Design of Learning Environment for Beginning Level Japanese Education: Classroom as a Community
A Thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Arts at the University of New South Wales in April, 2009
Tetsushi Ohara
School of Languages and Linguistics The University of New South Wales
ii ORIGINALITY STATEMENT
I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in this thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
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AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT
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iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson for her invaluable advice, encouragement, support, tolerance, and patience. This thesis would not have been possible without her supportive and critical readings of various drafts of the thesis and numerous discussions to organise my research. Her guidance and inspiration assisted me in refining the focus of my thesis.
I am also indebted to my co-supervisor, Ms. Hiromi Masumi-So for her insightful advice and unselfish guidance during the last stage of the thesis. Her advice and guidance helped me finish the thesis. I also owe special thanks to Ms. Tara Mathey for editing my thesis. Her advice and suggestions help me improve my English and sentence structures in my thesis.
I would like to thank the teacher who taught the revision courses in the research. Her dedication to teaching was inspirational.
I am also thankful to the academic staffs, especially Ms Nagisa Fukui, Ms Yumiko Hashimoto, and Dr Kazue Okamoto, in the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to give me opportunities to participate in a variety of Japanese courses at UNSW. The opportunities inspired me to design the revision courses.
I would like to thank the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and its committee members at UNSW to grant me the research funds to conduct the research. I am also grateful to Dr Noriko Kobayashi at Tsukuba University who has given me permission to use the Simple Performance-Oriented Test (SPOT) in the research. I would also like to thank Ms. Christine Hung to help the final editing tasks of the thesis as well as give me moral support in the final stage of writing the thesis.
Finally, my sincere gratitude to my parents in Japan, as this thesis would not have been possible without the support that they have given me in every aspect to pursue my academic interest and career.
iv ABSTRACT
The context of this study lies in the fact that in Australia, compared to learners of Japanese language in Japan, learners tend to have fewer opportunities to use Japanese. For many learners in Australia, especially beginners, it is difficult to find a variety of opportunities and maintain motivation to seek out and participate in such opportunities to use Japanese.
In the present study, the researcher exploits sociocultural approaches (SCT) in a beginning-level Japanese language program in an institutional setting in order to enable language learners to become language users in Australia. Based on Lave and Wenger (1999), the study considers that learning a foreign/second language brings about not only the acquisition of linguistic structures but also leads to changes in participation in communities. Adopting SCT, the researcher created Japanese language revision courses at an Australian university and designed participant roles, rules, and artefacts in the revision courses as well as devising activities that aimed to develop the classroom into a community and to enhance the use of Japanese as a means of self-expression for learners.
The results of the study show that the learners developed a sense of community in the classroom through a variety of activities in the revision course. One of the new roles introduced for this study, the role of the nicchoku, had a significant effect on making classroom interaction learner-centred and authentic. Under the leadership of the nicchoku, other learners engaged in learning activities, while the teacher stepped aside to take a support role. The nicchoku altered the typical teacher-fronted classroom sequence of Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) and helped redistribute classroom turns more evenly among classroom members.
The study suggests that interactions are important not only to learn language but also to build human relationships. Thus, if the course aims to build both language proficiency and a learning community, it is necessary to create a variety of interaction opportunities in the classroom so that learners can acquire interactional competence/social skills to build a good relationship in a target language in/outside of the classroom.
v
The results of the SPOT show a significant improvement in the Japanese proficiency of all the learners in the revision course. In addition, the study described an acquisition process of the verb ‘ogoru’ as an example. The learners encountered the expression, learned its linguistic structure, applied it to a variety of contexts to learn its usage, and used it as a means of self-expression. The process showed that using the linguistic structure as a means of self-expression occurred through, first, acquisition of the linguistic structure, second, exposure to appropriate applications including sociolinguistic aspects in a given context and, third, experiences of a variety of interactions though activities. Thus, all stages of classroom activities are necessary to help learners enhance their ability to use Japanese as a means of self-expression.
These findings suggest the classroom can provide learners with opportunities to use Japanese as a means of self-expression if the roles and activities in the classroom are carefully designed to bring learners into learner-centred interaction sequences, which are both qualitatively and quantitatively different from the typical teacher-fronted IRF sequences. In addition, the study indicates that learning a foreign language and becoming a language user is a complex and dynamic process of learners participating in communities that are created, maintained, and changed by their members, the acquisition of linguistic structures and appropriate application to context, and individual learners’ personal attributes and experience.
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
Originality Statement....…………………………………………………………….iii Copyright Statement….……………………………………………………………..iii Authenticity Statement……………………………………………………………...iii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………...... iv Abstract………………………………………………………………………….…....v Table of Contents………………………………………………………………...... vii List of Figures……………………………………………………………………….xi List of Tables………………………………………………………………………..xii Notes on Style and Terminology…………………………………………………..xiii List of Abbreviations and Acronyms……………………………………………..xiv Notes on Terms……………………………………………………………………..xiv
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF THE PRESENT STUDY………………………………………………………………………………..1 1.0. Context for the research……………………………………………………..….1 1.1. Research areas, focuses, and contributions…………………………………....6 1.2. Summary of theoretical framework: Sociocultural approach……………...... 8 1.3. Summary of methodology……………………………………………………...11 1.4. Structure of the thesis…………………………………………………….…....14
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS: LITERATURE REVIEW..16 2.0. Introduction to this chapter……………………………………………….…..16 2.1. School learning………………………………………………………………....16 2.2. Concepts of learning……………………………………………………….…...22 2.3. Sociocultural approach………………………………………………………...26 2.4. Activity theory………………………………………………………………….30 2.5. Zone of Proximal Development and Learner Autonomy…………………....36 2.6. Scaffolding……………………………………………………………………...38 2.7. Language programs based on a Sociocultural Approach…………………...41 2.8. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….…...44
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……………………………….…46
vii 3.0. Introduction to this chapter…………………………………………………...46 3.1. Summary of research methods………………………………………….……..46 3.2. Participants……………………………………………………………….…….50 3.2.1. Learners……………………………………………………………....51 3.2.2. Teacher…………………………………………………….………….56 3.2.3. Researcher/Coordinator…………………………………….……….57 3.3. Procedures………………………………………………………………….…...57 3.4. Course design……………………………………………………………….…..61 3.4.1. Rules………………………………………………………………..…62 3.4.2. Division of labour (roles)………………………………………….....63 3.4.3. Artefacts………………………………………………………….…...64 3.4.4. Activities………………………………………………………….…..65 3.5. Instruments for data collection and analyses………………………………...69 3.5.1. Questionnaire…………………………………………………….…..69 3.5.2. Simple Performance-Oriented Test (SPOT)………………….…..70 3.5.3. Participant observation………………………………………..….…71 3.5.4. Learning journals………………………………………………...….72 3.5.4.1. The data from the learning journals…………………..….75 3.5.5. Interviews………………………………………………………….....76 3.6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….…..77
CHAPTER 4: THE CLASSROOM AS A COMMUNITY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNERS’ SENSE OF COMMUNITY……………....78 4.0. Introduction to this chapter…………………………………………………...78 4.1. A community of practice and a sense of community………………….……..78 4.2. Membership…………………………………………………………………….80 4.3. Influence………………………………………………………………….…….85 4.4. Integration and fulfilment of needs…………………………………….…….87 4.5. Shared emotional connection……………………………………………….....89 4.6. Word frequency…………………………………………………………….…..92 4.7. Conclusion……………………………………………………………….……...96
viii CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS OF INTERACTION: IRF SEQUENCES AND THE ROLE OF THE NICCHOKU………………………………………………….…...98 5.0. Introduction to this chapter…………………………………………………...98 5.1. IRF Sequences in a teacher-fronted context in the revision course…….…..98 5.2. IRF Sequences with different roles……………………………………….…100 5.2.1. IRF Sequences and Jishogakari……………………………………101 5.2.2. IRF Sequences and Stamp-gakari………………………………….102 5.2.3. IRF Sequences and Nicchoku………………………………….…...104 5.2.3.1. Differences in quantity……………………………….…...107 5.2.3.2. Differences in quality……………………………………..110 5.2.4. Building Corporative Relationships……………………………….116 5.3. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..120
CHAPTER 6: SELF-EXPRESSION: ACQUISITION OF A LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE AND ITS USE AS A MEANS OF SELF-EXPRESSION……...122 6.0. Introduction to this chapter………………………………………………….122 6.1. The results of SPOT…………………………………………………………..122 6.2. The introduction of an expression, ogoru…………………………………...125 6.3. Application of ogoru in contexts……………………………………………..128 6.4. Use of ogoru as a means of self-expression……………………………...... 139 6.5. Conclusion………………………………………………………….………….140
CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………….142 7.0. Introduction to this chapter……………………………………………...... 142 7.1. A summary of the research, findings, and discussion……………………..142 7.2. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research……………145 7.3. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….147
REFERENCES………………………………………………………………….…149
APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………...... 156 Appendix A: Advertisement and registration form………………………… ….156 A-1 A copy of advertisement…………………………………………………….…..156
ix A-2 Registration form……………………………………………………………….157 Appendix B: Participant Information and Consent Form………….…………..158 Appendix C: Questionnaire……………………………………………………….161 Appendix D: Course Syllabus…………………………………………………….164 Appendix E: Teaching plans……………………………………………………...166 E-1: Teaching plan: Day 1……………………………………………………….....166 E-2: Teaching plan: Day 2……………………………………………………….....177 E-3: Teaching plan: Day 3……………………………………………………….....184 E-4: Teaching plan: Day 4……………………………………………………….....192 E-5: Teaching plan: Day 5...... 200 Appendix F: Lists for selecting the contents of the revision course……….…....206 Appendix G: Learning Journals…………………………………………...…...... 209 G-1: Learning Journals (C1-1)………………………………………………....…..209 G-2: Learning Journals (C1-3)………………………………………………….….212 G-3: Learning Journals (C2-1)……………………………………………………..215 G-4: Learning Journals (C2-3)…………………………………………………..…218 G-5: Learning Journals (C2-4)……………………………………………………..222 G-6: Learning Journals (C2-5)………………………………………………….….225 G-7: Learning Journals (C2-6)……………………………………………………..228 G-8: Learning Journals (C2-7)………………………………………………….….231 G-9: Learning Journals (C2-8)………………………………………………….….235 G-10: Learning Journals (C2-9)……………………………………………….…...239 G-11: Learning Journals (C2-10)………………………………………………. …243 G-12: Learning Journals (C2-11)……………………………………………….….246 G-13: Learning Journals (C2-12)……………………………………………….…..249 G-14: Learning Journals (C2-13)……………………………………………….….253 Appendix H: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation tests (‘checking-answer’ part)…………………………………………………………..255 H-1: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation test (Day 1)…………………………….255 H-2: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation test (Day 2)……………………………263 H-3: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation test (Day 3)……………………………267 H-4: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation test (Day 4)……………………………270 H-5: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation test (Day 5)……………………………273
x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: IRF sequence (Mehan 1985, p.121)……………………………………...20 Figure 2.2: Vygotsky’s triadic model (Kato and Arimoto 2001, p. 7; Lantolf and Thorne 2006, pp. 61-62)……………………………………………………………...27 Figure 2.3: An expanded model of Vygotsky’s triadic model (Engestrom 1999, p. 31)……………………………………………………………...34 Figure 3.1: Desk arrangement in the revision courses……………………………….65 Figure 3.2: Typical desk arrangement in the University courses………………….....65
xi LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: A brief summary of the revision courses………………………………....12 Table 3.1: A summary of the revision courses…………………………………….…48 Table 3.2. The number of participants……………………………………………….51 Table 3.3. Learners’ demographic information on the whole………………………..53 Table 3.4. The demographic information of each learner…………………………....54 Table 3.5. The number of learning journals……………………………………….…75 Table 4.1. Five attributes to membership and its hypothesized relationships (McMillan and Chavis, 1986, p. 15)…………………………………………………82 Table 4.2. Frequent appearance of positive and negative key words…………….…..93 Table 5.1. Student and teacher participation in the IRF in teacher-fronted contexts (Ohta, 1999, p. 1498)……………………………………………………………….100 Table 5.2. Nicchoku, teacher, and other learners’ participation in the nicchoku-led interactions in the dictation tests……………………………………………………108 Table 6.1. The results of SPOT……………………………………………………..122 Table 6.2. The distribution of correct answers in SPOT……………………………123
xii NOTES ON STYLE AND TERMINOLOGY
Japanese language terms
Japanese terms are written in italics in the thesis.
Use of the pronoun ‘I’
I have chosen to use ‘I’ when expressing a personal viewpoint or referring to my own actions during the process of collecting the data. When making general statements about the process of researching, I have used the term, ‘the researcher’.
Use of terms ‘learner’ and ‘participant’
I have used the terms ‘the learner(s)’ and ‘the participant(s)’ interchangeably to describe research participants who have participated in the research as a learner unless specifically noted.
Use of terms, ‘revision course’ and ‘review session’
In the thesis the terms ‘revision course’ and ‘review session’ are used interchangeably.
Use of personal names
In the thesis, some personal first names are used to refer to specific learners in the research. However, no personal names used in the thesis are actual names of learners.
Inverted Commas
Full quotations are enclosed by double inverted commas. Single inverted commas are used to signify a particular construction or notion.
xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
CR Classroom F Feedback turn in an initiation-response-feedback sequence of interaction I Initiation turn in an initiation-response-feedback sequence of interaction IRF Initiation-response-feedback sequence of interaction L Learner LPP Legitimate Peripheral Participation R Response turn in an initiation-response-feedback sequence of interaction RS Researcher SCT Sociocultural Theory or Sociocultural Approach SPOT Simple Performance-Oriented Test T Teacher UL Unidentified learner in interaction ZPD Zone of Proximal Development
NOTES ON TERMS
Target language refers to a foreign language that a learner is learning.
‘Using’ a language mainly focuses on the aspect of ‘speaking’ in this study.
xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF THE PRESENT STUDY
1.0. Context for the research
The educational context of this research is influenced by a number of factors, which have guided the focus increasingly toward pedagogical practices to improve beginner-level Japanese programs and to support students’ learning.
In Australia, especially in large cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, there are a variety of learning resources available to Japanese language learners (see
Thomson 1997 and Spence-Brown 2006). As there are many Japanese working holiday makers, tourists and permanent residents and long-term residents in Australia, in relatively large cities it is common to see Japanese people. In major cities, there are a number of free Japanese papers, such as Nichigo Press and Jenta, available in many
Japanese restaurants and supermarkets, as well as a variety of Japanese books
(including comic books and magazines), CDs, and DVDs in large book stores, such as
Kinokuniya in Sydney. Further, in Australia the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) broadcasts several Japanese television programs, such as NHK (Japan Broadcasting
Corporation) news. In addition to these local resources, learners in Australia may obtain access to a variety of audio and visual resources using the Internet.
Many university students use these resources to learn Japanese. According to
Spence-Brown (2006, p. 140), whose research examines the resources available in
Australia for learning Japanese, 82% of study participants (university students) read and listen to Japanese using their computers (including the Internet and e-mail). In addition to the use of the computer, popular Japanese learning resources used by university students in Australia include: comic books (68%), videos and DVDs
(68%), magazines (50%), books (46%), and CDs (43%) (Ibid., p.140). Based on this
1 study, it is obvious that resources comprising entertaining and easy-to-access aspects are attractive to students, and many students are interested in learning about Japanese popular culture using these resources (Ibid., p. 140). However, this study may also indicate that while many students receive input in Japanese, they do not have many opportunities to create output in Japanese; 37% of study participants did not have opportunities to interact with others in Japanese and desired the opportunity to do so
(Ibid., p. 140).
Opportunities to interact in Japanese with various people are an important aspect in learning the Japanese language. Kubota (2003), who investigated factors affecting Japanese proficiency levels in native English speakers, indicates that having an extensive network of Japanese people is one of the factors that can influence a learner’s Japanese proficiency level. However, ironically, although many students understand the importance of using Japanese in communication in order to improve
Japanese skills, most students tend to use English when interacting with Japanese friends in Australia (Spence-Brown, 2006, p. 140-141). A reason for this is that most students use Japanese outside the classroom for abstract reasons (e.g., “they want to improve or maintain their Japanese” and “they like Japanese”) rather than practical reasons (e.g., “Japanese is the most effective language in terms of communication in a given situation” and “they use Japanese in their jobs”) (Ibid., p. 141). Thus, unless they are in a context in which they are willing to practice Japanese, they tend to interact with Japanese friends in English.
Based on this finding, it can be argued that many students in Australia do not have a clear concept in Japanese of what they can do and what they would like to do.
Most university students who learn Japanese in Japan have a variety of practical opportunities to use Japanese outside the classroom, as they are in Japan. In some
2 situations, they are virtually forced to use Japanese simply to gain materials and information in order to live in Japan. Thus, for them it may be easier to visualize in
Japanese what they can do and what they would like to do. However, compared to students learning Japanese in Japan, students who learn Japanese in Australia generally need to actively seek out opportunities to use Japanese outside of the classroom. It may be very difficult for many students to look for and access some resources that require interactive skills in Japanese, as this requires motivation and extroversion, as well as basic knowledge of the Japanese language, including socio- cultural aspects of Japanese. Thus, students are more likely to use receptive learning resources such as computers, comic books, DVDs and magazines (Ibid., p. 140).
The above suggests that students in Australia study Japanese in order to learn
Japanese, but not to use Japanese. Learning itself has become the purpose of learning.
A reason why the main purpose of many students in Australia is to ‘learn’ (or passively use) Japanese but not to ‘use’ Japanese in active interactions is also possibly related to the nature of beginner-level Japanese programs in educational institutions.
When they start to learn a foreign language, many learners tend to go to school or at least buy a textbook so that they can understand basic linguistic structures of a target language. The education system, including textbooks for foreign languages, tends to emphasise the acquisition and understanding of linguistic structures. Nihongo kyôiku jiten, a dictionary of Japanese language education, indicates that the primary purpose of “orthodox” approaches to beginner- level Japanese education is to acquire the basics of Japanese phonetics and written language (Nishiguchi, 2004, p.98). In educational institutions, in order to achieve this goal, curricula of beginners’ Japanese language programs are often based on the accumulation of knowledge of basic grammar and sentence patterns through textbooks. In most curricula based on the
3 orthodox approach, class activities are organised as 1) introduction of new grammar or a sentence pattern; 2) simple practice of the new grammar or sentence pattern; and
3) applied or more complex practice of the new grammar or sentence pattern. The order in which new linguistic structures are introduced often follows the contents of a particular textbook that a teacher or a course coordinator chooses (Nishiguchi, 2004, p. 99). Thus, for a teacher, in a classroom the main concern is whether he/she can
“cover” the contents of the textbook that he/she is supposed to teach during the session. In this environment, it is viewed as fatal to fall behind the schedule in order to accumulate the knowledge of Japanese linguistic structures within a limited period such as a semester. For a student, the main focus is whether he/she can acquire the contents of a textbook because the student is evaluated through his/her performance on whether he/she can reproduce the linguistic structures based on a textbook in tests.
It is generally considered that the acquisition of linguistic structures is the easiest and the most objective way to observe a learner’s progress.
In order to carry out lessons effectively in terms of satisfying the above teachers and students’ concerns, a specific interaction sequence is dominant in most classrooms. According to Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) and Mehan (1985), typical classroom interaction sequences in the instructional phase of lessons or ‘teacher- fronted contexts’ (Ohta, 1999) have three interconnected parts: an initiation act, a response act, and a feedback act (in Mehan’s terms, they are initiation, reply, and evaluation) (hereafter IRF). As teachers tend to take the initiation turns of the IRF sequences and learners’ participation is often restricted to the response turns of the
IRF sequences, when the IRF sequences are dominant in interaction the classroom often becomes teacher-centred (Ohta, 1999). Thus, many learners and teachers have been socialised into a strong and persistent idea that learning a foreign language is
4 equal to the acquisition of linguistic structures of a target language in teacher-fronted contexts.
There have been many attempts to redress the perception that learning a foreign language in teacher-fronted contexts is equivalent to the acquisition of the linguistic structures of a target language. In Australia in the 1980s, Neustupný first indicated the importance of a sociolinguistic analysis of concrete situations in
Japanese language contexts (e.g., Neustupný, 1989, 1995) and many other scholars such as Thomson (1997, 2002, 2007a, 2007b), Thomson and Masumi-So (1999), and
Miyazaki (2000) have applied sociolinguistic and/or sociocultural approaches to
Japanese language education in order to improve Japanese language education placing too much emphasis on the acquisition of linguistic structures in teacher-fronted contexts. However, most of these attempts are organised for intermediate and/or advanced Japanese learners. The main reason for this tendency is a persistent belief that most beginner-level Japanese program curricula in educational institutional settings should be based on the accumulation of linguistic structures and, consequently, the sociolinguistic aspects of Japanese language are subordinated to the teaching of linguistic structures. In addition, due to the nature of activities in which students interact with Japanese people, most of those approaches require certain levels of Japanese proficiency (e.g., Thomson and Masumi-So 1999, Miyazaki 2000, and
Thomson 2002, 2007a). However, since both teachers and students tend to consider that there are many limitations in terms of the use of Japanese for beginner-level students, it may be difficult to devise interesting events/activities for beginner-level students. In short, in most curricula, students first learn the linguistic structures of
Japanese and then, once they understand some basic linguistic structures, they learn
5 sociolinguistic aspects of Japanese through a variety of activities which are different from the typical classroom activities.
While recognising the above problems in beginner-level Japanese programs in educational institutional settings in Australia, in the present study I attempt to create a classroom environment that enhances a beginner-level learner’s ability to use
Japanese as a means of self-expression. In the following sections, the research focuses and contributions of the present research are described.
1.1. Research areas, focuses, and contributions
The main purpose of this research is to utilise sociocultural approaches in a beginner-level Japanese language program in an institutional setting in Australia that aims to enable ‘Japanese language learners’ to become ‘Japanese language users’1. In the study, while the idea of Ohta (1999) that learning a language is to participate in a new interactional routine is taken into consideration, ‘using a language as a way of self-expression’ is defined as a state whereby a learner can expand and transform linguistic structures as well as sociolinguistic aspects of a target language that he/she has learnt in accordance with contexts and use them appropriately and effectively to meet individual goals. If a learner is in such a state, he/she may be known as a
‘language user’. However, it is worth noting that ‘being a language user’ does not mean that a learner has to act and use a target language he/she has learnt in the same way as a native speaker of a target language. Moreover, although the acquisition of some basic linguistic structures is necessary, ‘being a language user’ does not indicate that a learner is at an advanced level of a target language in terms of acquisition of
1 The terms, language learners and language users, are taken from the conference abstract of Dr. Croker’s presentation, Stretching classroom walls: connecting the classroom to a language interaction space, at the conference of the Independent Learning Association 2007, at Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba, Japan (5th-8th OCT, 2007).
6 linguistic structures. If a goal for learning a target language set by a learner is fulfilled through the acquisition of basic linguistic structures and sociolinguistic aspects of a target language and their application, a beginner may use a target language as a means of self-expression and, consequently, may be deemed a language user in particular contexts.
In order to examine the above main research purpose, this research explores three main areas. The first area is the learners’ sense of community: the way in which the activities and instruments of the revision course influence the development of the learners’ sense of community in the classroom will be examined. The second area is quality and functions of classroom interactions: the way in which the instruments, especially classroom roles, the researcher has created in the study influence classroom interactions and how interactions influence classroom quality to become language users will be examined. The third area is acquisition and use of linguistic structures: acquisition of linguistic structures is one of the most important aspects of learning a foreign language and a process of acquisition and the use of learnt linguistic structures as a means of self-expression will be examined.
By analysing the above factors, this research makes a number of possible contributions to Japanese language pedagogy. First, it indicates the significance of functions of interaction in the classroom and the development of a sense of community. Interactions not only provide an opportunity to teach/learn linguistic structures but also develop communication skills which are also crucial factors if one of the primary functions of languages is to communicate with others and to build human relationships. As Young (1999) and Aikawa (2000) demonstrate, communication skills (‘interactional competence’ in Young’s terms and ‘social skills’ in Aikawa’s terms) must be learnt through actual interaction. Thus, if learners become
7 used to only the IRF sequences in teacher-fronted contexts, it is difficult to build effective human relationships in a target language. In the present study, in which the learner is the leader of activities, a different sort of interaction from the typical IRF sequences in teacher-fronted contexts has emerged. As a consequence, the quality and quantity of interaction in the classroom alter, enabling learners to develop their communication skills in Japanese.
Second, the present study demonstrates the process of acquiring a linguistic structure through activities designed to develop learners’ ability to autonomously choose what they want to learn and use in terms of learning Japanese and use it as a means of self-expression. This indicates that beginner-level learners should be given a variety of opportunities to develop learner autonomy and to use Japanese as a means of self-expression so they may be more confident and comfortable using Japanese.
Third, the present research describes the learning process of individual learners during the review session in terms of participation. It confirms the concept of legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) that learning is not only the acquisition of linguistic structures but also a learner’s way of participating in a community and changing his/her identity in the course of participation. Thus, the study suggests that education systems and teaching styles in the classroom with greater focus on individual learners will be necessary, as each individual has his/her own way to participate in a classroom community.
1.2. Summary of theoretical framework: Sociocultural approach
Sociocultural approaches (hereafter SCT) are adopted as the main theoretical framework for designing the research and analysing the collected data. Unlike the dominant learning theories such as the approaches of behaviourists, linguists and
8 cognitive theorists, which consider and treat knowledge and skills as substantial objects that one person can pass to another person, SCT emphasises a number of unique points for learning. I quote some statements in order to summarise the following three points (i.e., Mediation, Activity, and Legitimate Peripheral
Participation) here. Further details of SCT, including other important points, are given in Chapter 2.
Mediation
…feature of the labour process that is performed in conditions of joint, collective activity, so that man functions in this process not only in a certain relationship with nature but also to other people, members of a given society. Only through a relation with other people does man relate to nature itself, which means that labour appears from the very beginning as a process mediated by tools (in the broad sense) and at the same time mediated socially (Leont’ev, 1981, p. 208, cited in Engestrom and Miettinen, 1999, p. 4).
People do not act directly on the physical world but rather rely on culturally constructed artefacts such as physical tools, symbolic tools, and signs (e.g., language), which allow us to change the world.
Activity as a unit of analysis (Activity theory)
There exists a dynamic meaningful system that constitutes a unity of affective and intellectual processes… In this way, analysis into units makes it possible to see the relationship between the individual’s needs or inclinations and his thinking. It also allows us to see the opposite relationship, the relationship that links his thought to the dynamics of behavior, to the concrete activity of the personality (Vygotsky, 1987, pp. 50-51).
9 According to Vygotsky, “human behavior results from the integration of socially and culturally constructed forms of mediation into human activity” (Lantolf,
2000, p. 8). Luria (1979) describes the system that results from the integration of artefacts into human activity as a ‘functional system’ and Vygotsky argues that it is necessary to study its formation (i.e., its history) and activity rather than its structure in order to understand the functional system (Lantolf, 2000, p. 8).
Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP)
…learners inevitably participate in communities of practitioners and the mastery of knowledge and skill requires newcomers to move toward full participation in the sociocultural practices of a community (Lave and Wenger, 1999, p. 29).
Lave and Wenger (1991) describe the learning process of ‘identity of mastery’ through the apprenticeship of a tailor and introduce the concept of LPP. In LPP, an individual enters into a community which contains organised resources for learning as a legitimate member and, while gradually changing his/her role in the community, the individual more deeply participates in the activity in the community. Thus, an individual’s participation in activities is the main factor of analysis in the concept of
LPP.
In order to understand a learning process in the classroom, SCT may provide a more appropriate approach than other theories, as it takes into consideration social and cultural aspects of learning. Thus, in the present study SCT is adopted as the main theoretical framework.
10 1.3. Summary of Methodology
In order to investigate the above main research question, as the main instrument of the present study Japanese language revision sessions (hereafter, the revision courses) were devised. A classroom is a unique but appropriate place to start using Japanese because of the low risk of encountering problems due to a lack of
Japanese knowledge and communication skills (Saijo, 2007). In a classroom, there are usually only learners and a teacher and very rarely other people present. Thus, the social roles in a classroom are well defined. In addition, all members in a classroom understand that all learners come to learn something common, such as Japanese language. Thus, making mistakes regarding what they are learning does not constitute a big problem in terms of interpersonal relationships in the classroom, despite the fact that learners would rather not make mistakes. Thus, in comparison with many other settings, a classroom is a risk-free (or lower-risk) setting, enabling learners to start exploring their Japanese abilities and using Japanese without paying too much attention to social and personal relationships. The following table (Table 1.1) summarises the number of participants, the criteria used to select participants as learners, the time periods of the revision courses, the main flow of each day in the revision courses, and the methods of data collection.
11
Table 1.1. A brief summary of the revision courses
# of Participants Preliminary study (learners: 3, teacher: 1, researcher: 1) Main study (learners: 13, teacher: 1, researcher: 1) Participants as learners Students who have completed the first year of Japanese courses (JAPN1000 and JAPN1001) at UNSW Periods 5 days (4 hours/day): a total of 20 hours for each study The main flow of each day 1) An introduction: today’s topic and objectives 2) A review of the linguistic structures for today’s topic 3) An activity with a video 4) Practice for today’s role-play 5) Role-play 6) Dictation test 7) Kanji・Katakana quizzes 8) Practice for a skit 9) Review of today’s class Data collection Participant observation (including video and audio recording) A questionnaire Learning journals Interviews Simple Performance-Oriented Test (SPOT)
In order for the classroom in the revision courses to resemble a community which enables the learners to use Japanese as a means of self-expression, a number of instruments/activities are arranged as follows. The details of each instrument/activity are described in Chapter 3.
Instruments
Based on an expanded version of Vygotsky’s triadic model made by
Engestrom (1999, p. 31) (see Figure 2.3.), the following roles, rules, and artefacts are designed.
Roles
12 Nicchoku: a classroom/activity leader who carries out some activities in the revision course
Jishogakari: a dictionary-person who searches for the meaning of words/expressions and shares it with the learners
Stamp-gakari: a stamp-person who evaluates the learners’ performance in activities and gives a stamp to those who contribute to the class
Rules
Use of Japanese/English in the classroom is specified in each classroom activity.
Only Japanese is permitted.
Japanese should be used as much as possible but some English is permitted
in some instances such as discussion.
Free use of both Japanese and English is permitted but use of Japanese is
recommended.
Changing of places when taking a seat
Every day the learners change places when taking a seat so they can interact
with a variety of learners in the classroom.
Artefacts
Name-plate
Each learner makes a name-plate in order to remember other learners’ names
and enhance active participation in activities.
Arrangement of desks
To increase interaction, a closer configuration of desks is used (see Figure 3.1. and 3.2.)
13 Activities
Selection of the contents of the revision course: The learners choose the contents they want to review in the revision courses on the first day of the revision course.
Video activity: The learners watch a video related to the daily topic. This is an activity to enhance the learners’ ability to choose what kind of vocabulary or expressions they want to learn and use.
Role-plays: The learners carry out a role-play activity based on the topic of each day.
This is an activity to enhance the use of Japanese as a means of self-expression.
Dictation tests and kanji-katakana quizzes with a nicchoku as a leader: A nicchoku carries out dictation tests and kanji-katakana quizzes as a leader. This is an activity to make the classroom learner-centred as well as enhance the use of Japanese as a means of self-expression.
Skit: The learners form groups of three or four people and each group creates and performs a skit in Japanese. On the fifth day, all the groups present a skit in front of the classroom. This is an activity to enhance learners’ participation and use of
Japanese as a means of self-expression, as well as their sense of achievement in the end of the revision course.
1.4. Structure of the thesis
In Chapter 1, the educational context and the research focus of this thesis were described. Chapter 2 provides a literature review, building a theoretical foundation for
14 the present research. First, the problem of school education and the dominant learning theories are described; then SCT, the main theoretical framework of the present research, is discussed in detail.
Chapter 3 focuses on the methodology of the present study. The ways in which the revision courses were formulated and presented and how the data to be analysed in Chapter 4, 5, and 6 were collected are presented in this chapter.
Chapter 4, 5, and 6 consist of the results and discussion of each research area on which the researcher focuses based on the main research question. Chapter 4 discusses the development of the learners’ sense of community in the classroom of the revision course, using the concept of a sense of community proposed by McMillan and Chavis (1986). Chapter 5 focuses on ‘interaction’, mainly discussing the roles specially designed for the revision courses. Chapter 6 describes ‘the acquisition of a verb, ogoru (it means ‘treat’ in English)’ and ‘its practical use as a means of self- expression’. In this chapter, activities specially designed for the revision courses are treated as a complete device to achieve the use of the linguistic structure as a means of self-expression.
Chapter 7 presents the conclusion of this thesis. It reviews the findings from the present study as well as providing a final discussion of the study’s significance, limitations, and suggestions for future research.
15 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0. Introduction to this chapter
In Chapter 2, by examining various theoretical perspectives and empirical research, the literature review builds on the concepts of learning and a beginners’
Japanese language program. The purpose of these discussions is to contextualise the research questions and to develop a theoretical framework as the basis for this thesis.
In the following sections, first, in order to identify a number of problems regarding education, the characteristics of the education system will be described.
Then, in order to draw a contrast to the sociocultural approach to learning, the basic concepts of three dominant theories of language learning are described. Finally, as the main theoretical framework of the present study, the sociocultural approach and its application to language education are discussed.
2.1. School Learning
In this section, several key characteristics of education in educational institutions are identified and explained as important aspects of the research context.
An historically specific type of learning known as school learning (Miettinen, 1999, p. 325) and one of the most important artefacts in school, a textbook, will be mainly discussed in this section.
According to Miettinen (1999, p. 325), school has been considered an institution dominated by an historically specific type of learning called ‘school learning’ or ‘school-going activity’. School learning is characterised by memorisation and reproduction of school text and is often accompanied by an instrumental motivation for school success that tends to eliminate substantive interest in the phenomena and knowledge to be studied (Miettinen, 1999, p. 325). Fichtner (1984),
16 who analysed the cultural and social history of learning from an activity-theoretical viewpoint, indicates that the emergence of the phonetic alphabet gave birth to the school and the most important artefact of the school institution: ‘a decontextualised, independent text’ (cited in Miettinen, 1999, pp. 325-326). The decontextualised, independent text has had a significant influence on the learning process at school because it has resulted in the essence of learning at school being memorising, repeating, and reproducing the text (Fichtner, 1984, cited in Miettinen, 1999). Making a connection with the conception of knowledge during the Middle Ages, Fichtner
(1984) further states, “Knowledge is understanding text. Getting to know reality means to learn what the authorities wrote about it” (p. 53). Thus, in school, reality exists within text. Because the reality created by a decontextualised text is different from the reality outside the school, most of us face difficulty in applying the materials we learn in the classroom to life beyond the classroom. This disconnection between the materials learned in school and the activities outside of school has frequently been raised. Apple (1986) stated, “It is estimated, for example, that 75 percent of the time elementary and secondary students are in the classroom and 90 percent of their time on homework is spent with text materials” (p. 85). A similar kind of problem has been identified in vocational colleges, which are supposed to offer very effective connections between materials, and students learn at school and in their work outside the school (see e.g., Miettinen, 1999).
The reason for this disconnection is the historical isolation of school from other social activities and, as a result, the text to be studied is isolated from the life activity of the learners (Miettinen, 1999, p.325). In beginner-level Japanese studies, as most curricula are built in accordance with the accumulation of linguistic structures, the exploration of social and cultural aspects of the Japanese language are often
17 subordinated to the instruction of linguistic structures. As a consequence, learners do not have many opportunities to explore how to connect the materials they learn in class with their life beyond the classroom. Thus, it is difficult for many learners to identify themselves as language users.
This problem associated with school learning has been observed since the end of the nineteenth century. For example, John Dewey (1898, p. 324) observed how learners lose their capacity to observe and analyse objects and phenomena themselves due to the passive reception and memorisation of text; “Their first reaction is that of helplessness when they are told that they must go to the object itself and let it tell its own story. It seems much simpler to occupy the mind with what someone else has said about these things” (cited in Miettinen, 1999, p. 326).
Indeed, a variety of stakeholders, such as parents, teachers, and authorities, have indicated an awareness of various problems associated with school. Cuban (2001) somewhat cynically pointed out,
If any aspect of schooling in the past two centuries has escaped the reformers’ passion for improvement, I have not found it. From ineffective teaching to unhealthy lunches, from insufficient parental involvement to inadequate science curricula, from mixing grade levels in classrooms to building schools without walls—no aspect of schooling has evaded the reformers’ scrutiny (p. 1).
Moreover, even though today we have new technologies in the classroom, most classroom activities are still conducted as they were a generation ago (Cuban,
2001). Goodlad and Klein (1970), who observed 150 classrooms in 13 different states in the United States, stated, “Our observers had grave difficulty gathering evidence regarding what teachers were endeavoring to accomplish in the classroom apart from
18 coverage of the topics selected largely by courses of study and textbooks” (p. 78).
Such arguments demonstrate that the limitation of traditional school learning has been recognised for a long time, yet there has been virtually no effective solution to the problem.
The characteristics of Japanese language education for beginners have been consistent for a long time. Nishiguchi (2004, p.96) indicates that most ‘Japanese as a second language’ programs for beginners who hope to attend a university or a vocational school are based on the acquisition of the linguistic structures of Japanese, such as grammar and sentence patterns. This is the case even after the
“communicative approach”, which revolutionised many aspects of language education, was introduced into Japanese language education during the 1980s. Thus, even today many beginner learners of Japanese have difficulty connecting the knowledge and experience they learn or have in the classroom to the life beyond the classroom due to, at least partially, the nature of school learning being based on decontextualised, independent text.
According to Miettinen (1999, p. 328), frame factors of teaching and the teachers’ socialisation into the frame factors influence the persistence of the pattern of school learning. Frame factors are;
institutional and physical factors such as curriculum, time, number of pupils, and the classroom as a physical space. These frame factors, taken as practical necessities, are said to determine teachers’ behavior. The traditional model of teaching and classroom interaction is a necessary ‘habit’ or ‘theory in use’ by means of which teachers control the turbulent life of the classroom (Miettinen, 1999, p. 328). Denscombe (1982) makes a similar point; “There are, indeed, structural similarities in the organization of classrooms which account for the constancy of classroom experience and, hence, a continuity in expectations about the work of teaching” (p.
19 255, in the original the entire sentence is in italics). This socialisation process of teachers is politically and economically transmitted from one generation to another
(see e.g. Miettinen, 1999; Cuban, 2001). However, not only teachers but also learners are socialised by these factors. In many countries, children are obliged to attend school taught in large groups and are also required to move up to a higher grade at the end of each academic year, regardless of their abilities. Although materials they learn in each class and each year are different, the frame factors remain qualitatively unchanged. Thus, most learners understand their role as a student as well as most teachers understand their role as a teacher, even in educational institutions. For learners, the traditional model of classroom interaction is a necessary rule for playing a game called school learning. As with most of the other subjects, Japanese language classes in educational institutions contain very similar kinds of frame factors, which confirm the socialisation process and, when learners attend Japanese language classes in educational institutions, many teachers and learners of Japanese language are already socialised more or less by these factors due to their experience as a student.
According to Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) and Mehan (1985), typical classroom interaction sequences in instructional phases of lessons have three interconnected parts: an initiation act, a response act, and a feedback act (in Mehan’s terms they are initiation, reply and evaluation). In the three-part IRF sequences, there are two coupled adjacency pairs (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson, 1974), as follows
(Figure 2.1.):
Figure 2.1. IRF sequence (Mehan 1985, p.121)
Initiation Response Feedback
20
The first adjacency pair is the initiation-response sequence. The most important function of initiation is to elicit a response from the learners in the classroom, even though the response is optional (i.e. learners do not have to respond to the initiation turn taken by teachers and teachers may have to rephrase the information and/or question to elicit a response from the learners). When the first adjacency pair is completed, this pair becomes the first part of the second adjacency pair (Mehan, 1985). However, feedback that often consists of comments from teachers is also optional. A teacher almost always asks a question of learners because he/she wants to know whether learners understand the answer, rather than wanting to know the answer him or herself (Sinclair and Coulthard, 1975). As teachers occupy most of the initiation turns of the IRF sequences and learners’ participation is mostly restricted to the response turns of the IRF sequences, when IRF sequences are dominant in interaction the classroom often becomes teacher-centred (Ohta, 1999).
One of the most important functions of a language is communication. In order to effectively interact with others and build a good relationship with them,
‘interactional competence’ (Young 1999) is important. According to Young (1999, p.
