Japanese As A Foreign Language Research Articles

Acquisition of Japanese as a Foreign Language Through a Baseball Video Game

Video games have become increasingly more popular and more technologically advanced. This one-month study used interview, observation, self-report, and reading and listening test data to demonstrate and investigate how one intermediate Japanese-as-a-foreign-language (JFL) student improved his listening comprehension and kanji character recognition by playing a Japanese baseball video game. It is suggested that language acquisition was facilitated by the subject being able to control the video game's repetitive, highly contextualized, and simultaneously presented aural and textual language. Limitations of the study and implications for the foreign language teacher are briefly discussed. Background Video games have grown increasingly more popular; hundreds of millions of video games are sold each year, and Phillips, Rolls, Rouse, and Griffiths (1995) studied 816 11- to 16-year olds and found that over 75% of them played video games, with many playing 30 minutes to an hour every day. Video games have also advanced technologically; modern sports games feature true- to-life graphics and celebrity play-by-play announcers that make them almost indistinguishable from the real games on Saturday afternoon television. Is it possible that video games may not only entertain, but also serve in the process of language acquisition? Although material authen- ticity has been found to be beneficial (Peacock, 1997; Thanajaro, 2000), and instrumental moti- vation can play a large role in language learning (Van Aacken, 1999), the fact that nearly all com- mercial video games are designed for native speakers (Japanese and American games are often translated for distribution in other countries) and are highly motivating does not mean that games will guarantee the acquisition of language. Additional support is needed before video games are used to enhance certain areas of formal language education for motivated individuals. First, because video games are quite repetitious (batting in a baseball game or navigating menus in a simulation game may be the game's most integral and enjoyable aspect), they may prolong time on task and allow for increased familiarity of unknown language in video games. Gass and Selinker (2001) advanced the idea that language learners are able to unravel new lan- guage based on its context, and because a video game player already understands the setting of repetitive language used in a game, he/she may be able to decode first semantic and then lexical and/or syntactic items (bootstrap), or vice versa, thereby building receptive comprehension skills that may later be transferred to more productive usage. Second, although the question of control is complex and largely unexplored (see Skehan, 1989, for a discussion of locus of control and its effects on individual motivation), a player's con- trol of a video game's language may facilitate acquisition. A player can affect the audio com-

Language ideology in JFL textbooks

This study analyzes language ideology as it surfaces in Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) teaching materials. The perspective presented in selected materials is examined with respect to how the target language is portrayed. Furthermore, portrayals of foreign language learners and their relationship with Japanese are studied. It is argued that teaching materials propagate and thereby legitimize socially accepted knowledge, which has its origin in the educated middle class of urban centers. It is to their standards that the foreign language learner is expected to aspire. This ambitious learning objective, driven by ideological notions of what Japanese ought to be, is responsible for a strict focus on educated middle class views, activities and language use. At the same time, the learning objective reaffirms the domination of the native speaker over the language learner. The study concludes that foreign language education which aims at native-like proficiency inevitably results in unequal power relations between native speakers of Japanese and learners of Japanese as a foreign language.

The Joint Construction of Meaning in Writing Conferences

Using an analytical framework that combines insights from a variety of previous studies, the current paper aims to contribute to the description of the joint construction of meaning in pedagogical discourse, in particular in one-on-one teacher–student interaction in writing conferences in a Japanese-as-a-foreign language (JFL) class. The argument is made that it is not the formal properties of the interaction, such as the use of triadic dialogue or the types of questions that teachers ask, that in themselves determine the pedagogical effectiveness of the interaction, but the way in which they are used to achieve particular instructional purposes in a specific setting. The findings indicated that the conferences were characterized by a back and forth movement between dialogic and monologic instructional sequences (Nystrand 1997). The teacher under study made flexible use of triadic dialogue, evident in the manner of exchange initiation and the options selected in follow-up moves, in order to achieve particular pedagogical goals in the moment. The patterns of discourse that occurred varied according to: the students' self-selected revision goals, which were related to their level of target language proficiency; the choice of discourse topic; and the teacher's underlying pedagogical goals.

Converging Evidence: Attitudes, Achievements, and Instruction in the Later Years of FLES

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to document and evaluate the sixth year of a typical 75‐minute per week FLES (Foreign Language Learning in the Elementary School) program in Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL). We also sought to contribute generally to the much needed research base on FLES, in particular concerning student achievement and attitudes in the later elementary years. In this article we present results from several data sources to paint a comprehensive picture of the program and of a stable cohort of fourth‐ and fifth‐grade children who have been studying Japanese in elementary school for a six‐year period. To this end, we provide the results of attitude surveys of children, teachers, and administrators; data on parental support for their children's learning of Japanese; proficiency ratings on an end‐of‐year prochievement interview; a comparison of the ratings of the cohort of students over a six‐year period; and student self‐assessment of their performance in Japanese. Against this backdrop, we turn to classroom instruction and, through systematic observation of classes over a seven‐month period, we show how classroom instruction influences the children's later independent performance on measures of proficiency. Finally, we argue that this study of converging sources of evidence provides a sound model of FLES program assessment and leads to a number of implications and recommendations concerning FLES classes. These implications and recommendations may be applicable to other programs and ultimately will lead to critical issues that will have an impact on the future of FLES in the United States.

Mark-up-Based Writing Error Analysis Model in an On-line Classroom

This paper describes a new component called Writing Error Analysis Model (WEAM) in the CoCoA system (Ogata et al., 1998) for instructing composition of writing in Japanese as a foreign language (JFL). The WEAM can be used for analyzing learners' writing error in certain types of morphological errors and selecting the appropriate compositions for learners' revising exercises. In accordance with the classifications of morphological errors that are often made by JFL learners (Chino & Nishina, 1977; Ichikawa, 1997), a Japanese morphological analysis system named Chasen (Matsumoto et al., 1997) is applied in the WEAM for recognizing and tabulating the selected 33 different types of morphological errors. The similarity of morphological errors between the error patterns in JFL documents stored in the CoCoA's database and the method of calculation are proposed in WEAM for retrieving documents whose sentences can provide useful exercise material for students.

The study of culture in Japanese

Abstract For many years the study of culture in Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) has relied on a teacher-centred, prescriptive approach introducing cultural characteristics and facts about Japan. Most syllabuses used in JFL programs in Australian universities have cultural, as well as linguistic aims. However, objectives for cultural studies are harder to define than for linguistic studies and are generally treated as something extra, or detachable. The study of Japanese culture and society is regarded as the responsibility of Japanese Studies (JS) and there has been little integration of the two. However, as awareness about the nature of language studies grows, there is a concomitant need for JFL to shift educational focus to more interactive, cross-cultural participation. This paper explores an alternative approach to the study of culture in JFL, with particular attention to material and topics.

Second Language Learning in a ‘Community of Practice’: A Case Study of Adult Japanese Learners

This paper examines adult students learning Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) in a university course. It explores the relevance of Lave and Wenger's (1991) notion of community of practice (COP) in a foreign-language setting. The portfolio project described in this paper was introduced to investigate the forms of interaction that characterized the COP in this multilevel class. Drawing on audiotaped data from student-teacher conferences and the students' sharing sessions, this paper focuses on the experiences of three students and provides illustrative examples of the way in which the COP was instantiated in the classroom. Although the characteristics of learning in this JFL classroom identified in the data fit Lave and Wenger's description of a community of practice, the analysis revealed that this notion needs to be extended to account for the significant role of the teacher and of more capable peers in enabling the students to learn in their zones of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978, 1987).