Abstract
This paper discusses the need for education in ‘Information Literacy in Times of Disaster’ in Japanese language education for non-native speakers of Japanese who are staying in Japan. ‘Information Literacy in Times of Disaster’ refers to the ability to obtain necessary information and transmit it as appropriate in the circumstances when a major natural disaster occurs, such as an earthquake. After the April 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, the author investigated the behavior of international students when the earthquake occurred, the criteria for their decisions, their means of collecting information and other matters. The results revealed the issue that international students’ behavior frequently relied on others’ words and they could not make decisionsindependently. The factors causing these issues include: (1) lack of knowledge and understanding of Japanese language and Japanese society; (2) psychological distance from information in Japanese; and (3) capacity to analyze information. This report proposes the development of methods of teaching ‘Information Literacy in Times of Disaster’ to resolve these issues and discusses how the development of these teaching methods will contribute to furthering information literacy education in Japanese languageeducation.
Highlights
Since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, much study has been carried out and various problems raised on the subject of the state of Japanese language for supporting foreigners in times of disaster
The university that the author is affiliated with currently hosts over 3,000 international students, but when the Kumamoto earthquake struck in April 2016, this university, which is located in a neighboring prefecture, experienced tremors of shindo 6-lower on the Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scale
This paper raises the need for education in ‘Information Literacy in Times of Disaster’ as something Japanese language education can do to respond to disasters like this, based on the results of a survey of international students’ behavior at the time of the earthquake, and discusses what should be taken into account to develop an information literacy teaching method, as revealed by an analysis of the survey
Summary
Since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, much study has been carried out and various problems raised on the subject of the state of Japanese language for supporting foreigners in times of disaster. The university that the author is affiliated with currently hosts over 3,000 international students, but when the Kumamoto earthquake struck in April 2016, this university, which is located in a neighboring prefecture, experienced tremors of shindo 6-lower on the Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scale. This paper raises the need for education in ‘Information Literacy in Times of Disaster’ as something Japanese language education can do to respond to disasters like this, based on the results of a survey of international students’ behavior at the time of the earthquake, and discusses what should be taken into account to develop an information literacy teaching method, as revealed by an analysis of the survey
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