118), “Interactional competence is a theory of the knowledge that participants bring to and realize in interaction and includes an account of how such knowledge is acquired.” It is also co-constructed in interaction rather than existing within the mind- brain of a single person (Young 1999). Thus, in order to acquire interactional competence, a learner has to participate in interaction.
Yazaki (2004) also emphasises the importance of communication ability in language education as well as ‘social skills’ to build a good human relationship with others. According to Aikawa (2000), social skills are learned skills to create and
21 maintain the relationship/interaction with others and social skills are not innate abilities but they are learned skills. Thus, in terms of social skills, the main reason that people cannot create and/or maintain a good relationship with others is not due to the individual’s personality but the fact that the individual has not acquired appropriate social skills to create and maintain a relationship in accordance with contexts
(Kobayashi and Aikawa, 1999). Learning social skills is one of the most important aspects in foreign language learning. Unlike the communicative approach, which tends to emphasise the development of the ability to pass on a variety of information to others, the idea of social skills tends to emphasise the skills to develop a human relationship (Yazaki, 2004). Acquisition of linguistic structures alone is not sufficient to develop effective interaction skills. Learners may face difficulties forming good human relationships with others in a target language they have learnt without interactional competence and/or social skills. Thus, it is important for learners to experience a variety of interactions in and outside the classroom, while taking different roles in interaction.
In this section, the characteristics and challenges of school learning have been discussed. As the main reason for the unique characteristics of school learning is at least partially concerned with concepts of ‘learning’, in the following section the ways in which ‘learning’ has been conceptualised will be described, by examining the three dominant views of learning (i.e., the behaviourists’ approach, linguists’ approach, and cognitive theorists’ approach).
2. 2. Concepts of learning
The characteristics and problems of school learning were discussed in the previous section. Because the unique characteristics of school learning are at least
22 partially concerned with a number of theoretical views of learning, while identifying the main claims and challenges of each approach, the three dominant approaches (i.e., behaviourists’, linguists’ and cognitive theorists’ approaches) to learning will be examined in this section.
Learning has been conceptualised through a number of approaches.
Behaviourists consider that learning is based on the relationships between particular environmental stimuli and physical reactions to the stimuli (see Watson, 1924;
Thorndike, 1932; Skinner, 1957). While human beings are exposed to numerous stimuli in their environment, their response to such stimuli will be reinforced if a desired outcome is obtained and a certain stimulus will elicit the same response through repeated reinforcement (Mitchell and Myles, 2004, p. 30). Then, the relationship of stimulus-response pairing will become a habit (Ibid., 2004, pp. 30-31).
In short, according to the behaviourist view, learning is based on the formation of habits through reinforcement (for increasing desirable behaviour) and punishment (for stopping or decreasing undesirable behaviour).
The concept of learning based on the behaviourist view is still influential. It is often considered important for learners first to learn the ‘basis’ or ‘foundation’ while engaging in repeated practice (Nishiguchi, 1999, p. 8). For example, when children learn Japanese calligraphy, they have to repeatedly practice easy and basic Japanese characters (kanji) so that they can later apply the writing skills they have learned to more difficult and complex characters. Based on this view, knowledge and skills are considered as blocks and learning a process of piling the blocks on top of one another in a particular way. Thus, according to conceptions of learning (and teaching) based on the behaviourist view, learning has been considered the accumulation of behavioural patterns that will be useful later.
23 Unlike the behaviourist view, the linguists’ view pays more attention to the inner forces that drive the learning process. According to Chomsky (1959)2, children are often able to create new sentences that they have never learned before because they internalise complex and abstract linguistic rules. For example, children create utterances such as ‘it breaked’ or ‘Mummy goed’ after learning how to make the regular past form of verbs and these utterances clearly indicate that they are applying rules (Mitchell and Myles, 2004, p. 33). Thus, Chomsky claimed that children have an innate mechanism, called ‘Universal Grammar’, that guides them in their learning of language (especially of their first language) (see Chomsky, 1957, 1965, 1981, 1986a,
1986b, 1995, 2000).
Although Chomsky’s ideas have been very influential in the study of language acquisition, there are a certain number of criticisms of his views. Not only is it difficult to prove that there is a specific inner mechanism called Universal Grammar but it is also problematic that the Universal Grammar theorists pay very little attention to individual differences and to learners as social beings (Nishiguchi, 1999, p. 9;
Mitchell and Myles, 2004, p. 94). In order to understand language learning, it is very important to take into consideration not only the ‘language’ component but also the
‘learning’ component. ‘Language’ is a component of language learning and, without understanding a learner as a social being, it is difficult to draw a clear picture of the learning process as a whole.
Although cognitive theorists mainly focus on the learner as an independent individual, they are interested in the learner’s performance rather than competence, in which Universal Grammar theorists are primarily interested (Mitchell and Myles,
2004:95-96). For example, according to processing approaches such as McLaughlin’s
2 In 1959, Chomsky published a review of Skinner’s (1957) book, Verbal Behavior, and criticised Skinner’s views fiercely in this review.
24 (1987, 1990) information-processing model, learning is considered as the movement from controlled to automatic processing through repeated practice (Mitchell and
Myles, p. 2004, p. 101). By paying attention to the learner or his/her performance, cognitive approaches have provided a large contribution to the understanding of language acquisition, especially for the processing mechanisms in second- or foreign- language acquisition such as “transfer” and “fossilisation”.
The cognitive theorists’ view of learning has also influenced western education. Essentially, the view emphasises that human beings are not good at engaging in memorisation without understanding meaning and, therefore, it is necessary to give meaning to a task and to reconstruct the information through his/her own persuasive way (Nishiguchi, 1999, p. 9). Then, an individual systematically retains the knowledge in his/her head and draws out the knowledge effectively when he/she faces a problem (Nishiguchi, 1999, p. 7). Thus, teaching methods such as
Cognitive Code-Learning Theory, based on the views of cognitive theorists, emphasise the acquisition of the conscious categorisation of language rules rather than simple repeated practice (Nishiguchi, 1999, p. 9).
However, like the linguists such as the Universal Grammar theorists, most cognitive theorists are concerned primarily with an independent individual rather than with an individual as a social being (Nishiguchi 1999, p. 9, Mitchell and Myles 2004, p.129). If our life is based on the complex relationships between various people and artefacts, in order to understand ‘learning’ it is necessary to take into consideration the social and cultural components of learning.
In short, the main reason these approaches are very limited in terms of their understanding of the learning process is that they consider and treat knowledge and skills as substantial objects that one person can pass to another person. When they
25 approach learning or the acquisition of knowledge, they are basically treating knowledge as a ball and the learning process as an effective way in which an individual throws the ball into a container called the brain. Thus, their main focuses are often individual attributes (see e.g., Piaget3, 1970). However, a question to be considered is whether learning is simply an individual’s acquisition of knowledge and skills, throwing many balls into a container mainly through text. The sociocultural approach has a different answer to this question and, thus, the main claims of the sociocultural approach are discussed in the next section.
2. 3. Sociocultural approach
In this section, in order to differentiate the sociocultural approach from the previous three approaches to learning, two of the most important concepts of sociocultural theory4 (hereafter SCT), mediation and activity, are briefly discussed.
In SCT, learning is considered a socially constructed process or activity mediated by artefacts. There are two important factors in this concept. The first important factor is ‘mediation’. The idea that ‘the human mind is mediated’ is the most fundamental concept of SCT (Lantolf, 2000, p. 1, italics in original). Primarily, we do not act directly on the physical world but rather rely on culturally constructed artefacts such as physical tools, symbolic tools, and signs (e.g., language), which allow us to change the world.
3 Piaget argued that language was simply one manifestation of the more general skill of symbolic representation. It is acquired as a stage in general cognitive development (Mitchell and Myles, 2004, p. 13). 4 In this paper, there is no difference in meaning between the terms, sociocultural approach and sociocultural theory.
26 Figure 2.2. Vygotsky’s triadic model (Kato and Arimoto 2001, p. 7; Lantolf and Thorne 2006, pp. 61-62)
Artefact
. Subject Object
Figure 2.2. graphically describes L. S. Vygotsky’s model of action (Vygotsky’s triadic model) representing the fact that the relationship between people and the world is indirect or mediated (indicated by the solid arrows), as well as direct (indicated by the dotted arrow) (Kato and Arimoto 2001, p. 7; Lantolf and Thorne 2006, pp. 61-62).
The direct relationship includes aspects such as involuntary attention5, involuntary reflexes6, and involuntary memory7 (Lantolf and Thorne, 2006, p. 62). The indirect relationship includes the historically cumulative cultural generation of auxiliary means or artefacts that mediate the relationship between ourselves and objects (mental or physical) (Lantolf and Thorne. 2006, p. 62). Drawing directly on Karl Marx and
Fredrick Engels, Leont’ev (1981, p. 208) also emphasises the importance of mediated processes of action:
…a feature of the labour process is that it is performed in conditions of joint, collective activity, so that man functions in this process not only in a certain relationship with nature but also to other people, members of a given society. Only through a relation with other people does man relate to nature itself,
5 According to Lantolf and Thorne (2006: 62), for example, it occurs when we turn unthinkingly toward a sudden noise. 6 According to Lantolf and Thorne (2006: 62), for example, it occurs when we move to avoid being struck by an object hurtling towards us. 7 According to Lantolf and Thorne (2006: 62), for example, it occurs when we recall highly emotional and personal events in our lives, often in the form of a vivid image.
27 which means that labour appears from the very beginning as a process mediated by tools (in the broad sense) and at the same time mediated socially (cited in Engestrom and Miettinen, 1999, p. 4).
Thus, in SCT, mediation is a key concept in the understanding of human activities.
The second important factor is activity. According to L.S. Vygotsky, “human behaviour results from the integration of socially and culturally constructed forms of mediation into human activity” (Lantolf, 2000, p. 8). Luria (1979) describes the system that results from the integration of artefacts into human activity as a functional system and Vygotsky argues that it is necessary to study its formation (i.e., its history) and activity rather than its structure in order to understand the functional system)
(Lantolf, 2000, p. 8). For example, Beach (1993), who studied bartenders based on
SCT, emphasises that being a bartender does not merely constitute the acquisition of knowledge and skills to make cocktails but it comprises his/her life as a bartender. As such, it is as important to have a chat with customers and to receive tips as it is to acquire the knowledge and skills to make cocktails. Thus, without observing and analysing the bartender’s activity in a concrete context, it is very difficult to understand the meaning of being a bartender. This study is similar to Lave and
Wenger’s (1991) famous ethnographic study of a tailor in Western Africa. In the study, they describe the learning process of ‘identity of mastery’ through the apprenticeship of a tailor and introduce the concept of ‘Legitimate Peripheral
Participation’ (hereafter LPP) (see Lave and Wenger 1991). In LPP, an individual enters a community which contains organised resources for learning as a legitimate member and, while gradually changing his/her role in the community, the individual more deeply participates in the activity in the community. Thus, an individual’s participation in activities is the main factor of analysis in the concept of LPP.
28 Ohta (1999, p. 1496) applied LPP to language learning process. While focusing on the acquisition of interactional routines, she summarised a possible sequence of learning a foreign/second language for adults as follows
In order to acquire an interactional routine, participation is essential. At first, such participation may be peripheral. Limited peripheral participation (Lave and Wenger, 1991), where the novice is a ratified observer but not a primary participant, has been shown to be a key part of socialization processes. In learning a new routine, the adult learner, or novice, is at first an observer, or minimally participates in the routine. Scaffolding (Wood et al., 1976) allows the novice to progressively participate more actively. Through this process, the novice develops a basic understanding both of the function of the routine, as well as the resources needed to do the routine. Through repeated participation, the novice becomes able to anticipate how the routine is likely to unfold, and begins to participate more and more actively. The next step is expansion of participation in the routine to a wider variety of contexts, and with this broader participation comes understanding of the sociocultural importance of the roles played by different interlocutors, and the deeper meanings associated with the routine. Ultimately, the novice is able to use the routine more independently, finally expanding and transforming the routine and using it to meet individual goals.
In the present study, these ideas are applied to learning the Japanese language.
Learning the Japanese language does not only mean the acquisition of knowledge of linguistic structures but also refers to how a learner of Japanese language creates, understands and/or changes his/her identity (e.g., what kind of person he/she wants to be or can be by learning Japanese) through participation in activities in Japanese language education. From the perspective of SCT, the classroom can be considered a site of activity created by a variety of artefacts and learning can be considered a socially and culturally constructed activity. Therefore, activity is a key factor in the analysis of Japanese language education and the creation of a beginner-level Japanese
29 language course that aims to enable language learners to become language users. The concept of activity in SCT will be described in detail in the next section.
2.4. Activity Theory
This section explores how a range of scholars developed one of the most important and unique approaches in SCT, called activity theory, considering mediation and activity as methods of analysis of human behaviour and thought. Based on his criticism of the methods of analysis in the study of the psychological structure of thought and language, Vygotsky proposes a different approach to the understanding of thought and language. According to Vygotsky (1962), most psychologists adopt a method that analyses complex psychological wholes through breaking them down into elements. Using ‘…the chemical analysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen, neither of which possesses the properties of the whole and each of which possesses properties not present in the whole’ (p. 3) as an example,
Vygotsky (1962) criticises this method of analysis as follows:
Psychology winds up in the same kind of dead end when it analyzes verbal thought into its components, thought and word, and studies them in isolation from each other. In the course of analysis, the original properties of verbal thought have disappeared. Nothing is left to the investigator but to search out the mechanical interaction of the two elements in the hope of reconstructing, in a purely speculative way, the vanished properties of the whole (p. 3).
Thus, Vygotsky (1962) proposes another type of analysis called analysis into units (p.
5).
A unit is a product of analysis which possesses all the basic properties of the whole and which cannot be further divided without losing the basic properties
(Vygotsky, 1962, p. 5). Vygotsky (1962) considers that the unit of verbal thought is
30 word meaning because not only is a word without meaning an empty sound but also each word is a generalisation of thought. Thus, the method with which to analyse the nature of verbal thought is semantic analysis—the study of the development, the functioning, and the structure of this unit containing thought and speech interrelated
(Vygotsky. 1962, p. 5).
Despite the relevant concern of Vygotsky that a unit maintaining the properties of the whole must be analysed rather than each element being analysed separately, it is difficult to agree that word meaning is such a unit. Wertsch (1985, p.197) indicates the difficulty of perceiving mediated processes such as memory or attention in the microcosm of word sense. Word meaning alone is not adequate to understand the complex contexts of human life. Leont’ev (1978) also argues the inadequacy of word meaning as a unit to be analysed because word meaning is too far removed from the concrete activity of people in their world. Thus, some scholars
(e.g., Leont’ev, 1978; Wertsch, 1985) argue that the appropriate unit of analysis is
‘tool-mediated goal-directed action’ (Lantolf, 2000, p. 7) and the sociocultural approach based on this idea is called activity theory.
According to many scholars (e.g., Engestrom and Miettinen, 1999; Engestrom
1999; Davydov, 1999; Lantolf and Thorne, 2006), the theorising processes of activity theory were initiated by the founders of the cultural-historical school of Russian psychology, L. S. Vygotsky, A. R. Luria, and A. N. Leont’ev, whose philosophical roots of activity were largely influenced by the work of Karl Marx. Activity theory is based primarily on Vygotsky’s claim that human behaviour results from the integration of socially and culturally constructed forms of mediation into human activity (Lantolf, 2000, p. 8). However, unlike Vygotsky, who has not integrated mediation by others and social relations into the triadic model of action due to the
31 lack of a clear distinction between collective activity and individual action, Leont’ev
(1981) distinguishes between them, describing a group hunt as an example:
A beater, for example, taking part in a primeval collective hunt, was stimulated by a need for food or, perhaps, a need for clothing, which the skin of dead animal would meet for him. At what, however, was his activity directly aimed? It may have been directed, for example, at frightening a herd of animals and sending them toward other hunters, hiding in ambush. That, properly speaking, is what should be the result of the activity of this man. And the activity of this individual member of the hunt ends with that. The rest is completed by the other members. This result, i.e., the frightening of game, etc., understandably does not in itself, and may not, lead to satisfaction of the beater’s need for food, or the skin of the animal. What the processes of his activity were directed to did not, consequently, coincide with what stimulated them, i.e., did not coincide with the motive of his activity; the two were divided from one another in this instance. Processes, the object and motive of which do not coincide with another, we shall call “action.” We can say, for example, that the beater’s activity is the hunt, and the frightening of the game [is] his action (p. 210).
Leont’ev (1978) further elaborates upon the concept of activity while considering a motive as the key factor. Lantolf (2000) intelligibly summarises the concept of activity in Leont’ev’s theory:
…it [activity] is doing something that is motivated either by a biological need, such as hunger, or a culturally constructed need, the need to be literate in certain cultures. Needs become motives once they become directed as a specific object. Thus, hunger does not become a motive until people decide to seek food; similarly, literacy does not become a motive for activity until people decide to learn to read and write. Motives are only realized in specific actions that are goal directed (hence, intentional and meaningful) and carried out under particular spatial and temporal conditions (or what are also referred to as operations) and through appropriate mediational means.
32 Thus, an activity comprises three levels: the level of motivation, the level of action, and the level of conditions (p. 8, italics in original).
According to Lantolf (2000, p.8), activities can be directly observed by others at the level of conditions. However, the motives and goals of particular activities cannot be determined solely from the level of concrete ‘doing’ because the same observable activity can be linked to different goals and motives and different concrete activities can be linked to the same motives and goals (Lantolf, 2000, p. 8). For example, the primary motive of sport fishing is to enjoy catching fish, not to secure food, but the observable activity of sport fishing and fishing to secure food is the same. Moreover, the primary motive of fishing (not sport fishing) and cultivating fruits is the same (i.e., to secure food) but the observable activity of fishing is different from the observable activity of cultivating fruit. In short, activities are differentiated from each other not only by their concrete actions but also by their objects and motives.
Although Vygotsky, Luria, and Leont’ev provide new insight into the concept of activity, there are some associated limitations. One prominent limitation is that their model does not take into consideration the more complex social and collaborative nature of actions. Criticising Vygotsky’s triadic model (see Figure 2.2.) due to the lack of social and collaborative nature of actions, Engestrom (1999, p. 31) introduces an expanded model of Vygotsky’s triadic model, as shown in Figure 2.3.
33 Figure 2.3. An expanded model of Vygotsky’s triadic model (Engestrom 1999, p. 31)
Artefact
Subject Object
Rules Community Division of labour
In this model, community, rules, and division of labour are added because human activities are processes whereby an individual’s behaviour is regulated in terms of rules and roles within a given community (e.g., there is a variety of roles such as a teacher, a student, a coordinator, etc, in a school). Moreover, human activities often consist of the collaborative behaviour of various individuals (e.g., a learner often engages in classroom activities while collaborating with other learners).
Thus, in this model Engestrom tries to describe the social and collaborative nature of activity (see Engestrom, 1999, for greater detail). This model is useful for analysing
Japanese language classes because it takes into account the collaborative nature of school learning as well as the influence of the context of school education.
Although this model takes into consideration the social and collaborative nature of activity, there is a problem. An individual almost always belongs to a number of communities and, consequently, an individual’s behaviour and thought are influenced by not only the community that an individual is in at the time of the activity but also the other communities that an individual belongs to. Lantolf (2006)
34 indicates that an activity system such as a second-language classroom may be influenced by a variety of contexts. These may include learners’ experiences of using a foreign language for work or travel, their perceptions and evaluations of foreign cultures as they are represented in popular culture and the media, and their goals and aspirations (Lantolf, 2006, p. 225). In a Japanese class in which I participated, one student asked me why they (students) always use so-called desu-masu forms (a polite form) of Japanese when they talk to each other in class although his Japanese friends hardly ever use the desu-masu forms when they talk to one another. This example indicates that a learner actually learns Japanese not only in class but also in a variety of contexts outside the class and his/her learning process during the class is influenced by activities outside the class. Thus, it is also necessary to take the “inter-community” or “multiple-community” nature of an activity into consideration as well as the “intra- community” nature of an activity.
In addition, it is important to describe the nature of community carefully.
Despite the new insights that LPP provides into the concept of learning, it has been criticised for simply describing the process whereby an individual is assimilated into a group. Kato and Arimoto (2001) argue that Lave and Wenger’s (1991) concepts like
“community” and “identity” are given rather than being socially constructed through interaction with other people and artefacts. Thus, LPP lacks careful consideration of reciprocal relationships whereby an individual influences the organisation of a community as much as various attributes of the community, such as rules and roles that influence an individual’s activity. In the research, it is necessary to take into consideration not only how rules and roles in class influence a learner and/or a teacher but also how a learner and a teacher influence characteristics of a Japanese class.
35 The conceptualisation of activity theory has been described in this section.
Activity theory describes the relationship between a subject and an object as not only mediated by a variety of artefacts but also influenced by a variety of communities to which the subject belongs. In addition, it is argued that it is possible to analyse the social and collaborative nature of learning by adopting activity theory. In the next section, one of the most prominent of Vygotsky’s contributions to the concept of learning, the ‘zone of proximal development’, will be discussed. This concept further emphasises the importance of the social and collaborative nature of learning.
2.5. Zone of Proximal Development and Learner Autonomy
In this section, while the collaborative and social nature of learning and roles of teachers are taken into consideration, the concept of ‘zone of proximal development’ (hereafter ZPD) is discussed. Further, ‘learner autonomy’, which is significantly related to the collaborative and social nature of learning based on the
ZPD, is also discussed.
In general, many people, including teachers and learners, consider the role of a teacher is to import knowledge and skills to a learner, while a learner learns (or is taught) knowledge and skills from a teacher. However, the flow of knowledge and skills is not likely to be one-way, as many people may assume it to be. According to
Ishiguro (2004, p. 17), an individual learns or internalises knowledge through
“negotiation of meaning” using mediational means. For example, when a teacher introduces the meaning of a Japanese word shinsen (new or fresh) in a Japanese class, it is necessary to let learners examine the meaning of the word through an activity rather than to provide and confirm the literal meaning of shinsen as “new” or “fresh”.
This is because a thing can be “fresh” and not “new”, such as traditional Japanese arts
36 and crafts created several hundred years ago (while they are old, some may be fresh in terms of design, picture, colour, etc) (Ishiguro, 2004, pp. 16-17). This process of negotiation of meaning through activities is very important for the internalisation of knowledge and skills. Thus, the main role of a teacher is not to pass on knowledge and skills to learners but to support learners in the process of negotiation of meaning.
In SCT, there is a metaphorical concept known as the ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD), originally proposed by Vygotsky. According to Lantolf (2000),
“[the] ZPD is the difference between what a person can achieve when acting alone and what the same person can accomplish when acting with support from someone else and/or cultural artifacts” (p. 17). The ZPD is an important concept in this research, as it indicates that one of the roles of a teacher in school is to support a learner to accomplish things that he/she cannot achieve alone. Moreover, this concept indicates the importance of collaborative opportunities in class, as a learner may be able to support another learner to accomplish something that he/she cannot achieve alone and, consequently, a learner may enhance his/her ability to learn Japanese autonomously in and/or beyond the classroom through collaborative learning strategies. As Aoki (2001) states, ‘learner autonomy’8 can be enhanced by support from others and one of the important roles of teachers is to arrange learning environments to enhance learners’ learner autonomy.
Autonomy9 may be significantly related to a learner’s self-identity as a language user. Based on her studies of autonomy and willingness to communicate10 in
8 According to Aoki (2001), learner autonomy is a learner’s ability to understand his/her own needs and goals to learn something, create a plan, and take an action in order to fulfill his/her needs or achieve his/her goals (p. 189). 9 In this proposal, autonomy is defined by Little’s (2000, p. 69) idea: “Autonomy in language learning depends on the development and exercise of a capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision making and independent action (see Little 1991, p. 4); autonomous learners assume responsibility for determining the purpose, content, rhythm and method of their learning, monitoring its progress and evaluating its outcomes (Holec, 1981, p. 3) (cited in Benson, 2007, p. 23).
37 relation to people learning English, Yashima (2007) states, “As learners visualize their English-using selves more clearly, their focus of learning becomes clearer and learning English becomes an integrated part of their self-concept. Through this,
…they learn to become more autonomous learners with a sense of purpose in learning and using English” (cited in the programme and abstract of the conference of the
Independent Learning Association 2007, p. 53). From this perspective, if learners have opportunities to visualise a variety of situations in which they are using Japanese through collaborative activities in and/or beyond the classroom, their goals and purposes of learning will be clearer and, consequently, their motives for and enjoyment of learning and using Japanese will increase. Thus, based on the perspective that learning is a social and collaborative activity, it may be possible to create a Japanese language program that makes learners explorative and autonomous and connects learners’ classroom experience to life beyond the classroom.
In this section, the collaborative and social nature of learning has been described, while the possibility of a close relationship between collaborative activities and learner autonomy has been suggested. In the next section, the concept of
‘scaffolding’ (Wood, Bruner, and Rose, 1976) is introduced, as the concepts of scaffolding and ZPD are closely related in terms of helping learners’ learning process.
2.6. Scaffolding
As Wood (1988, p. 96) points out, “research on scaffolding assumes the existence of a ZPD by implying performance alone would be inferior”; thus, scaffolding is strongly related to the ZPD. The major characteristics of scaffolding are described in this section.
10 Yashima (2007) defines willingness to communicate as “a readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons.
38 In general terms, scaffolding guides performance. There are a number of studies in which scaffolding has been applied in pedagogical settings. The first of these was a study of the nature of the tutorial process proposed by Wood, Bruner, and
Rose (1976). In their study, while analysing the interaction between a tutor and children aged 3, 4, and 5 years old to build a particular three-dimensional structure that required a certain degree of skill that was initially beyond the children’s ability, they listed the following essential characteristics:
1. Recruiting interest in the task,
2. Reduction in degree of freedom (simplifying the task),
3. Maintaining pursuit of the goal,
4. Making critical features of discrepancies between what has been produced and
the ideal solution
5. Controlling frustration and risk during problem solving, and
6. Demonstrating an idealized version of the act to be performed (Wood, Bruner,
and Rose, 1976, p. 98; van Lier, 2004, p. 150)
However, the essentiality of these characteristics is related to the context. For example, one could use the approach of “increas[ing] accessibility by simplifying the task,” which may be appropriate in certain contexts such as telling story in a second language (van Lier, 2004, p. 150). However, in a situation where Japanese language learners need to pass the highest level of a Japanese proficiency test in order to apply to universities, it may be counterproductive if the content and language that they need to study are simplified. Similarly, as Lave and Wenger (1991) indicate, complex cultural activities are not altered for the benefit of the developing child, but rather, they are allowed access in an incremental, guided and monitored way in settings
39 where LPP occurs (cited in van Lier 2004, p. 150). Thus, van Lier (1996) proposes important conditions for scaffolding in language classes, as follows:
1. Continuity (tasks are repeated with variations, and connected to one another (e.g., as part of projects)),
2. Contextual support (exploration is encouraged in a safe, supportive environment; access to means and goals is promoted in a variety of ways),
3. Intersubjectivity (mutual engagement, encouragement, non-threatening participation),
4. Contingency (task procedures depend on actions of learners; contributions are oriented towards each other),
5. Handover/takeover (an increasing role for the learner as skills and confidence grow; careful watching of learners’ readiness to take over increasing parts of the action), and
6. Flow (skills and challenges are in balance; participants are focused on the task and are in ‘tune’ with each other) (cited in van Lier, 2004, p. 151).
van Lier (2004) argues that scaffolding occurs in the interstices between the planned and the unpredictable (i.e., when something new and unexpected happens) rather than in the planned pedagogical action and , thus, he emphasises the improvisational and dialogical side of the scaffolding process. Consequently, he provides the teacher and learners with two separate but interrelated tasks;
first, structures must be set up to facilitate guided action since new departures must occur in a safe and familiar context; second, teachers and learners must carefully watch for opportunities to depart, expand, elaborate, and improvise, and during those opportunities a handover/takeover must be effected so that the new emerges from the known, but on the initiative of the learner (Ibid., p. 162). In his study, Winnips (2001) uses the handover (‘fading’ in his study), consisting of the gradual withdrawal of support as a scaffolding system in the design of computer- based learning materials. Scaffolding is not a static and independent process but a dynamic and collaborative process that emphasises learner agency and autonomy. As
40 mentioned in the above section on ZPD, a scaffolding process occurs not only in an expert–novice relationship but also in a peer relationship because a variety of interlocutors create proximal contexts.
In this section, some of the main characteristics of scaffolding have been described. Scaffolding is a function to enhance not only the acquisition of linguistic structures but also participation in learning processes while helping learners form a good relationship with others. In the next section, in order to assess the usefulness and effectiveness of SCT as a tool to analyse, plan, and conduct a language program, some concrete applications of SCT to language programs are explored.
2.7. Language Programs based on a sociocultural approach
There have been a number of studies exploring language learning based on
SCT. Due to the great applicability of the concepts of ZPD, LPP and activity theory to language learning, these three concepts are often cited in pedagogical studies of language learning based on SCT. Thus, in this section, some interesting applications of ZPD, LPP and Activity theory will be reviewed.
The pedagogical applications of SCT are relatively fruitful in studies of autonomy and collaborative learning, especially for English as a Foreign Language
(EFL) or English as a Second Language (ESL) courses (e.g., Guerrero and Villamii,
2000; Murphy and Jacobs, 2000; Donato, 2000, 2004; Benson, 2007). Murphy (2001), for example, conducts participatory action research of critical collaborative autonomy11 based on the ZPD in a Japanese university EFL course. In order to show that inter-mental interaction can lead to critical collaborative autonomy, the following
11 According to Murphy and Jacobs (2000) and Murphy (2001), the more people interact and collaborate, the more choices they become aware of and the more autonomously they can act. Therefore, being autonomous is not defined as acting alone but rather as being able to take responsibility for one’s learning and development. Being critical is meant to enrich both community and private domain with open questioning and a continual search for improvement.
41 four tools are used by learners in his study: 1) shadowing (immediately repeating some or all of an interlocutor’s words during a conversation), 2) summarising
(retelling the interlocutor’s points to demonstrate comprehension after listening to a portion of discourse), 3) action logging (writing a reflective account of class activities), and 4) class newsletters, consisting of learners’ comments selected from their action logs (Murphy, 2001, pp. 131-132). Murphy (2001) concludes, “The micro-discursive tools of shadowing and summarizing and the reflective tools of action logging and newsletters can be used with practically any group to encourage overlapping ZPDs and the creation of shared inter-mental spaces” (p.145). In short, using the four tools, learners are able to manifest what their minds are modelling, scaffolding, and creating overlapping inter-mental ZPDs and enhancing their collaborative autonomy (Murphy, 2001, pp. 145-146)
In Japanese language education, compared to the studies of EFL or ESL programs, there are a small number of pedagogical applications of SCT in the classroom. Nishiguchi (2004) creates a Japanese language class based on ‘themes’12 rather than the systematic accumulation of linguistic structures through a textbook in an intensive Japanese course at a Japanese university. In the class, learners who plan to attend regular courses at a Japanese university are given an opportunity to see their self-identity (e.g., as a person who is able to communicate with people in Japanese in a variety of situations) through a project work (i.e., creating a poster based on information they received through interviews with Japanese people). This idea is taken from the concept of LPP, which indicates learning is a process of changing roles and identities in a community (Lave and Wenger, 1991). In addition, this study also emphasises the collaborative and social nature of learning while adopting the concept
12 For example, a theme could be “shopping”.
42 of ZPD. According to Nishiguchi (2001, p. 121), not only do learners collaboratively help each other through creating the poster, but the Japanese people the learners have interviewed have a role of ‘scaffolding’ their learning process.
In addition, Okazaki (2003) introduces a Japanese language course based mainly on LPP. In this course, he adopts a theme-based curriculum rather than a grammar-based curriculum and emphasises the importance of learners’ experience and identity in the course of learning.
While adopting the concept of ZPD and the idea that learning is a socially constructed activity, Thomson (2007b) describes an application of SCT to a postgraduate course for university students who are interested in becoming Japanese language teachers (a teacher-training course). Taking into consideration Kato and
Suzuki’s (2001, pp. 178-179) ideas of hito no dezain (design of interpersonal relationships or a community), koto no dezain (design of activities), and mono no dezain (design of artefacts), Thomson (2007b) emphasises the importance of learning environments in nurturing collaborative learning and learner autonomy in a teacher- training course because it may be difficult for teachers to organise a Japanese language program that promotes mutual support for ZPD without experiencing the effectiveness and importance of collaborative learning and learner autonomy themselves.
Despite the fact that these studies indicate the usefulness and effectiveness of
SCT as a tool to analyse, plan, and conduct actual language programs, there is a very small number of SCT-based studies focusing on beginner-level Japanese language programs, especially in countries other than Japan. There are at least two reasons for this tendency. First, as previously mentioned, most of the curricula of beginner-level
Japanese programs are based on the systematic accumulation of linguistic structures
43 using a textbook. Thus, an exploration of the sociolinguistic aspects of Japanese giving learners an opportunity to develop their self-concept tends to be subordinated to the accumulation of linguistic structure. Second, because the pedagogical applications of SCT often require a variety of resources, including native speakers of
Japanese and communities sharing Japanese cultural and social norms, it is often difficult to plan and conduct a Japanese language program based on SCT in many countries other than Japan. Consequently, there may be a very small number of SCT- based studies focusing on beginner-level Japanese programs.
Although it may be difficult to plan and conduct a beginner-level Japanese program based on SCT in many settings, planning and conducting such a program is not impossible. Murphy (2001) conducts an English language program based on SCT in Japan containing a small number of native speakers of English. He uses a variety of
‘tools’ (his own term; see the above explanation of Murphy’s study) (Murphy, 2001, p. 131) in order to enhance learners’ collaborative autonomy. In Australia, Thomson
(2007a) provides university students with a variety of opportunities to interact with native speakers of Japanese among Japanese communities in Sydney. Thus, even in countries other than Japan, it is possible (and vital) to plan and conduct a beginner- level Japanese program based on SCT that aims to enable language learners to become language users.
2.8. Conclusion
As has been described, SCT can provide unique perspectives to Japanese language programs. In the first section, the characteristics and problems associated with school learning based on decontextualised, independent texts were described and in the second section the concept of three dominant approaches to learning was
44 discussed. The main limitation of these approaches is the lack of careful consideration of the social and collaborative nature of learning. In the remaining sections, SCT and the pedagogical applications of SCT were described in greater detail. The concept of mediation presents an interesting notion that a learner is significantly influenced by a number of artefacts when he/she learns Japanese. Thus, it is possible to change a learner’s behaviour and thinking by rearranging or creating artefacts. Activity theory indicates that “activity” can be considered a unit of analysis, so that we can take into consideration the important social and collaborative nature of learning. Finally, SCT offers the new perspective that learning Japanese does not simply refer to the acquisition of knowledge about Japanese language but the way in which an individual participates in the classroom and identifies him/herself in the course of learning
Japanese.
45 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0. Introduction to this chapter
This chapter describes the research methods adopted to conduct the present research and is presented in six sections. The first section provides a summary of the research methods. The second section describes the research participants, comprised of the learners, a teacher and a researcher. In the third section the basic procedure of conducting the revision courses is described. The fourth section outlines the design of the revision courses, including instruments and activities. The fifth section explains the instruments for collecting the data, and the sixth section presents a brief conclusion for this chapter.
3.1. Summary of research methods
The primary purpose of this research is to utilise the sociocultural approach in a beginner-level Japanese language program in an institutional setting, which aims to enable Japanese language learners to become Japanese language users in Australia. In order to achieve this main purpose, the researcher adopted a qualitative research methodology, in particular a case study, as the main procedure. In addition, in order to investigate the data from a variety of perspectives the scores of Simple Performance-
Oriented Test (SPOT), the frequent appearance of positive and negative key words, and the frequency of turn-taking in IRF interaction sequences were quantitatively analysed. For the case study, the researcher organised and analysed two beginner- level Japanese language revision courses (the revision courses)13. The reasons a case study was adopted in the present research are as follows. First, in order to investigate the main purpose of the present research, it was necessary to analyse an actual
13 I received research funding from the Faculty of Arts and Science at UNSW in order to organise the revision courses. I would like to thank the Faculty and its committee members.
46 beginner-level Japanese language program. However, it was difficult to examine a
Japanese language course held at the university during the semester because some instruments and activities designed specifically for the investigation had to be used in the classroom, which may not be the best fit for the established course. It was also risky to apply these instruments and activities to a university Japanese language course because it was difficult to isolate the effects of instruments and activities from the range of learning activities provided by the course. Thus, it was necessary to create intensive courses particularly for this research. Second, due to time restrictions associated with the research (two years for the Master of Arts degree), it was impractical to use a long-term course like the semester-based courses at the university. In other words, while maintaining some authentic classroom structures, including the roles of a teacher and learners, in order to investigate the main research question in the limited time the researcher had to maintain control of some aspects of the classroom environment. Third, in order to secure the number of participants in the courses, which were outside of the university accredited Japanese program, the courses needed to provide some incentives to the participants. Thus, holding the
Japanese revision courses directly before the commencement of the next-level
Japanese course attracted returning students to participate in the revision courses and use the courses in a case study could be the best method to do this research. The following table (Table 3.1.) is a summary of the revision courses and the data collection:
47 Table 3.1. A summary of the revision courses
Goals To enable language learners to become language users who can communicate and interact well in Japanese at the professional level in culturally, functionally and structurally appropriate manners. To review linguistic structures and vocabulary as well as sociolinguistic aspects of Japanese language that students have learnt in JAPN1000 and JAPN1001 (see below). To nurture self-sufficient learners who can demonstrate autonomy in learning and can continue learning on their own.
Participants as learners Students who have finished the first year of Japanese courses (JAPN1000 and JAPN1001) at UNSW # of Participants Preliminary study (learners: 3, teacher: 1, researcher: 1) Main study (learners: 13, teacher: 1, researcher: 1) Periods 5 days (4 hours/day): a total of 20 hours The main flow of each day 1) An introduction: today’s topic and objectives 2) A review of the linguistic structures for today’s topic 3) An activity with a video 4) Practice for today’s role-play 5) Role-play 6) Dictation test 7) Kanji・Katakana quizzes 8) Practice for a skit 9) Review of today’s class Data collection Participant observation (including video and audio recording) A questionnaire Learning journals Interviews Simple Performance-Oriented Test (SPOT)
The revision courses comprised two courses; the first course represented a preliminary study and the second course was the main study. The researcher created a preliminary study to identify possible problems in carrying out the main study and data collection. Each course ran for five consecutive days (Monday to Friday) consisting of a four-hour lesson per day. Thus, the total lesson hours were twenty hours per course.
48 The goals in the revision sessions consisted of three aspects, which were interrelated. The first goal was to enable the participants as learners to use Japanese as a means of self-expression and, consequently, to become a Japanese language user.
This goal was directly related to the main research question of the present study. The second goal was to review the linguistic structures and vocabulary as well as sociolinguistic aspects of Japanese that the learners learned in the first year of
Japanese courses at UNSW. In order to recruit the participants in this research, it was necessary to create courses which were attractive to beginner-level learners.
Classroom teachers have observed that students returning from a long summer break often lose the Japanese proficiency attained by the end of the previous semester.
Therefore, reviewing the material they had learnt in the previous semester was considered very valuable for the learners prior to the start of the new semester. The third goal was to nurture self-sufficient learners who could demonstrate autonomy in learning and could continue learning on their own. Due to the restriction of learning resources and opportunities to use Japanese in Australia, it was necessary for the learners to develop learner autonomy so they could acquire strategies to learn and use
Japanese not only in the classroom but also outside of the classroom. In order to achieve the above goals, the researcher arranged a variety of activities. The following is a summary of the flow of each day’s activities (the details of each activity will be described later in this chapter);
1) Introduction of lesson theme 2) A review of linguistic structures for each day’s theme 3) An activity with a video 4) Practice for today’s role-play 5) Role-play 6) Dictation test
49 7) Kanji・Katakana quizzes 8) Practice for a skit 9) Review of today’s class
The participants in each course consisted of learners, a teacher, and a researcher. The participants as learners were those students who had completed the first year of Japanese courses (JAPN 1000 and JAPN 1001) at UNSW. No learner participated in both of the revision courses. The revision courses will be discussed in greater detail in the following sections.
In order to collect data in this research, the researcher prepared several instruments. These were ‘a questionnaire’, ‘Simple Performance-Oriented Test
(SPOT)’, ‘participant observation (including video and audio recording)’, ‘Learning journals’ and ‘interviews’. The main reason the researcher used a variety of instruments to collect data was to analyse the effects of revision courses from a variety of perspectives.
