certain activities efficient (or inefficient).

View full abstract

Based on the hypothesis that even the beginners can make a presentation about their academic based contents, the project was carried out, focusing on the advantages of their previous experiences of the presentations skills as well as their knowledge concerned. As a result, preferable comments were given by the learners and the Japanese audience.

View full abstract

Due to the need for a solution to address curriculum design problems, a trial version of a Module Textbook for Japanese Beginners Level 2 has been developed. It has these characteristics: 1) Each lesson consists of a main conversation, grammatical explanations, a vocabulary list, exercises, and either a secondary conversation, a reading or a speech. 2) Each lesson is designed as a module, which makes it possible to select lessons and to change the order of lessons within the curriculum. 3) The software built into the attached CD changes the order of lessons automatically. It would solve course design problems in a small-scale Japanese Language program.

View full abstract

This study increased the accuracy and validated use of the Automatic Scoring System for Japanese Writing by Students of Japanese as a Second Language (JSL). Analysis was conducted using 107 writing samples from placement tests taken by JSL students. Statistics were extracted from the writing samples for variables such as the number of characters and number of sentences. Multiple regression analysis was then conducted using the statistics as explaining variables and scores from grading by experienced scorers as criterion variables, and a predictive equation was calculated. Furthermore, correlation between the results of grading by experienced scorers and the prediction results was evaluated using descriptive writing assignments given as part of placement tests in the second and third terms of 2000 in order to validate the predictive equation. As a result, it was apparent that the results of score prediction using the predictive equation were almost equal to the scores obtained from grading by experienced scorers.

View full abstract