The Kanji Learning Website for EPA Care Worker Candidates, "Kaigo-no-Kanji Supporter” (Learning Support for Kanji Vocabulary in the Caregiving Field)

Abstract

Care worker candidates under the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) must pass the Japanese State Examination for Certified Care Workers within four years to continue working in Japan. The Japanese language, especially kanji (Chinese characters), used in the examinations is a significant barrier for the candidates and there is a need for Japanese language learning support designed specifically to focus on kanji used in the examinations. The Authors developed “Kaigo-no-Kanji Supporter” (Learning Support Website for Kanji Vocabulary in the Caregiving Field) and “Kaigo-no-Kotoba Search" – Online Search Tool for Specialized Vocabulary in the Caregiving Field. “Kaigo-no-Kanji Supporter” is a website to learn kanji, two-kanji morphemes and technical terms used in the caregiving field interrelatedly. This website is a useful study tool for learning the technical terms that are likely to appear in the State Examination for Care Workers. This site consists of information in three main parts:1) Tan-kanji (single kanji) that frequently come up in the exam, 2) Two-kanji morphemes that include single kanji terms, and 3) Technical terms that include two-kanji words. English and Indonesian translations for each single kanji and two-kanji words, as well as technical terms, are provided. The other learning website, “Kaigo-no-Kotoba Search” has been designed so that candidates can look up words using kanji, hiragana, katakana, English and Indonesian. This means that if a candidate comes across a word they do not understand, there are multiple ways for them to look up the word and higher possibility they will find the meaning. We have evaluated the actual usage of this website from two perspectives – through access data analysis and through interviews with website users. According to these resources, we found that the website is used in various ways both online and offline.