The following sections discuss the revision courses and methods of data collection. First, Section 3.2. describes the details of participants, followed by descriptions of procedures and flow of each revision course in Section 3.3. Section
3.4. will discuss the course design. Finally, the instruments used for data collection will be presented in Section 3.5.
3.2. Participants
Two revision courses were devised in order to collect the data for this study.
The first revision course (hereafter Course 1) was a preliminary study and the second course (hereafter Course 2) was the main study. Each course consisted of learners, a teacher, and a researcher. Course 1 contained three learners and Course 2 contained
50 thirteen learners. The teacher and the researcher were the same in both Course 1 and
Course 2 but the learners chose to participate in either Course 1 or Course 2. The details of participants in each course are as follows:
Table 3.2. The number of participants
Learners Teacher Researcher Course 1 3 1 1 Course 2 13 1 1
3.2.1. Learners
The learners who participated in the courses were students at UNSW. All had completed the first year of Japanese language courses at UNSW. At UNSW, the first year of Japanese language courses consisted of the following two 14-week courses (5 hours/week):
Japanese Communication 1A (JAPN 1000): This course introduces some of the basics of modern Japanese through listening, speaking, and reading activities. It covers five broad themes including introducing oneself, talking about university experiences, housing, Japanese geography, and daily routines. Hiragana and katakana are also introduced. Communicating in socio-culturally appropriate ways is stressed throughout the course (from the UNSW Online Handbook, available on http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2008/JAPN1000.ht ml)
Japanese Communication 1B (JAPN 1001): This course introduces more of the basics of modern Japanese through listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities. It covers several broad themes including daily routines, talking about likes and dislikes, how to go shopping, food, and family. 90 kanji are introduced. Communicating in socio-culturally appropriate ways is stressed throughout the course (from the UNSW Online Handbook, available on
51 http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2008/JAPN1001.ht ml).
As the above course descriptions indicate, students who finished JAPN 1000 and JAPN 1001 had basic yet limited speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills in Japanese. Those students who finished JAPN 1000 and JAPN 1001 with a better than average grade were considered as having the abilities and skills to pass level 4 of the Japanese proficiency test offered by the Japanese government (Nihongo Nooryoku
Shiken 4 Kyuu). At UNSW, when completed JAPN 1000 and JAPN 1001 are positioned as the first year of the two-year beginner-level Japanese sequence.
Although all the learners in this study had completed JAPN 1000 and JAPN
1001, their Japanese levels were diverse. Some learners had barely passed the courses and other learners were the top students in the courses. Information about the revision courses was provided to all learners in all the classes of JAPN 1001 and participation was voluntary in exchange for the benefit that they could review the materials that they had learned in JAPN1000 and JAPN1001 for free (see Appendix A). Thus, there was no control of learners in terms of participation in the revision courses except for the prerequisite of having completed JAPN1000 and JAPN1001 at UNSW. However, as all the learners voluntarily participated in the revision courses during the summer holidays, it was expected that their motivation to learn Japanese was high.
Table 3.3 and Table 3.4. provide demographic information about the participants as learners. The items consist of ‘nationality’, ‘gender’, ‘language spoken at home’, ‘year at UNSW’, ‘length of Japanese language study in high school’, and
‘major at UNSW’. UNSW has one of the highest numbers of international students in universities in Australia, and a variety of international students are taking Japanese
52 courses. Thus, learners not only from Australia but also from other countries participated in the revision courses.
Most learners in the revision courses either had never studied Japanese in high school or had studied Japanese in high school for a year prior to taking JAPN1000.
However, some learners had studied Japanese in high school for more than two years but were still in the beginner-level, mainly because the two-year high school study was not sufficient to place them in the second year of Japanese.
The learners’ majors were diverse. Students majoring in Japanese as well as all types of majors in the university took one or two Japanese courses as elective subjects or as general education substitutes. Thus, learners ranged from Japanese
Studies or Asian Studies majors to business-related majors and science-related majors. Also, in Australia, many university students have double majors (e.g., a learner studies Japanese and Psychology as his/her academic majors) and double degrees (e.g., Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law) and in the revision courses, some learners had double or triple majors that often include Japanese Studies.
Table 3.3. Learners’ demographic information on the whole
Course 1 Course 2 Nationality Australian: 1 Australian: 7 Chinese: 1 Chinese: 3 Chinese Hong Kong: 1 Chinese Hong Kong: 2 Malaysian: 1
Gender Male: 0 Male: 4 Female: 3 Female: 9 Language spoken at Chinese (Mandarin): 2 English: 6 home Chinese (Cantonese): 1 Chinese (Mandarin): 1 Chinese (Cantonese): 2 English/Chinese (Mandarin): 2 English/Chinese (Cantonese): 1 English/Vietnamese: 1
53 Year at UNSW14 1st year: 0 1st year: 0 2nd year: 1 2nd year: 9 3rd year: 1 3rd year: 4 4th year: 1 4th year: 0
Length of Japanese 0 year: 1 0 year: 8 language study in 1 year: 0 1 year: 3 high school 2 years: 1 2 years: 1 More than 3 years: 1 More than 3 years: 1
Major(s) at UNSW Actuarial Studies Accounting and Finance Commerce Studies Studies Japanese Studies15 Asian Studies Chinese Studies Economics Fine Arts Studies International Business Studies Japanese Studies16 Physics Psychology Spanish Studies
Table3.4. is a summary of the demographic information of each learner. The information was gathered through a questionnaire, which was confirmed in an interview (the questionnaire and interview will be described later in this chapter).
Table 3.4. The demographic information of each learner
Revision Course 1
Nationality Gender Year at Major Language Length Visit to UNSW spoken at of Japan home Japanese study in high school 1 Chinese Female 3 Commerce Cantonese 2 years Yes (4 Hong Kong times: 5~7 days/time)
14 Because all participants had finished their first year of Japanese studies at UNSW, there were no first-year students in this study. 15 One participant studies Japanese as a major, including double majors. 16 Six participants study Japanese as a major, including double and triple majors.
54
2 Australian Female 4 Commerce Mandarin 6 years Yes (1 time: 14 days)
3 Chinese Female 2 Actuarial Mandarin 0 No Studies and Japanese Studies
Revision Course 2
Nationality Gender Year at Major Language Length Visit UNSW spoken at of to home Japanese Japan study in high school 1 Chinese Female 3 Accounting Cantonese 0 Yes (1 Hong Kong and Finance time: 6 days)
2 Australian Male 2 Fine Arts and English 0 No Arts and Vietnames e
3 Chinese Male 2 Japanese Cantonese 0 No Hong Kong Studies, and Psychology, English Marketing, and Finance 4 Chinese Female 3 Chinese Cantonese 0 No Studies
5 Malaysian Female 2 Japanese English 0 Yes (4 Studies, and times: Spanish, Mandarin A total Economy, of 2 and month International s) Business
55 6 Australian Female 2 Undeclared English 0 No
7 Australian Female 2 Asian Studies English 0 No
8 Australian Male 3 Physics English 0 No
9 Chinese Female 2 Japanese English 8 months No Studies and Physiology
1 Australian Female 2 Asian Studies English 4 years Yes (4 0 times: 2~3 weeks/ time) 1 Australian Female 3 Chinese Mandarin 1 year No 1 Studies and English
1 Australian Male 2 Asian Studies English 2 years No 2
1 Chinese Female 2 International Mandarin 1 year No 3 Business
3.2.2. Teacher
The teacher who participated in the revision courses had experience in teaching Japanese in Japan and Australia. She had a Master of Arts degree in Applied
56 Linguistics and was familiar with the Japanese language courses at UNSW. In addition, I, a researcher/coordinator of this study, knew her as a classmate in a postgraduate course at UNSW. As it was required for a teacher and a researcher to frequently discuss revision courses before, during, and after the revision courses so that they could constantly improve the courses, she was one of the best choices as a teacher in the revision courses. She was paid to teach the revision courses as a professional teacher17.
3.2.3. Researcher/Coordinator
I participated in the revision courses as a researcher/coordinator. As a researcher, I planned and organised the revision courses and collected the data. As a coordinator, I organised the revision courses including the recruitment of participants, preparation of classroom, teaching and learning resources, teaching plans and syllabus, and communication with the learners in the courses. As I had participated in JAPN1000 and JAPN1001 as a teaching assistant, I had good knowledge of what the learners in the present study had studied in JAPN1000 and JAPN1001. Although the researcher was present in the classroom to collect the data for the study, the contact between the researcher and the learners was minimised in the classroom in order to make the interaction between the teacher and the learners as natural as possible. However, outside the classroom, the researcher made comments on the learners’ learning journals as a course coordinator while discussing the contents of learning journals with the teacher.
3.3. Procedures
17 The research funds were provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at UNSW. I would like to thank them.
57 The procedures that followed in relation to the administration of the revision courses will be detailed in this section. Before each course commenced, administrative matters for this research were conducted as the following order:
1) The researcher provided a detailed explanation of the research to the
learners.
2) All the learners signed the Participant Information Statement and
Consent Form approved by the ethics committee at UNSW (see
Appendix B).
3) The learners filled in a questionnaire to provide their demographic
information, Japanese language learning history and methods, and
current state of Japanese language use outside the classroom (see
Appendix C).
4) The learners took SPOT to enable the researcher to assess their
beginner Japanese proficiency.
5) The researcher provided the learners with an explanation for the
revision course with a course syllabus (see Appendix D). The
explanation included the purpose and structures of the course,
assignments in the course, and expectations of the learners that the
course coordinator and teacher had in the revision course.
After the administrative measures, the teacher began the first class. The basic flow of each day, except for the fifth day, was as follows (see Appendix E for each day’s teaching plan):
1) An introduction: today’s topic (theme) and objectives
2) A review of the linguistic structures for today’s topic
3) An activity with a video
58 4) Practice for today’s role-play
5) Role-play
6) Dictation test
7) Kanji・Katakana quizzes
8) Practice for a skit
In addition to the above flow, on the first day the learners and the teacher had the opportunity for a self-introduction. On the fifth day, the learners presented skits at the end of the class and took SPOT to obtain their concluding Japanese proficiency. Thus, due to the time restriction the activity with a video was not planned for or conducted on the fifth day.
In the revision course, the above activities were divided into either teacher-fronted or learner-centred (including nicchoku-led activities), as follows:
1) An introduction: today’s theme and objectives: Teacher-fronted The teacher was at the front of the classroom and explained each day’s theme and objectives to the learners.
2) A review of the linguistic structures for today’s theme: Teacher-fronted The teacher was at the front of the classroom and gave the learners instructions to carry out the activity to review linguistic structures related to each day’s theme (e.g., if the theme was ‘shopping’, the learner might review some Japanese counters for objects in this activity so that they could buy a variety of commodities with appropriate counters).
3) An activity with a video: Teacher-fronted The teacher was at the front of the classroom and gave the learners instructions to carry out the activity. In this activity, first the learners watched a video related to each day’s theme (if necessary, they watched it several times). Then, they discussed the contents of the video and identified expressions or vocabulary they found interesting and/or useful. Although this
59 activity contained factors to develop the learners’ autonomy, such as choosing expressions and vocabulary they wanted to learn and use, the basic interaction structure was a teacher-fronted IRF sequence.
4) Practice for today’s role-play: Teacher-fronted In this activity, the learners focused on using expressions and vocabulary that were the target linguistic structures of each day’s theme, through interactions with other learners. Although this activity emphasised interactions among the learners, the teacher was at the front of the classroom and tended to control the activity by instructing the learners on how to engage in the activity.
5) Role-play: Learner-centred In this activity, the teacher’s physical position changed from being at the front of the classroom to being in the corner of the classroom. Instead of the teacher, a nicchoku was now at the front of the classroom and carried out the role-play activity. Using an overhead projector (OHP), a nicchoku gave other learners instructions to read and confirm a role-play theme and context as well as the criteria for evaluating the role-play. After the nicchoku’s task, the learners engaged in the role-play activity. First, the learners formed groups of two or three and were allowed some time to practise a role-play. Then they performed the role-play in front of other pairs or groups so the learners were able to evaluated each other’s role-play to improve their Japanese. In addition, by evaluating each other’s role-play, this activity aimed to give learners an opportunity to use Japanese as a means of self-expression. The teacher also made some comments about the role-play to the whole class at the end of the activity.
6) Dictation tests: Learner-centred In this activity, a nicchoku was at the front of the classroom and the teacher was in the corner of the classroom. A nicchoku carried out all parts of the activity as the facilitator, except for reading the dictation questions aloud, which was performed by the teacher. First, a nicchoku explained the structure of the dictation test in Japanese (e.g., there were three questions and the teacher read each question aloud three times). Then, the teacher read the
60 dictation questions aloud, which were created by the nicchoku of the day. After the teacher read aloud the questions, the class checked the answers of the dictation test while the nicchoku carried it out as the facilitator.
7) Kanji・Katakana quizzes: Learner-centred In this activity, a nicchoku was at the front of the classroom and the teacher was in the corner of the classroom. A nicchoku carried out the activity as the facilitator. First, the teacher asked the learners to think of three kanji and katakana words in pairs. Then, after each pair the teacher wrote three kanji and katakana words on the whiteboard, and the class checked them while the nicchoku acted as facilitator.
8) Practice for a skit: Learner-centred In this activity, each group (three or four learners per group) individually prepared for the presentation of a skit on the fifth day of the revision courses. The learners had reviewed a story of Mari and Eddie, which was the basis for creating a skit, and had watched a sample skit on the first day. The teacher’s role was to give each group advice or suggestions regarding their skit during the group work.
3.4. Course Design
In many countries where Japanese is learned as a second/foreign language, many Japanese language learners need to make extra efforts to use Japanese as a means of self-expression outside the classroom, especially for beginner-level
Japanese language learners. In Australia, the best opportunity for them to use
Japanese may be in the classroom. I consider that beginner-level Japanese language learners can gain experience and confidence in using Japanese outside of the classroom by actually using Japanese as a means of self-expression in the classroom as a community.
61 In order to increase the use of Japanese as a means of self-expression in the classroom as a community, I adopt Engestrom’s activity system model, as described in Chapter 2. In his model, the social nature of activity as a “community” is taken into consideration as “rules”, “division of labour”, and “artefacts”. Thus, in the present study I utilise “rules”, “division of labour”, and “artefacts” as the three basic instruments to enhance the use of Japanese as a means of self-expression in the classroom.
3.4.1. Rules
The following two rules were established in the revision courses:
1) Use of Japanese and English: in accordance with the nature of the classroom
activities, the learners’ use of English was regulated by displaying one of the
following three cards on the white board; 1) ‘JAPANESE’: the learners should
use only Japanese and no English (activities: the review of linguistic
structures, dictation tests, and kanji and katakana quizzes); 2)
‘JAPANESE/English’: The learners could use English in only some parts of
activities such as ‘discussion’ but they should use Japanese in other parts
(activities: the role-play activity and video activity); and 3)
‘JAPANESE/ENGLISH’: The learners could use English in all parts of
activities although they should use Japanese as much as possible (activity:
preparation of a skit). In addition, the teacher verbally indicated the required
use of Japanese and English before starting each activity in order to make sure
that the learners followed the rule.
2) Change of place: In general, learners tend to take the same seat in the
classroom each time they attend a class. In order to develop the classroom a
62 community and enable a variety of interactions, it was necessary for each
learner to have an opportunity to work with all other learners and get to know
them. Thus, the rule of changing seats was set. The researcher and the teacher
prepared two group tables in the classroom and, first, a nicchoku, a
jishogakari, and a stamp-gakari of the day took a seat at each table. The
remaining learners changed their places each day, making sure each learner
took a seat next to a person with whom he/she had not yet worked in the
revision course.
3.4.2. Division of labour (roles)
For the division of labour, the researcher created three roles in each course, as follows. Each learner assumed at least two roles during the course and two learners assumed each role per day.
1) Nicchoku18: a nicchoku was a class/activity leader. A nicchoku became the
facilitator of classroom activities, such as dictation tests and kanji-katakana
quizzes and facilitated them. It was expected that the role of nicchoku would
provide an opportunity for learners to interact with each other actively and use
Japanese as a means of self-expression during interaction.
2) Jishogakari: a jishogakari was a person in charge of the dictionary
(jishogakari literally means a person in charge of a dictionary). When the
learners used a word or expression unfamiliar to the other learners during
classroom activities, jishogakari found the meaning of the word or expression
in the dictionary and shared it with the class. In addition, jishogakari wrote
down words or expressions that he/she had looked up and at the end of each
18 The idea of nicchoku was borrowed from JAPN1001 at UNSW, which was organised by Associate Professor Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson.
63 class wrote them on a whiteboard at the front of the classroom so all members
of the class could confirm the new words and expressions they had learned
and shared in class.
3) Stamp-gakari: A stamp-gakari was the person in charge of the stamp. At the
conclusion of each classroom activity, a stamp-gakari put a stamp indicating
“a good job” on the name-plates of learners who had proactively contributed
to the activity. Each stamp-gakari was asked to decide the criteria of
‘contribution’ by him/herself so that the learners autonomously evaluated
themselves based on their criteria and develop a willingness to develop a good
relationship with other learners in the classroom as a community.
3.4.3. Artefacts
In order to increase the interaction between the learners and develop the classroom as a community, some of the artefacts were organised as follows:
1) Name plates19: At the beginning of each revision course, participants made
their own name plates so everyone could get to know the names of all
participants as soon as possible. The name plate had three sides and each side
displayed the name of a learner written in a different colour: blue, red or
black. The colour scheme was used to ensure participation by all students, as
follows. First, learners displayed their names written in black. Then, once
they had stated an opinion or asked a question, they were able to display their
names written in blue. When they had stated an opinion again or asked another
question, they were able to display their names in red. Through the colour of
19 The idea of name-plate was borrowed from JAPN1001 at UNSW, which was organised by Associate Professor Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson.
64 their names, it was easy to identify who was actively participating in
classroom activities in terms of verbal interaction.
2) Arrangement of desks: In order to promote interaction between learners in
pairs or small groups, the researcher and the teacher arranged the desks and
chairs as shown in Figure 3.1. Compared to Figure 3.2, which shows the
typical arrangement of desks for group activities in Japanese language classes
at UNSW, the desk arrangement shown in Figure 3.1 aimed to make
interaction between learners easier due to the closer and more balanced
physical positions among the learners who occupied the desks.
Figure 3.1. Desk arrangement in the revision courses
Figure 3.2. Typical desk arrangement in the University courses
3.4.4. Activities
65 In addition, the researcher created several activities to increase the learners’ use of
Japanese as a means of self-expression and to develop autonomy in terms of learning
Japanese.
Selection of the contents of the revision course: In each revision course, learners
had an opportunity to choose the basic contents of the revision courses. The
researcher prepared lists of the topics or themes and the finer details of the
material the learners had learned in JAPN1000 and JAPN1001 for the revision
courses (see Appendix F). Through discussing this with other learners, they
decided on the topics and the contents they wanted to learn in the revision courses.
This activity aimed to enhance the learners’ ability to think and choose what they
wanted to learn in order to achieve their goals in Japanese.
An activity with a video: Each day, except for the fifth day, the learners and the
teacher carried out an activity with a video20. The researcher selected a video
similar to the theme of the day. While becoming familiar with the content of
video, the learners picked up some words/expressions they did not know or
considered interesting or useful. After a jishogakari checked the meaning of these
words/expressions, the learners were asked to use some of the words/expressions
in the role-play activity. The video activity emphasised the development of the
learners’ ability to choose what they wanted to learn and what kinds of
expressions they wanted to use in Japanese.
20 The video activity was based on the approach of Okazaki (2003). The videos used were Kokuritsu kokugo kenkyûjo (National Institute for Japanese Language), (1993-1997). Nihongo de daijoobu and Ujiie Kenichi Kikaku, (1992). Video kooza nihongo: Nichijoo seikatsu ni miru nihon no bunka 1, Tokyo: Tokyo Shoseki.
66 Evaluation of role-plays: In the revision courses, each day the learners performed a role-play and evaluated the performances of each other for the following two reasons: First, because one of the several goals of the revision courses was to nurture self-sufficient learners who could demonstrate autonomy in learning and could continue learning on their own, I considered that it was a good opportunity to learn how to monitor and evaluate themselves while they collaborated with other participants. Second, in JAPN1000 and JAPN1001 at
UNSW, because role-plays were one of the many criteria for giving a grade to students, a teacher evaluated the students’ performance on the role-play. However, as the revision courses were not official university courses, it was not necessary to give a grade to the learners. Thus, in order to increase interaction between learners in Japanese and the learner autonomy of the learners, they evaluated each other’s performance in the role-plays.
Dictation tests and kanji-katakana quizzes with a nicchoku as a leader: A nicchoku became the facilitator for the activities. It was intended that the role of the nicchoku would provide an opportunity for the learners to change interaction patterns and interact with each other actively, in comparison with IRF sequences in teacher-fronted contexts, and use Japanese as a means of self-expression during interaction.
Skits: All the learners in the revision courses were required to participate in a group activity—a skit in Japanese. The learners formed three groups of three people and one group of four people and each group created and performed a skit in Japanese. The skits were based on the story of Mari and Eddie that a lecturer of
67 JAPN1001 created in order to show some examples of the conversational use of
expressions that they had learned in JAPN100121. While developing the story and
characters of Mari and Eddie, each group decided upon a setting for Mari and
Eddie’s story as a skit and created their own scripts depicting the relationship
between Mari and Eddie. Each day, the learners had time to prepare the skit as a
group and on the final day of the revision courses, each group acted out its skit of
Mari and Eddie. All groups’ skits were recorded with a video recorder. Based on
the agreement of all the learners, the recorded skits were uploaded to the Internet
site ‘YouTube’. The learners created and performed a skit in Japanese for the
following two reasons. First, it was necessary to have a concrete goal for the
revision courses so the learners would not only feel a sense of achievement at the
end of the revision course and but also that they would maintain their motivation
to proactively participate in the revision courses. Second, it was considered that
they needed an opportunity to learn Japanese independently, while helping each
other and using Japanese as a means of self-expression in the learning process in
order to become a language user. In JAPN1000 and JAPN1001, the learners had
the opportunity to perform a role-play almost every week. However, in the role-
play activities during university semesters, teachers gave the learners a situation
and framework of interaction, including the key expressions and vocabulary that
the learners should follow. Thus, the learners had very little scope for creativity. If
the learners could use Japanese for practice and learn some expressions and
vocabulary, the role-play activities may be effective. However, in order to use
Japanese as a means of self-expression, the learners were required to analyse a
situation they were in and choose expressions and vocabulary to communicate
21 A story of Mari and Eddie was created by Associate Professor Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson at UNSW.
68 with others appropriately in accordance with the situation and build a good
relationship with them. Since the learners had to develop most of the context and
the entire script of the skit in a group and perform it in front of the class on the
fifth day of the revision course, they needed to negotiate and cooperate with each
other in both Japanese and English. Thus, the process of creating and acting out a
skit may provide a good opportunity to develop abilities in using Japanese as a
means of self-expression and building good relationships with others.
3.5. Instruments for data collection and analysis
To enable the collection and analysis of the research data from multiple perspectives, several instruments were devised for data collection. These were a questionnaire, SPOT, participant observation, learning journals, and interviews. This section describes each instrument and its procedure to collect and analyse data. The results of data analysis will be discussed in the following chapters.
3.5.1. Questionnaire
As the researcher did not have enough time to conduct an interview with all participants in the study prior to the revision courses, the researcher used a questionnaire to collect the demographic information and some other basic information regarding the study (see Appendix C). The purpose of the questionnaire was to collect the demographic information of learners to ascertain how they usually learned and used Japanese language prior to the commencement of each revision course. While a questionnaire was one of the easiest ways to collect the basic demographic information and information about participants’ beliefs, it may not be an appropriate tool to measure participants’ actual behaviour. The researcher prepared
69 copies of the questionnaire and all learners responded prior to the commencement of the revision courses. Learners used approximately 10 minutes to answer all questions in the questionnaire. During interviews conducted after the revision courses, most information in the questionnaire was confirmed by the learners themselves. Then, as shown in the ‘participant’ section of this chapter, the researcher calculated descriptive statistics to provide the demographic information of the participants and qualitatively analysed other parts in conjunction with the data from participant observation and interviews.
3.5.2. Simple Performance-Oriented Test (SPOT)22
Simple Performance-Oriented Test (SPOT) is “a Japanese language test which requires test-takers to listen to a number of sentences on audio tape in natural speed and fill in one missing hiragana23 for each item” (Kobayashi, 2005, p. 67). SOPT is widely used among Japanese teachers and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers for the purpose of learners’ placement because of its practicality and a certain degree of reliability (Ford-Niwa and Sakai, 1999, Hashimoto, 2000, and
Kobayashi, 2005). The following sentences are examples of SPOT questions:
ご飯を食（ ）ました。[gohan o ta ( ) mashita.]
全部（ ）いくらですか。[zenbu ( ) ikuradesuka.]
新し（ ）車を買いました。[atarashi ( ) kuruma o kaimashita.]24
SPOT used in this research consisted of 60 questions and took approximately
10 minutes to complete. When playing the audio tape, the researcher did not stop the
22 The use of SPOT in the present study has been approved by Dr. Noriko Kobayashi at Tsukuba University. I would like to thank her. 23 Hiragana is one of the two sets of syllabaries used in Japanese. One syllabary carries one syllable. 24 In the actual SPOT, only the Japanese scripts are shown.
70 audio tape until all 60 questions had been completed. In order to quantitatively measure a possible change in the participants’ Japanese language proficiency, SPOT was conducted before and after each course. The researcher statistically analysed the scores for the SPOT. All learners took the SPOT at the beginning of the revision courses, except for one participant who came to the class late in Course 2. Thus, the results of the SPOT were based on 12 learners who participated in the main study of the revision courses. In the analysis of the result of the SPOT, the researcher used only the data from the main study (Course 2), as the classroom environment for
Course 2, which comprised 13 learners, differed from the environment of Course 1
(the preliminary study), which comprised only three learners. Thus, the researcher considered that it was not appropriate to combine the data from Course 1 and 2 in this analysis and to analyse the data from Course 1 alone.
3.5.3. Participant observation
Participant observation is one of the most popular research methods in a range of academic fields, such as Anthropology and Sociology (Harajiri, 2006). Research on education that is based on a sociocultural approach tends to use participant observation as a method of data collection. A sociocultural approach emphasises a holistic approach to research materials and participant observation is a useful and popular research method for holistic analysis (Harajiri, 2006).
In the present study, although its analysis focuses on factors such as interaction, participation and acquisition of linguistic structure, the intention is to understand the integration of these factors as a learning process for a learner to become a language user in the revision courses.
71 The researcher participated in all aspects of the revision courses. The researcher set up a video recorder and two audio-tape recorders to record the actual interactions among the learners in the revision courses. The audio-tape recorders were placed on the desks and the video recorder was placed in a corner of the classroom.
While taking notes and controlling the angles of the video recorder, the researcher observed the classroom activities. In order to maintain the natural flow of interactions among the learners in the classroom as much as possible, the researcher minimised his participation in the classroom activities. The researcher reviewed and analysed the audio and video data both qualitatively and quantitatively, while focusing on the learners’ interaction, observable acquisition of linguistic structures, and participation in the revision courses. The researcher transcribed some parts of the interactions from the audio and video data in order to analyse concrete interaction sequences in the revision courses. For the quantitative analysis of the data from the participant observation, the researcher focused on the number of ‘initiation’, ‘response’, and
‘feedback’ turns taken by the teacher and learners, including roles such as nicchoku, in IRF sequences (the details are described in Chapter 4). For the qualitative analysis, the researcher used the data to analyse the quality of interaction, the learners’ acquisition of linguistic structures, and their participation in the classroom community in conjunction with other data.
3.5.4. Learning Journals
All participants were asked to write a ‘learning journal’ and send it to the teacher and the researcher via email on each day of the revision course. In the learning journals participants documented not only what they had learned in each lesson but also what they had discovered, thought, and created through the roles,
72 classroom activities, interaction with the classmates and the teacher, and use of
Japanese during and after each class. The learners kept learning journals for the following two reasons. First, the learning journals would constitute a very important learning process of reflection and self-monitoring, whereby learners were conscious of situations, the reasons for their actions, and their consequences. Second, it would provide the teacher and the researcher with knowledge of each learner’s opinion of his/her learning process and of the atmosphere and structure of the class, including the relationship with other learners and the teacher. In order to develop the classroom as a community, it was necessary for the teacher and the researcher to be aware of each learner’s thoughts about the course and constantly alter the structure of the class. The journals offered an alternative means of gaining such information, as opposed to daily interviews with each learner, which would have been impossible time-wise.
For the first journal, learners were also asked to include their goals in the revision courses so that each learner would have their own concrete purpose and motivation to proactively participate in the revision courses. For the last journal, they were asked to include their thoughts about whether they had achieved the goal that they set on the first day as an opportunity to review their learning process in the revision courses. In addition, the learning journal was used as a communication tool between the learners and the researcher/teacher. The researcher wrote some comments and suggestions on most of the learning journals and discussed the contents of the journals with the teacher, before sending them back to the learners via email in order to support their learning process.
As the journals showed the learners’ thoughts and feelings on a daily basis, the researcher treated the learning journals as the primary data when analysing the learners’ participation and changes in the classroom in the revision courses both
73 quantitatively and qualitatively. For the quantitative analysis of the learners’ participation in the revision courses, first, the researcher selected positive and negative key words in the learning journals and counted the frequency of each key word appearance. Then the researcher analysed the frequency of positive and negative key words in the learning journals statistically in order to understand possible changes in learners’ participation in the classroom community as a whole group and changes in the classroom atmosphere (details of the frequency of positive and negative key words are provided in Chapter 4). In the key word analysis, the researcher used only the data from the main study (Course 2) for the same reason as the analysis of the SPOT data: the classroom environment for Course 2, which comprised 13 learners, differed from the environment of Course 1, which comprised only three learners (one of them did not submit the learning journals). Thus, the researcher considered that it was not appropriate to combine the data from Course 1 and 2 in this analysis and Course 1 contained too few journals to conduct key word analysis on the data alone.
For the qualitative analysis of the learners’ participation and the changes in the classroom, the researcher focused on individual learners’ participation and sense of community in the revision course. Adopting the definition and theory of sense of community by McMillan and Chavis (1986), the researcher analysed the learners’ sense of community in the revision course and the change of learners’ participation in the classroom by mainly using their learning journals (the details are discussed in
Chapter 4).
Finally, the researcher used the learning journals in conjunction with other data in order to analyse the learners’ interaction and acquisition of linguistic structures.
74
3.5.4.1. The data from the learning journals
As a requirement to participating in the revision course, the learners were asked to write a learning journal for every day of the revision course. A total of 51 learning journals was submitted (see Appendix G). The following table shows the number of learning journals submitted on each day.
Table 3.5. The number of learning journals
Number of learning journals
Day 1 12 Day 2 12 Day 3 10 Day 4 9 Day 5 8
Total 51
Although the learning journals were basically written in English, the contents and quality of learning journals varied between learners. Such differences in the contents of learning journals may occur due to the flexibility of the requirements for learning journals. Although the researcher provided the basic idea of what the participant should write in the learning journals, the journals were based on free-writing. The journal was intended to gather learners’ perspectives on the revision course and their ideas of learning and using Japanese language without restricting their perspectives.
Thus, each participant focused on a range of contents in each of their learning journals.
In addition, there were also differences in the quality of learning journals due to the writing ability of participants. While all the participants should have a certain level of English ability, given they have cleared English requirement to enter the
75 university, some had difficulty expressing their thoughts in English due to a lack of writing ability. Thus, the contents of some learning journals tended to be a mere description of what they had learnt on the day.
In spite of the above problematic aspects of learning journals, the learning journals were revealing information about the participants’ insight into the revision course and learning Japanese.
3.5.5. Interviews
Following the revision courses, individual interviews were conducted with all participants and the teacher. Each interview lasted from approximately 30 minutes to
1 hour and 30 minutes and all interviews were recorded with an audio recorder for the purpose of data collection. Most questions in the interview were open-ended and the researcher mainly asked the following questions in each interview (many of the interviews were not conducted in the following order due to the conversational flow):
1) Questions clarifying answers the learners wrote in the questionnaire on the
first day of the revision course
2) Questions regarding the learner’s overall impression of the revision course
3) Questions regarding their thoughts and feelings on each day of the revision
course
4) Questions regarding the roles in the revision course
5) Questions regarding the rules in the revision course
6) Questions regarding the artefacts in the revision course
7) Questions regarding the learner’s attitudes toward their learning and use of
Japanese
8) Questions regarding the teacher and her teaching style
76 9) Questions regarding the classmates in the revision course
10) Questions regarding the structure and atmosphere of the revision course
The researcher reviewed recorded tapes and transcribed relevant parts of the interviews for further dialogue and content analysis. The interviews were of great importance to the present study, as they enabled the researcher to triangulate the contents of a range of other data.
3.6. Conclusion
Chapter 3 described the research methodology, including the research design and the purpose of each instrument and activity in the revision courses. In Chapters 4,
5, and 6, the results and discussion of the present research will be provided. The next chapter (Chapter 4) focuses on the development of the learners’ sense of community in the classroom through a variety of activities and instruments in the revision courses.
77 CHAPTER 4: THE CLASSROOM AS A COMMUNITY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNERS’ SENSE OF COMMUNITY
4.0. Introduction to this chapter
This chapter discusses how the learners’ participation into the revision course influences their sense of the formation of the classroom as a community. First, the way in which each of the four elements of the sense of community proposed by
McMillan and Chavis (1986) conforms to the learners’ thoughts and behaviour in the revision course will be described. Then, changes in the class as a whole will be analysed based on the frequency of the appearance of positive and negative words.
4.1. A community of practice and a sense of community
Gusfield (1975) distinguishes between two major uses of the term community.
The first is the territorial and geographical notion of community - neighborhood, town, and city. The second is ‘relational,’ concerned with ‘quality of character of human relationship, without reference to location’ (p. xvi). In the present study, rather than the territorial and geographical notion of community, the researcher emphasizes the relational and qualitative notion of community because the learners not only share the classroom as a place but also influence each other’s thoughts and behavior through the activities.
According to Lave and Wenger (1991), ‘a community of practice’ contains members whose interest is different from other members’ and whose participation in the community is also different from other members’. However, a community of practice does not mean members must remain in the same place and/or position or that the community contains obvious physical characteristics and boundaries that distinguish the community from other communities. Rather, the concept of a
78 community of practice is marked by the characteristic that the members of the community participate in certain activities. Through such participation, the members share a common understanding of what activities in which they are engaging in the community and what kind of meaning and consequences will result for the community and its members.
As the researcher created the revision course for the present research, the revision course had no history, culture or customs. Based on the previous experience in Japanese courses and the framework that the researcher created for the revision course (i.e., rules, roles and artefacts), the learners created the history, culture, and customs of the revision course as a community through their participation in the activities. In short, while the learners participated in the practical activities of the revision course to learn and use Japanese, at the same time, their proactive participation in the activities of the revision course influenced the formation of the classroom as a community.
Although the above concept gives a broad idea of a community, it is difficult to determine whether the learners have created the classroom of the revision course as a community. Due to the explicitness and concreteness of its definition, the concept of the sense of community proposed by McMillan and Chavis (1986) will be used as the analytical tool in this chapter. McMillan and Chavis (1986) emphasise the members’ perspectives of a community rather than the physical characteristics of a community itself and propose four important elements for a sense of community, as follows:
1) Membership: the feeling of belonging or of sharing a sense of personal relatedness.
2) Influence: a sense of mattering, of making a difference to a group and of the group mattering to its members.
3) Integration and fulfilment of needs: the feeling that members’ needs will be met by the resources received through their membership in the group.
79
4) Shared emotional connection: the commitment and belief that members have shared and will share history, common places, time together, and similar experiences.
The above elements will be necessary for a member to feel that he/she belongs to
a community. At the same time, each member’s sense of community intensifies a
reciprocal, interdependent relationship among the members. In brief, McMillan
and Chavis (1986. P.9) describe it as follows:
Sense of community is a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together (McMillan, 1976).
The following sections discuss how learners’ participation in the revision course influences their sense of the formation of the class as a community by using the four elements: membership, influence, integration and fulfilment of needs and shared emotional needs.
4.2. Membership
In this section, the discussion will focus on the concept of ‘membership’ and the ways in which the criteria of membership influence the learners’ sense of the revision course as a community. In the following discussion, the attributes of
‘membership’ will be discussed and then these attributes will be applied to the revision course.
According to McMillan and Chavis (1986), membership has five attributes; a common symbol system, boundaries, emotional safety, a sense of belonging and identification, and personal investment. The following are brief descriptions of each attribute (McMillan and Chavis, 1986, pp. 9-11):
A common symbol system: A common symbol system serves several
80 important functions in creating and maintaining a sense of community, one of which is to maintain group boundaries. Symbols for a neighbourhood may reside in its name, a landmark, a logo, or in architectural style. On the national level, holidays, the flag, and the language play an integrative role.
Boundaries: Membership has boundaries, which means there are people who belong and people who do not. The boundaries provide members with the emotional safety necessary for needs and feelings to be exposed and for intimacy to develop.
Emotional safety: Emotional safety may be considered as part of the broader notion of security. Boundaries established by membership criteria provide the structure and security that protect group intimacy.
The sense of belonging and identification: The sense of belonging and identification involves the feeling, belief, and expectation that one fits into the group and has a place there, a feeling of acceptance by the group, and a willingness to make sacrifices for the group.
Personal investment: Personal investment is an important contributor to a person’s feeling of group membership and to his or her sense of community. McMillan (1976) contended (a) that working for membership will provide a feeling that one has earned a place in the group and (b) that, as a consequence of this personal investment, membership will be more meaningful and valuable.
These attributes fit together in a circular, self-reinforcing way, as indicated in Table
4.1, and contribute to a sense of who is part of the community and who is not
(McMillan and Chavis, 1986). McMillan and Chavis (1986, p. 15) summarise the function of these attributes in a circular way, with all conditions having both causes and effects, as follows:
Boundaries provide the protection for intimacy. The emotional safety that is
81 a consequence of secure boundaries allows people to feel that there is a place for them in the community and that they belong. A sense of belonging and identification facilitates the development of a common symbol system, which defines the community’s boundaries. We believe too that feelings of belonging and emotional safety lead to self-investment in the community, which has the consequence of giving a member the sense of having earned his or her membership.
Table 4.1. Five attributes to membership and its hypothesised relationships (McMillan and Chavis, 1986, p. 15) Membership
Common Symbol System Boundaries
Sense of Belonging and Identification Emotional Safety
Personal Investment
The researcher applied the above attributes to the learners in the revision course in order to analyze their sense of legitimate membership in the classroom. In the following, the researcher analyzed the attributes in a circular way as follows: 1) common symbol system, 2) boundaries, 3) emotional safety, 4) personal investment,
5) sense of belonging and identification, which goes back to 1) common symbol system.
In order to participate in the revision course, the learners filled in a registration form and submitted it to the researcher. After this process, the researcher contacted the participants via email in order to confirm their participation in the revision course. At the beginning of the revision course, there was a number of procedures participants had to follow, such as signing a form called the Participant Information Statement and
82 Consent Form, which was required by the university’s ethics committee, and taking
SPOT (see Chapter 3). These procedures are similar to an initiating ritual to participate in the classroom community and become a legitimate member. Through these processes, the learners began to perceive a common symbol system in the revision course, such as the goals, rules, classroom structures, and members, and gained access to becoming a legitimate member of the classroom community.
Through a number of procedures the learners could gain a sense of being a member of the classroom community. This gave the learners the idea of boundaries, indicating the revision course was different from the classroom they had participated in during the university semester. For example, in her learning journal on the first day, a learner documented the differences in class size and interaction between the revision course and the class during the semester, as follows:
I believe that the class size is really good because the teacher can focus on each of us more thoroughly compared to the size of the classes last year which contained up to 30 people. Student interaction therefore is higher because in such an intimate space, people can get to know each other better and also help each other when we are in need.
The presence of boundaries provided emotional safety because the secure boundaries allowed the learners to feel there was a place for them in the classroom. In the revision course, most learners at first felt uncomfortable due to the lack of clear understanding of the classroom structures. However, after they began to understand the classroom structures, they became more comfortable in the classroom. In her learning journals on the first day, a learner described her emotional instability in the revision course as follows:
This was the first day of the review session of Japanese. Heading into the lesson I didn’t know what to expect. I had expected for a lot of the stuff that we did normally during tutorials and seminars, rushing through the material. However, once the sheet of the outline of the course was handed out I had relaxed a little more. The only thing that made me nervous was the role plays; I was never very good at role plays during the second session last year.
