Among the Japanese Personal Pronoun Anata, The Javanese Ethnic Personal Name, and Interactive Communicative Approach

Abstract

This study is different from other naming studies since this study examines the collaboration of naming science with foreign language teaching. Respondents are Japanese language learners in the city of Purwokerto. There are 1736 Japanese language learners in high schools and universities in the city of Purwokerto, Central Java, Indonesia where most of the people in this city use Javanese as their mother language. Of the 1736 questionnaires distributed through schools and universities, 58% (1007) of respondents filled out the questionnaire. The conducted survey shows that 81% of students prefer to be addressed by their proper name and end with ~san than by second-person pronouns (O2) in Japanese, that is anata. On the contrary, 18% of students who have Javanese ethnic names prefer to be addressed anata. Javanese ethnic students prefer to be addressed by the last syllable of their name and end with ~san. Addressing students' names is a way to create a communicative interaction and motivate students in the teaching-learning process.