[in Japanese]

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract

We attempted to create an interaction program with the aims of promoting technical lecture comprehension in students of a preliminary course for Japan-Korea joint exchange program in science and engineering. In this study, students who initially had limited understanding (agreement) of lecture contents participated in interactive activities with peer groups or guests. Through this, a process was observed in which the students gradually proceeded to an enhanced level of understanding (reflection), eventually becoming capable of expressing the concept of the lectures in their own words while displaying an intrinsic understanding of said concepts.

View full abstract

This report examined whether the students in a Japanese lower intermediate class can give an academic presentation　(AP, hereafter). They were research students at the graduate school, so they had academic knowledge and experience. How could they make up for their deficiency in Japanese? In order to explore the factors influencing their AP, the process of making an AP was observed through revising manuscripts and slides, the interaction between the students and the teacher and interviews with the students. Two research students and a teacher were targeted by this research and the following two aspects were investigated: 1) How the students worked on an AP, 2) How the teacher supported them. It was found that every practice including various differences in schemas related to an AP, specialized knowledge and roles between a novice and an expert, facilitated learning.

View full abstract

In order to obtain a perspective about Japanese academic writing (AW) education that supports learners not only for their achievements as students but also for their success in wider society, this article reports the results of the interviews with six professors who teach at universities both inside and outside Japan. The results were as follows: Firstly, they all emphasized the importance of doing extensive reading and receiving feedback from others followed by repeated revision. That was the way they acquired AW skills themselves. Secondly, access to periphrastic information was considered to be very important. Thirdly, all the interviewees believe that Japanese can assume a crucial importance even in today's world where dominance of English is increasingly evident. As further evidence of potential of AW experience, a non-native professor in Japanese, who had had no formal instruction in AW as a student, has designed and offered an innovative course in AW in her home country to help undergraduates to internalize schema of research papers. These results indicate that AW education should try to help the student to form a realistic expectation about the academic workload required, and promote them to become firmly determined to acquire refined learning skills. Developing resources and methods to lead the learner into awareness should be the remaining task for teachers.

View full abstract

In this study, we carried out basic research on technical terms in tourism studies in order to prepare a Japanese text book for international students studying tourism. Firstly, we selected 308 basic technical terms based on the frequency of use of catchwords in 6 tourism dictionaries. Then, in view of 3 points, that is, format, word group, and semantic field, we analyzes the characteristics of these words and essential points in teaching these words. The analysis shows that the basic technical terms of tourism studies include many proper nouns and imported words. Moreover, the technical terms including "tourism" are classified into 14 semantic fields and the tourism vocabulary is characteristic in its wide semantic fields. In teaching international students, it is considered that learning Katakana technical terms, improving vocabulary in the 14 fields, and understanding the background knowledge such as Japanese culture, history and geography are important for the students.

View full abstract

This study considers prioritizing useful technical and non-technical idioms of bookkeeping including Kanji for non-native speakers who major in bookkeeping when they take The Official Business Skills Test in Bookkeeping 3rd Grade's Test Sentences. This study identified which idioms "appeared in the past test", "repeated on the past tests", and "appeared in a time period in the past test". Researching not only "appeared in the past test", but also "repeated in the past test" and "appeared in a time period in the past test", it has been determined that there are useful idioms which will "appear in the next test". In recent years, The Official Business Skills Test in Bookkeeping has been revised in the range of possible frequently asked questions. Therefore, the research for considering useful technical idioms needs to report promptly. It has been determined that it is not sufficient to use only data for "appeared in the past test" when we prioritize the useful idioms. The useful idioms which "appeared in the past test" include non-technical idioms of bookkeeping. Therefore, there is a need for Japanese education experts to be involved with bookkeeping education.

View full abstract

In accordance with the Economic Partnership Agreement, the State Examination for Certified Care Workers (SECCW) must be taken by caregiving trainees. Beginning with the twenty-fourth examination, which was conducted during the 2011 fiscal year, the SECCW was modified to conform to revised curriculum guidelines. However, existing vocabulary teaching materials and prior research in the field of nursing are based on data from earlier versions of the SECCW, and hence conform to the previous curriculum. It is therefore unclear whether past learning materials and research remain applicable to the new curriculum. Hence, to provide examinees with essential data for learning vocabulary effectively that is in agreement with the revised curriculum, this study compares the usage conditions of words(nouns) in exams based on the previous curriculum (i.e., the twenty-first to twenty-third exams) and the revised curriculum (i.e., the twenty-fourth to twenty-sixth exams). Despite a considerable degree of overlap between the words used in both curriculums, there were nevertheless some words specific to the revised version. Furthermore, by prioritizing the acquisition of words that appear most frequently, examinees can effectively master 80% of the vocabulary present in the SECCW.

View full abstract