83
At the beginning of the first day, the learner did not have a sense of boundaries: the learner had expected the revision course to be very similar to the university courses during the semester. However, as the learner began to understand the structure of the revision course and other learners, she began to develop a sense of boundaries and emotional safety. In her learning journal on the second day of the revision course, the learner described her emotional change as follows:
I feel very comfortable in the class as there [are fewer] people in it. Unlike the classes in the tutorial and seminars, there are triple the amount of people, which includes at least half that are very fluent and confident in [their] Japanese, having the pace of the class moving faster and not being able to have the help of the teacher. There are too many students in the class for the teacher to be able to help everyone. In the review class I find that it is a lot more comfortable as well as knowing that most of the people in the class are struggling just like me. Me feeling like I am not the only one makes me less nervous.
The learner described the clear boundaries between the revision course and the
Japanese courses in the previous semester at the university and identified that she was more comfortable in the classroom of the revision course. The sense of belonging and emotional safety facilitated the learners’ personal investment in the revision course.
In the revision course the learners formed groups of three or four people and created and performed a skit on the fifth day. Most learners spent some time outside of the class time working on the skit, as they felt an obligation to contribute to the group and the revision course. In her learning journal on the fourth day, a learner described her thoughts of completing a skit in the revision course as follows:
…completing group projects such as this encourages all members to participate and contribute in whatever way they are able - creating a sense of obligation or duty to the group is a particularly effective way of ensuring this. In any case, I have [to] go and to try and memorise our script now!
Due to the sense of belonging and emotional safety the learners felt in the
84 revision course, many learners invested their time and effort to complete the skit as a group. The process of completing the skit activity facilitated the development of a common symbol system, a skit, which defined the community’s boundaries. This dynamic process of the five attributes gave the learners not only a sense of creating the classroom as a community but also the sense of having earned his/her legitimate membership of the classmate community.
4.3. Influence
This section focuses on the concept of ‘influence’ in order to analyse the learners’ sense of community, where “influence is a bi-directional concept”
(McMillan and Chavis, 1986, p.11). On the one hand, an individual member influences what a group does. On the other hand, a group influences an individual’s thoughts and behaviour. In the revision course, there were a number of occasions indicating the bi-directional concept of influence. For example, the role of jishogakari helped learners build a desirable relationship. When a jishogakari searched for the meaning of a word or expression, he/she wrote down the word/expression on a piece of paper so all the learners could review the words/expressions at the end of each day.
Thus, a jishogakari influenced the learning activity of the classroom as a whole. The learners evaluated this role of jishogakari very positively in the learning journals. For example, a learner described the role of jishogakari as follows:
I like having the dictionary person write down all the words we don[’]t understand so that we learn heaps more vocab[ulary] because if we miss it we can always look on their paper to see what was previously written down and don[’]t miss out on new vocab[ulary] and expression if the class is going too fast.
85 A jishogakari could positively contribute to the classroom and help other learners learn new vocabulary. Because a jishogakari could influence other learners’ learning, the role of jishogakari could contribute to forming the classroom community.
The activity of creating a skit demonstrated the influence of a group on an individual learner’s learning process in the revision course. Due to the nature of the skit activity, whereby the learners had to create and perform a skit as a small group and cooperate with each other, each learner had to work hard to complete the skit activity. Thus, the group activity motivated each learner to work hard so that he/she accomplished his/her own duty in the group activity. A learner described her thoughts of completing a skit in the revision course in her learning journal on the fourth day as follows:
…completing group projects such as this encourages all members to participate and contribute in whatever way they are able - creating a sense of obligation or duty to the group is a particularly effective way of ensuring this.
These kinds of bi-directional influences help learners develop a sense of community in the revision course. In addition, the members were more attracted to a community in which they considered they were influential (McMillan and Chavis,1986). As the following comment in the learning journal showed, a learner was satisfied with his active participation in and contribution to the classroom on the third day:
Today was a really enjoyable day. I am now feeling like I was in tutorials and seminars from last session; correcting, helping others and contributing to group discussion as well asking for help from others.
This may indicate the learner felt a mutual influence between him and other learners. Through his proactive participation in the activities the learner contributed to others’ learning and other learners helped him improve his Japanese. Thus, the learner became more attracted to the revision course. In fact, the researcher had noted the
86 learner’s more active participation and increased contribution to the classroom community. For example, when on the third day of the revision course the teacher asked the learners who wanted to be a nicchoku for the fourth day, the learner voluntarily raised his hand without any hesitation, even though a nicchoku had to carry out activities in Japanese as a classroom leader. These perceptions of bi- directional learning influence the learners’ thoughts that they belong to something to which they can make a contribution and, with the cooperation of others, influence the formation of the classroom as a community.
4.4. Integration and fulfilment of needs
This section will describe the concept of integration and fulfilment of needs as one of the four elements of the sense of community. According to McMillan and
Chavis (1986, p.13), “when people who share values come together, they find that they have similar needs, priorities, and goals, thus fostering the belief that in joining together they might be better able to satisfy these needs and obtain the reinforcement they seek. Shared values, then, provide the integrative force for cohesive communities” (Cohen, 1976; Doolittle & MacDonald, 1978). Groups with a sense of community work to find a way to fit people together so they meet the needs of others while meeting their own needs.
In the revision course, in order to share goals, needs, and expectations among the learners and enhance learner autonomy, the researcher instituted a number of procedures at the beginning of the revision course (see Chapter 2). In addition, at the end of the first day of the revision course, the learners selected the contents of the revision course so they were able to learn the contents which interested them and share their needs for improving Japanese with one another. In her learning journal, a
87 learner indicated that the learners being able to choose the contents of the revision course provided them with a good opportunity to improve their weak areas in
Japanese, as follows:
I also liked how we were able to choose the topics that we wanted to revise, giving us the opportunity to strengthen our weaknesses in Japanese. The review session is very relaxing and less stressful than what it is during a semester. Even though it is more laid back we are still able to learn the contents that are needed to be learnt.
It was interesting to note that the learner used ‘we’ in the above example. When the learners selected the contents they wanted to study in the revision course, they did so through group discussion. Thus, the learner may have developed a sense of it being a group decision and, as a consequence, used ‘we’ to describe the subjects of action.
Through the above procedures the learners shared their goals and needs and participated in the activities to achieve their goals and fulfil their needs. In the learning journals on the fifth day and the interviews that followed the revision course, all participants gave positive feedback on the revision course. Although it was necessary to take into consideration that some learners may give positive feedback only out of kindness, it is also possible that learners gave positive feedback based on an honest opinion. For example, a learner wrote his final thoughts about the revision course in his last learning journal as follows:
The review session was a great help to my Japanese and an excellent way for me to start the year and prepare for JAPN 2A25. I really enjoyed myself and I am a little sad that it’s over… Having the environment that was experienced during the review session makes it easier to remember the things learnt in the class as we like to remember the good times. I found that a lot of the things remembered over the summer were remembered because of some fun, interesting or pleasant happening at the time it was first taught, and therefore I believe that I will keep most of the things I have gained from the review session in to JAPN 2A.
25 JAPN 2A is the second year of the Japanese course at UNSW.
88 As the above example indicates, the learner was very satisfied with his achievement through participation in the revision course. In the interview, the learner mentioned he intended to change his major from Physics to a double major of Physics and Japanese so he could continue to learn Japanese at the university with his friends26. His motivation and commitment to learn Japanese became intense and persistent.
In her last journal, another learner also mentioned her final thoughts about the revision course as follows:
Overall I found the review session extremely helpful. The way it was arranged we could interact freely (which doesn’t usually happen in [tutorials] as they are so full) and we also had time to ask questions and go over things we were unsure of. It was the first time that I have really enjoyed something like a [tutorial] for Japanese. I also like that we were not only just learning off the senseis but also from fellow classmates. With more time to discuss things I really got to know people better and also learn from their knowledge and different interpretations of Japanese. I wish all of my classes had review sessions like this.
In the above example, she mentioned that the learners could learn from not only the teacher but also each other due to a variety of interactions in the revision course. This indicates the learners shared their knowledge, skills, and experience with each other so that they could improve their Japanese and also build shared emotional connections, which can influence the learners’ sense of community.
4.5. Shared Emotional Connection
This section focuses on the element of ‘shared emotional connection’. A shared emotional connection is “the commitment and belief that members have shared and will share history, common places, time together, and similar experiences”
(McMillan and Chavis, 1986, p.9). The interactions of members through shared
26 It is difficult to continue studying Japanese at the university unless a student’s major is related to linguistics, Asian studies, or arts-related subjects because of less flexibility of class selection in science majors.
89 events and the specific attributes of such events may facilitate or inhibit the strength of the community.
One of the learners in the revision course struggled in terms of active participation in the revision course. Her learning journals of the first and second days contained comments criticising the structure of the revision course (it was not inappropriate to criticise the structure of revision course as each learner had his/her own idea of an optimal classroom structure). In her learning journals of the first day, for example, she described the amount of Japanese spoken by the teacher as follows:
I personally find that classes in which only Japanese is spoken are overwhelming and slightly counterproductive. I prefer for at least instructions or explanations to be given in English, as when these are delivered in Japanese and not understood it makes it much more difficult to gain an understanding of the entire point of the lesson.
However, on the third day, it seemed that the learner began to accept the structure of the revision course and tried to work harder in the given structure. In her learning journal of the third day she described her change in attitude as follows:
Today's lesson was the most productive and useful so far. I think I am slowly getting used to communicating and getting instructions mainly in Japanese. I think being exposed to so much Japanese has been really good for my pronunciation skills, as it is much easier to pick up both trends and anomalies… Overall I am really enjoying the revision course, and believe that my confidence in speaking Japanese and the fundamental skills I have to approach second year with have already improved.
The main reason for these thoughts and feelings may be related to
‘scaffolding’ from the teacher, the researcher, and other learners. For example, when the researcher received the learning journals from the learners, the researcher returned feedback regarding the learning journals and the revision courses. The following is the researcher’s feedback to the learner’s second-day learning journal:
Your journal is very interesting and insightful. As you have mentioned, language learning often (or always) gives us a very frustrating experience. I also have a similar kind of experience because I have learnt English as my second
90 language. However, I think this review session might be a good opportunity for you to soak yourself in learning and using Japanese because of the smaller class size and easier interaction with a teacher and friends. As you have also mentioned, you can learn a variety of things from other students. I think learning Japanese with your friends or in a group is very helpful.
Scaffolding is not a static and independent process but a dynamic and collaborative process that emphasises learner agency and autonomy (van Lier, 2004). Thus, as learners’ participation changed, different sorts of scaffolding were necessary. At the beginning of the revision course, scaffolding emphasising emotional support was effective, as most participants were worried about how they could adapt and eventually participate more actively in the classroom community. It was not only the content of feedback but also the fact that the learners received feedback from the researcher himself, which indicated the teacher and researcher were concerned with individual learners in the revision course.
Also, the learner came to realise that the teacher and other learners were friendly and helpful, which gave her further motivation to participate in the activities.
She described this fact as follows in her learning journal of the first day:
As I said earlier, having a friendly and approachable teacher such as Kondo- sensei and classmates that participate in classroom activities makes language learning much more interesting and productive.
From this analysis, it could be said that the learner, other classmates, and the teacher (and the researcher) began to experience a shared emotional connection in the revision course. The cooperative environment the participants (i.e., the learners, the teacher, and the researcher) experienced through interaction was vital in creating, maintaining and developing the classroom as a community.
Based on the four elements of the sense of community proposed by McMillan and Chavis (1986), the above sections discussed the formation of the learners’ sense of community. According to the above analysis, the learners established a sense of
91 community in the revision course. The next section describes possible changes in the classroom as a whole through the analysis of learning journals, based on the frequency of positive and negative words. This analysis will be used to support the above findings that the learners developed a sense of community in the revision course.
4.6. Word Frequency
In this section, descriptions of analytical methods of the frequency of positive and negative key words will be provided. Then, the results of the data analysis will be discussed. The frequency of positive and negative word usage in the learning journals was used to analyse the learners’ participation in the revision course as a whole and to examine the classroom atmosphere. First, all the learning journals were reviewed and positive and negative key words were selected from the learning journals based on their meaning in context. Then the frequency of each key word in the learning journals was determined. When key words were counted, a word was not counted if usage occurred in a sentence that was not positive/negative or the learners were writing about something other than the revision course. For example, a learner wrote the following sentence in her journal:
During the semester I often worried about being behind due to the different levels in which students began the course, and the additional preparation they may have done outside of the class (italics added by the researcher).
Although the word “worried” was counted as a negative word in some other learning journals, the above expression of “worried” was not counted as a negative key word in this instance because it was used to describe a feeling experienced in the last semester rather than in the revision course.
92 Table 4.2 indicates the positive and negative key words and the frequency of the appearance of each key word in the learning journals.
Table 4.2 Frequency of positive and negative key words
Positive Key Words Key Words (Positive) Day1 Day2 Day3 Day4 Day5 Total interesting 5 11 4 5 9 34 enjoy/enjoyable 6 13 11 5 10 45 fun 6 9 8 9 14 46 help/helpful 8 11 14 7 13 53 good/good ~ 10 5 8 2 11 36 confident/confidence 2 2 3 0 3 10 comfortable 1 4 1 1 4 11 encouraging 0 0 0 1 3 4 effective 2 1 4 1 1 9 easy-going 0 0 0 0 1 1 relax 6 0 1 0 1 8 productive 2 0 1 0 1 4 easy/easier 1 5 0 0 0 6 fulfilling 1 0 0 0 0 1 sufficient 3 0 0 0 0 3 happy 2 1 1 0 0 4 friendly 2 0 1 0 1 4 positive 1 0 1 0 0 2 motivation(more/great deal) 1 0 0 0 1 2 great 4 3 3 1 6 17 improve/improvement 6 3 2 0 2 13 success 0 0 0 0 1 1 achieve/achievement 1 0 0 0 6 7 excellent 1 0 1 1 2 5 (good ) opportunity 2 3 1 0 3 9 strength(en) 1 0 0 0 0 1 strong 0 0 1 0 0 1 welcoming 1 0 0 0 0 1 entertaining 1 0 0 0 0 1 right/alright 0 1 0 0 0 1 appropriate 1 0 0 0 0 1 pleased 2 0 0 2 1 5 glad 1 0 0 1 2 4 stress-free/less (not) stressful 2 1 0 0 1 4 bearable 2 0 0 0 0 2
Total 84 73 66 36 97 356 Average per journal 7.00 6.08 6.60 4.00 12.13 6.98
93
Negative Key Words Key Words (Negative) Day1 Day2 Day3 Day4 Day5 Total difficult 7 10 10 6 4 37 struggle 1 4 2 0 1 8 nervous 5 1 0 0 1 7 hard 4 5 3 2 2 16 not help/helpless 4 1 0 0 0 5 not good 3 0 0 1 1 5 shy 1 0 0 1 1 3 insufficient/not sufficient 1 0 1 0 0 2 uneasy 1 0 0 0 0 1 uncomfortable 3 0 0 0 0 3 not confident 1 1 0 0 0 2 worry 0 0 0 1 0 1 unproductive/counterproductive 2 0 0 1 0 3 awkward 2 0 0 0 0 2 apprehensive 2 0 0 1 0 3 overwhelming 2 0 0 1 0 3 boring 1 1 0 0 0 2 nerve-wrecking 1 1 0 0 0 2 frustrated 0 1 0 1 0 2 exhausting 0 0 0 1 0 1 embarrassed 0 0 1 0 0 1 tough 2 0 1 0 1 4 fear 0 0 1 0 0 1 weak(ness) 0 1 0 0 1 2 wrong 1 3 1 1 0 6 afraid 0 0 1 0 0 1 disappointed 0 1 0 1 0 2
Total 44 30 21 18 12 125 Average per journal 3.67 2.50 2.10 2.00 1.50 2.45
In total there were more positive key words than negative key words, which indicates that participants generally evaluated the revision course positively. For the positive key words, there was no clear tendency in the number of the key words observed over the five days. In the fifth journal, however, there were almost twice as many positive words per journal on average as in previous journals. All participants who submitted the learning journals documented their final thoughts about the
94 revision course and most of the comments were very positive. Thus, there were more positive words in learning journals on the fifth day.
In contrast to the positive key words, there was a clear trend in the frequency of negative key words over the five days; the appearance of negative key words decreased each day. As the above table indicates, the mean (average) of negative key words decreased. In addition, the quality of the negative words changed. In the journals, two kinds of negative key words were observed. One was negative key words such as ‘nervous’, ‘uncomfortable’, and ‘overwhelming’, which describe the participants’ emotional state. For example, in a learning journal, a participant described his emotional state on the first day of the revision course as follows:
I was admittedly overwhelmed on day one by my loss and lack of knowledge and left feeling a little bit helpless at the end of the day… (italics added by the researcher)
In contrast to these negative key words describing learners’ emotional states, participants also used other types of negative key words such as ‘difficult’, ‘hard’, and
‘struggle’ to describe their impression of linguistic structures or ways in which they dealt with activities. For example, in her learning journal, a learner described her difficulty to understand the content of a video she watched in the revision course and to apply some vocabulary she had learnt from the video to a role-play activity as follows:
Today's video was also much easier for me to understand although I still had some difficulty due to my limited vocabulary. The new vocabulary from the first video was difficult for me to incorporate into the role[-]play. (italics added by the researcher)
As for the frequency of word appearance, most negative key words relating to the learners’ emotional state tended to appear in the learning journals on the first day.
However, the appearance of negative key words relating to the task at hand appeared throughout the five days.
95 The above tendency may indicate that on the first day of the revision course, while recognising some positive aspects of the revision course, learners felt nervous and apprehensive participating in a new classroom in which they were not familiar with the structure and members (i.e., the learners, the teacher, and the researcher).
This may indicate that the learners did not have a strong sense of community in the revision course on the first day. As for membership, the learners may not have attained ‘emotional safety’ yet; thus, their personal investment in participation in the classroom was low. It could also indicate that most learners did not feel they had a shared emotional connection with other learners. However, as they began to understand the structure and flow of the classroom and the members, they gradually became more comfortable to proactively participate in the activities and their active participation suggested they were able to help each other to improve their Japanese.
In addition, active interactions helped the learners build shared emotional connections. On the fifth day, there were twice as many positive words present in learning journals. This tendency may indicate that they were satisfied their achievement in the revision course, which facilitated learners’ sense of community.
Following the revision course, a small party was held with the help of my supervisor. At the party, the learners as the whole class voluntarily presented a gift for the teacher and the researcher as a symbol of their appreciation as a classroom community. This indicated that the learners had developed a sense of a community in the revision course.
4.7. Conclusion
This chapter examined the learners’ sense of community in the revision course through the concept of McMillan and Chavis (1986), which provided a definition of
96 and theory applying to a sense of community. All four elements of a sense of community were present: membership, influence, integration and fulfilment of needs, and shared emotional connection. Data gathered from the learning journals, interviews, and participant observation suggest that the learners in the revision course developed a sense of community in the classroom through a variety of activities and instruments in the revision course. The four elements of a sense of community were related to relationship with others. The next chapter provides the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the classroom interaction in detail.
97 CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS OF INTERACTION: IRF SEQUENCES AND THE
ROLE OF THE NICCHOKU
5.0. Introduction to this chapter
In this chapter, interaction among learners in the revision courses will be examined. I hypothesised that classroom interaction sequences would be decided by types of learner roles, rather than types of activities they engaged in, as the structure of interaction is related to factors such as participants and rules. Thus, considering the roles, rules and artefacts in the present study, this chapter examines how learner interactions changed during the revision courses.
In the following sections, Section 5.1. discusses IRF sequences in teacher- fronted contexts. Then, Section 5.2. analyses how the research instruments influence interaction sequences as well as functions of interaction in the classroom, followed by a conclusion of this chapter in Section 5.3.
5.1. IRF Sequences in a teacher-fronted context in the revision courses
In the revision courses, each day’s lesson started with a typical IRF sequence in a teacher-fronted context. The following is an example of interactions between the teacher and the students in the first activity of each day. The class was studying the grammatical item, counters (i.e., for counting objects). After some learners wrote some counters on different items on the whiteboard, the teacher started checking them—counters for thin, flat objects, mai—with the learners:
Dialogue 5.1.
Teacher: T Learner: L
1: I: T: Hai. Mai. “Thin flat object” desu ne. Tatoeba, nan desu ka? Tatoeba?
98 (Yes. Mai. It is for a “thin flat object”, isn’t it? For example, What is it? For example?)
2: R: L1: For example. (For example.)
3: I: T: Hai. Tatoeba , nan desu ka? (Yes. For example, what is it?)
4: R: L1: Etto, oh, shirt. T-shirt. (Well, oh, shirt. T-shirt.)
5: F: T: Hai. Tii-shirt. Ii desu ne. Ichi-mai. Ni-mai. (Yes. T-shirt. It is good, isn’t it. Ichi-mai. Ni-mai.)
6: I: T: Hoka ni? (Anything else?)
7: R: L2: Paper. (Paper.)
8: F: T: Hai. (Yes.)
9: I: T: “Paper” wa nihongo de nan desu ka? (What is “paper” in Japanese?)
10: R: L3: Ahh… ka, kami. (Ahh… pa, paper)
11: F: T: Hai. Kami mo ichi-mai, ni-mai. Ii desu ne. (Yes. Paper is also ichi-mai, ni-mai. It is good, isn’t it?)
In the above example, the learners took only the response turns and their responses are very simple (often one word) in comparison with the teacher, who took all the initiation and feedback turns, which comprised more than one word. The learners did not have to make much effort to develop the interaction because the teacher was playing the sole role to develop the interaction. Ohta (1999, p. 1498) indicated that more than 80% of the initiation turns were taken by teacher in comparison with more than 80% of the response turns taken by learners, in her research on 14 first-year university Japanese language classes. The following table
99 indicates the results of learners and teachers’ participation in the IRF in teacher- fronted contexts in her study:
Table 5.1. Student and teacher participation in the IRF in teacher-fronted contexts (Ohta, 1999, p. 1498)
Turn % taken by teachers % taken by students
Initiation 87% 13% Response 12% 88% Feedback 97% 3%
Morimoto (1999)’s study also showed that more than 90% of the interaction was initiated by teachers in teacher-fronted (“orthodox” in Nishiguchi’s term) Japanese language classes at the beginner-level (cited in Nishiguchi, 2004, p. 115). These studies indicate that there are clear divisions between interaction turns in the IRF sequences in teacher-fronted contexts. As the teacher tends to control the interaction by taking most of the initiation and feedback turns, the interaction in the IRF tends to be teacher-centred. Due to the teacher-centred interaction, learners may not have sufficient opportunity to effectively develop their communication skills (Ohta, 1999), as well as their ability to use the target language as a means of self-expression.
In this section, the structure of typical IRF sequences in a teacher-fronted context and possible negative effects on learners’ learning and using Japanese was described. In the next section, changes in the IRF sequence in the classroom and the possible effects on classroom learning and learners will be discussed, along with some concrete examples.
5.2. IRF Sequences with Different Roles
100 Although each day’s activity in the revision course commenced with IRF sequences in a teacher-fronted context, the revision course also contained an attempt to alter interaction sequences. There were three roles (i.e., nicchoku, jishogakari, and stamp-gakari) in this revision course. The roles of jishogakari and stamp-gakari did not have a strong influence on the change of the IRF sequences but the role of nicchoku changed the quantity and quality of interaction. The following sections will discuss each role and its impact.
5.2.1. IRF Sequences and Jishogakari
A jishogakari was the person in charge of the dictionary. When there was a word or expression that the learners did not know during classroom activities, a jishogakari searched for the meaning of the word or expression in a dictionary and shared it with the class as a whole. Thus, when some learners did not know the meaning of a word or expression, a jishogakari participate in the interaction as a response turn of an IRF sequence in teacher-fronted contexts, as follows:
Dialogue 5.2.
Teacher: T M: Maya (a learner) E: Elena (a learner)
1: F: T: Kore wa, sa, ga, su. U-verb desu. (This is ‘sa’, ‘ga’, ‘su’. It is a “u” verb.)
2: I: T: Ee, jishogakari-san, shirabete kudasai. Jishogakari-san. Hai. (Well, Jishogakari, please look for the meaning. Jishogakari. Yes.)
3: R: M: Sa, ga, su. (‘sa’, ‘ga’, ‘su’.)
4: F: T: Hai. Sagasu. (Yes. ‘Sagasu’.)
5: I: T: Kyoo, Maya-san to Vanessa-san kana, jishogakari. Jishogakari. A, etto, Elena-san ne.
101 (Today, are Jishogakari Maya and Vanessa? Jishogakari. Oh, well, Elena is that.)
6: R: E: To search for. (To search for)
7: F: T: Hai. Iidesu ne. (Yes. It is good, isn’t it?)
8: I: T: Jaa, kaite kudasai ne. Shiroi kami ni ne. (Then, please write it. On the white paper.)
The above interaction indicated that the role of jishogakari fit in with the IRF sequences in teacher-fronted contexts without any problem; the role of jishogakari did not initiate a different kind of interaction sequence. A jishogakari was a learner, thus, he/she also participated in classroom activities. In the teacher-fronted activities, the teacher was able to use a jishogakari in the flow of the activity, as the above example shows. However, in the learner-centred activities, which mainly consisted of small- group or pair exercises, it was difficult for a jishogakari to check the meaning of some expressions and vocabulary for other learners while a jishogakari concentrated on his/her own small group or pair work. As a consequence, the role of jishogakari did not work well in the learner-centred activities. Thus, in terms of quality of interaction, the role of jishogakari did not have a strong influence on the changes in the classroom interaction in the revision course.
5.2.2. IRF Sequences and Stamp-gakari
The role of stamp-gakari also did not have a strong effect on the quality of interaction. A stamp-gakari was the person in charge of the stamp. At the end of each classroom activity, the stamp-gakari put a stamp indicating ‘a good job’ on the name- plates of learners who had proactively contributed to the activity. However, for two main reasons, the role of stamp-gakari did not work well in the revision course. First,
102 many learners did not understand the role of the stamp-gakari clearly. Although a stamp-gakari was supposed to put a stamp on the name plates of learners who had proactively contributed to an activity in order to encourage the learners’ participation in and contribution to the classroom activities, a stamp-gakari tended to put a stamp on the name plates of all learners at the end of each activity. Moreover, as a stamp- gakari was also participating in the activities as a learner, he/she was not able to observe other learners’ performance carefully during the activities. When the researcher asked a learner about the role in the interview, she said, “I think nicchoku and jisho…(Researcher: jishogakari) gakari could learn a lot of things but stamp- gakari, you know, we just stamped randomly”. The role of the stamp-gakari itself did not work well. Second, like the jishogakari, the role of the stamp-gakari fit in with the IRF sequences in teacher-fronted contexts rather than the role itself creating a new interaction sequence. In fact, most stamp-gakari usually followed their role as a response to the teacher’s instruction to put a stamp on the name-plates of the learners and it was possible to put a stamp without any verbal interaction. Thus, there was almost no influence on the quality of interaction in the classroom.
Both the jishogakari and stamp-gakari lacked autonomous self-direction for fulfilling their roles due to the teacher’s power of controlling them in the classroom.
In order to improve the power relationship between the learners and the teacher, the researcher should have created an opportunity to discuss the purpose and functions of each role among the learners in the curriculum of the revision course so that the learners and the teacher could share the purpose and functions of the roles in the classroom. As a result, the learners may have developed autonomy in fulfilling the roles while the teacher would have supported the learners by using ‘learner autonomy’-oriented approaches to fulfilling the roles.
103
5.2.3. IRF Sequences and Nicchoku
Unlike the roles of jishogakari and stamp-gakari, the role of nicchoku created a different kind of IRF sequence, in comparison with the IRF sequences in teacher- fronted contexts. The following interaction is an example of activities with a nicchoku as the leader in the revision course27. The nicchoku of the day was standing in front of the class checking the answers of a dictation test.
Dialogue 5.3
N: Nicchoku J: John E: Erika M: Monica D: Demi V: Vanessa JN:
Jean RS: Rose NL: Nicole T: Teacher UL: Unidentified Learner(s)
1: I: N: John-san, ichiban o yonde kudasai (John, please read aloud the number one.)
2: R: J: Kinoo no eiga wa, … (Yesterday’s movie…)
3: I: E: Amari (Not so)
4: R: J: What’s that? …amari omoshiroi (What’s that? ...not so interesting.)
5: I: UL: …Kunakute (Not interesting)
6: R: J: Kunakute, yokunakatta desu. (not so interesting and not so good.)
7: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
8: I: N: Mina san, ii desu ka? (Everyone, is this good?)
9: R: E: Iie. Amari no ‘an’. (while pointing at the whiteboard) (No. ‘an’ of Amari.)
27 The names of learners are pseudonyms.
104
10: F: M: Anmari… (Not so…)
11: I: N: Arimasen desu ka? (is there no ‘n’?)
12: R: E: Hai. (Yes.)
13: R: E: Amari (Not so)
Nicchoku erased “n” from “anmari” on the whiteboard.
14: F: E: Hai. Ii to omoimasu. (Yes. I think that it is good.)
15: I: N: Ii desu ka? (Is it good?)
16: R: E: Hai. (Yes)
17: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
18: I: N: Ee, ahn, Demi-san. Ee, ni-ban o yonde kudasai. (Well, ah, Demi. Well, please read aloud the number two.)
19: R: D: Hai. Yamada-san wa nihongo de, deki, oh, tegami o kakimasu. (Yes. Mr Yamada writes a letter in Japan.)
20: F: UL: Hai. (Yes.)
21: R: D: Kakimasu. (Write)
22: I: N: Ii desu ka? (Is it good?)
23: UL: (inaudible)
24: R: V: Kaki, kaki… kanji, kanji ga arimasu. (There is a kanji for ‘write’.)
The nicchoku wrote a kanji for ‘ka’.
25: I: N: ‘Ka’?
105 (Is it ‘ka’? It means that “does the kanji for ‘write’ cover only the ‘ka’ part of the ‘kakimasu’?”)
26: R: E: Hai. (Yes.)
27: R: V: “ka”. Hai. (‘Ka’. Yes)
28: I: N: Ii desu ka? (Is it good?)
29: R: E: Hai. Ii to omoimasu. (Yes. I think that it is good.)
30: I: N: Ahh… ee…, Jean-san, san-ban o yonde kudasai. (Ahh…well…, Jean, please read aloud the number three.)
31: R: JN: Un…, doyoobi ni Rinda-san kooen de booto ni norimashita. (Hmm…, on Saturday, Lynda rode a boat in a park.)
32: I: N: Ii desu ka? (Is it good?)
33: I: E: Booto wa ‘botto’ desu ka? (Is a boat ‘botto’?)
34: R: UL: Booto. (Booto.)
35: I: E: Booto desu ka? (Is it ‘booto’?)
36: R: T: ‘Booto’ desu. (It is ‘booto’.)
37: F: E: Botto. (Botto.)
38: R: T: Ah, hooto. Iie. (Oh, ‘hooto’. No.)
39: I: UL: Booto… (booto…)
40: R: T: Booto. Hai. Booto desu. (Booto. Yes. It is ‘booto’.)
41: UL: (Inaudible)
106 42: I: N: Ii desu ka? (Is it good?)
43: R: RS: Ii desu. Ii to omoimasu. (It is good. I think that it is good.)
44: R: NL: ‘Ha’. (‘Ha’.)
45: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
46: F: E: Oh, ‘ha’. (Oh, ‘ha’.)
47: F: UL: (inaudible)
48: F: N: Hai. (Yes)
49: I: T: Eigo o onegaishimasu. Eigo. (to the nicchoku) (English please. English.)
50: I: N: Eigo… onegaishimasu. (English… please.)
In the above example, the structure of the interaction sequence is similar to
IRF. However, the above interaction is different from the above IRF sequences in teacher-fronted contexts in terms of both quantity and quality. In the following sections, the differences in quantity and quality will be discussed.
5.2.3.1. Differences in Quantity
The quantitative differences of the nicchoku-led interactions as opposed to the typical teacher-led IRF sequences were, first, that the number of turns taken by non- teachers was drastically increased; second, that the nicchoku tended to take the majority of initiation and feedback turns of the IRF sequences; third, that the non- nicchoku learners also took a good proportion of turns; and fourth, that the teacher’s turns were mainly the response turns in comparison to the dominance of the initiation
107 and feedback turns in teacher-fronted contexts. In other words, the clear division of roles apparent in the typical teacher-led IRF sequences did not hold in the nicchoku- led activity. In fact, the roles were diversified and distributions were spread. Table 5.2 indicates the percentage of initiation, response, and feedback turns occupied by the nicchoku, the teacher, and the other learners in the daily activity of dictation tests28:
Table 5.2. Nicchoku, teacher, and other learners’ participation in the nicchoku-led interactions in the dictation tests
Turn % taken by nicchoku % taken by teacher % taken by learners
Initiation 69.37% 14.41% 16.22%
Response 8.20% 9.02% 82.78%
Feedback 55.88% 23.53% 20.59%
Total 100%(301) 41.53%(125) 14.28% (43) 44.19%(133)
In the nicchoku-led activity, the initiation turns were mainly taken by the nicchoku because he/she was the leader carrying out the activity. The initiation turns taken by the teacher were mainly related to instructions to the nicchoku enabling the nicchoku to carry out the activity. For example, line 49 of Dialogue 5.3., “Eigo o onegaishimasu. Eigo” indicated the teacher instructed the nicchoku to check the meaning of the dictation answers in English. The non-nicchoku learners tended to take the initiation turns when they asked questions to the nicchoku, other learners, or the teacher.
The response turn was mainly taken by the other learners in the activity, and this part was very similar to the IRF sequences in teacher-fronted contexts, as the
28 Due to the lack of some recorded data on the fifth day, only the “checking-the-answers” part of the activity (the dictation test) was analysed. See Appendix H for the nicchoku-led interaction sequences.
108 main role of learners did not change. The response turns taken by the nicchoku were either answers to instructions from the teacher or to questions asked by the learners.
The teacher took the response turns when the learners or the nicchoku directly asked questions of the teacher or when responses from the learners were not appropriate.
For example, in line 35 of Dialogue 5.3, a learner, Erika, asked the teacher whether a boat in English was pronounced as botto or booto in Japanese. The teacher responded to her question with “booto desu” in line 36.
The nicchoku mainly took the feedback turns in the activity because the nicchoku took most of the initiation turns and consequently provided the feedback to the answers to his/her initiation turns. However, unlike teachers’ feedback, the nicchoku’s feedback tended to be short, such as hai (yes) and/or iidesu (that’s good) because of his/her limited Japanese language abilities as well as his/her inexperience providing feedback in Japanese as a leader. The feedback turns taken by the teacher often occurred at the end of the activity because the teacher gave feedback on the whole activity or showed appreciation to the nicchoku. For example, at the end of the activity on the third day of the revision course, to show her appreciation to the nicchoku the teacher stated as follows.
Dialogue 5.4.
N: Nicchoku L: Learner T: Teacher
1: I: N: Eigo de nan desu ka? (What is it in English?)
2: R: L: If you don’t understand something, let’s ask your Japanese friend. Please ask a Japanese friend. (If you don’t understand something, let’s ask your Japanese friend. Please ask a Japanese friend.)
3: F: N: Hai. Soo desu. (Yes. It is so.)
109
4: F: T: Hai. Arigato. Subarashii. Hai, domo. Ii desu ne. (Yes. Thank you. Great. Yes, thanks. It is good.)
The feedback turns taken by the learners were mainly clarifications of the responses of the nicchoku or other learners.
Moreover, the teacher’s verbal participation level in the interaction was low
(14.28%), even though she was physically present in the classroom. Table 5.2. indicates the nicchoku, the teacher, and the learners’ total participation in the activity.
In the interaction, the teacher did not respond to the initiation move made by the nicchoku because she was not a learner. Thus, her participation level was mainly restricted to special response turns, where she would respond to the initiation turns directed to her, except for the instructions to the nicchoku and some feedback comments. As a result, the learners with the nicchoku as the leader had to carry out the interaction sequences while helping each other. Thus, the interaction became learner-centred even though it was a simple activity, checking the answers of the dictation test.
This section discussed how the role of the nicchoku quantitatively influenced
IRF sequences in the revision course. As the role of teacher in IRF sequences in teacher-fronted contexts was replaced by a nicchoku, the great majority of IRF turns were mainly taken by the learners. Thus, quantitatively speaking, the interaction became learner-centred. In the next section, the way in which the role of the nicchoku qualitatively altered the interaction patterns will be analysed.
5.2.3.2. Differences in Quality
The quality of interaction is different for the teacher-fronted sequences as opposed to the nicchoku-led interactions. The main difference is that the nicchoku-led
110 interactions are more meaningful and real than the teacher-led sequences. When a teacher asks a question as the initiation turn, he/she usually knows the correct answer.
In the classroom the main purpose of teachers’ questions is often to confirm whether learners understand the answers/explanation. In this sense, in the teaching context the teacher asks questions to which he/she already knows the answer. Conversely, in the above example, when the nicchoku asks other learners, “Ii desu ka” (is it alright?), she is not really sure whether the answers are correct. In other words, as a leader in the activity, the nicchoku asks the questions to find the correct answer rather than to check whether other learners understand the correct answer. In terms of the quality of interaction, it is very important because it means the context for asking a question is authentic and meaningful, unlike the interaction in a pseudo-reality such as a role-play activity for practical purposes.
From the perspective of other learners, the quality of interaction may also have changed due to the nicchoku role. When learners respond to a teacher’s question, their intention is to confirm if the answer they have is correct, especially in IRF sequences in teacher-fronted contexts, because they are aware that a teacher is asking a question to check if they understand the answer/explanation. However, when the nicchoku is in front of the classroom, other learners are aware that he/she is also a learner. Most learners know that, in comparison with a teacher, a nicchoku has less control in terms of the target language abilities and the communication skills in front of the classroom.
Thus, they tend not only to respond to questions in order to construct the correct answer with the nicchoku as the leader, but also help the nicchoku to enable the nicchoku to carry out the activity smoothly.
This addresses a new dimension in classroom learning because it may indicate that the interaction helps learners develop not only communication/social skills but
111 also their ability to use Japanese as a means of self-expression. Unlike the interaction between the teacher and the learners, where the teacher tends to have more power to control interactions, the interaction between the nicchoku and other learners is a process of co-construction (Young, 1999) of a relationship. Young (1999) suggests that ‘interactional competence’, which is one’s ability and knowledge to co-construct interactions with others, is collaboratively built and realised through interaction with others. Interactional competence is acquired by “watching and participating in specific instances of a given practice” (Young, 1999, p. 119). Further, according to
Aikawa (2000), social skills are not innate abilities but learned skills. Thus, without actual experience of a variety of interactions, learners would not acquire or improve their interactional competence/social skills. In the revision course, the learners are actually in the process of building different kinds of interaction skills from the typical classroom skills in teacher-fronted contexts. The learners participate in interaction and collaboratively build interaction with the nicchoku and the experience helps them acquire interactional competence/social skills in Japanese.
The other difference between the nicchoku-led interactions and the teacher- fronted IRF sequence, as mentioned in the quantitative analysis, was the spread of turns. In contrast to the teacher-fronted IRF sequences in which the teacher took 97% of the feedback turns, the nicchoku did not monopolise the feedback turns. Rather, these were spread among the three groups, most notably, other learners took 20% of the feedback turns. In the absence of the authoritarian control of the teacher, who was there to provide feedback, the learners were free to offer their own understandings of response turns. This factor indicated that the nicchoku-led interaction gave learners an opportunity to use Japanese as a means of self-expression. The learners not only responded to the questions initiated by the nicchoku but also commented on other
112 learners’ responses, using their own understandings of responses. Due to the formalised socialisation patterns in the classroom that a teacher gives feedback to most response turns, it may be difficult for learners to take feedback turns in teacher- fronted interactions. However, in the nicchoku-led interaction, the learners were able to express their opinions in the response turns in order to construct the correct answers and carry out the activity.
Dialogue 5.5 is an example of a learner commenting on a dictation answer. On the first day the nicchoku and the learners tried to formulate the correct answer for the dictation question, ‘Arisu-san to Arisu-san no tomodachi wa nyuu yooku kara kimashita (Alice and Alice’s friend came from New York)’. On the whiteboard a learner wrote, ‘Arisue-san to Arisu-san no tomodachi to nyuu yooku kara kimashita’, as the answer, but the particle ‘to’ after ‘tomodachi’ should be the particle ‘wa’ in this sentence.
Dialogue 5.5
N: Nicchoku L1, 2, 3, 4, 5: Learner 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 UL: Unidentified Learner
1: I: L1：Wasn’t it ‘wa’? (Wasn’t it ‘wa’?)
2: R: L2: Isn’t Alice’s friend… (Isn’t Alice’s friend…)
3: UL: inaudible (many learners are speaking simultaneously to each other)
4: R: N: Arisu-san to Arisu no… (Alice and Alice’s…)
5: UL: Inaudible (many learners are speaking simultaneously to each other)
6: R: L3: Oh, should be ‘wa’. Yeah, ‘wa’.‘Wa’. (Oh, it should be ‘wa’. Yeah, ‘wa’.‘Wa’.)
7: F: L4: Tomodachi. ‘Wa’. No. Tomodachi. ‘Wa’ kimashita. (A friend. ‘Wa’. No. A friend. ‘Wa’ came.)
113 8: I: N: Kore? (N is pointing out ‘to’ on the whiteboard) (This?)
9: R: L1: Yeah. Hai. Hai. (Yeah. Yes. Yes)
10: R: UL: Wa. Wa. (Wa. Wa.)
11: F: N: Tien (making the sound to correct ‘wa’ on the whiteboard) (Tien.)
12: F: UL: Wa. (Wa)
13: F: L5: Ii desu ne. (It is good.)
14: F: N: Ii desu. Tien. (It is good. Tien.)
15: AL: (laugh)
In the above dialogue, there are three feedback turns taken by the learners. In lines 7 and 12, the learners are confirming the response turns taken by other learners.
However, in line 13, a learner is making a comment on the answer as ‘ii desu ne ([the answer is] good, isn’t it?)’ without any solicitation from the teacher or the nicchoku.
Moreover, it is worth noting that on the first two days of the revision course, the learner used only ‘ii desu (it is good)’ to answer the teacher and the nicchoku’s questions, such as ‘ii desu ka (is it good?)’ and ‘doo desu ka (How is it?)’. However, on the third day, some learners began to use ‘ii to omoimasu (I think that it is good)’ to answer the same above questions from the teacher and the nicchoku. While very useful to express one’s opinion, the expression ‘~ to omoimasu (I think that ~)’ was not taught in the revision courses or in JAPN 1000 and JAPN 1001 at the university.
However, the teacher in the revision course often used the expression when mentioning her opinion in the dictation tests. For example, on the first day, when the
114 nicchoku asked the class whether the answer to a dictation question was good or not and learners did not clearly indicate and answer, the teacher used the expression ‘ii to omoimsu’ as follows:
Dialogue 5.6.
N: Nicchoku L: Learner T: Teacher
1: I: N: Minasan, kore ii desu ka (while pointing out the answer on the whiteboard) (Everyone, is this good?)
2: L: Inaudible (many learners are talking to each other simultaneously)
3: R: T: Ii to omoimasu. (I think that it is good.)
4: F: N: Doomo arigatoo. (Thank you very much.)
On the same day, the teacher also used the expression ‘~ to omoimasu’ to express her opinion that the answer was not good (‘yokunai to omoimasu’). It seemed that some learners observed the expression the teacher used in order to express her opinion with emphasis on ‘my thoughts’ and began to use the expression as a means to express their own opinions.
As Young (1999) and Aikawa (2000) state, learners must engage in actual interactions in order to acquire or improve communication skills, such as interactional competence and social skills. If the expression ‘~ to omoimasu’ could be considered a sort of communication skills to express one’s own opinion in accordance with contexts, it was important for learners to engage in the nicchoku-led interaction.
Without the nicchoku-led interaction, the learners may not have learned the expression due to the lack of opportunities to make comments/give feedback in the teacher-fronted interaction.
115 In this section the way in which the role of the nicchoku qualitatively influenced IRF sequences in the revision course was discussed. By changing the physical positions as well as some aspects of the classroom role of the teacher using a nicchoku, classroom interaction altered in terms of both quality and quantity. Due to the change in IRF sequences, interaction between the nicchoku and other learners became authentic. Further, as a result of participation in a different quality of interaction, the interaction helped learners acquire interactional competence/social skills, which are very important skills in building effective human relationships. The next section will discuss the importance of interaction in building a good and cooperative relationship in the classroom.
5.2.4. Building Cooperative Relationships
This section discusses the importance of interaction in building good and cooperative relationships in the classroom. The learning journals and interviews provided valuable information about individual learners’ thoughts and feelings in the revision course. Thus, in order to describe the relationships among the learners in the revision course, the learning journals and interviews form the main data for analysis in this section.
In a traditional classroom, the practising of the linguistic structures of the target language tends to be emphasised, in comparison to the contexts in which they are used. Thus, for practice’s sake, learners often have to ask a question to which he/she knows the answer (e.g., a learner has to ask what colour his/her own shirt is).
These sorts of exercises are important in a process of learning a language but the dominance of these practices alone in the classroom does not prepare learners to apply what they learn in the classroom to a variety of contexts outside the classroom.
116 Creation of the role of nicchoku assisted the development of the system of cooperation among the learners in the revision course. By proactively participating in the activities, not only could learners improve their Japanese abilities but they could also promote a constructive learning environment for themselves. Although the jishogakari did not have a strong influence on interaction directly, the role of jishogakari may be considered to have helped learners build a desirable relationship.
When a jishogakari searched for the meaning of a word or expression, he/she wrote down the word/expression on a piece of paper so all the learners could review the words/expressions at the end of each day. The learners evaluated this role of jishogakari very positively in the learning journals. For example, a learner described the role of jishogakari as follows:
I like having the dictionary person write down all the words we don[’]t understand so that we learn heaps more vocab[ulary] because if we miss it we can always look on their paper to see what was previously written down and don[’]t miss out on new vocab[ulary] and expression if the class is going too fast.
A jishogakari can positively contribute to the classroom and help other learners learn new vocabulary. According to McMillan and Chavis (1986), the fact that a person can influence others in a community is one of the four important factors for shaping a sense of community. Because a jishogakari can influence other learners’ learning, the role of jishogakari can contribute to the formation of the classroom community.
Many learners stated that the smaller class size compared to a typical first-year
Japanese class size at the university, which often contained around 30 learners, and the variety of interaction opportunities in the revision course helped them improve their Japanese abilities. For example, a learner stated in her learning journal as follows:
I believe that the class size is really good because the teacher can focus on each of us more thoroughly compared to the size of the classes last year
117 which contained up to 30 people. Student interaction therefore is higher because in such an intimate space, people can get to know each other better and also help each other when we are in need.
Another learner made a similar point about the class size and interaction as follows:
The smaller class size and interactive activities we have been completing have also created such opportunities. During the semester I often worried about being behind due to the different levels in which students began the course, and the additional preparation they may have done outside of the class. However during this session I find it much easier to learn from and pick up vocabulary from the other students. I personally find that it is much easier to have difficult concepts and forms explained to me by fellow students rather than teachers…
In addition, most learners evaluated the smaller class size and the interactive environment in the revision course positively and were aware that they could learn a variety of things from not only the teacher but also other learners through interaction.
This indicated that the revision course achieved a cooperative environment in the classroom.
According to an interview with a learner whose major was Physics, in many science-related classes there is almost no interaction between learners because the structure of class is very teacher-centred (i.e., the teacher remains at the front of the classroom and provides explanations of topics and the main interaction sequence is
IRF in teacher-fronted contexts). Due to the above fact, the learner stated he did not enjoy the classes and said it was difficult to make friends in those classes. However, the Japanese classes at the university, as well as the revision course, provided more interaction opportunities between learners. Thus, he enjoyed the Japanese classes and had developed friendships with other learners in the classroom.
In teacher-centred classroom, many teachers may not like learners to interact with each other during the class because teachers may think that those interactions disturb the progression of class and feel they are losing control of the classroom.
118 However, interactions between learners may be a very good strategy to learn a subject. Yanagimachi (2006) indicates that learners arrange resources in the classroom to enhance their learning. For example, a learner may decide the place of a dictionary is on the left side of the desk and the place of a textbook is on the right side of a desk, so that he/she can check a dictionary or a textbook effectively in accordance with his/her needs. It is worth noting that such resources include other learners. Learners often identify the personality or characteristics of other learners in the classroom, and while it may not be accurate, they change their approach depending on with whom they are interacting.
In the revision course, for example, a learner analysed the Japanese abilities of two other learners (let’s call them Michelle and Joy29) when she was engaged in an activity with them and gauged that her Japanese ability was in between that of
Michelle and Joy. Then, she mentioned in her learning journal that she tried to improve her Japanese by learning from Michelle, whom she considered a better learner, and helping Joy, who faced greater difficulty in learning Japanese, as follows:
With my group I feel that I am in the middle, so I can learn things from Michelle and help Joy which is nice having everyone at different levels as I think you learn from teaching others and sharing knowledge and also being taught by your friend you aren’t afraid to make mistakes or say something wrong so I can try my hardest without feeling embarrassed.
As there is an obvious difference in power between teachers and learners in the classroom, it may be easier for many learners to ask questions of or learn from other learners in a more relaxed environment. Thus, providing a variety of opportunities for learners to interact with not only teachers but also other learners in the classroom is very important for learning and using Japanese.
29 Their actual names are not Michelle and Joy.
119 5.3. Conclusion
The role of the nicchoku changed both the quantity of learners’ participation and the quality of learners’ interaction and the interaction between a nicchoku and other learners became constructive. This indicated that a simple change in classroom roles can improve both the quality and quantity of interactions, and in turn, can help learners learn Japanese and use Japanese as a means of self-expression.
Based on the above data and analyses, the five main functions of classroom interaction in language education are summarised as follows:
1) Learn and Practise: Interaction may provide an opportunity to learn and
practise what learners have learnt.
2) Use: Interaction may provide an opportunity to use a target language that a
learner has learnt as a means of self-expression.
3) Gauging a learner’s own ability and position as well as those of others in the
classroom: Through a variety of interactions as well as observation of others’
interaction, a learner identifies his/her own language ability (e.g., my weak
point is using appropriate counters in accordance with objects) and position
(e.g., my Japanese is in the middle in my group) in the classroom. A learner
may decide how he/she participates in activities in the classroom by taking
into consideration these factors.
4) Building emotional connections and providing support: Interaction between
learners can provide opportunities to get to know other learners and share the
experience of learning a target language. This helps learners build an
emotional connection with other learners and share knowledge in order to
improve their Japanese.
120 5) Acquisition of communication skills/interactional competence: Interaction
provides an opportunity to acquire or improve one’s ability and knowledge to
interact with others more effectively.
In Chapter 5, while mainly focusing on the roles of participants in the revision course, I have described the changes in classroom interaction sequences and the functions of interaction. Chapter 6 will describe how the learners acquire linguistic structures and use them as a means of self-expression.
121 CHAPTER 6: SELF-EXPRESSION: ACQUISITION OF A LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE AND ITS USE AS A MEANS OF SELF-EXPRESSION
6.0. Introduction to this chapter
In the following sections, I present the results of SPOT in order to demonstrate the extent to which the learners in the revision course progressed in terms of Japanese proficiency. Then I analyse how the activities in the revision course as a whole influenced the acquisition of linguistic structures and the learners’ use of Japanese as a means of self-expression, with the example of some learners learning the expression, ogoru (to treat), and being able to use this expression as a means of self- expression.
6.1. The Results of SPOT
In order to measure the possible change in Japanese proficiency of the learners who participated in the present study, the researcher utilised the Simple Performance-
Oriented Test (SPOT), due to its practicality and certain degree of reliability (Ford-
Niwa and Sakai, 1999; Hashimoto, 2000; Kobayashi, 2005). Table 6.1 shows the average (mean) scores of the SPOT. SPOT 1 represents the SPOT prior to the revision course and SPOT 2 represents the SPOT after the revision course:
Table 6.1 The results of SPOT
SPOT 1 SPOT 2 Average (mean) Score (%) 23.00 (38%) 31.25 (52%) Highest Score 50 (83%) 53 (88%) Lowest Score 5 (8%) 16 (27%)
As Table 6.1. has illustrates, the average (mean) score of SPOT increased by 8.75 points out of 60. This increase was impressive given that the results were achieved
122 after only 20 hours of Japanese lessons. Further, in the present study no learner’s score decreased. However, it is worth noting that the gap between highest and lowest scores was significant in both SPOT 1 and 2. Thus, it may be important to take this factor into consideration when comparing the average scores. In order to determine how the learners got answers correct, I analysed the results of the SPOT based on the categories shown in Table 6.2.
Table 6.2. The distribution of correct answers in SPOT
Categories Average (mean) (%) 1 Correct answers in SPOT 1 but wrong answers 3.91 (7%) in SPOT 2 2 Wrong answers in SPOT 1 but correct answers 12.16 (20%) in SPOT2 3 Correct answers in both SPOT 1 and SPOT 2 19.08 (32%)
4 Wrong answers in both SPOT 1 and SPOT 2 24.83 (41%)
Category 1 indicates the percentage of correct answers the learners got by chance in SPOT 1. Category 2 indicates the extent to which the learners’ Japanese improved due to the revision course, while acknowledging that some answers may have been answered correctly by chance. Category 3 describes that, on average, the learners had already acquired 32 % of the contents of SPOT prior to the revision course. On the other hand, Category 4 indicates that, on average, the learners had not acquired 41% of the contents of SPOT, despite participating in the revision course.
Arguably, the learners did not acquire 7% of the contents of SPOT (Category 1), in spite of their participation in the revision course and in addition to 41% (Category 4)
(a total: 48%). It is also feasible that the learners are more likely to have acquired
20% of the contents of SPOT in the revision course. Thus, as a total, by the end of the
123 revision course the learners acquired 52% (20% in Category 2 + 32% in Category 3) of the contents of SPOT.
While there is a tendency to attribute too much importance to a test such as
SPOT, it can be useful to evaluate learning processes. For example, in his learning journal, a learner evaluated his improvement in the revision course through his own interpretation of SPOT, as follows:
When I took the test on day one of the review session I could understand most of what was written in the questions and the pace of the tape was way too fast for me to pick up on individual sounds. Therefore I didn’t even answer half of the questions. When I redid the test today I noticed not only that I could read the sentences and know what the missing characters were but I was moving faster than the tape at times. Even when I didn’t know the answer the pace of the tape seemed reasonable and I was able to understand what was being said well enough for me to get something down. The difference between the experience I had sitting for the two tests showed me just how far I came this week in regaining my former skills and how much new skills and vocabulary I obtained.
For some learners, SPOT may be useful to evaluate not only the learners’ Japanese proficiency but also the learning process in the revision course.
Although SPOT may indicate criteria for understanding the learners’ Japanese proficiency, it does not identify whether a learner can use the expressions or vocabulary as a means of self-expression in a variety of contexts. Thus, the following sections of this chapter will describe how activities in the revision course helped the learners acquire a new expression or vocabulary and use it as a means of self- expression. I will focus on the verb ogoru (treat) to describe the process through which a learner improves learner autonomy and uses Japanese as a means of self- expression in a variety of contexts. Rather than focusing on the effect of an activity, I emphasise the process through a variety of activities in the revision course. As
Vygotsky (1962) indicated, in order to understand a process of learning, one needs to analyse a unit. I consider a cluster of activities in the revision course to be a unit of
124 understanding a process of acquisition and use of a linguistic structure. It would be very difficult (or almost impossible) to analyse the acquisition of new vocabulary and its use as a means of self-expression in an activity in the classroom.
6.2. The Introduction of an expression, ogoru
On the second day of the revision course, the learner engaged in an activity with a video (Nihongo de daijoobu Unit 1, Segment 6, 1994) which was related to ordering foods at a restaurant. The video activity was based on an idea of Okazaki
(2003), who used a video activity to improve learners’ autonomy. In the first scene of the video, an expression, ogoru, was used as follows:
Dialogue 6.1 (Video: Nihongo de daijoobu: Unit 1, Segment 6, 1994)
Scene1 1: Clerk: Irasshaimase. (Welcome.)
2: Yamada: A, kocchi, kocchi. (Oh, here, here.)
3: Ogawa: Osoku narimashita. Matta? (I was late. Have you waited?)
4: Yamada: Shookaishimasu. Kochiraga Ogawa Mayumi-san. Ono Chuoo Byooin ni tsutometeimasu. (I introduce her to you. This is Ms. Mayumi Ogawa. She is working for Ono Chuoo hospital.)
5: Oh: Hajimemashite. Oisha-san desu ka? (Nice to meet you. Are you a doctor?)
6: Ogawa: Iie. Kangofu desu. (No. I am a nurse.)
7: Clerk: Irasshaimase. (May I help you?)
8: Yamada: Biiru de ii? (Is beer ok?)
125
9: Ogawa: Ee. (Yes.)
10: Yamada: Jaa, biiru, moo ni-hon. (Then, two more glasses of beer.)
11: Clerk: Kashikomarimashita. (Certainly.)
12: Ogawa: Moo tanonda? (Did you already eat?)
13: Yamada: Iya, mada. Teishoku ga iikana. (No. Not yet. Teishoku sounds good.)
14: Ogawa: Soo ne. (I think so.)
15: Oh: Demo, takai desu ne. (But it is expensive.)
16: Yamada: Daijoobu desu yo. Kyoo wa ne, boku ga ogorimasu. (No problem. Today I will treat you guys.)
17: Ogawa: Ara, ii no? (Are you ok?)
18: Yamada: Un. Boonasu ga detandesu yo. Kyoo, kanemochi desu kara. (Yes. I got a bonus. Today I am rich.)
19: Ogawa: Jaa, gochisoo ni narimashoo. (Then, let’s accept his offer.)
20: Oh: Demo, warui desu ne. (But it is bad.)
As a part of the video activity, learners had the opportunity to find and discuss some new and/or useful expressions so that learners could choose what they wanted to learn and use. The following is the actual flow of this part of the activity. First, the teacher reminded the learners that they should watch the video, while paying attention to words or expressions that they did not know or thought was interesting. Then, the learners watched the video and there was a discussion to share new/interesting words
126 or expressions they found in the video. In the following dialogue Summer and Lucia were two of the learners.
Dialogue 6.2
T: Teacher L: Lucia S: Summer
1: T: Jaa, moo ichido, hajime kara mimasu. Eeto, wakaranai kotoba o kaite kudasai. Soreto omoshiroi to omou tokoro o chekkushite kudasai. Wakaranai kotoba, omoshiori kotoba o chekkushite kudasai. (Then, we will watch the video from the beginning one more time. Well, please write words that you don’t know. Also, please check places that you think are interesting. Please check unknown words, interesting portions.)
2: L: ‘Boonasu o deta’, or ‘boonasu ga deta’ desu ka? (Is it ‘boonasu o deta’, or ‘boonasu ga deta’?)
3: T: Hai. ‘Boonasu ga deta’ desu. (Yes. It is ‘boonasu ga deta’.)
4: L & S: ‘Ga deta’. Hai. (‘Ga deta’. Yes.)
5: T: Miemasu ka? Gomennasai. ‘Boonasu ga deta’. (Can you see? Sorry. ‘Boonasu ga deta’.)
6: T: Hai.（the teacher starts playing the video） (Yes.)
The learners watch the video.
7: T: Hai. Sorede wa, wakaranai kotoba ga arimashita ka. (Yes. Then, are there unknown words?)
8: S: Ah, ‘boku ga ogorimasu’. (I treat you.)
9: T: Ah, ii desu ne. Hai. (Ah, that’s good. Yes.)
10: S: Is that meaning ..ah.. today is my treat?
11: T: A, hai. Soo desu. (Ah, yes. That’s right.)
12: T: Boku ga ogorimasu. (the teacher is writing on the white board) (I treat you.)
127
13: T: O, go, ri, ma, su（the learners is writing ） (Treat.)
14: T: Hai (Yes.)
15: T: Okane o watashi ga haraimasu. (I will pay money.)
16: S:（Nods）
17: T: Hai. (Yes.)
18: T: ‘Ogoru’ desu. Jisho foomu wa. (It is ‘ogoru’. The dictionary form is.)
19: L: Nnto… ‘yahari’? (Well, ‘after all’?)
20: T: ‘Yahari,’ chotto matte ne. (‘After all’, wait a little bit.)
As the above interaction shows, learners picked up the expression, boku ga ogorimasu (I will treat you), and the teacher confirmed the meaning and the plain form of ogorimasu. Unlike most typical classroom activities, where teachers tend to indicate words and expressions learners should learn, this part of the video exercise aimed to develop the learners’ ability to choose what they wanted to learn or use. The teacher wrote on the whiteboard the words or expressions that the learners picked up from the video and learners were encouraged to use some of these words or expressions later in a role-play activity because the contents of role-play were similar to the contents of video.
6.3. Application of ogoru in context
After the video activity, the learners engaged in an activity involving issuing invitations. In the activity, the learners focused on expressions, ~masen ka (why don’t
128 we ~?), ~masho ka (shall we ~?), and ~masho (let’s ~), which would be useful to invite someone to an activity/event. Although the researcher did not expect the learners to use the expressions they learned in the video activity, as the content of the video did not contain any instances of inviting, they actually used some of the expressions spontaneously without the teacher’s solicitation in the invitation activity.
The following is an example of how the learners used the expression ogoru in the activity for invitation. The activity was a pair-work exercise in which a learner chose a picture card from a bundle and had to invite another learner to an activity/event shown in the picture. The learner, Summer, drew a picture of pachinko, a popular gambling game similar to pin-ball, and tried to invite another learner, Christina, while the teacher and other learners observed them:
Dialogue 6.3
S: Summer C: Christina L: Lucia T: Teacher CR: Classroom
1: S: A, konnichi wa, Christina-san. (Oh, hello, Christina.)
2: C：A, konnichi wa, Summer-san. (Oh, hello, Summer.)
3: S：Eeto, natsu yasumi wa nan…doo deshita ka. (Well, how was your summer break?)
4: C：Aa, tanoshikatta desu. (Well, it was fun.)
5: S：Aa, watashi ha pachinko, pachinko ni ikimasu kara, issho ni ikimasen ka. (Well, since I am going to a pachinko parlour, why don’t you come with me?)
6: C：Aa, ano, pachinko wa chotto. (Laugh) (Ah, well, pachinko is a little bit not good…)
7: S：Demo okane…ga… (But money…)
129 8: L：Okanemochi. (Being rich)
9: S：O, ka, ne, mochi ni narimasen ka? (Don’t you become rich?)
10: CR：(Laugh)
11: C：( C makes a facial expression indicating that she does not understand the meaning of the question in line 9)
12: S：Do you want to become rich?
13: T：Aa, ‘naritaku arimasen ka’. ‘Naritai’. (Ah, ‘don’t you want to be rich?’ ‘Want to be’.)
14: S：Aa, naritai. (Ah, want to be.)
15: T：Naritaku arimasen ka. (Don’t you want to be.)
16: C：Demo, watashi wa ima okane ga arimasen. (Laugh) (But now I don’t have money)
17: S：Daijoobu. Daijoobu. (No worries. No worries.)
18: C：Daijoobu janai. (It is not no worries.)
19: S：Ni-doru ga ii, mo ii desu. (Two dollars is good. Good.)
20: S：Issho ni ikimasho. Ikimasho. (Let’s go together. Let’s go.)
21: C：(Laugh)
22: S：Hai. (Yes.)
23: CR：(Laugh)
24: C：Demo Summer-san, okane ga, agete… ‘give’（looking at the teacher） (But Summer, give money… ‘give’)
130 25: T：A, okane o kudasai. (Ah, please give me money.)
26: C：Kudasai. (Please give.)
27: S：Hai. Ni-doru? (Yes. Two dollars?)
28: CR：(Laugh)
29: S：Ni-doru ga daijobu desu. (Two dollars are ok.)
30: C：(While laughing) Ni-doru. (Two dollars.)
31: S：Jaa. (Then.)
32: C：Iie. (No.)
33: L：Hyaku-doru. (100 dollars.)
34: C：Hyaku-doru. (Laugh) (100 dollars.)
35: S：Ee. Watashi wa tatta hyaku-doru ga arimasu ka... (Ah. Do I have only 100 dollars…)
36: C：Jaa, pachinko ni ikimasen. (Then, I don’t go to a pachinko parlour.)
37: S：Demo, ni-doru… (But two dollars…)
38: T：Oo, ganbare, ganbare. (Oh, keep going, keep going.)
39: S：Demo, eetto, ni-doru…ni…e, ni-doru wa hyaku-doru ni… (But, well, two dollars… to 100 dollars…)
40: T: Aa. (Ahh.)
41: S: Narimasu.
131 (Become.)
42: T：Un. (Yes.)
43: C：Demo ni-doru… ni… (But two dollars…)
44: S：Chansu. Chansu. (A chance, a chance.)
45: C：Chansu. (Laugh) Zero, zero to… (A chance. Zero, zero…)
46: S：Demo tada ni-doru desu yo. (But, you know, it is only two dollars)
47: C：Aa, jaa, Summer-san… (Ah, then, Summer…)
48: S：Omoshiroi desu yo. (It will be interesting.)
49: C：Pachinko, ato, aa, ranchi. Watashi ni ranchi ga…(gesture) (After the pachinko, lunch. You … me, lunch…)
50: L：Ogoru. (treat.)
51: C：Ogoru. Ogorimasu? (asking the teacher) (Treat. I treat you?)
52: T：Hai. Te-form wa? (Yes. Te-form?)
53: C：Ogori… (Treat…)
54: L：Ogotte. (Treat…)
55: C：Ogotte. Ogotte kudasai. (Treat. Please treat me.)
56: S：Eeto, moshi watashi…mo, hyaku-doru ni oguru…how to say… (Well, if I too…, 100 dollars, treat… how to say…)
57: T：N?
132 (Yes?)
58: S：Ah, how to say if I got… (Ah, how to say if I got…)
59: L: If we won… (If we won…)
60: S: Yeah…if we …if I win another $100… (Yeah…if we …if I win another $100…)
61: T：Hai. Moshi wa ‘if’…Tara. Ta-form desu. Moshi… ‘win’ wa kachimasu. (Yes. Moshi is ‘if’… Tara. It is Ta-form. If… ‘Win’ is ‘kachimasu’.)
62: S：Kachimasu. (Win.)
63: T：Moshi. (If)
64: S＆T：Kattara. (If I won.)
65: S：Moshi watashi ha, mo, hyaku-doru o…ka…ma… (If I won 100 dollars…)
66: T：Kattara. (Won.)
67: S：Oh…kattara, zehi, hirugohan…o ogorimasu. Ogorimasho. (Oh…won, by all means, I will buy you lunch. Treat.)
68: C：Hai. Jaa, ii yo. (Yes. Then, it’s good.)
69: CR：(Laugh)
70: T：Ii desu ne. (That is good.)
71: C：Oh, iidesu ne. (Oh, that is good.)
72: S：Soshite, eeto… jaa, ikimasho. (Then, well… then, let’s go.)
73: CR：(Laugh)
133 In the above example, in the process of negotiation, in line 49 Christina tried to use the expression ogoru but she did not remember the exact term ogoru. However, with the help of Lucia (a learner) and the teacher, she was able to apply an expression in context, ogotte kudasai (please treat me), in line 55. In this situation, Lucia and the teacher’s support could be considered ‘scaffolding’ (Wood, Bruner, and Rose, 1976).
As the concept of ZPD indicates, Christina realised that the use of ogoru was a good choice in the above negotiation context but she was not able to use the term appropriately when acting alone. However, the support from Lucia and the teacher, as scaffolding, helped her use the term ogoru appropriately in the given context.
Summer also used an expression, ogorimashoo, in line 67, by applying the term ogoru to the context. However, while the learners were beginning to understand how to use the expression ogoru in the context, it seemed that the learners still did not have full control of the expression, as they tended to look at their notes when using it.
When they changed the partners to continue the inviting activity, Summer used the expression ogoru again, when Lucia drew a picture card of kabuki, a
Japanese traditional theatre performance, and invited Summer to kabuki.
Dialogue 6.4
S: Summer C: Christina L: Lucia T: Teacher CR: Classroom
1: L：Hai. Summer-san, ohayoo gozaimasu. (Yes. Summer, good morning.)
2: S：Hai. (Yes.)
3: L：Eeto, aa, nihongo no benkyo wa saikin dodesu ka? (Well, ahh, how is your Japanese study recently?)
4: S：Eeto, muzukashii desu ne. (Well, it is difficult.)
134
5: L：A, muzukashii desu. (Oh, it is difficult.)
6: L：（inaudiable）
7: S：Maa, keiko desu. E, maa, ii desu. (Well, it is fairly well. Well, it is good.)
8: T：Nn. (Yes.)
9: L：Nn. Etto. Nihon no bunka ni kyoomi ga arimasu ka? (Yes. Well. Are you interested in Japanese culture?)
10: S：Arimasen. (I am not.)
11: L：Nai? (No?)
12: CR：(laugh)
13: S：E, e, e, suimasen. (Oh, oh, oh, sorry.)
14: L：Etto. Nihon no bunka ni kyoomi ga arimasu ka? (Well. Are you interested in Japanese culture?)
15: S：Hai. Arimasu. (Yes. I am.)
16: L：A, so desuka. Etto. Etto. Aa. Nai… raishu, ee, raishu, kyapitaru sukuuea de, kabuki, kabuki ga, kabuki, kabuki o mi ni ikimasen…ikimasen ka? (Oh, I see. Well. Well. Ahh, next week, ah, next week, in the Capital Square, kabuki, kabuki, kabuki, why don’t we go to watch kabuki?)
17: S：Demo, kabuki ni, kyumi? (But I’m interested in kabuki.)
18: T：Kyoomi. (interested)
19: S：Kyoomi arimasen. (I’m not interested.)
20: T：Soo desuka. Etto, kabuki wa totemo omoshiroi soode, totemo omoshiroi desu. (I see. Well, kabuki is very interesting, is very interesting.)
135
21: S：Demo, omoshiroku na…kuna…katta soo desu. (But I’ve heard that it was not interesting.)
22: T：(laugh)
23: S：Soo desu. (I’ve heard.)
24: L：(a facial expression indicating that she does not understand the expression ‘soo desu’)
25: S：(inaudible)
26: L：Demo, etto, a, kono kabuki wa… kono kabuki wa… etto…a…atarashii… etto… atarashii uta o… (But, well, ah, this kabuki is… this kabuki is… well… ah… new…well … a new song…)
27: C：Atarashii… (laughs) (New.)
28: L：(laugh) Atarashii uta o utaimasu. (They will sing a new song.)
29: S：Seriinu Deon desu ka? (Is it Celine Dion’s song?)
30: L：(laugh)
31: L：Dakara, dakra, omoshiroi to omoimasu. (Thus, thus I think that it will be interesting.)
32: S：A, moshi Lucia-san wa watashi ni bangohan o (CR：laughs) ogottara, ogottara, issho ni ma, issho ni ikimasu. (Ah, if Lucia buys me (CR: laughs) dinner, I will go to the kabuki with you.)
33: L：Uun, nto… (Well, hmm…)
34: CR：(laugh)
35: L：Aa, etto, moshi (T: laughs) konshu, moshi boonasu, boonasu (T: aa) boonasu ga detara, etto, Summer-san ni bangohan o ogorimasu. (Ah, well, if (T: laughs) this week, if I get a bonus, well, I will treat you, Summer.)
36: S：Hai. (Yes.)
136
37: S：Soreja, ii yo. (Then, it’s good.)
38: L：Hai. (Yes.)
39: S：Ikimashoo. (Let’s go.)
40: L：Dewa, ikimashoo. (Then, let’s go.)
41: T：Subarashii. (Great.)
In the above interaction, both learners used the expression quite smoothly, with proper changes of form in the given context (e.g., the plain form ogoru became a conditional ogottara in line 32).
In their learning journals, they described how the expressions they gleaned from the video were useful in everyday life. Summer, for example, described her impression of the activities as follows:
We watched a video and studied a variety of expressions. Those were very interesting and useful. For example, those expressions like “A-san ga B-san ni ogorimasu (A treat B)”, “enryoshinai (without being too modest)”, “kanemochi (rich)” are useful (the above sentences were translated by the researcher because Summer wrote this day’s journal in Japanese30).
When the learners chose the expressions from the video they demonstrated a desire and readiness to learn. They not only memorised the expressions but also learned them in guided negotiation through interactions in some interesting and appropriate role-play contexts, as well as with support from the teacher and other learners as scaffolding. Thus, it seems these expressions remains very prominent in the minds of the learners.
30 The learning journals should be written in English. However, Summer writes the second and third day’s journals in Japanese (see Appendix G).
137 In a skit that Summer, Christina, and Lucia (as a group) performed on the last day of the revision course, they also used an expression with the term ogoru. In the following scene of the skit, the characters, Eddie (Christina) and Hanako (Lucia), were buying tickets at a ticket office of Tokyo Disney Land but Hanako forgot to bring her wallet and Eddie decided to buy a ticket for her.
Dialogue 6.5
E: Eddie H: Hanako
1: E：A, hai. Chiketto o ni-mai onegaishimasu. (Ah, yes. Please give me two tickets.)
2: H：Ee. Saifu ga nai. Tabun, uchi ni wasuremashita. (Oh, I don’t have my wallet. I forgot it at home.)
3: E：Aa, soo desu ka. Shikata ga naiyo. Jaa, kyo wa boku ga ogorimasu31. (Ah, did you? It cannot be helped. Then, today is my treat.)
4: H：Waa, sugoi desu ne. Arigatoo gozaimasu. Eddie-kun wa tottemo shinsetsuna hito desu ne. (Ahh, that’s great. Thank you very much. Eddie, you are a very kind person.)
5: E：Ie ie. (No, no.)
In the process of creating the skit, Summer, Christina, and Lucia devised the full content and context of the script. The main goals of the skit were to improve learner autonomy and to use Japanese as a means of self-expression. Thus, the use of the expression ogorimasu (a polite form of ogoru) was their own choice. Due to their use of the term ogoru in the different activities (i.e., the invitation activity and the skit) and the different contexts (i.e., to persuade someone to come to activities/events and
31 The verb ogoru basically means that a person treats another person to breakfast/lunch/dinner/drinks. Thus, in this case, it could be considered that Eddie would buy Hanako not only a ticket but also lunch/dinner in the Tokyo Disney Land.
138 to make someone an offer), it could be said that they understood the term and ways of using it.
6.4. Use of ogoru as a means of self-expression
Although it seemed that the learners understood the term ogoru and ways of using it, it was still not clear that they really could use it as a means of self-expression in contexts outside the classroom activities. Whether a learner can use the term ogoru as a means of self-expression in contexts outside the classroom activities is one of the most important questions in terms of being a language user. A learner not only needs to understand the meaning of an expression and how to use it but also has to participate in interaction and understand the context. Based on my observations,
Summer used the term once outside the classroom activities32. During a lunch break, the learners and the teacher were talking casually about lunch and Summer made a joke to the teacher, “(ohirugohan o) ogotte kudasai (please buy me lunch)”. In this situation, Summer was naturally using the expression, ogotte kudasai, to make a joke to the teacher, while understanding the context that making a joke about lunch was acceptable (the teacher understood it as a joke as well). In the interview, Summer mentioned that she used the expression ogorimasu in contexts outside the classroom as follows. Summer and the researcher were talking about her use of Japanese outside the classroom after the revision course finished:
Dialogue 6.6.
RS: Researcher S: Summer
1: RS: Did you use the expressions or words that you’ve learned in the review session?
32 I had noticed that she used it at least once outside the classroom activities but I did not have any recorded material because I was not able to record any interaction outside the classroom due to an ethical issue.
139
2: S: Yeah, oh, yeah.
3: RS: Like “ogorimasu”. (laugh)
4: S: Yeah, that’s right. I think I did that well.
Thus, it could be said that Summer was using the expression as a means of self- expression in contexts outside the classroom activities.
6.5. Conclusion
The above description illustrates the successful acquisition of a linguistic structure in the revision course and its application as a means of self-expression in different contexts. It is apparent that a variety of activities in the revision course have influenced the process of learning Japanese and using Japanese as a means of self- expression. An important aspect of this is that, rather than one activity enabling the learners to use Japanese as a means of self-expression, it should be considered that a variety of activities as a whole provide an opportunity to build learner autonomy and use Japanese as a means of self-expression.
It is impossible to analyse how an individual linguistic structure is acquired by a learner because there are so many factors related to the acquisition of a linguistic structure. For example, in order to learn the term ogoru and its application in a variety of contexts, a learner must realise that ogoru is a verb and get to know various practical forms of the verb (i.e., te-form to make an expression XXX o ogotte kudasai,
“please buy me XXX”). The learners in the above example already understand that ogoru is a verb and that they must change forms in accordance with various expressions. This indicates that they are applying previous knowledge about verbs in
Japanese language to new verbs they encounter. All learners have knowledge and,
140 when applying, modifying, and transforming the knowledge they have, they learn something new.
141 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION
7.0. Introduction to this chapter
This chapter presents a summary of the findings and discussion of this research, as well as its pedagogical implications. The next section will discuss the limitations and suggestions for future research. Finally, this chapter concludes with the author’s views of language learning.
7.1. A summary of the research, findings, and discussion
The present study uses sociocultural approaches (SCT) in a beginner-level
Japanese language program in an institutional setting that aims to enable Japanese language learners to become ‘Japanese language users’. The study initially introduced literature on learning resources in Australia and the nature and problem of school learning, as well as the concept of ‘learning’ from various perspectives. It then summarised the methodology based on sociocultural approaches. Presenting the results and discussion, the study analysed the classroom interactions, the acquisition and use of a linguistic structure (i.e., ogoru), and the nature of the classroom as a community.
In the background of this study lies the fact that in Australia, compared to learners of Japanese language in Japan, learners tend to have fewer opportunities to use Japanese. For many learners in Australia, especially beginners, it is difficult to find a variety of opportunities and maintain motivation to seek out and participate in such opportunities to use Japanese. Thus, for them, one of the best places to use
Japanese may be the classroom.
In the present study, the researcher created the Japanese language revision courses for beginners to use SCT in order to enable language learners to become
142 language users. Based on Lave and Wenger (1999), the study considers that learning a foreign/second language brings about not only the acquisition of linguistic structures but also leads to changes in participation in communities. Adopting the expanded model of Vygotsky’s triadic model (see Figure 2.3) created by Engestrom (1999, p.31), the researcher designed participant roles, rules, and artefacts in the revision courses as well as devising activities that aimed to develop the classroom into a community and to enhance the use of Japanese as a means of self-expression for learners.
The results of the study indicate that the learners developed a sense of community in the classroom through a variety of activities in the revision course. One of the new roles introduced for this study, the role of the nicchoku, had a significant effect on making classroom interaction learner-centred and authentic. Under the leadership of the nicchoku, other learners engaged in learning activities, while the teacher stepped aside to take a support role. The nicchoku altered the typical teacher- fronted classroom sequence of Initiation-Response-Feedback and helped redistribute classroom turns more evenly among classroom members. However, the other two roles, jishogakari and stamp-gakari, did not have a strong direct influence on interaction because, unlike the role of nicchoku, the roles of jishogakari and stamp- gakari fit well within the IRF sequences typical of the teacher-fronted contexts.
The study identified five functions that classroom interactions provided for learners:
1) to learn and practice a target language
2) to use Japanese as a means of self-expression
3) to gauge their own and others’ ability and position in the classroom
4) to build an emotional connection and provide support
143 5) to acquire communication skills/interactional competence.
These functions suggest that interactions are important not only to learn language but also to build human relationships. Thus, if the course aims to build both language proficiency and a learning community, it is necessary to create a variety of interaction opportunities in the classroom so that learners can acquire interactional competence/social skills to build a good relationship in a target language in/outside of the classroom.
The results of the SPOT indicate a significant improvement in the Japanese proficiency of all the learners in the revision course. In addition, the study described an acquisition process of the verb ‘ogoru’ as an example. The learners encountered the expression, learned its linguistic structure, applied it to a variety of contexts to learn its usage, and used it as a means of self-expression. The process showed that using the linguistic structure as a means of self-expression occurred through, first, acquisition of the linguistic structure, second, exposure to appropriate applications including sociolinguistic aspects in a given context and, third, experiences of a variety of interactions though activities. Thus, all three stages of classroom activities are necessary to help learners enhance their ability to use Japanese as a means of self- expression.
These findings suggest the classroom can provide learners with opportunities to use Japanese as a means of self-expression if the roles and activities in the classroom are carefully designed to bring learners into learner-centred interaction sequences, which are both qualitatively and quantitatively different from the typical teacher- fronted IRF sequences. In addition, the study shows that learning a foreign language and becoming a language user is a complex and dynamic process of learners participating in communities that are created, maintained, and changed by their
144 members, the acquisition of linguistic structures and appropriate application to context, and individual learners’ personal attributes and experience.
7.2. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research
The present research focused on the learning process and environment in a classroom context. The researcher created the Japanese language revision courses for beginners using SCT, aiming to enable language learners to become language users.
As the previous section indicated, the present study identifies a number of factors to improve Japanese language education. However, the study also has a number of limitations. First, due to the nature of the case study, which emphasises a specific context, it is difficult to generalise the findings and implications of the present study to other contexts. A number of important factors which could have influenced the classroom and learners in this study are unique to the revision courses and are different from regular courses during a normal semester at the university. In particular, the revision course was not a regular university course, thus, the teacher did not have to assess the learners or give grades, unlike in the university course, where assessment is a major concern for both teachers and learners. As Thomson
(2008) states, if a teacher is the only person who evaluates learners and gives grades, learners are more likely to focus on learning the materials the teacher teaches in the classroom. However, in the revision course, it was not necessary to give final grades to the learners so both the teacher and learners were free from the stress of giving or being given grades. The revision course also had the scope to adopt learner-centred assessments in some activities, such as the role-play and the dictation tests.
In addition to the issue of assessment, the revision course was different from the regular university course in terms of its structure. The revision course was a five-
145 day intensive course. The learners attended the revision course for four hours a day, for five consecutive days, unlike in a regular university course, where learners participate in a one-hour lecture and two two-hour tutorials per week (each tutorial has different learners). It is difficult to generalise the course design of this research as well as the research findings to regular Japanese courses in educational institutions without careful consideration of the contexts of each setting.
Second, the present research focused on the learning process in the revision course, which could be considered a context to learn and use Japanese. However, the study attempted to understand only this context, while a learner is typically engaged in a variety of contexts and life worlds. If learning Japanese and becoming a language user are a dynamic integration of a variety of activities in a variety of contexts, it is necessary to take into consideration the factors that influence the process of language learning.
Almost all learners belong to at least several kinds of communities. For example, a learner of Japanese language may be a student at a university and also a member of a soccer team which participates in a local soccer league. In addition, the learner may work for a Japanese restaurant as a part-time clerk. The learner may learn some polite expressions in a Japanese class at a university and use the expressions to talk to a Japanese teammate in a soccer team. However, the Japanese teammate might correct his/her Japanese because it is too polite to talk to a friend in a casual setting.
Then, the learners may use the casual expressions which have been taught by the
Japanese teammate to a Japanese customer in the Japanese restaurant where the learner works because clerks in Australia tend to talk to customers casually. However, the learner may realise that Japanese customer may not appreciate his/her casualness.
Thus, the learner may ask a Japanese teacher at the university and understand the
146 different formalities for using Japanese. As this example indicates, a learner belongs to different communities and his/her learning and use of Japanese take place across a variety of communities. The present study has examined one aspect, the revision course, of the learning process to become a language user. However, it would be necessary and interesting to conduct follow-up research investigating how learners who have participated in the present research continue/stop learning Japanese and how the instruments and activities in which they have engaged in this study influence other factors outside the revision course in the process of learning and using Japanese.
In order to conduct such a longitudinal investigation, the researcher may have to focus on individuals using ethnography, which is an effective method to create a big picture through the integration of a variety of factors (Harajiri, 2006). In addition, a longitudinal study could examine changes occurring in learning communities. The present study has identified some changes in the classroom community. However, due to the short period of the revision course, this was limited to observing the influence of changes in the classroom community in terms of individual learners’ learning process and individual learners’ influence on changes in the classroom community.
Thus, a longitudinal study using ethnography may be an effective method to investigate the relationship between the formation of a community and the learning process over a long period.
7.3. Conclusion
Based on the present research, it could be considered that being a language user is not an achievement that a learner reaches at the end of learning process of a target language, but a continuous process to apply and re-apply what the learners have learnt in different contexts. Through this endless process of application, learners gradually
147 understand what they can do and want to do in a target language and, while building human relationships, formulate their own identity.
For a learner of Japanese language as a foreign/second language, being a Japanese language user may always be a process because they will never finish learning
Japanese completely. A learner can set a goal in terms of learning and using Japanese and achieve the goal in a certain context, but since the contexts the learner faces will continue to change, the goal set by the learner and needs created from the contexts will also change, during or after the process of being a language user in a certain context. Thus, the learner may have to learn other linguistic structures and other appropriate communication strategies and skills in order to use Japanese as a means of self-expression and build relationships with others in other contexts.
This indicates that learning a language is influenced not only by factors in the classroom but also a variety of factors from the outside of classroom, as learning a language influences other aspects of one’s life. In other words, the learning process influences an individual’s thoughts and behaviour as well as his/her identity in a given context and an individual’s thoughts and behaviour also influence the learning process. Learning a language is a dynamic process of human activities by which to understand ourselves, and the revision course also forms a small part of this process.
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155 APPENDICES
Appendix A: Advertisement and registration form
A-1 A copy of advertisement
Japanese Revision Courses
During the summer holidays, I will organize two Japanese revision courses for those students who have finished JAPN 1001 (1B). The details of the courses are as follows:
Date: Course 1: 11/Feburary/2008 (Monday) ~ 15/Feburary/2008 (Friday) Course 2: 25/Feburary/2008 (Monday) ~ 29/Feburary/2008 (Friday)
Time: 10:00 ~15:00 (lunch break: 12:00 ~ 13:00)
Place: UNSW (The classroom will be announced later to those who participate in the courses)
Fee: Free
Registration Cap: 20 students/course (Please note each student can register for only ONE course.)
Registration: Please print and fill in a registration form available on WebCT and put the upper-half of the registration form into an envelope on the door of MB204 before 23/November/2007 (Friday), 3:00 pm. If more than 20 registration forms are received for each course, 20 registration forms will be randomly drawn. An E-mail notification will be sent to only those who have successfully registered in the courses.
Note: Students who participate in each course are expected to attend all 5 days of a course. During the courses, I will collect some data for my research. Thus, students who participate in the courses will be expected to sign a Participant Information Statement and Consent Form that will be provided on the first day of each session.
Privacy statement: Your name and E-mail address will be used only for the registration purpose. Your name and Email address will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission, except as required by law.
Your signature on a registration form indicates that, having read the information provided above, you have decided to register.
Thank you.
Tetsushi Ohara ([email protected])
156 A-2 Registration form
Japanese Revision Course Registration Form (A Copy to be submitted)
I would like to participate in the following revision course (please put a tick on only one course): I am available to attend all lessons of
Course 1: Course 1: 11/Feburary/2008 (Monday) ~ 15/Feburary/2008 (Friday)
Course 2: Course 2: 25/Feburary/2008 (Monday) ~ 29/Feburary/2008 (Friday)
Name:
Student ID:
Email:
Signature:
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Japanese Revision Course Registration Form (A Copy for a Student)
I would like to participate in the following revision course (please put a tick on only one course): I am available to attend all lessons of
Course 1: Course 1: 11/Feburary/2008 (Monday) ~ 15/Feburary/2008 (Friday)
Course 2: Course 2: 25/Feburary/2008 (Monday) ~ 29/Feburary/2008 (Friday)
Name:
Student ID:
Email:
Signature:
157
Appendix B: Participant Information Statement and Consent Form
School of Languages o (when available)and Linguistics
Approved No 072130 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
PARTICIPANT INFORMATION STATEMENT AND CONSENT FORM
Bridging the gap between an educational institution and society: An attempt to create a new Japanese language program based on sociocultural approach
[Participant selection and purpose of study] You (i.e. the research participant) are invited to participate in a study of the application of sociocultural approach to a beginning-level Japanese language program. We (i.e. the investigators) hope to learn and analyse effects of a Japanese language curriculum and teaching and learning processes based on sociocultural approach focusing on social and collaborative nature of language teaching and learning. You were selected as a possible participant in this study because you have finished JAPN1001 at the University of New South Wales.
[Description of study and risks] If you decide to participate, you are expected to participate in a 5-day Japanese language session (4 hours/day) and interviews (approximately 1 hour) during and/or after the session. You are also expected to fill in a questionnaire about your Japanese language learning as well as write daily-learning journals during the session. In addition, you will be required to participate in the Simple Performance-Oriented Test (SPOT) of Japanese before and after the session.
A video camera and audio recorders will be used to record participants’ interactions during class throughout the two 5-day sessions.
As a consequence of your participation in this study, you would be able to review the materials that you have learnt in JAPN1000 and JAPN1001 at the University of New South Wales and gain some opportunities to practice your Japanese. However, we cannot and do not guarantee or promise that you will receive any benefits from this study.
[Confidentiality and disclosure of information] Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified with you will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission, except as required by law. If you give us your permission by signing this document, we plan to discuss/publish the results in the Master of Arts thesis of Tetsushi Ohara (a researcher of the study) as a part of the concrete research data of the thesis as well as academic journals and/or conference papers related to Japanese linguistics and education to make an academic contribution to the knowledge of Japanese linguistics and education. In any publication, information will be provided in such a way that you cannot be identified.
Complaints may be directed to the Ethics Secretariat, The University of New South Wales, SYDNEY 2052 AUSTRALIA (phone 9385 4234, fax 9385 6648, email [email protected]). Any complaint you make will be investigated promptly and you will be informed out the outcome.
[Feedback to participants] A summary of research findings may be offered to you at the completion of the study (at the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009). Please put a tick in a box on the third page of the Form and write your Email address if you wish to receive a summary of research findings via Email.
158 PARTICIPANT INFORMATION STATEMENT AND CONSENT FORM (continued)
Bridging the gap between an educational institution and society: An attempt to create a new Japanese language program based on sociocultural approach
[Your consent] Your decision whether or not to participate will not prejudice your future relations with the University of New South Wales. If you decide to participate, you are free to withdraw your consent and to discontinue participation at any time without prejudice.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us. If you have any additional questions later, Mr.Tetsushi Ohara ([email protected] or 0431857417) will be happy to answer them.
You will be given a copy of this form to keep.
159 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
PARTICIPANT INFORMATION STATEMENT AND CONSENT FORM (continued)
Bridging the gap between an educational institution and society: An attempt to create a new Japanese language program based on sociocultural approach
You are making a decision whether or not to participate. Your signature indicates that, having read the information provided above, you have decided to participate.
…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. Signature of Research Participant Signature of Witness
…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. (Please PRINT name) (Please PRINT name)
…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. Date Nature of Witness
[Feedback to Participants]
I would like to receive a summary of research findings at the completion of the study via Email.
Email………………………………………………………………………………...
REVOCATION OF CONSENT
Bridging the gap between an educational institution and society: An attempt to create a new Japanese language program based on sociocultural approach
I hereby wish to WITHDRAW my consent to participate in the research proposal described above and understand that such withdrawal WILL NOT jeopardise any treatment or my relationship with The University of New South Wales.
…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. Signature Date
…………………………………………………… Please PRINT Name
The section for Revocation of Consent should be forwarded to Associate Professor Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson, 248 Morven Brown Building, School of Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052.
160 Appendix C: Questionnaire Questionnaire
Bridging the gap between an educational institution and society: An attempt to create a new Japanese language program based on sociocultural approach
Thank you for participating in this questionnaire. This questionnaire consists of 3 pages. Please answer all appropriate questions.
Name:
Major: Year at university: Nationality: Language spoken at home: Reason(s) for studying Japanese:
Length of Japanese study at high school: years months days Length of Japanese study at university: years months days Other ( ): years months days Visit to Japan: (Yes No)
If you answered “Yes”, Number of visits: ( time/s) Length of stay: ( year/s month/s day/s) Reason(s) for stay:
Your goal in Japanese:
Q1. How do you usually study the following materials in Japanese outside of classroom? please put “○”on the alphabet (a, b, or c) of the appropriate answer.
1) Grammar: a) alone, b) with your friend, c) other (please specify)……………….
2) Vocabulary: a) alone, b) with your friend, c) other (please specify)………………
3) Hiragana: a) alone, b) with your friend, c) other (please specify)…………………
4) Katakana: a) alone, b) with your friend, c) other (please specify)…………………
5) Kanji: a) alone, b) with your friend, c) other (please specify)……………………..
6) Pronunciation: a) alone, b) with your friend, c) other (please specify)…………...
7) Fluency (speaking): a) alone, b) with your friend, c) other (please specify)……...
8) Role-plays: a) alone, b) with your friend, c) other (please specify)………………..
161
Q2. What kinds of learning modes do you prefer in class? Please select most appropriate 5 answers in order of your preference and write 1~5 (“1” indicates “the most preferred choice”) beside the number of the following choices.
1) Lecture (you primarily listen to a teacher’s explanation) 2) Asking questions to your teacher 3) Asking questions to your friend 4) Studying a textbook alone 5) Studying a textbook collaboratively with your friend 6) Doing exercises in a textbook/workbook alone 7) Doing exercises in a texbook/workbook collaboratively with your friend 8) Listening to an audio tape/CD 9) Group discussion 10) Writing an essay alone 11) Writing an essay collaboratively with your friend 12) Doing role-plays with your friend 13) Doing role-plays with your teacher 14) Dictation 15) Practicing “reading aloud” alone 16) Practicing “reading aloud” collaboratively with your friend 17) Other (please specify)……………………………………………
Q3. Do you use Japanese outside the classroom?
1. Yes (go to Q3-1) 2. No (go to Q3-2)
Q3-1. If you answered “Yes”, when do you use Japanese most outside the classroom? You may select up to 3 choices in order of frequency. Please write 1~3 (“1” indicates “the most frequent”) beside the number of the following choices.
The time; 1. I talk to my teacher. 2. I talk to my classmate. 3. I talk to my Japanese friend. 4. I talk to a member of my family. 5. I talk to my colleague at work. 6. I talk to a customer at work. 7. I read a book/magazine/comic book. 8. I watch a TV program/movie. 9. I use the Internet (except Email/chatting). 10. I send Email/chat with my friend. 11. I write a letter/document. 12. Other (please specify)……………………………….
162 Q3-2. If you answered “No”, why do you not use Japanese outside the classroom? (Tick all that apply) 1. There is no opportunity to use Japanese. 2. I am not interested in using Japanese. 3. I am not confident of using Japanese. 4. I am shy. 5. Other languages such as English are more convenient in most situations. 6. Other (please specify)…………………………….
Q4. Do you have an ideal image of yourself in which you are using Japanese? 1. Yes (go to Q4-1) 2. No (end of questions)
Q4-1. If you answered “Yes”, please describe it.
The End of Questions
163 Appendix D: Course Syllabus
Japanese Revision Course (XX/02/2008-XX/02/2008)
Session Convener Mr. Tetsushi Ohara ([email protected])
Teaching Staff Ms. XXX
Classroom: MB 107
Session Goals To enable language learners to become language users who can communicate and interact well in Japanese at the professional level in culturally, functionally, and structurally appropriate manners. To review the linguistic structures and vocabulary as well as sociolinguistic aspects of Japanese language that students have learnt in JAPN1000 and JAPN1001. To nurture self-sufficient learners who can demonstrate autonomy in learning and who can continue learning on their own.
Learning Outcomes By the end of this course, students will be able to use classroom-specific Japanese in order to initiate and maintain classroom activities and interaction in Japanese; be able to talk about food, family, memories, preference, and a range of health problems in a socio-culturally appropriate way; be able to read and write a short passages as the above topics including 70 kanji; be a competent collaborative language learner: be more confident in him/herself in terms of using Japanese; and be able to view him/herself as a Japanese language user.
Class Activities 1) Role-plays 2) Kanji and Katakana Quizzes 3) Dictations 4) Video 5) Group project: Japanese skit
Roles in class: There are 3 roles in this review session. All students have to take at least two roles during the review session and students have to change their roles everyday.
にっちょく（日直）(a class leader)：this person has to organize some class activities such as dictations and quizzes. じしょがかり（a dictionary-person)：this person has to check the textbook or a dictionary when someone has a word or an expression he/she does not know during the class.
164 スタンプがかり(a stamp-person)：this person has to decides who works hard during each class activity and gives a stamp to those who work hard.
Students are required/expected:
1) To use Japanese as much as possible.
2) To write daily learning journal: Students have to write a learning journal in English (1~2pages) and send it to Ohara-sensei ([email protected]) everyday. When you write a journal, please consider not only what you have learnt but also what you have found, thought, felt, and/or created during/after the class. You may take a variety of elements into consideration (e.g., roles, participation levels, usage of Japanese (quantity and quality), learning strategies, classmates, teachers, class activities, etc). In the first journal, please include your goal in the review session.
3) To do a group project (Japanese skit).
4) To cooperate with your classmates and to provide your proactive contribution to the classroom community.
165 Appendix E: Teaching plans
E-1: Teaching plan: Day 1
Japanese Revision Course Day 1
Teaching Materials: A4-size paper, pens (black, blue, and red), syllabus, pens for the white board, the Participant Information Statement and Consent Form, questionnaire, SPOT and its tape, a tape player, a video (Nihongo de daijoobu Unit 2 Segment 19), a script for the video, stamps, OHT (‘te’-form song, verb lists for ‘te’-from, role-play descriptions, and role-play evaluation criteria), an instruction guide for nicchoku, dictation questions, and a script of ‘Mari and Eddie’
Objectives:: To use Japanese in class To be able to use ‘t’-form To be able to introduce yourself To understand the flow and contents of the review session
Time Duration Teaching Materials Activities 10:00~10:05 5 Opening statement by Associate Professor Thomson 10:05~10:20 15 Participant The explanations for the research and Information revision course Statement and The researcher provides explanations Consent for the research. Also, the learners Form、Questionna signs forms and a questionnaire. ire 10:20~10:30 10 SPOT, Tape for SPOT SPOT 10:30~10:35 5 Syllabus The explanation for the revision course and the introduction of objectives for the 1st day The researcher provides the course syllabus and its explanation to the learners. The teacher introduces the objectives for the 1st day and starts the lesson. 10:35~10:55 20 A4-size papers, Self-introduction and allocation of Pens (Black, Blue, the roles and Red) Name-plate The teacher gives a sheet of A4-size paper and 3 colours (black, blue, and red) of pen to each learner. Each learner folds the sheet of paper up in three and writes his/her name in katakana on each side of the paper with a different colour of pen.
166 All learners display the name written by a black pen.
Self-introduction First, the teacher introduces herself as an example. The teacher says only her name and ‘yoroshiku onegaishimasu (Nice to meet you)’ to the learners. The teacher asks the learners if they have questions to her so that they can know the teacher better. A learner can change the colour of nae-palte (black→blue→red) every time he/she asks a question.
Then, each learner does the same thing as the teacher’s example.
The teacher encourages the learners in that all learners’ name-plate becomes the ‘red’ side at the end of self-introduction of all learners.
After the self-introduction, the learners decide today’s roles (two nicchoku, two jishogakari, and two stamp-gakari).
The teacher provides a brief explanation about the roles by using the syllabus that has been used at the beginning of the previous activity.
The learners discuss who takes each roles in the whole class. 10:55~11:05 10 Questionnaire Self-awareness of own goals and reasons to learn Japanese Using the questionnaire that the learners have filled in, the learners discuss their own goals and reasons to learn Japanese as a group so that the learners can not only re-recognise their own goals and reasons to learn Japanese but also share their needs in the classroom. The learners may use English in this activity. 11:05~11:10 5 Break 11:10~11:40 30 Video (Nihongo de Video activity daijoobu Unit 2 In-classroom Japanese:
167 Segment 19)、a In this activity, in order to use script of the video Japanese in the classroom interactions as much as possible, the learners learn some expressions which are useful in the classroom interactions through the video.
Flow: 1) The teacher showed the video to the learners. Then, in the class, the learners discuss the setting and the topic of the video in order to understand the whole flow of the video.
2) The teacher shows the learners the video again.Then, as small groups, the learners discuss expressions, vocabulary and behaviour in the video as well as the contents of the video that they do not understand. The teacher observes the group activity so that the learners can ask the teacher questions.
3) If necessary, the teacher showed the learners the video again.
4) Finally, the teacher shows the learners the video again. Then, the learners find 3 to 5 expressions that they want to remember or use and share them in the classroom so that the learners can choose what expressions they want to learn and use.
5) The teacher gives the script of the video to the learners. 11:40~11:45 5 OHT(lyrics), A ‘Te’-Form Song tape for the ‘te’- In order to recall ‘te’-forms, the form song learners listen to and sing a ‘te’-form song that they have listened to and have sung during the previous semester. The teacher shows the lyrics using an overhead head projector (OHP).
Lyrics
168 •かう かいます かって、 まつ まちます まって (kau kaimasu katte, matsu machimasu matte) •あう あいます あって、 とる とります とって (au aimasu atte, toru torimasu totte) •よむ よみます よんで、 あそぶ あそびます あそんで (yomu yomimasu yonde, asobu asobimasu asonde) •よぶ よびます よんで、 しぬ しにます しんで (yobu yobimasu yonde, shinu shinimasu shinde) ＊いきます だけは いって、 いく いきます いって (ikimasu dake wa itte, iku ikimasu itte)
•かす かします かして、 はなす はなします はなして (kasu kashimasu kashite, hanasu hanashimasu hanashite)
♫♪♩ ♬ •きく ききます きいて、 かく かきます かいて (kiku kikimasu kiite, kaku kakimasu kaite)
•ぬぐ ぬぎます ぬいで、 およぐ およぎます およいで (nugu nugimasu nuide, oyogu oyogimasu oyoide)
＊いきます だけは いって、 いく いきます いって (ikimasu dake wa itte, iku ikimasu itte)
•かす かします かして、 はなす はなします はなして (kasu kashimasu kashite, hanasu
169 hanashimasu hanashite)
い／ち／り→って、 (i/chi/ri→tte) い／ち／り→って、 (i/chi/ri→tte) み／び／に→んで、 (mi/bi/ni→nde) み／び／に→んで、 (mi/bi/ni→nde) き→いて、 き→いて、 (ki →ite, ki→ite) ぎ→いで、 ぎ→いで、 (gi→ide, gi→ide) し→して、 し→して (shi→shite, shi→shite) 11:45~12:00 15 OHT （a list of ‘Te’-form revision verbs) The learners revise ‘te’-forms of ‘u’- verbs, ‘ru’-verbs, and irregular verbs.
Flow 1) The teacher writes the following verbs on the white board or use an OHT to the following verbs. Verbs: aimasu, asobimasu, araimasu, utaimasu, owarimasu, kaerimasu, kikimasu, tabemasu, torimasu, sumimasu, tukurimasu, kimasu, mimasu, nomimasu, norimasu, hajimarimasu, mochimasu, yomimasu, shimasu, wakarimasu
2) The learners say ‘t’-forms of the above verbs with a hand-clap rhythm (＊indicates a hand-clap) as follows.
＊＊(a learners says) “aimasu” “atte”, ＊＊(another learners says) “asobimasu” “asonde”, ＊＊(another learners says) “araimasu” “aratte”…
3) The learners practice ‘te’-forms by using Total Physical Response (TPR). The learners have to act as the instructions from the teacher or other
170 learners. For example, when the teacher say “tatte kudasai (please stand up)”, the learners have to stand up.
First, the teacher gives the learners some instructions while acting as her instructions with the learners. Then, after the learners become familiar with the exercise, the learners do the TPR exercise for ‘te’-forms as small groups.
The following instructions are some examples:
“Tatte kudasai (please stand up)” “Sumatte kudasai (please sit down)” “Aruite kudasai (please walk)” “Oyoide kudasai (please swim)” “Kyookasho o mite kudasai (please look at a textbook)” “Sushi o tabete kudasai (please eat sushi)” “Keitai o misete kudasai (please show me your mobile phone)” “Tenisu o shite kudasai (please play tennis)” 12:00~13:00 60 Lunch Break 13:00~13:20 20 Dictation Dictation test questions, An There are 3 questions (sentences) and instruction guide the teacher reads aloud them and the for the nicchoku learners write down the sentences as exactly what the teacher has read. The learners have to use kanji that they have learnt. A nicchoku becomes the M.C. to carry out this activity except the part that the teacher reads aloud the questions. The teacher stays in the corner of the classroom and supports the learners only when they need her support.
Flow: 1) A nicchoku provides other learners instructions for the dictation test as follows (an instruction guide is provided to the nicchoku): Now, we start a dictation test. Everyone, please prepare a pen and a
171 sheet of paper. There are 3 questions. The teacher reads aloud each question 3 times. The learners have to use kanji that they have learnt.
2) Then, the teacher reads aloud each question 3 times. The learners write down the answers for the 3 questions on a sheet paper.
3) The nicchoku starts checking the answers. First, the nicchoku chooses 3 learners and each of them writes a different answer from the 3 questions on the whiteboard. Then, the nicchoku checks and corrects (if necessary) the answers on the white board while asking the learners’ opinion in the classroom. Also, the learners have to check the meaning of answers in English as the whole class. 13:20~13:40 20 An instruction Kanji and katakana tests guide for the The learners choose 3 kanji and 5 nicchoku katakana that they want to write down on the white board as small groups of 3 or 4 learners. Then, in the whole class, the learners check the answers on the whiteboard. The teacher stays in the corner of the classroom and supports the learners only when they need so that the learners corporate with each other to learn kanji and katakana.
Flow: 1) The teacher divides the learners into groups of 3 or 4 learners. Then, in groups, the learners think 3 kanji and 5 katakana and a representative from each group write them on the white board. Each day, there is a theme for katakana. The first day’s theme is katakana in the classroom (e.g., ‘pen (a pen)’ and ‘conpyuuta (a computer)’).
2) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom and becomes the M.C. to check the answers. When the
172 nicchoku checks the answers, he/she needs to ask the learners’ opinion (an instruction guide is provided to the nicchoku). 13:40~14:15 35 OHT (role-play Role-play description and The theme of today’s role-play is role-play ‘self-introduction’. The following is evaluation criteria) the description of the role-play:
You want to practice speaking Japanese so you go to a meeting of Japanese club on campus. Introduce yourself to a Japanese student and start a conversation with him/her.
The learners have to use at least a new expression or vocabulary that they have learnt in the video activity.
Flow: 1) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom. While the nicchoku becomes the M.C., the learners check the setting of the role-play with a OHT showing the description of the role-play.
2) Then, the learners discuss what kinds of things they can talk about in the role-play. The learner may talk about the following things:
Name Greeting One’s hometown Occupation Major Hobby
3) The teacher shows a model by doing a role-play.
4) The learners form pairs of two learners and practice the role-play for 5 to 10 minutes.
5) Each pair perform their role-play in front of the class or a small group.
6) The learners give each other
173 feedback on their performance, using the role-play evaluation criteria shown in front of the class with an OHP.
14:15~14:20 5 Break 14:20~14:45 25 A computer with Skit the internet The learners form groups of 3 or 4 connection, a learners. Each group creates and script of ‘Mari and performs a skit. From the first day to Eddie’ the fourth day, the learners have some time to prepare for the skit performance on the fifth day.
Flow: 1) The teacher provides an explanation for the skit activity as follows: From the first day to the fourth day, the learners have some time to prepare for the skit performance on the fifth day. On the fifth day, each group perform a skit and the teacher and the researcher record it and post on the Internet site ‘You Tube’. The story of a skit is based on the story of ‘Mari and Eddie’ which has been used in the previous semester.
2) The learners watch some sample skits on the Internet so that they have an image of a skit performance.
3) The learners form groups of 3 or 4 learners and they revise the contexts and characters of ‘Mari and Eddie’ story in groups. Then, each group develops their own story of ‘Mari and Eddie’ for a skit (as long as they use two characters, Mari and Eddie, they can develop their own setting, story, and characters).
14:45~14:57 12 A list of the Selection of the contents themes and The learners can choose the contents expressions of the revision course.
174 Flow 1) The teacher gives the learners a list of the themes and expressions that they have learnt last year.
2) The learners choose 4 themes from the list while discussing among them. The teacher prompts the learners to take into consideration the contexts that they want to use Japanese and expressions that they want to use in the contexts. 14:57~15:00 3 The end of today’s lesson
1) The teacher briefly asks the learners the contents of today’s lesson so that the learners can refresh their memory.
2) The jishogakari writes expressions and vocabulary that he/she had checked today on the white board. The learners, in the whole class, revise the vocabulary and expressions on the white board.
3) The learners decide the next day’s roles (nicchoku, jishogakari, and stamp-gakari). The teacher reminds the new nicchoku to create the dictation questions for the next day.
4) The teacher collects the name- plates from the learners.
Role-play
Greeting and Introduction
You want to practice speaking Japanese so you go to a meeting of Japanese club on campus. Introduce yourself to a Japanese student and start a conversation with him/her.
Rule: You have to use at least a new expression or word (vocabulary) that you have learned through today’s video.
Before starting, think about the following:
175 How would you greet someone you have never seen before?
How would you introduce yourself?
What kinds of things would you like to mention in order to introduce yourself?
What kinds of things would you like to ask a Japanese student?
How would you finish the conversation?
176 E-2: Teaching plan: Day 2
Japanese Revision Course Day 2
Teaching materials: name-plates, stamps, a video (Nihongo de daijoobu Unit 1 Segment 6), OHT (role-play description, role-play evaluation criteria, and a restaurant menu), a script for video, picture cards, restaurant menus for role-play, pens for the white board
Objectives: To be able to count numbers with appropriate counters. To be able to invite and response. To be able to place an order in Japanese. To use Japanese in class.
Time Duration Teaching Materials Activities 10:05~10:10 5 Name-plates Today’s Objectives The teacher introduces today’s theme and objectives to the learners as well as the basic flow of today’s lesson as follows: １）Counters revision ２）Video activity ３）Inviting revision ４）Placing orders revision ５）Role-paly ６）dictation test ７）Kanji and katakana quizzes ８）Skit preparation
The teacher also checks the roles (nicchoku, jishogakari, stamp-gakari) and gives the name- plate to the learners 10:10~10:25 15 Counter revision
1) First, the learners create pairs of two learners. Then , each pair fill in a counter chart ( the number 1~10 + counter) on the white board (shown in the end of this teaching plan). The following counters are used in this activity:
mai, en , fun, hon, hiki, kai, satsu , tsu
2) The teacher checks the answers while the learners read aloud each counters. The teacher asks the learners the rules of counters. 10:25~10:55 30 video (Nihongo de Video activity daijoobu Unit 1 Today’s video is about a restaurant context. Some Segment 6), Scripts expressions and vocabulary may be helpful to use for the video in the role-play as well as in other situations
177 outside of the classroom.
Flow: 1) The teacher shows the learners the description of today’s role play and tells them that they use at least an expression from the video in the role- play. Then, the teacher gives some questions (e.g., where is the place? Who are the characters? What are they doing?) so that the learners focus on the rough contents of the video.
2) The teacher shows the video to the learners. Then, in the class, the learners discuss the questions in order to understand the setting, characters, and the rough contents of the video.
3) The teacher shows the learners the video again. Then, in small groups, the learners discuss expressions, vocabulary and behaviour in the video as well as the contents of the video that they do not understand. The teacher observes the group activity so that the learners can ask the teacher questions.
3) If necessary, the teacher shows the learners the video again.
4) Finally, the teacher shows the learners the video again. Then, the learners find 3 to 5 expressions that they want to remember or use and share them in the classroom so that the learners can choose what expressions they want to learn and use.
5) The teacher gives the script of the video to the learners. 10:55~11:00 5 Break 11:00~11:15 15 Picture cards Revision of invitation Expressions ~masen ka: inviting ~mashoo ka and ~mashoo: eliciting and stating agreement
Flow: 1) The learners form groups of 6 or 7 learners. The teacher gives each group a bundle of picture cards (ie. Kabuki, pachinko, Tokyo Disney Land, karaoke, sushi, and sukiyaki).
2) In each group, the learners form pairs of two
178 learners. A learner in each group picks a picture card from the bundle and invites his/her partner to the activity or event that the picture card shows. In each group, the learners change the partners.
Rules A learner who invites his/her partner has to provide attractive reasons so that his/her partner feels he/she wants to join the learner. A learner who is invited by his/her partner can decline his/her partner’s invitation if the offer is not attractive enough. Thus, a pair have to negotiate with each other. 11:15~11:30 15 OHT (restaurant Revision of placing orders in a restaurant menu) In pairs, the learners practice to place orders in a restaurant.
Flow: 1) As a whole class, the learners discuss some useful expressions that they can use as a waitperson or a customer in order to take/place orders in a restaurant.
2) The learners form pairs of two learners.In each pair, a learner becomes a waitperson and the other learner becomes a customer. Using a menu showed in front of the classroom with an OHP, each pair practices to take/place orders. 11:30~12:10 40 Restaurant menus Role-paly The theme of today’s role-play is ‘restaurant’. The following is the description of the role-play:
Stage 1 A: You want to go to a restaurant with your friend. You are calling your friend and invite him/her (B) to go to a restaurant and decide the time and place you and B will meet.
B: A invites you to go to a restaurant and you decide to go to a restaurant with A. Decide the time and place you and A will meet. Close the discourse.
Stage 2 A&B: You are at a restaurant. You are going to order food, drinks, and dessert. First ask for the menu. Second, examine the menu and discuss among yourselves what to order. Third, one of you will take an initiative and place orders for
179 both of you.
C: You are a waitress at a restaurant. Provide the menu when asked. Take the customers’ orders. Repeat the orders to confirm. Close the discourse.
Stage 3 A&B: You finished eating foods so pay money at a casher. C: Tell the customer how much the bill is and receive money from the customer. Then, close the discourse.
Rules: You have to use new expressions or words that you have learnt through today’s video activity.
Flow: 1) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom. While the nicchoku becomes the M.C., the learners check the setting of the role-play with an OHT showing the description of the role-play.
2) Then, the learners discuss what kinds of expressions that they can use in the role-play. The learner may talk about the following things:
Inviting friends Placing orders as customers Taking orders as a waitperson
3) The teacher shows a model by doing a role- play.
4) The learners form small groups of 3 or 4 learners and practice the role-play for 5 to 10 minutes.
5) Each group performs their role-play in front of the class.
6) The learners give each other feedback on their performance, using the role-play evaluation criteria shown in front of the class with an OHP. 12:10~13:10 60 Lunch Break 13:10~13:30 20 Dictation questions Dictation test There are 3 questions (sentences) and the teacher reads them aloud and the learners write down the sentences exactly as the teacher has read. The
180 learners have to use kanji that they have learnt. A nicchoku becomes the M.C. to carry out this activity except the part that the teacher reads aloud the questions. The teacher stays in the corner of the classroom and supports the learners only when they need her support.
Flow: 1) A nicchoku provides other learners instructions for the dictation test as follows (an instruction guide is provided to the nicchoku): Now, we start a dictation test. Everyone, please prepare a pen and a sheet of paper. There are 3 questions. The teacher reads aloud each question 3 times. The learners have to use kanji that they have learnt.
2) Then, the teacher reads aloud each question 3 times. The learners write down the answers for the 3 questions on a sheet paper.
3) The nicchoku starts checking the answers. First, the nicchoku chooses 3 learners and each of them writes a different answer from the 3 questions on the white board. Then, the nicchoku checks and corrects (if necessary) the answers on the white board while asking the learners’ opinion in the classroom. Also, the learners have to check the meaning of answers in English in the whole class.
13:30~13:50 20 Kanji and katakana tests The learners choose 3 kanji and 5 katakana that they want to write down on the white board as small groups of 3 or 4 learners. Then, in the whole class, the learners check the answers on the white board. The teacher stays in the corner of the classroom and supports the learners only when they need so that the learners corporate with each other to learn kanji and katakana.
Flow: 1) The teacher divides the learners into groups of 3 or 4 learners. Then, in groups, the learners think 3 kanji and 5 katakana and a representative from each group write them on the white board. Each day, there is a theme for katakana. The second day’s theme is ‘food/fruit’.
2) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom
181 and becomes the M.C. to check the answers. When the nicchoku checks the answers, he/she needs to ask the learners’ opinion (an instruction guide is provided to the nicchoku). 13:50~14:00 10 Break 14:00~14:50 50 A computer with Skit the Internet access Flow 1) The teacher shows an example of a skit on the Internet. Then, the learners discuss good points and bad points of the skit.
2) In groups, the learners decide the setting, characters, and story of their own skit and start to crate a script. 14:50~15:00 10 The end of today’s lesson
1) The teacher briefly asks the learners the contents of today’s lesson so that the learners can refresh their memory.
2) The jishogakari writes expressions and vocabulary that he/she had checked today on the white board. The learners, as the whole class, revise the vocabulary and expressions on the white board.
3) The learners decide the next day’s roles (nicchoku, jishogakari, and stamp-gakari). The teacher reminds the new nicchoku to create the dictation questions for the next day.
4) The teacher collects the name-plates from the learners.
The Counter Chart まい えん ふん ほん ひき かい さつ つ What for? 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八
182 九 十
Role-ply
Stage 1 A: You want to go to a restaurant with your friend. You are calling your friend and invite him/her (B) to go to a restaurant and decide the time and place you and B will meet.
B: A invites you to go to a restaurant and you decide to go to a restaurant with A. Decide the time and place you and A will meet. Close the discourse.
Stage 2 A&B: You are at a restaurant. You are going to order food, drinks, and dessert. First ask for the menu. Second, examine the menu and discuss among yourselves what to order. Third, one of you will take an initiative and place orders for both of you.
C: You are a waitress at a restaurant. Provide the menu when asked. Take the customers’ orders. Repeat the orders to confirm. Close the discourse.
Stage 3 A&B: You finished eating foods so pay the bill at a casher. C: Tell the customer how much the bill and receive money from the customer. Then, close the discourse.
Rules: You have to use new expressions or words that you have learnt through today’s video.
Before starting, think about the following:
1) How would you invite a friend? 2) How would you decide the time and place to meet? 3) How would you ask for a menu? 4) How would you discuss what you are deciding to order? 5) How would you greet the customer? 6) How would you take an order? 7) How would you confirm the order? 8) How would you close the ordering discourse?
183 E-3: Teaching plan: Day 3
Japanese Revision Course Day 3
Teaching materials: name-plates, stamps, a video (Nihongo de daijoobu Unit 2 Segment 20), OHT (role-play description, role-play evaluation criteria) sheets for the bingo game, cards (library, restaurant, super market, tennis, computer, David Beckham, desk, aquarium, teacher), pens for the white board
Objectives: To be able to make “plain form” To be able to describe past experience To be able to use noun modifying clause To use Japanese in class
Time Duration Teaching Materials Activities 10:05~10:10 5 Name-plates Today’s Objectives The teacher introduces today’s theme (Restaurant) and objectives to the learners as well as the basic flow of today’s lesson as follows: １）Plain-form revision ２）Video activity ３）Past-experience revision ４）Noun-modifying clauses revision ５）Role-paly ６）Dictation test ７）Kanji and katakana quizzes ８）Skit preparation
The teacher also checks the roles (nicchoku, jishogakari, stamp-gakari) and gives the name-plate to the learners. 10:10~11:30 20 Plain-form revision
The learners revise plain-forms of nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
Flow 1) The teacher writes a chart as shown in the end of this teaching plan.
2) The learners voluntarily fill in the chart (each learner can fill in a row for a noun, adjective, or verb).
184 3) A nicchoku checks the answer on the white board while asking other learners’ opinion. 10:30~11:00 30 Video (Nihongo de Video activity daijoobu Unit 2 Segment 20) The learner watches a video without any sound. Then, in groups, they write a story from the perspective of the main character, using plain-forms of nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Then, each group read aloud their story with the video.
Flow: 1) The teacher explains today’s video activity as being indicated in the above.
2) The learners form group of 3 or 4 learners. Then, the teacher shows the video without any sound. Then, each group discusses the setting, characters, and story of the video.
3) The teacher shows the video again while pausing the video little by little so that the learners can write a story of the video in groups.
4) Each group reads aloud their story with the video.
5) The teacher shows the video with the original sounds. The learners find 3 to 5 expressions that they want to remember or use and share them in the classroom so that the learners can choose what expressions they want to learn and use. 11:00~11:05 5 Break 11:05~11:20 15 Sheets for the Past experience revision bingo game Using a bingo game, the learners practice an expression to describe one’s past experience.
Exercise A 1) The teacher provides the learners a sheet for bingo game as follows:
185
2) The learners fill in each box with a different question, using an expression, “~shita koto ga arimasu ka” (e.g., nihon ni itta koto ga arimasu ka (Have you ever been to Japan?)).
3) The learners ask each other their past experience, using an expression, “~shita koto ga arimasu ka”. If they find a learner who confirm their question, check a box and write the name of the learner. The learner who completes two lines wins the bingo game.
B: Reporting exercise After the bingo game, each learner reports the information that he/she gathers during the bingo game to the class, using an expression “~tari ~tari shita soo desu” as the following example:
If A confirms the questions, “sukii o shita koto ga arimasu ka (have you ever gone skiing?)” and “onsen ni haitta koto ga arimasu ka (have you ever been to a hot spring?)”
“A-san wa nihon de sukii o shitari onsen ni haittari shita soo desu (I have heard that A has gone skiing and been to a hot spring in Japan)”. 11:20~11:40 20 Cards Noun-modifying clauses revision
Flow 1) The teacher explains about the rules of noun-modifying clauses.
2) The learners form groups of 6 or 7 learners. The teacher gives each group a number of cards consisting of the following words:
library, restaurant, super market,
186 tennis, computer, David Beckham, desk, aquarium, teacher
In each group, a learner picks a card and put the card on the head of another learner so that the learner cannot see the card. Then, other learners describe the word (without mentioning the word), using a noun- modifying clause as following example:
If a card is indicating the word ‘library’, a learner may describe it as “sore wa hon o yomu tokoro desu (It is a place that people read books)”.
3) Then, the learner who has the card on his/her head guesses the word on the card.
4) The learners change their roles in each group. 11:40~12:10 30 OHT (role-play Role-paly description, role- The theme of today’s role-play is ‘the play evaluation memory of a trip’. The following is criteria) the description of the role-play:
You and your friends have not seen each other for a while because of the summer holidays. You and your friends are meeting at a café and talking about the summer holidays, especially your trips. Ask each other questions and elaborate your answers as much as you can.
Rules: You have to use new expressions or words that you have learnt through today’s video activity.
Flow: 1) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom. While the nicchoku becomes the M.C., the learners check the setting of the role-play with an OHT showing the description of the role-play.
2) Then, the learners discuss what
187 kinds of expressions that they can use in the role-play.
3) The teacher shows a model by doing a role-play.
4) The learners form small groups of 3 or 4 learners and practice the role- play for 5 to 10 minutes.
5) Each group performs their role- play in front of the class.
6) The learners give each other feedback on their performance, using the role-play evaluation criteria shown in front of the class with an OHP. 12:10~13:10 60 Lunch Break 13:10~13:30 20 Dication questions Dictation test There are 3 questions (sentences) and the teacher reads them aloud and the learners write down the sentences exactly the same as what the teacher has read. The learners have to use kanji that they have learnt. A nicchoku becomes the M.C. to carry out this activity, except the part that the teacher reads aloud the questions. The teacher stays in the corner of the classroom and supports the learners only when they need her support.
Flow: 1) A nicchoku provides other learners instructions for the dictation test as follows (an instruction guide is provided to the nicchoku): Now, we start a dictation test. Everyone, please prepare a pen and a sheet of paper. There are 3 questions. The teacher reads each question aloud 3 times. The learners have to use kanji that they have learnt.
2) Then, the teacher reads each question aloud 3 times. The learners write down the answers for the 3 questions on a sheet paper.
188 3) The nicchoku starts checking the answers. First, the nicchoku chooses 3 learners and each of them writes a different answer from the 3 questions on the white board. Then, the nicchoku checks and corrects (if necessary) the answers on the white board while asking the learners’ opinion in the classroom. Also, the learners have to check the meaning of answers in English in the whole class.
13:30~13:50 20 Kanji and katakana tests The learners choose 3 kanji and 5 katakana that they want to write down on the white board as small groups of 3 or 4 learners. Then, as the whole class, the learners check the answers on the white board. The teacher stays in the corner of the classroom and supports the learners only when they need her support so that the learners corporate with each other to learn kanji and katakana.
Flow: 1) The teacher divides the learners into groups of 3 or 4 learners. Then, in groups, the learners think 3 kanji and 5 katakana and a representative from each group write them on the white board. Each day, there is a theme for katakana. The third day’s theme is ‘countries and cities in the world’.
2) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom and becomes the M.C. to check the answers. When the nicchoku checks the answers, he/she needs to ask the learners’ opinion (an instruction guide is provided to the nicchoku). 13:50~13:55 5 Break 13:55~14:45 50 Skit As groups, the learners decide the setting, characters, and story of their own skit and start to crate a script. 14:45~14:55 10 The end of today’s lesson
189 1) The teacher briefly asks the learners the contents of today’s lesson so that the learners can refresh their memory.
2) The jishogakari writes expressions and vocabulary that he/she had checked today on the white board. The learners, as the whole class, revise the vocabulary and expressions on the white board.
3) The learners decide the next day’s roles (nicchoku, jishogakari, and stamp-gakari). The teacher reminds the new nicchoku to create the dictation questions for the next day.
4) The teacher collects the name- plates from the learners.
Plain form revision
Present Aff Present Neg Present Aff Past Neg おいしい おいしくない おいしかった おいしくなかった さむい いい にぎやか げんき 学生 そうじをする なく わらう
Role-play
You and your friends have not seen each other for a while because of the summer holidays. You and your friends are meeting at a café and talking about the summer holidays, especially about your trips. Ask each other questions and elaborate your answers as much as you can.
Before starting: You might want to discuss: • How would you greet a friend you haven’t seen for a while?
190 • Where did you go during the summer holidays? • What did you do during the trips? • With whom did you go to the trip? • Why did you do/didn’t you do ○○？（~からです。~んです。） • What sort of places have you been to? What did you do there? • What is the most fun memory in the trips? Why?
191 E-4: Teaching plan: Day 4
Japanese Revision Course Day 4
Teaching materials: name-plates, stamps, video (Video kooza nihongo: Nichijoo seikatsu ni miru nihon no bunka 1, Ujiie Kenichi Kikaku, 1992), OHT (role-play description, role-play evaluation criteria, and family trees), pens for the white board, scripts for the video, magazine photos, family photos.
Objectives: To be able to talk about the family. To be able to describe a resultant state (ている). To be able to describe physical appearance and skills. To be able to connecting phrase, using the verb and the adjective てform. To use Japanese in class.
Time Duration Teaching Materials Activities 10:00~10:05 5 Name-plates Today’s Objectives The teacher introduces today’s theme (Restaurant) and objectives to the learners as well as the basic flow of today’s lesson as follows: １）Resultant state revision ２）Video activity ３）Past-experience revision ４）Family name revision ５）Role-paly ６）Dictation test ７）Kanji and katakana quizzes ８）Skit preparation
The teacher also checks the roles (nicchoku, jishogakari, stamp- gakari) and gives the name-plate to the learners 10:05~11:35 30 Magazine photos, Resultant state revision Pictures of people The learners revise an expression of resultant states, ‘~te imasu’.
Flow 1)While using photos from some magazines, the learners revise the names of clothes and some other goods and verbs for wearing clothes.
Example: A learner may describe a
192 person in a photo as, “sono otoko no hito wa aoi shatsu o kiteite jiinzu o haite imasu (the male person is wearing a blue shirt and a pair of jeans)”.
2) Revision of body parts First, the teacher asks the name of each body part. Then, using TPR, the learners touch the body parts that a learner indicates with a rhythm as follows:
(While touching one’s own nose, a learner says) hana (nose) hana hana, me (eye). (While touching one’s own eye, a learner say) me, me, me, ude (arm)…
3) The learners form groups of 4 or 5 learners. Then, the teacher gives each group a number of pictures of a variety of people. In each group, a learner picks a picture from the bundle of pictures and describe the picture without showing it to other learners. Other learners draw a picture in accordance with the descriptions that a learner gives. The learner who has drawn the most similar picture to the original wins. The learners swap the role in each group. 10:35~11:10 35 video (Video kooza Video activity nihongo: Nichijoo Today’s video is about a Japanese seikatsu ni miru family. Some expressions and nihon no bunka 1), vocabulary may be helpful to use in scripts for the video the role-play as well as in other situations outside of the classroom.
Flow: 1) The teacher shows the learners the description of today’s role play and tells them that they use at least an expression from the video in the role-play. Then, the teacher gives some questions (e.g., where is the place? Who are the characters? What are they doing?) so that the learners focus on the rough contents
193 of the video.
2) The teacher shows the video to the learners. Then, in the class, the learners discuss the questions in order to understand the setting, characters, and the rough contents of the video.
3) The teacher shows the learners the video again. Then, in small groups, the learners discuss expressions, vocabulary and behaviour in the video as well as the contents of the video that they do not understand. The teacher observes the group activity so that the learners can ask the teacher questions.
3) If necessary, the teacher showed the learners the video again.
4) Finally, the teacher shows the learners the video again. Then, the learners find 3 to 5 expressions that they want to remember or use and share them in the classroom so that the learners can choose what expressions they want to learn and use.
5) The teacher gives the script of the video to the learners. 11:10~11:20 10 Break 11:20~11:40 20 OHT (family trees), Family name revision family pictures The learners revise the names of family members.
Flow 1) The teacher writes a chart in the end of this teaching plan on the white board.
2) The learners voluntarily fill in the chart and the teacher checks the answers while asking the learners’ opinion.
194 3) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom and shows family trees with an OHT. The nicchoku asks the learners the name of each family member (my family and others’ family).
4) The learners form group of 3 learners. In each group, a learner shows his/her family photo to other learners and they ask questions about the family members in the photo (e.g., occupation and personality). The learners answer the questions. Then, the learners swap the role in each group. 11:40~12:10 30 OHT (role-play Role-paly description, role- The theme of today’s role-play is play evaluation about ‘family’. The following is the criteria ) description of the role-play:
A: You are a celebrity (an actor/actress, a singer, a sport player). You have one brother, one sister, parents, and grandparents.
B&C: You are working for a magazine company and are going to have an interview with A.
B&C would like to know about A and his/her family in order to create an article for a magazine.
Rules: You have to use new expressions or words that you have learnt through today’s video activity.
Flow: 1) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom. While the nicchoku becomes the M.C., the learners check the setting of the role-play with an OHT showing the description of the role-play.
2) Then, the learners discuss what kind of expressions that they can use in the role-play. The learner
195 may talk about the following things:
Members of family Occupation Physical appearances Personality
3) The teacher shows a model by doing a role-play.
4) The learners form small groups of 3 or 4 learners and practice the role-play for 5 to 10 minutes.
5) Each group performs their role- play in front of the class.
6) The learners give each other feedback on their performance, using the role-play evaluation criteria shown in front of the class with an OHP. 12:10~13:10 60 Lunch Break 13:10~13:20 10 Dictation questions Dictation test There are 3 questions (sentences) and the teacher reads them aloud and the learners write down the sentences exactlythe same as the teacher has read. The learners have to use kanji that they have learnt. A nicchoku becomes the M.C. to carry out this activity except the part that the teacher reads aloud the questions. The teacher stays in the corner of the classroom and supports the learners only when they need her support.
Flow: 1) A nicchoku provides other learners instructions for the dictation test as follows (an instruction guide is provided to the nicchoku): Now, we start a dictation test. Everyone, please prepare a pen and a sheet of paper for a test. There are
196 3 questions. The teacher reads each question aloud 3 times. The learners have to use kanji that they have learnt.
2) Then, the teacher reads each question aloud 3 times. The learners write down the answers for the 3 questions on a sheet of paper.
3) The nicchoku starts checking the answers. First, the nicchoku chooses 3 learners and each of them writes a different answer from the 3 questions on the white board. Then, the nicchoku checks and corrects (if necessary) the answers on the white board while asking the learners’ opinion in the classroom. Also, the learners have to check the meaning of answers in English in the whole class. 13:20~13:30 10 Kanji and katakana tests The learners choose 3 kanji and 5 katakana that they want to write down on the whiteboard as small groups of 3 or 4 learners. Then, in the whole class, the learners check the answers on the white board. The teacher stays in the corner of the classroom and supports the learners only when they need her support so that the learners corporate with each other to learn kanji and katakana.
Flow: 1) The teacher divides the learners into groups of 3 or 4 learners. Then, in groups, the learners think 3 kanji and 5 katakana and a representative from each group write them on the whiteboard. Each day, there is a theme for katakana. The fourth day’s theme is ‘fashion’ (e.g. clothes and accessories).
2) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom and becomes the M.C. to check the answers. When the nicchoku checks the answers,
197 he/she needs to ask the learners’ opinion (an instruction guide is provided to the nicchoku). 13:30~14:00 30 Skit In groups, the learners complete creating a script. 14:00~14:10 10 Break 14:10~14:50 40 Skit Each group rehearses their skit and modifies it if necessary. 14:50~15:00 10 The end of today’s lesson
1) The teacher briefly asks the learners the contents of today’s lesson so that the learners can refresh their memory.
2) The jishogakari writes expressions and vocabulary that he/she had checked today on the whiteboard. The learners, in the whole class, revise the vocabulary and expressions on the white board.
3) The learners decide the next day’s roles (nicchoku, jishogakari, and stamp-gakari). The teacher reminds the new nicchoku to create the dictation questions for the next day.
4) The teacher collects the name- plates from the learners.
Names of family members Your own family Someone else’s family Family 例：家族 例：ご家族 Father Mother Parents Elder brother Elder sister Younger brother Younger sister Siblings Grandfather Grandmother Husband Wife
198 Child/Children Role-play
A: you are a celebrity (an actor/actress, a singer, a sport player). You have one brother, one sister, parents, and grandparents. B&C: You are working for a magazine company and are going to have an interview with A. B&C would like to know about A and his/her family in order to create an article for a magazine.
Make comments and describe such as:
Members of family Occupation Physical appearances Personality
Before starting, think about the following:
How would you introduce yourself as an interviewer? How would you refer to the members of your own family or someone’s family? How would you describe “physical appearances”? How would you describe “personality”? How would you close the discourse?
199 E-5: Teaching plan: Day 5
Japanese Revision Course Day 5
Teaching materials: name-plates, stamps, picture cards, cards, SPOT, a tape for SPOT, a tape player.
Objectives: To be able to express capability, using the potential forms of verbs To be able to giving suggestions, using ~たら どうですかand~ほう がいいです To complete the skit.
Time Duration Teaching Activities Materials 10:00~10:05 5 Name-plates Today’s Objectives The teacher introduces today’s theme (Restaurant) and objectives to the learners as well as the basic flow of today’s lesson as follows: １）Potential form revision ２）Sickness revision ３）Role-paly ４）Dictation test ５）Kanji and katakana quizzes ６）Skit performance
The teacher also checks the roles (nicchoku, jishogakari, stamp-gakari) and gives the name-plate to the learners 10:05~10:25 20 Cards Potential Forms 1) The teacher writes a chart in the end of this teaching plan.
2) The learners voluntarily fill in the chart. The learners check the answers with a nicchoku as the M.C..
3) The learners form groups of 6 or 7 learners. The teacher gives each group a number of cards consisting of the following words:
school, restaurant, library, park, train station, sea, hotel, convenient store, and post office
In each group, a learner picks a card
200 and puts the card on the head of another learner so that the learner cannot see the card. Then, other learners describe the word (without mentioning the word), using a potential form of a verb as the following example:
If a card is indicating the word ‘library’, a learner may describe it as “soko de hon ga yomemasu (you can read books there)”.
4) Then, the learner who has the card on his/her head guesses the word on the card.
5) The learners change their roles in each group. 10:25~10:45 20 Picture cards Sickness revision 1) Using picture cards showing some sickness (e.g., having a fever, injuring a leg), the learners revise the expressions for sickness.
2) The learners form groups of 3 or 4 learners. The teacher gives a bundle of picture cards showing some sickness to each group. In each group, a learner picks a card and acts as the card indicates. Then, other learners guess the sickness. If a learner gueses the sickness correctly, the learner who is sick has to mention something he/she cannot do due to the sickness. Then, other learners give some advice/suggestions to the learner.
Example: a group of learner A, B, and C
A picks a card indicating ‘having a headache’ and acts as A has a headache. B asks, “Netsu ga aru n desu ka (do you have a fever?)” A answers, “Iie (no)”. C asks, “Atama ga itai n desu ka (do you have a headache?)”. A answers, “Hai, atama ga itakute,
201 benkyoo ga dekinai n desu (yes, due to a headache, I cannot study)”. B gives A a suggestion, “Sugu ni ie ni kaetta hoo ga ii desu yo (it’s better to go home soon)”. 10:45~10:55 10 Break 10:55~11:25 30 OHT (role-play Role-paly description, role- The theme of today’s role-play is about play evaluation ‘health’. The following is the criteria) description of the role-play:
Tomorrow, A & B will go to watch a movie/ go shopping/ or do something together. However, A has been sick for a few days so A is calling B in order to tell B that A cannot go out with B tomorrow.
Flow: 1) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom. While the nicchoku becomes the M.C., the learners check the setting of the role-play with an OHT showing the description of the role-play.
2) Then, the learners discuss what kind of expressions that they can use in the role-play.
3) The teacher shows a model by doing a role-play.
4) The learners form small groups of 3 or 4 learners and practice the role-play for 5 to 10 minutes.
5) Each group performs their role-play in front of the class.
6) The learners give each other feedback on their performance, using the role-play evaluation criteria shown in front of the class with an OHP. 11:25~11:35 10 Dictation Dictation test questions There are 3 questions (sentences) and the teacher reads them aloud and the learners write down the sentences exactly the same as the teacher has read. The learners have to use kanji
202 that they have learnt. A nicchoku becomes the M.C. to carry out this activity except the part that the teacher reads the questions aloud. The teacher stays in the corner of the classroom and supports the learners only when they need her support.
Flow: 1) A nicchoku provides other learners instructions for the dictation test as follows (an instruction guide is provided to the nicchoku): Now, we start a dictation test. Everyone, please prepare a pen and a sheet of paper for a test. There are 3 questions. The teacher reads each question aloud 3 times. The learners have to use kanji that they have learnt.
2) Then, the teacher reads each question aloud 3 times. The learners write down the answers for the 3 questions on a sheet paper.
3) The nicchoku starts checking the answers. First, the nicchoku chooses 3 learners and each of them writes a different answer from the 3 questions on the whiteboard. Then, the nicchoku checks and corrects (if necessary) the answers on the whiteboard while asking the learners’ opinion in the classroom. Also, the learners have to check the meaning of answers in English in the whole class. 11:35~11:45 10 Kanji and katakana tests The learners choose 3 kanji and 5 katakana that they want to write down on the whiteboard as small groups of 3 or 4 learners. Then, in the whole class, the learners check the answers on the whiteboard. The teacher stays in the corner of the classroom and supports the learners only when they need her support so that the learners corporate with each other to learn kanji and katakana.
Flow:
203 1) The teacher divides the learners into groups of 3 or 4 learners. Then, in groups, the learners think 3 kanji and 5 katakana and a representative from each group write them on the whiteboard. Each day, there is a theme for katakana. The fifth day’s theme is ‘objects in your room’.
2) A nicchoku goes to the front of the classroom and becomes the M.C. to check the answers. When the nicchoku checks the answers, he/she needs to ask the learners’ opinion (an instruction guide is provided to the nicchoku). 11:45~12:45 60 Lunch Break 12:45~13:45 60 Skit The learners practice a skit as groups. 13:45~14:00 15 Break 14:00~14:20 20 Video camera Skit performance Each group performs their skit in front of the classroom. The teacher and researcher record their skit. 14:20~14:35 15 SPOT, A tape for SPOT SPOT 14:35~14:45 10 The end of today’s lesson
The learners discuss and share their thoughts and feelings for the revision course though questions such as the following:
What did you learn? How did you participate in the revision course? What did you realise though the revision course in terms of learning and using Japanese? Did you achieve the goals that you set on the first day of the revision course? 14:45~ Foods and Party Drinks
204 Potential form Chart Plain Present Polite Present Affirmative Negative Affirmative Negative する できる できない できます できません 来る 食べる ねる おきる いる 飲む あるく 話す 会う
Role-play
Health
Tomorrow, A & B will go to watch a movie/ go shopping/ or do something together. However, A has been sick for a few days so A is calling B in order to tell B that A cannot go out with B tomorrow.
Before starting: • How would you call your friend to cancel an appointment? • How would you explain your symptoms? • How would you show your desire? • How would you give suggestions? • How would you give reasons for not doing something? • How would you give further advice? • How would you close the discourse?
205 Appendix F: Lists for selecting the contents of the revision course
１年生のクラスで学習したことのリスト(The lists of the contents that the learners have learnt in the fist year)
1: Greeting and Introductions Identifying someone or something, using ~は ~です Asking はい／いいえquestions, using ~は ~ですか Recognizing the relationship between nouns with の Asking for personal information, using question words Listing and describing similarities, using とand も
2: House and Locations Describing things and people, using adjective + noun Referring to places, things, and people, using この、その、あの、and どの Describing the location of people and things, using ~に~があります／いますand ここ、そこ、あそこ Using location nouns: なか、そと、となり、よこ、ちかく、うしろ、まえ、うえ、した、み ぎがわ、and ひだりがわ Using よand ね
3: Towns and Locations Describing and commenting on places, using adjectives (polite affirmative and negative form) and とてもand あまり Referring to things mentioned immediately before, using noun/adjective+の Referring to things, using これ、それ、あれ、and どれ Using はand が Expressing location, using ~は~にあります／いますand ~は です
4: Daily Routine 1 Telling time using numbers, counters, and the particleに Telling what one does and where one does it, using the particles に、で、andを Expressing routines, future actions, or events, using the polite present forms of verbs Expressing frequency of actions using adverbs Expressing approximate time or duration, using ごろand ぐらい
5: Daily Routine 2 Expressing a means, using で; Expressing starting and end points, using から~まで; Expressing “to whom”, using に; Expressing “together with”, using と Talking about past events, using polite past verbs and polite past adjectives Expressing frequency and extent, using counter expressions
206 Using double particles with the topic markerは, the contrast markerは, and the similarity marker も Giving a reason, using ~から, and expressing contrast, using ~が
6: Activities and Hobbies Expressing likes and dislikes, usingすき and きらい Making noun phrases using の and the dictionary (plain present affirmative) forms of verbs Listing nouns, using や Making comparisons, using いちばん and の ほうが ~より Requesting and giving an explanation or a confirmation, using the pronominal and plain present forms + んです
7: Shopping Making a request, using the て-form of a verb + 下さい Using Chinese origin numbers, 100 and above Referring to quantities with numbers and counters, using まい、本、ひき、さつ, and Japanese origin numbers Referring to prices and floor levels using 円 and かい Abbreviating verbal expressions, using です
8: Restaurants and Invitations) Deciding on something, using ~に します、and making a request, using ~を おねがいします Inviting and responding, using ~ませんか、~ましょうか、and ~ましょう Expressing purpose, using Verb Stem~に いきます／きます／かえります Using a question word + か + (particle) Talking about activities and events, using ~が あります
9: Family Counting people, using 人; Counting age, using さい; Expressing the order within a family, using 番（目） Describing a resultant state, using the verb て-form + いる Describing physical appearance and skills, using ~は~が Connecting phrases, using the verb and the adjective て-forms Describing people and things, using nouns and modifying clauses
10: Memories Talking about time, using noun/adjective + 時、~月、~日、~か月、and duration + まえ（に） Talking about past experiences, using verbた ことが ある; Listing representative activities, using verbたり verbたり する
207 Expressing reasons, using the plain past form of verbs and adjectives + んです and the plain form of verbs and adjectives + からです Expressing hearsay, using the plain form of verbs/adjectives/the copula +そうです Using noun-modifying clauses in the past and present
11: Health Expressing capability, using the potential forms of verbs Expressing cause and effect, using the て-form of adjectives, verbs, and the copula です Expressing desire, using verb stem + たい and たがる Giving suggestions, using verbたら どうですかand ほうがいいです Asking for and giving permission, using verb stem + ても いいですか
208 Appendix G: Learning Journals33
G-1: Learning Journals (C1-1)34
Day 1
Today was the first day of the Japanese review session, which I was really excited about, yet quite nervous about because I haven’t really practised my Japanese for more than two months now. Usually during holidays, I would watch countless anime and Japanese drama, but this holiday, due to different commitments and my younger sister starting to watch lots of anime too (which uses up a lot of bandwidth), I didn’t watch as many this holiday. So I was pretty nervous today, as well as being filmed for speaking Japanese with two classmates who knew a lot of vocabulary and sentence structures.
As nerve-racking as the 1st session was, it helped to ease me back into speaking Japanese and slowly building my confidence up again. I realised that a lot of simple words that I knew during last session did not come to mind easily today, so I think I have a lot of reviewing to do. I think the sessions this week will really push me to review my Japanese skills (if not outside the session, definitely inside the session), especially in conversing with one another to translate English into Japanese quickily enough in my head. I think another challenge would be to push myself to speak up even though I might be wrong, because being corrected through mistakes will probably help me learn better anyway.
Though it was challenging, I had lots of fun! Today’s session reminded me how fun learning Japanese is during the semesters and how exciting it is to be able to use Japanese to express yourself to others. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week! (Although I am quite nervous too about the skit at the end of the week >.<)
Day 2
Today I felt quite happy, maybe because the sun was shining! Anyway, I felt more confident today about speaking up in Japanese in class and answering questions, although I think there’s still quite a way to go before being able to hear accurately what is said in the videos and there are a lot of vocabulary, as well as sentence structures, which I just don’t know. But I found speaking up more and asking questions helped, because today we learnt a lot of new phrases and words which can be very helpful in everyday life.
Also, I’m being challenged to not be afraid to make mistakes in the way I use words and sentence structures, because it is through these mistakes (and sometimes embarrassing moments) that help improve my Japanese speaking skills. I think it’s hard for me to memorise things sometimes, but I know that if I try hard enough, there will hopefully be some improvement by the end of the week.
33 In the following learning journals, the researcher does not make any correction in terms of grammar, spelling errors, and sentence/paragraph structures. In addition, the learners (C1-2 and C2-2) have not submitted any learning journals. Finally, personal names in the journals are marked with ‘XXX’. 34 C1 indicates Course 1 and C2 indicates Course 2. The numbers after C1 or C2 corresponds with the numbers for the learners in Table 3.4.
209
I’ve enjoyed today! Although it was a lot of brain work, there were quite a few laughs as well. I really enjoyed watching the videos, because they give an insight into the Japanese culture and the daily life of a Japanese person. We also had sometime to discuss the skit which we’ll have to present on Friday, I feel slightly better about it today now that we have a rough idea what it’s going to be about. Hopefully the skit will go well on Friday, I have to start thinking what kind of things Eddie would wear.
Day 3: No Journal was submitted.
Day 4
This morning, I felt more energetic than I did yesterday, maybe because yesterday was the middle of the week, so I felt very tired. The lesson today was very helpful, because I’m weak at describing a person’s features (that includes facial features, personality, etc). I think this is because there are a lot of vocabulary to remember, so having to think of words that are suitable and remembering all the different descriptive words prove to be difficult for me. But today’s lesson was really fun, I liked the game where one person described the picture and the other people had to try to draw what the actual picture looked like. It wasn’t only fun, but very helpful as well.
The video was very interesting today, it’s always good to watch a scenario with an exchange student being put into a Japanese family to show the differences between the cultures. It is always interesting to see what we here in Australia see as acceptable and is not in Japan (and vice versa). Jen (the American girl) spoke very good Japanese and supposedly she has only studied for two years… I hope one day I can speak as well as her. I hope one day I can speak Japanese fluently.
The dictation today was really hard… XXX definitely knows how to come up with tough sentences. I find that when the dictated sentence is long, I often lose track of what is dictated of the later part of the sentence. I think I really need to improve my listening skills too…which is good, because then I have an excuse to watch more anime and Japanese dramas!
We finished writing the script for our skit, which was quite exciting! Because it felt like it was quite an achievement to be able to write a skit in Japanese and to be able to act it out. I’m slightly worried about how it’ll turn out tomorrow because we won’t be able to have the notes in our hands to check some of the more difficult Japanese phrases. Also, I’m scared that I might forget certain phrases because I might get too nervous, since the skit will be filmed and put onto youtube! But since XXX and XXX will be there with me, I think it’ll be ok! (It’s better than doing a speech by yourself or something!) And I’ll just have to pretend I’m Eddie, then I’ll be fine (since he’s supposedly to be very good at Japanese!!!)
I can’t believe it’s going to be the last day tomorrow already! Hopefully we can all make the most of it tomorrow and have a good performance too!!!
Day 5
210 I can’t believe that the Japanese review session has finished! It definitely has been a very helpful and fun week!
I’ll start off by talking about the skit first, because that took the entire week to achieve. I was really nervous about skit at the beginning of the week, because I thought role-plays already could be very difficult at times, just how could we do a skit in Japanese (and having to memorise the lines as well!) at the end of the week!? But the skit turned out to be very fun and very interesting! It was really fun just thinking up different situations we could put Eddie and Mari in and it was quite challenging to put everything together into Japanese. The task of the skit also pushed me out of my comfort zone to try something I haven’t really done before. But of course, first time performing the skit was very nerve-racking and for some reason, I realized that even with memorized lines, when practicing with everyone else, it felt different and my mind went blank sometimes.
I really enjoyed the video exercises throughout the week, they really helped to improve my Japanese listening skills and it was quite interesting to watch a different aspect of Japanese life each day. The most helpful one was probably watching the video without sound, then using Japanese to write out the story. That was practically helpful in pushing us to use ta-form, which is the form we aren’t as familiar with.
Writing Kanji and Katakana on the board each day was also very very helpful, because Katakana can be very hard sometimes. I personally still have a lot to improve on in this aspect, because sometimes I find it hard to know where to stretch the sounds or put the little “tsu”. So the exercises really helped.
The review session, in my opinion, was very fun and very helpful, but sometimes it felt a bit long and I did feel very tired, especially on Wednesday. Maybe it is because I’ve been in holiday mode for so long that it felt strange to be studying for four hours everyday all of a sudden and my brain is suddenly very pushed to think quicker and more rather than working at its own pace. Though I really liked how the senseis pushed us to ALWAYS speak Japanese and only use English when we really really don’t know how to express ourselves, I think that was a very very helpful thing to do in pushing us to be more Japanese users rather than learners.
But I think there’s still a long way to go before reaching my goal of being able to understand Japanese anime without the subtitles and maybe one day, to even be able to have fluent conversations with Japanese people. Next semester, I will continue trying to reach this goal step by step.
211 G-2: Learning Journals (C1-3)
Day 1
Today is the first day of the review session and there were only three students in the class.
First we had the SPOT test, the speaking speed is very fast and I couldn't figure some words out though it was just a simple test. = =|| Then we watched a videotape, this one we spent a bit more time on it, we listened and filled the blanks in, read it and found useful phrases out of the dialogue. This part of work was very useful, I think, because we can learn the way Japanese people talking in general conversation and also lots of new grammas. For example, わかれる、なければなりません、あつめる、～かもしれない、たりない and ～とおもいます
Later on, we revised a lot in "te" form. We were all good at it because "te" form song really helped a lot. During the dictation test and the kanji & katakana writing, I found I've already forgot some vocabularies due to the holiday slack. For example I wrote 薬（くすり）as （つくり）, I should revise vocabularies more often.
Since only three of us attempted today's class, I became to the dictionary-person, and I found that was quite fun, because I would be able to learn new vocabs though helping others.
I reckon review session is really helpful, and thank you sensei!
Day2
This is today's journal, I wrote it in Japanese, and can you also please double check the gramma please?
Sorry if it takes you long time to check.
お願いします！
私は今日の日直ですから、ディクテーションの問題を書くなければならないません でした。書く時の前に、ちょっと教科書を読んだらほうがいいと思いました。
授業の中で、先生に問題を見せて、問題が全部だいじょうぶだ。みんなはすごくよ かったけど、私はカタカナがちょっと悪かった。カタカナの勉強をもっとしたほうがい い。
ビデオも見た、いろいろ新しい言葉を勉強した、とても面白くて便利だったです。たと えぱ、"AさんがBさんにおごる"や"遠慮（えんりょ）しない"や"金持ち"が全部便利だ 。ロルプレをした時、とても面白かったから、私はたくさん笑った。私たちも"～ませ
212 んか"と"～ましょうか"をたくさん練習した。みんなは上手だから、もうだいじょうぶで す。
Day 3
今日は雨だった、ちょっと寒かったんです。でも、授業も面白かったです。
最初私たちは簡単（かんたん）な練習をして、みんなは上手でした。そして、ビデオ を見て、物語（ものがたり）を書きました。私はこの物語からいろいろで有用（ゆうよう ）な言葉を学習（がくしゅう）しました。この物語は一人の男の人のオートバイ旅行の 中で発生（はっせい）したことでした。この男の人は一人死んだ（しんだ）女の子供と 一緒に花火をした夢を見た、ちょっと怖かったです。
ビデオの後で、ビンゴゲームをしたり、ロルプレを練習したりしました。私は眠かった から、あまりまじめでなかったです。たぶん今日のロルプレはちょっと易かった理由 もありました。
最後の一時間に私たちはマリさんとエディくんのストーリを討論（とうろん）して、書き ました。面白いストーリと思いました。
Day 4
After four days studies, I felt tired and became a little bit too lazy to think, though that's not good.
Today we reviewed about body's part, physical appearance and family thing. I made two very silly mistakes, I shouldn't have done that. I got both my grandparents and someone's grandparents wrong. I learned a lesson from those mistakes. While we reviewed body's parts, we also played games, one is saying and pointing and another one is saying and drawing. The drawing part was quite funny, because though everyone drew everything right, still had big differences.
We also watched a video which was about Japanese family, the culture and custom in families. The cultures are very different between Japanese and Western countries, but very similar to China. For example, at home kids have to call their parents or elders in respective manners.
Fashion's katakana was very hard, could barely get exactly correct words. Later on in the role-play, XXX and I interviewed XXX who pretended to be Ayumi Hamasaki. That was very interesting and funny. I think we did pretty well in that, and used the phrases learned in the video.
At the end, we finished Edie and Mari's story and rehearsed the skit, and all of us laughed since it was a good story.
Day 5
213
Today we reviewed how to suggest and things about sickness.
Before the class, I totally forgot vocabularies like "cough", "sneeze", "itchy" and so on. I could only remember "painful" and some other simple words, this indicates I do need more review of those learned vocabularies.
We didn't do much today since it's the last day and we had to finish the skit. In the role-play, I acted twice, one as a sick person and another as a person who gave suggestions to sick person. I think though this made me feel tired, it gave me one more opportunity to practice. The ta-form, I think we all handled it well and could be able use it correctly, of course we need more practices.
The dictation wasn't that hard, so everyone did well. When we wrote kanji and katakana, I felt a little bit awkward. As a kanji background person, I know how to write all most kanji in Chinese way, however not sure if it's same to Japanese. And many kanji I don't know how to pronounce in Japanese though I know its meaning. This made me feel bad, I should look at those kanji characters more carefully and avoid silly mistakes happened. For katakana, I still couldn't write them all correct, either the long tone or small "tsu". It's still one big problem of my Japanese.
Later on we practised our skit and it became better and better. When we did the real one, XXX sensei came in and watched out actions. I reckon we did well in that skit, we wrote the story and edited, finally we acted it out. I like our skit.
After five days classes, I learned more things than I expected. Like what we said in the classroom, I think I'm getting closer to my target, though still long way to go. We not only revised grammars learned in the first year Japanese, also learned lots of new words. Language does need a lot of vocabularies, I think the more I remember, the closer I will be reaching my target.
Thanks XXX sensei's patience, kindness and XXX sensei's all helps.
I'm very happy to be in the review session and hope it will run well in the future.
214 G-3: Learning Journals (C2-1)
Day1
Today’s review session was fun and very helpful. Especially the te-form part, reminds me the things that have been forgotten during the summer break. The first part (small quiz) is a bit demanding, the pace was too fast and no break between those questions. It made us nervous.
After a long summer vacation, it’s a bit uncomfortable to back to classroom. It’s good to have an introduction part to warm up the brain and remember what we have learnt in the previous year and get to know each other before we form group or do anything. The video part was really great. We learnt some new vocabularies and verbs that are very useful in a conversational content. Although the first time we saw the video, we experiencing some difficulties, but after a few times, we started to know what’s happening and able to concentrate on what we were doing and finally get to know the main idea of the video. It’s always a joy to learn more vocabulary and to find out what we have learnt so far and be able to actually understand and do something with what we have learnt.
Maybe because of the holiday mood, it’s still difficult to start using Japanese in the classroom with friends/classmates. When trying to use Japanese to communicate, it always feels awkward. Everything seems like wrong and couldn't pronounce them appropriately.
The role play part was very interesting even thou it may not help to learn further, it makes us concentrate more and remember those points that had been introduced during the role play we did.
My goal in the review session is to pick up the grammar that learnt before and warm up for the coming session’s Japanese Class.
Day 2
Today was very fun and enjoyable. We learnt counters, ordering food in a restaurant and watched video. The most difficult part today and the part has most fun was the video part. It is so useful and we had learnt so many useful vocabularies in that video that use in reality. The ranking style in Japan that learnt in today was very interesting and useful.
In the dictation part, I realized that I did not go through every vocabulary in the textbook (Nakama 1), and one of them I needed to think for a while to realize that it’s actually in the textbook and have been learnt before.
The role play part, again, was very interesting and motivating. To actually read a Japanese restaurants menu was so great, we learnt the ‘sishamo’, although there seems to be no English direct translation. It’s good to know.
The changing group’s part was a bit shocked. However, it’s always good to get to know the other classmates in the class and has more interactive activities.
215
The planning for the ‘skit’ was very enjoyable. We can work together and have some fun by making up the story for Mari and Edie. During brain storming, we learnt from each other and gain more knowledge from classmates.
‘Fun way’ is the best way to learn. Loving it.
Day 3
Today’s review session was fun and very helpful. Part one reminded us different forms/tenses of verbs and adjectives which we normal have trouble to remember. Then, we watched the video and tried to write what’s happening in the video. It was difficult but fun and exchanging ideas with groupmates was great. Also, we learn a lot from the video, for example, the ‘butsudan’. Personally, I think the video was the most difficult part for the day and the most interesting part too. The script of the scenes really helps us understanding the situation and learns more effectively. The game we played today was very fun and useful. Then, the dictation part, although I prepared two of the sentences, I still got them wrong. And then, finally realize ‘minna（みんな）’ and ‘minasan（みなさん）’, cannot be ‘minnasan（みんなさん）’. I used to think みなさんandみんなさんare the same. The kanji part and katakana part’s a good opportunity to correct the mistake that we always make. Especially the katakana part, it’s always the difficult part in learning Japanese as sometimes we have long vowels, sometimes we don’t. and sometimes, it will omit something, for example, ‘Thailand’ is actually ‘Thai’ in Japanese.
We also learnt ‘…たり…たりしたことがあるそうです。’ It’s a very useful sentence structure that we didn’t have time to go through in detail in last semester. Exchanging the new words we learnt between groups’s really good. We learnt a lot more vocabulary.
Today, again, it was another wonderful day.
Day 4
Today, we learnt the name of my family member and someone else’s family member. We also learnt to use resultant state to describe what we wear and learnt vocabularies of clothing and accessories and body parts. To be honest, I forgot most of them. Luckily, there is another chance to learn it again in the review session. It really helps. The game—drawing faces, was very funny and very useful for remembering words and grammar. Video part was difficult but very interesting and informative. We learnt some differences between Japanese households and Australian households. We also learnt many vocabularies, for example, “paper door” = しょうじ, ‘skinship’, in the video. In the role play— ‘interview’ was very interesting. We couldn’t stop laughing. The Katakana part is still very difficult. For example, necklace (ネックレス) and tie (ネクタイ), the small ‘tsu’ part, I’m still not able to figure out which word should have small ‘tsu’ and which one should not. I guess, at the moment, maybe try to memorize the most useful words first and then, later maybe able to figure out more katakana way of writing.
216 The words ‘かんごく’ and ‘韓国’, ‘しゅうじん’and‘しゅじん’are very similar. It makes them easier to remember. Although, not sure if next time will get them right, but, still, it is very funny and easier to remember compare to other words.
Today was very enjoyable again. Today is day four, time passes so quick. Looking forward to tomorrow’s ‘skit’.
Day 5
Today was so funny and interesting and enjoyable. In the morning, we learnt potential forms and to express sickness and give advices. They are very useful and interesting to learn. To express sickness is the most difficult part, as there are so many words to describe many different symptoms. Another thing I learnt from today’s skit is to pronounce ‘tsu’, I used to pronounce it ‘zu’ all the time. I am not sure the reason, but I used to always pronounce ‘tsu’ as ‘zu’.
The katakana part is difficult; it is difficult to understand the logic behind it. Again, I guess ‘practice makes perfect’, so more practice is needed.
Overall, the review session is a really good warm up for the next session’s intensive learning (because 14 weeks is becoming 12 weeks this semester, so I guess it’s going to be an intensive learning.)
Everything in the review session was so great (including dictation; I think dictation is a good way to know do we actually know the words and grammar, even we might be able to pronounce them and understand them when they are written sometimes). There are too many great activities in the review session. It’s too difficult to choose only one particular best part. If I have to choose one, it would be the skit. It was so funny and interesting. During the process, it helps us to improve our Japanese and encourage us to work together as a team. Teachers are very encouraging and motivating. It’s such a good experience in the journey of learning Japanese. Today is the end of the review session, I enjoyed every single second of it. The last word to say, is, Thank you very much for giving so much effort in the review session. どうもありがとうございました。
217 G-4: Learning Journals (C2-3)
Day 1
Listening Test
The listening test was quite a challenge, not because the questions were particularly hard but because of the speed of the recording. While for a lot of the questions you can read the sentence and use grammar knowledge to fill in the gaps, I felt that there was insufficient time in between each recording to think about it. Thus, in my opinion the test is a good test to evaluate the students’ listening skills, but not overall Japanese knowledge.
Self Introduction
I felt that the self-intro exercise was done pretty well. While nobody really said that much during the self-intros, students had to ask questions to find out more about the person, which I feel is more natural than giving a one-way 5 minute self-intro. There were a few interesting questions, which allowed the students to pay more attention than otherwise. However, that being said, there were a few questions that were used a bit excessively, such as 「選考はナンですか？ 」While it can’t really be helped as students were the ones asking the questions, I feel that they only asked that question because they wanted to ask a question but did not know what else to ask. Thus, I feel that they do not have a genuine interest in what majors the other students are doing but are merely doing it to follow the exercise. While I feel that this is ok if done occasionally, I feel that it may make the students lose interest and thus lose concentration in the exercise if done excessively. However, I believe that today had a sufficient amount of interesting questions to engage the students’ attention throughout the exercise. It also allowed students to know each other a bit more, even though many already knew each other from Japanese class.
Dictation
I feel that dictation is a good way of testing not only one’s listening and spelling skills, but also vocabulary and grammar, as most of the time there is insufficient time in dictation tests to try to listen to each individual hiragana sound and write them down one by one, but rather students recognise the words, the grammar and the sentence structure and write them down. I feel that students are able to learn vocabulary through dictation far better than the kanji/katakana group write on whiteboard review exercise as it forces each individual to think of how to write each word. However, I believe that most students do not really pay that much attention to their mistakes they make during dictation. I think more emphasis should be put on recognising mistakes and fixing them, as I believe at the moment students just put away their dictation without looking at it again.
Video – Field trip
I felt that the video was the most boring part of class. I believe that although most people said they were ok with understanding the video when asked, they did not really understand. I think for most people, they only really understood bits and pieces of that
218 video, and because there was so much they didn’t understand, they did not remember the exact words they didn’t understand and thus did not ask. Furthermore, I believe that even though students may know exactly what they don’t understand, most of them are too shy to ask the teacher. Some of them, e.g. XXX, rely on asking other students instead. I believe this is the case in all classroom situations, and that there is not much teachers can do to encourage the shyer students to ask the teacher more questions. Instead, I feel that it may be better to allow students to pick their own seats, allowing the students to pick seats next to the people closest to them. That way, if shy students have a word they don’t understand, they would ask their friends, and if their friends don’t understand either they might ask the teacher. Furthermore, I feel that showing the same video 5 times is excessive. I would say that 2-3 times should be the maximum, as I feel that there is not much more than can be obtained from a video after 2-3 times and the students would start to lose concentration.
Kanji and Katakana practice
In my opinion kanji and katakana is best learnt with regular usage. I feel that writing kanji and katakana on the board is not really a good exercise as the students only get to see it once. Thus, I believe that an individual writing exercise where people have to write kanji/katakana, e.g. fill in the gaps, would be a better exercise, especially if this kind of exercise is repeated frequently for common kanji/katakana. Furthermore, if kanji and katakana writing is split into groups, usually the stronger students lead the group and the weaker students tend to sit back and just watch. Since the weaker students only observe and can only pays attention to each word for a few seconds, I feel that this is a very inefficient exercise for them as I feel that it does not stick in their memory. However, I do believe that there is a high chance that if the people who wrote the kanji/katakana make a mistake, then the person who thought of the kanji/katakana would learn from his or her mistake and remember it for next time.
Role play – Meeting between Japanese person and non-Japanese person
I did my role play with XXX today. While practicing, there were a lot of words he didn’t understand and he made many mistakes with forms if I remember correctly. However, I believe that this isn’t a bad thing because people pointed out his mistakes and he changed them. Hopefully with more practice he will start to remember his mistakes and change them. I believe role plays are great at improving confidence in speaking Japanese. Furthermore, as there is less time in spoken conversations to respond than responding to written questions, I believe that improving speaking fluency would also improve a person’s ability to process Japanese and thus also helping with written Japanese.
General comments
I think XXX sensei is a very good teacher. She allows students to have fun and occasionally does funny things herself. I believe that this type of atmosphere is beneficial for learning as it promotes interest and causes concentration and effort to be higher than normal. I believe that even if students are doing silly things, they should not be stopped unless they are being disruptive or are doing things irrelevant to Japanese. However, I believe that this type of behaviour is rare in universities, especially Australian ones, and especially UNSW. Therefore, I think XXX sensei’s
219 way of teaching is excellent not only for teaching Japanese in the classroom, but also promoting interest in Japanese and thus self-study. Furthermore, I feel that even though she speaks mostly Japanese and only occasionally uses English words, she is a lot easier to understand than other teachers. This exposes students to Japanese while allowing them to understand what is being said and thus improving their listening skills and confidence.
Day 2
Revision on counters
I find counters hard to remember because I rarely use them and hear them, except for the first two Japanese traditional counters 一つand二つ、which I hear often. I believe because there are so many different counters and different irregularities, constant practice is needed, until it is permanently in your memory. Otherwise, students would just forget it after a few days.
て form revision
て form revision was not overly difficult. However, I don’t really remember the rules as the textbook teaches it. Instead, I already know て form of the verbs I use frequently and thus it comes automatically when I think of the word and I don’t really have to spend time thinking about the rule. This is both good and bad, good because it is faster and more natural than remembering rules, but bad because there are some verbs that I don’t use frequently and thus can’t remember that well.
Dictation
Today’s dictation was much harder than yesterday’s dictation. This is due to Joanna- san using words we’re unfamiliar with, and thus we’re unable to recognise the words and have to resort to listening individual hiragana for the dictation. My thoughts on dictation still remain the same (read Monday’s entry for more details).
Kanji/Katakana
Views remain the same (read Monday’s entry for more details).
Inviting practice
Inviting practice was both easy and hard. The 「一緒に行きませんか？」bit was easy whereas the 理由 part was difficult. However, I think that it was more of a problem of trying to think of a 理由 than a problem with Japanese. However, higher Japanese vocabulary would have given us more options to choose from.
Role play – Inviting and ordering
Inviting and ordering was not too hard. However, in my group we did not really talk about 理由 when inviting. Furthermore, there were some initial problems with counters, and which ones to use for food and for drinks. We learnt that for food, most
220 food you use つ、e.g. 一つ、二つ etc etc and for cups of drinks you use はい, e.g. コーヒーを二杯お願いします。
Video – Restaurant
Although I found today’s video less boring than yesterday’s I still feel that it was the most boring part of class. I found today’s video far easier to understand than yesterday’s video. Today we learnt that 「ごちそうする」means treating someone and 「ごちそうになる」 means to get treated by someone. The question about 松、竹 and梅 was difficult as I thought they were completely different types of food. Furthermore, I didn’t really pay attention to the menu as it was mostly in kanji and I couldn’t read them. Thus, I didn’t notice 松、竹 and 梅 until the teacher pointed it out.
General comments
Although changing seats allows students to interact with other students and students get more variety, I think it also has disadvantages because students feel less comfortable with other students they do not know as well and thus there tends to be less discussion and also less requests for help when one doesn’t understand.
Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5: No Journal was submitted.
221
G-5: Learning Journals (C2-4)
Day 1
This was the first day of the review session of Japanese. Heading into the lesson I didn’t know what to expect. I had expected for a lot of the stuff that we did normally during tutorials and seminars, rushing through the material. However, once the sheet of the outline of the course was handed out I had relaxed a little more. The only thing that made me nervous was the role plays; I was never very good at role plays during the second session last year. Maybe it was because it was being marked and that we never had a lot of time to practice the vocabulary and prepare. Now that we have a slight better understand that the role-plays have been more bearable, still very nervous but a little more bearable.
I am happy about the size of the class. It is more interactive and you are able to make more friends and talk to all the people in the class. There is more of an opportunity to communicate and be able to receive more help from various people.
I also liked how we were able to choose the topics that were wanted to revise, giving us the opportunity to strengthen our weaknesses in Japanese. The review session is very relaxing and less stressful than what it is during a semester. Even though it is more laid back we are still able to learn the contents that are needed to be learnt.
In today’s lesson we started from the very basics, it felt good to slowly start talking Japanese again after so long. It was also good at getting to now the students that were from the other tutorial and seminars. Even though that I had watched various Japanese dramas over the holiday, which helped in extending and building some of my vocabulary, however I am not very confident in there uses.
I have also learnt that I really need to work hard on listening and remembering for my dictations. Like always my dictation has never been very good, today’s dictation showed me how much harder I need to try.
My overall gaol for the end of this review session is to be able to remember everything or most of the words and materials that were learnt in the first year from Nakama 1. Another goal that I would like to achieve is to be more confident in speaking Japanese a little more freely, this can be helped by knowing my vocabulary and grammar as well as the role plays that we do in class.
Day 2
Today we reviewed on counters, inviting people as well as ordering at a restaurant. Being able to cover so much surprised me. In the lesson I was able to find that I was able to remember some of the phrases, even after so long. I feel very comfortable in the class as there is less people in it. Unlike the classes in the tutorial and seminars, there are triple the amount of people, which includes at least half that are very fluent and confident in there Japanese, having the pace of the class moving faster and not being able to have the help of the teacher. There are too many students in the class for
222 the teacher to be able to help everyone. In the review class I find that it is a lot more comfortable as well as knowing that most of the people in the class are struggling just like me. Me feeling like I am not the only one makes me less nervous.
There were a lot more mini role plays. I found that these were helpful as to improve on speaking of my Japanese. I find it very nerve-racking when the teacher asks for people to present in front of the class. I am not fluent enough like all the other people, thus not have much confidence in myself. I do hope to get over this in the future.
At the end of the class when we were working on the skit for the final day of the session It bought out the creativity of our group. It was also very happy to be working with friends that understand and at the same level as me instead of being with someone that was more experienced and very unfamiliar with me. As we were brainstorming ideas for the skit we were surprised at all the ideas that we were able to come up with. However, realising that our ideas were getting to complicated when trying to write a script in Japanese. However I am really looking forward to writing the script and to see how it turns out.
Day 3
Today during the video it felt very awkward as there was no sound. However the exercise where we had to narrate the last half of the video was helpful but difficult. In trying to create sentences we were able to practice forming sentences.
We went over all the past tenses of words. It helped me understand a little more in how they are being formed. I just need to remember what sort of verb and adjective it is as well as what sort of past tense for what occasion.
The only problem is that there is not enough time given for us to do and prepare for our skit.
Day 4
Today we learnt/revised about our family (家族), resultative state, talking about physical appearances and skills as well as connecting phrases such as [……て……ている人さひて下さい] and [……くて/で……です] , for describing people in a longer sentence instead of many short sentences.
Like all the sessions the were a few new words and phrases that were learnt such as some new body parts such as eyebrow [まやげ] and neck [くび] 。
The activities that we did in class today were very fun especially the part where we got into groups and described how the pictures looked while the other group members drew what they thought the picture would look like.
I just find that we are not given enough time to prepare, write and practice. At first we thought it might be ok, but after a day we realized that there is just not enough time to be able to write a good script.
223
I also just know that I need more practice with the dictation. Most of the time is that it is being spoken too fast and that I am missing a few words. I just need to practice more so that I am able to listen and write at the same time at a good speed.
Day 5: No journal was submitted.
224
G-6: Learning Journals (C2-5)
Day 1
It was unexpectedly hard to converse in Japanese although I’ve just been to Japan last month. Due to the fact that this review session mainly involve in daily conversation instead of asking for directions or ordering food.
Learning Japanese had always been fun. Also review session started smoothly, which gives us more motivation to be more engrossed in activities and learning sessions organised. Nonetheless, dictations are still tough and it takes time to get used to native Japanese people speaking so speedy.
Participation level on certain part is unexpectedly low in response, possibly because mere understanding of context is easier than verbal. Videos are the best way to pick up new vocabularies, however remembering and using it in daily life it’s somewhat difficult.
Classmates are very welcoming, as there were many familiar faces. However it is hard to converse in Japanese to them, furthermore, creating a sentence that makes sense is tough.
Role play is interesting and entertaining for the reason that students are able to identify mistakes made by other students. Also, it’s easier to understand as there are more simple vocabularies that are being used.
The review session is refreshing as I managed to practise Japanese before the start of university classes. I’m hoping to be able to remember most things that I’ve learnt last year at the end of this review session.
Day 2
Topics that were taught today are much easier than the other topics. Inviting friends and ordering food is something that most of the students that are learning Japanese’s been using more often. Hence, conversing more fluently in this area is expected.
Video that was shown this morning was very interesting and most of us picked up new vocabularies. Guessing mistakes helps to remember the words more!
Characters and conversations in the video were interesting and useful as we could use the words in our daily life. Furthermore we learnt about how Japanese food are served in different category in names such as 松、竹、梅. Also learning how to Japanese people converse with each other.
I participated in the role play as a customer in a restaurant today and it was interesting. As the last time I went to Japan I requested if any of them could speak in Mandarin or English.
225 Dictation was fairly easy, however it still takes time to get it all correct. I’m hoping that before class starts that’ll be possible.
Learning Kanji isn’t much of problem for a lot of us, especially people like me with Chinese background. Perhaps introducing more Kanji to us would be a better way to approach the class.
Day 3
Today’s class started off with my greatest fear – plain form. I’ve always been having troubles with it and dreadfully hoping that one day I’m able to understand without actually memorising it. It was good to be able to do a review about it as I’ve long forgotten how to interchange those forms!
Video, as always, it’s interesting although we’re all forced to watch it too many times. Interpreting situations is very useful due to the fact that it helps to broadened our vocabularies and able to explain our experience in the future.
Furthermore, role play was challenging as a lot of us could not describe and make statements very well. Most of us needed incredible amount of time to just explain simple things. This could be an area that students can focus on to improve our Japanese language.
Dictation wasn’t too hard, which was great. Although I still do have a slight problem with it.
The game that we played was really fun as we could all cooperate and help each other in forming sentences. It is interesting to observe how Japanese language is so similar to Mandarin and so different to English.
Skit preparation was a bit tough as we spent our time translating instead of writing it in Japanese in the first place. However, as my group’s working on it, I’m sure we could do it on time!
Day 4
On Thursday I learnt about past and present forms, which are challenging during conversation due to the fact that I can’t change the forms quick enough to converse without stopping. However the review session provided a great chance for us to refresh our memories of what we’ve learnt last year.
The video was interesting, as it was about Japanese culture. We could observe the difference between Japanese and other nationality. Nonetheless, Asians share very similar culture with each other.
Furthermore, there were explanations of different categories or things guessing game, which was fun to be involved in. Although we did have some trouble doing it but practise makes perfect!
226 There were preparation of skit with my group mates, XXX and XXX, which was pretty fun as we planned to slap XXX at the end of the skit (part of the plot). We wrote the script in English then translate that in Japanese to quicken the process. It was somehow manageable to do translation with the help of senseis.
Dictation was much better today, as it might be the questions that are getting easier, or perhaps 4 days of practise makes it easier.
Day 5
It was the last day of the review session. And everything passed by really quickly. Throughout the whole week we’ve been reviewing things from last year, and bits of new information from senseis.
Learning about family members, understanding how to interview (which XXX sensei and XXX’s sensei version looked like it’s from Japanese tv), watching videos, potential forms, plain forms, polite forms, describing body parts, explaining sickness, and most interesting of all, performing a skit in a language that none of us are particularly fluent in.
Everyone were really friendly and attentive to the flow of the class, however due to our lack of vocabulary, when we’re restricted to speak only Japanese, it was slightly tough to follow through.
It was amazing to learn from senseis, also from classmates that understands/knows more vocabulary than me. Although my notes aren’t very tidy but I’m sure rearranging it would be fun and will bring back lots of memories.
Skit was particularly funny because I was in a group with XXX and XXX, which both of them I have not spoke to very much last year. It was a great success as we worked through the script together. The other groups had really interesting ideas too which was amusing to watch!
One of my goals was to achieve fairly satisfied results in my dictation, and my last dictation went well, although I had small mistakes but I’ll definitely try to work on that.
I’m very much looking forward for Japanese classes to start as it would be more fun and interesting things ahead!
227 G-7: Learning Journals (C2-6)
Day1
My goal for the review session is to become more confident in my Japanese language skills and prepare myself to return to university for my second year of Japanese studies. I hope to revisit the things I have learnt last year and possibly find different ways to approach anything I had trouble with.
Today was the first day of the review session and I found it a bit difficult to get back into interacting in Japanese after such a long break. One of the biggest problems I found is not being able to keep up with the speed of native Japanese speakers, for example, in the spot test and while watching the video.
In comparison to last year's tutorial and seminar classes, I think the size of the review class is better because it is smaller so activities can be more efficient because they don't take as long and it's less intimidating to speak in front of a smaller group.
I found that we strayed from the plan of the roleplay when we were practising which made it a lot harder to perform in front of the class later on because we were making it up as we went.
I look forward to the rest of the week and hope that I can improve my skills enough to perform confidently in the skit.
Day2
Today I found it easier to get into the activities. I think the roleplay went much better, partly because we were doing something similar to the roleplays we did last year involving invitations and restaurant settings. I also found it better acting out the restaurant roleplay in the two smaller groups, as it was less stressful and we were able to act more naturally.
Today's video was also much easier for me to understand although I still had some difficulty due to my limited vocabulary. The new vocabulary from the first video was difficult for me to incorporate into the roleplay. I found that the new phrases/words we learnt from the video were easier to understand and more helpful for using in our roleplay compared to the first video.
I found the dictation more difficult today, I got all three wrong, whereas yesterday I got only one wrong. Perhaps the sentences were more difficult, however I have typically struggled with dictation throughout last year. I have not yet found a system of study that helps me with dictation, listening to audio cds does not seem to help me with it.
During the kanji/katakana practise I found that I am more confident with writing words in katakana but knowing where the long/extended vowels should be is still difficult.
We began preparations for the skit today, it looks like it will be an interesting process.
228 My group decided to write a rough draft in English first. I am not sure whether or not this is a good thing. I usually found that it was easier to write essays in Japanese from the start rather than try to translate what I wanted to write from English. It does however give us an outline to follow so hopefully we wont take too much time writing the script in Japanese.
Day3
Today's class was challenging and enjoyable. I liked watching the video without sound and having to make up the story. However, this did make me realise how much difficulty I am still having with plain form. The review session has been helpful so far in revising as well as pointing out what things I will need to spend some more time on myself.
I like doing the group work for the skit, it has led to my group planning outside of the review session as well. I think being able to talk to people outside of class is a big help, having friends to learn the language with makes it a lot easier and more enjoyable. It is difficult to practise speaking in Japanese with people you don't feel comfortable with because if you are not confident it is a very stressful situation.
The games we played today were also very enjoyable (bingo and the guessing game). I think the guessing game helped us to think of different ways to describe things to give clues to the person who was guessing.
The new system for the dictionary person - writing down all the words we looked up - was also a lot more helpful because in the first two days I tended to forget the new words. With the new system I could write them down and remember them better.
Today's roleplay was a bit more difficult again even though it was something we have had practise with before. I think I personally have more trouble when the topic is something real, like talking about my holiday, because I try to think of what I actually did. When the roleplay is something made up like shopping or going to a restaurant it is easier because I tend to say whatever I can think of and I'm not as limited by my vocabulary.
Day4
Today's video was a little more difficult than the others we have watched but I was surprised at how much I could understand. A lot of the things I picked up were still from actions rather than what they were saying but I was able to recognise more vocabulary.
I'm glad that we reviewed how to talk about resultant state and physical appearance. The drawing game was fun and I think it really helped me remember and understand more because I had to picture the image in my head it made more sense.
In revising family/kinship terms I have found that even though I know the difference between the terms you should use for your own family and the polite terms that you should use for someone else's family, I sometimes get it wrong in a conversation. For example, the sounds for elder brother and sister are similar, so when someone asked
229 me a question in the role play about my brother/sister and I wasn't sure which one they said, I accidentally said the polite form for my own family when I was asking whether they meant my brother or sister. It's frustrating because I know that I know the difference but I still make the mistakes.
My group for the skit has finished our script in Japanese and practised it a few times but I'm still a bit worried that I won't be able to memorise it by tomorrow. I find tasks like this are pretty difficult for me, not just because it is in Japanese but also because I was never any good at memorising scripts in English either. I will just have to try my best!
Day5
Today we performed the skit. Although I know I made some mistakes and do not have very good acting skills it was still a lot of fun. It was a good experience to work on something like that in a group over a few days. I preferred doing the skit to the role plays because there was time to prepare for it and understand everything more.
I liked the games we played today, I think all of the games we have played throughout the week have been really helpful because they make you think about what you are trying to communicate in Japanese (when playing the guessing games for example) and it is good to learn and practise using a lot of different methods.
Reviewing the verb conjugation was really helpful, although we went over it in a similar way to how it was taught during last session I think I finally understand it. Perhaps it is just one of those things that take a while to remember and understand.
Overall I feel that the review session was really helpful in getting me back into the habit of studying Japanese. I think it was beneficial to be able to go over everything in a casual environment that is not as stressful as uni.
I feel like I have achieved most of my goals for the review session, I feel more confident in my Japanese language skills, and perhaps more importantly, I know what I still need to improve on. I am also pleased that I was able to understand things that were not clear to me last year in class.
Thank you very much for making the review session possible and I hope my participation was helpful for your research.
230 G-8: Learning Journals (C2-7)
Day 1
Goal for review session: To renew Japanese language skills to the level previously attained at the end of semester 1. To be more confident with first year Japanese in order to be able to build upon these foundations in second year.
I was initially apprehensive about the revision session as I have had few opportunities to practice Japanese over the break, and have done very little home study. I was very conscious that my vocabulary and communicative skills had diminished, and at the beginning of the class was unwilling to actively participate. XXX-sensei was very friendly and made it much easier to participate in the class. When in Japanese classes, as much as it may make me uncomfortable, I think being forced to participate through direct questions is a very effective teaching/learning strategy.
The te-form revision was very useful, however I would prefer if instead of just going through how to put verbs into te form that we also quickly revise (maybe through a list on the whiteboard) the functions of the form. This is one aspect of university language learning that has frustrated me throughout the year, there tends to be much more of an emphasis on how to create new forms than how to use them. Learning to create new forms is something that can easily be studied at home. Learning strategies such as songs and rhythmic patterns make memorisation much easier.
I personally find that classes in which only Japanese is spoken are overwhelming and slightly counterproductive. I prefer for at least instructions or explanations to be given in English, as when these are delivered in Japanese and not understood it makes it much more difficult to gain an understanding of the entire point of the lesson. I also think that completing written exercises relating to forms and conjugations and such can often be as useful as verbal exercises.
Sometimes simply chatting to our classmates (ie in roleplay scenario) can be difficult as we all can only make use of the same, very limited vocabulary. Due to this, many of the roleplay and interaction exercises (such as asking each other introductory questions) tend to be repetitive. This is where I think written exercises (question and answer maybe?) might be beneficial. Nevertheless, oral communication is obviously the most important part of language-learning and this session has today worked to enhance these skills.
As I said earlier, having a friendly and approachable teacher such as XXX-sensei and classmates that participate in classroom activities makes language learning much more interesting and productive. The exercises that we did today (such as when we were asked specific questions) ensured that this environment was maintained throughout the session.
Day 2
I found todays session to be a little less overwhelming, but still found myself often frustrated by the amount of Japanese spoken by XXX-sensei. I personally find language learning a very frustrating experience overall, as it is the kind of thing that
231 takes constant revision and application, and struggling to understand instructions in classes makes the experience much more difficult. I think having a small class is very beneficial, making questions to XXX-sensei and interaction with peers much easier.
Working on the skit has been quite fun so far - as the role plays we were given during the semester were being marked and had to fulfill certain criteria there was little room for creativity. Being able to develop the skit in whichever way we want without having to try and keep in mind which new forms we need to include not only makes the experience more enjoyable but also allows for greater opportunities to build vocab. In addition, it allows for the class members to learn from each other's work, which is an integral part of language learning.
The smaller class size and interactive activities we have been completing have also created such opportunities. During the semester I often worried about being behind due to the different levels in which students began the course, and the additional preparation they may have done outside of the class. However during this session I find it much easier to learn from and pick up vocabulary from the other students. I personally find that it is much easier to have difficult concepts and forms explained to me by fellow students rather than teachers (particularly because students always do so in English). Nevertheless, I am finding that after getting used to the format of the lessons after the first day it was easier to anticipate the instructions that XXX-sensei may being giving us.
Day 3
Today's lesson was the most productive and useful so far. I think I am slowly getting used to communicating and getting instructions mainly in Japanese. I think being exposed to so much Japanese has been really good for my pronunciation skills, as it is much easier to pick up both trends and anomalies. Exposure to Japanese speech and katakana exercises are particularly beneficial the pronunciation of katakana words, which can be difficult (as an English speaker I am often embarrassed by how silly my pronunciation of katakana words sound!).
I think using learning strategies such as games are very effective, as well as making learning much more enjoyable. Last semester I struggled with noun modifying clauses, however today's exercise really cleared up a lot of issues I had with my understanding of them. As I have previously said, exercises in which we are capitalising on the knowledge of several classmates are particularly effective, and this exercise ensured group participation.
I also enjoyed the video exercise today, as I find in Japanese classes we have little practice in our spontaneous writing skills (as all tests are multiple choice format). While it is easier to do well in tests of this kind, I think it is better to approach language learning with long term goals in mind, and being able to write a composition is an integral part of this. Today's exercise was particularly interesting, as it was effectively a translation exercise (rather than completely spontaneous composition) - translating ideas/events we had determined in English to Japanese script.
232 Overall I am really enjoying the review session, and believe that my confidence in speaking Japanese and the fundamental skills I have to approach second year with have already improved.
Day 4
By today I think I was very used to and comfortable with the format of the revision session lessons. This made it much easier to optimise learning time, and meant we could get through exercises more efficiently. I particularly enjoyed the roleplay today - trying to portray characters and use context specific dialogue is an interesting way to expand our vocabulary and command of the Japanese. I found the video more difficult to follow than usual today, although am not sure why this is so.
I am quite apprehensive about the skit performance tomorrow - having to memorise our parts seems like a difficult task given the time frame. Nevertheless, it should be a fun exercise and I will be interested to see what the other groups have come up with (especially given the common setting and characters). I find I am often overwhelmed by the differing levels of proficiency in our class (more so during semester with a wider range of students and more students who have previously studied Japanese), which has often made me shy and less willing to contribute. Unlike my other subjects in which I am able to do well with fairly little effort, I find the constant application involved in language learning exhausting, and I often neglect to do so. Nevertheless, completing group projects such as this encourages all members to participate and contribute in whatever way they are able - creating a sense of obligation or duty to the group is a particularly effective way of ensuring this.
In any case, I have go and to try and memorise our script now!
Day 5
I struggled a little with today's topics as they were the topics that I was least comfortable with (being the last topics in the textbook) and the ones I felt we rushed through during semester. Nevertheless, games such using picture cards as well as guessing games for potential form made these topics easier and more comprehensible. I especially benefited from the written potential form exercise as XXX-sensei explained how to create the forms very clearly.
I enjoyed the skit exercise the most of anything in the revision session. I enjoy the opportunity to work independently, and was very interested by how incredibly differently everyones skits turned out. As I'm aware that my Japanese skills are not as developed as most of the class, I'm often very shy about performing in Japanese in front of them, however doing so in a group situation made the whole experience much easier and made me feel much more comfortable.
In terms of achieving my personal goals, I feel like the revision session definitely enabled me to be more confident and comfortable with my Japanese, and I consequently feel more prepared and comfortable about beginning Japanese Communication 2A. I feel that in many cases (esp. potential form, noun modifying clauses), XXX-sensei explained things to us in a better way than we were initially taught it, and I feel much more comfortable using these than I did last semester.
233
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to work on our Japanese, I really enjoyed the session and found it very helpful and productive.
234 G-9: Learning Journals (C2-8)
Day 1
Firstly my goal that I want to accomplish during the review session is to get my Japanese back to the level I was at the end of session 2 2007, i.e. around credit level. During the break the amount of Japanese study/revision I completed was not very much and not close to what was needed to maintain a satisfactory level of Japanese communication readying me for 2nd level courses in Japanese, as was made obvious to me during today’s class. The area I want to get most out of during the review session is vocabulary and kanji, as well the sentence structures such as those used to describe other people, noun modifying clauses and capabilities and potential verb forms.
The class today didn’t really teach me anything that I haven’t already heard before except for a few new vocabulary words such as こうがいがくしゅう (outdoor activities) and 活けん (opinion). However there was lot covered today that I had forgotten about when I walked in the class. This mostly was vocabulary but also listening skills as well.
At the start of the class I felt uneasy as I did not remember much and did not understand a lot of what was being said but as the class progressed I became more comfortable as words and sentences and words came flooding back to me. I was quite pleased that I was able to answer all the questions that were asked of me during the first introductions.
The test at the start was very difficult. The most likely cause for this was the pace at which the sentences were spoken combined with the short break between sentences. I believe I would have found a similar test difficult to comprehend even in English at that pace. If the sentences were read a little slower or more time was given between sentences I believe I could have done a lot better or at least answer more than I did.
The run through verbs on the board and acting them out was a great idea. I really liked participating in that activity because it is a good way for me to remember what the mean. I would like to have that again.
The video was good. This was mainly due to the fact that it was played multiple times and that each time it was played I picked up on something new that I didn’t recognize the previous viewing as well as things mentioned by other classmates.
Out of all the activities today I enjoyed the role play the most as it was a casual environment. Working with someone else where both of us work off each other, even when we need to find translations to get our message across, helped me a lot to remember ways in which things are said in Japanese, such as past tenses of verbs and adjectives.
The teacher was clear and kept a well relaxed environment which makes it easier for me to learn. Although I still needed to look up simple and common words and phrases far more often than I would have liked during the day I can see that the review session is going to get me back into the mind set I was in at the end of 2007. After the class I felt pleased in what I had achieved but at the same time I know there is lot more I can
235 get from the review session. All in all I very much enjoyed the day and I am looking forward to learning/remembering more Japanese during the rest of the week.
Day 2
The class today, like yesterdays, didn’t really teach me anything that I haven’t already heard before. Again there was lot covered in today’s class that I had forgotten about when I walked in this morning.
At the start of the today’s class I felt calm and ready to jog my memory some more. During today’s class I found it easier to understand sensei’s instructions and as a consequence I was more active today than I was yesterday.
When revising the counters I found that I new most of them and remembered them fairly well; however I noticed today that I will need to work on when to use the different counters. During the role plays I felt a little confused when to use which counters and mostly used the Japanese original counters.
Watching the video today was a bit repetitive for me mainly due to the fact that today I was able to understand what was being said a lot more quickly than yesterdays. Although after watching the video for the first time I still was not sure of most of what was said. Class discussion and answering questions between viewings of the video was really helpful.
Dictation was horrible for me today. I didn’t get anything right. I enjoy the katakana/kanji activity though. I enjoyed doing the kanji and I am disappointed that I have forgotten a lot during the break. This activity brings a lot of them out and so I find it very helpful.
Today I participated in class activities a lot more than I did yesterday. I felt that I new more and that I were regaining my former knowledge. Although I was participating more I am still hesitating and pausing my sentences and not speaking very naturally when trying to improvise.
Day 3
As day 3 drew to close today I was surprised at how much Japanese I actually retained during the break, even with the limited amount of revision done over the summer. Today also was the first day that had taught me a few new things I hadn’t already heard before.
Revising the plain forms of verbs and adjectives was an excellent area to start the day, not because I need work in this area but because I remembered how to do most of it without hesitation. This being the first surprise at how much Japanese I retained over the break. Being able to complete this task with little thought and help filled me with confidence and it is this confidence in my Japanese that I believe played a major role in my even more increased participation and involvement in class activities than I did yesterday.
236 The video task today was a very enjoyable as it was different. Although I would of liked to watch the video with sound after the completion of the task, or at least another with sound. My listening skills are in need of some work, mainly due to the lack of people to study with away from uni. So I would have liked to watch a video with sound as it offers me valuable help in this area, even though I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the task as much as today’s video exercise.
Dictation was better for me today. I understood most of the sentences that were said today and got the first two correct. I really enjoy doing the kanji/katakana activity because I like to draw pictures and can seem to get neat looking kanji, so I felt great when sensei complimented my neat writing in Japanese and I understood what she said to me.
Today was a really enjoyable day. I am now feeling like I was in tutorials and seminars from last session; correcting, helping others and contributing to group discussion as well asking for help from others.
Day 4
Day 4 was not a very good day for me. I came to uni today tired and because of this I was not as fast as I usually am. I kept missing instructions and understanding sentences that I know and would normally pay little mind too. Although I was still participated more than I did on day I was not involved as much as I would have liked.
I was pleased with myself that I was able to remember most of the family terms and kanji with out much help. Also the activities where we described people and what they are wearing were really helpful as I had forgotten most of that vocabulary. Likewise the activities for the parts of the body were equally enjoyable and helful.
The Video today was excellent although I didn’t enjoy it much, mainly due to the fact that I was going slower today. If this was yesterdays video task I would have been very pleased as I would have been more alert and would have gotten more from it.
Today I was the taku-san so I wrote two of the dictation sentences and was able to get the last one correct. Again I was a bit slow to think of katakana words in today’s topic the kanji that was suggested I should have known from previous days but couldn’t seem to remember them.
Today was a fairly unproductive day for my and I am disappointed that I did not do as well as I would have liked. However I still feel like I was back in tutorials and seminars as I did last year (when I was tired). Although I was receiving more help than I would of liked.
Day 5
The review session was a great help to my Japanese and an excellent way for me to start the year and prepare for JAPN 2A. I really enjoyed myself and was I am a little sad that it’s over. However I am, very much looking forward to JAPN 2A. I learned probably the most today than I have in any one day of the review session.
237 The dictations are never enjoyable for me but I know that I have to give it a go because I need work on my listening skills. I think that my dictation this week was only a little better than how I performed last session but I did notice I was finding it easier as this week progressed. I think was so because I understood more of what was said rather than just hearing sounds and writing them on paper.
I’m like everything organized and in order and therefore thrive off charts and tables. Hence, when going through revision of different forms when the vocabulary was in tables I got the most out of it. Not only did it teach me the conversions between forms but also allows me to easily memorize the vocabulary.
I really enjoy learning from watching and therefore the video tasks are one of my favourite activities that were done this week. Another one of my favourite tasks are the role plays and skit because they allow me to practice what I have learnt by reading, writing and watching in an environment where I can have fun with it and muck around with people who have become good friends.
When I took the test on day one of the review session I could understand most of what was written in the questions and the pace of the tape was way too fast for me to pick up on individual sounds. Therefore I didn’t even answer half of the questions. When I redid the test today I noticed that not only that I could read the sentences and know what the missing characters were but I was moving faster than the tape at times. Even when I didn’t know the answer the pace of the tape seemed reasonable and I was able to understand what was being said well enough for me to get something down. The difference between the experience I had sitting for the two tests showed me just how far I came this week in regaining my former skills and how much new skills and vocabulary I obtained.
The whole week was very enjoyable. Both the teachers were excellent. They were clear when speaking Japanese and acted out what they were saying to help the class to understand and learn. They were easy going and relaxed, encouraging and very helpful. It felt more like a friend helping a friend than actual teacher teaching in class. This made the whole review session a pleasant and memorable experience.
Having the environment that was experienced during the review session makes it easier to remember the things learnt in the class as we like to remember the good times. I found that a lot of the things remembered over the summer were remembered because of some fun, interesting or pleasant happening at the time it was first taught, and therefore I believe that I will keep most of the things I have gained from the review session in to JAPN 2A.
My goal for the review session was to be at the level I was at the end of session 2 2007. I believe I have achieved that and maybe a little bit more. I know I have a long way to go before I come to be as fluent in the language as I want to be but I am looking forward to the journey in getting there. I am very glad I signed up for the review session.
238 G-10: Learning Journals (C2-9)
Day 1
GOAL: To improve on fluency in Japanese communication, improve use of grammar and vocab in both written and spoken form.
REFLECTION (25/2):
During:
• Relearned the ‘て’ form, which was great as I had forgotten most of my ‘て’ forms over the long summer break • When I listed hobbies, ‘たり’ form was used, which proved to be the most efficient in stating multiple hobbies. • Found listening test hard to follow, since the speaker on the tape was too fast, therefore I couldn’t follow and got lost in the sentences (60 of them, only couldn’t do 7-8 of them). I had to reread the sentence to figure out the hiragana. • The dictation test proved to be easier than the listening test, since most of the sentences were in hiragana, katakana and a few kanji. Hiragana was easier to write in dictation, some katakana I had forgotten and kanji also. With further revision, I will continue to improve on my written skills. • Class participation: Everyone seemed to answer questions well, but with role- plays and practice, my speaking skills will improve. • The quality of Japanese used today was sufficient but I felt that my grammar needs more work but quantity wise I used as much Japanese as I could, even though I struggled at some words. • Tried to participate in a lot of activities, but at times got a bit lost in what I was doing.
After:
• After the class, I felt pretty happy after refreshing my memory after the long, summer holiday. It looked like there will be more work done tomorrow • I will have the role of ‘Dictionary Person’ tomorrow, in which I look forward to. • I will continue to review what I have learned today and keep doing that every night for this week and the following week before semester one starts.
Day 2
REFLECTION (26/2):
During:
239 • Revised ‘counters’, ‘invite + response’ and ‘ちゅうもんをする’. I felt that this was the best possible revision, since I had forgotten counters over the summer break • ‘ちゅうもんをする’ + ‘ましょうか、ませんか、ましゅう’ role-plays: I felt that I spoke to the best of my ability, but at times I forgot to add in the correct particle/s and at times was a bit hesitant. • ‘ビデオ’: The video was played like 4-5 times, in which the 2nd or 3rd playing, I had an idea on what the video was about. Some words were too fast to understand like ‘かんごふ’ in which I thought was Korean but it actually meant ‘Nurse’. • Restaurant role-play was fun and that I felt more Japanese was used in the role play. • Dictation: it was a bit hard to follow, since the ‘class leader’ wrote the dictation, which the teacher read out. • Skit: We got down doing our skit, in which we ended up finishing most of it (we had one more scene to finish), in which the draft copy had to be submitted. • Overall, everyone seemed to interact well in Japanese. After:
• Looked like I was set to write out as much kanji as I could at home. • Willing to learn the lines for our skit on Friday, although the script hasn’t been finalised yet (the sheet we were given). • Look forward to do more revision over the next 3 days.
Day 3
REFLECTION (27/2):
During:
• Did plain form, past experience, noun modifying clauses. I found that the ‘いい’ word was a ‘な’ verb and that it had to be changed to ‘よく、よか’ instead (this one I had forgotten) • Video: We had to describe or recount some parts of the video using plain past form (た、だ), and I quite liked the video. • Past experiences: Some activities that we did I enjoyed, particularly the ‘bingo’ game, where we had to recount our past experiences. I was quite surprised that XXX 先生 had some of the same past experiences as me, which were the accident and going on camp. • Reportage style: it was hard to remember the line but as she wrote it up, it was fine. • Dictation: The dictation sentences were quite long and sometimes hard to follow. Some errors included the katakana for UNSW and computer. The last sentence had kanji in which I hadn’t learned yet, but had covered in the last week? of semester 2?? Kanji revision needed here!!! • Role-play: Our group seemed to come up with lots of descriptions, but I got mixed up with where to put ‘ことがあるんそですand ことがあります’. Definitely lots of questions asked, maybe I needed more descriptions for
240 describing my summer break. Asked lots of questions, but some parts of the question got mixed up (there was a little stumbling here) • Our group finished the ‘skit script’ yesterday but had a few errors. Luckily this was fixed. • We learned a wide variety of new vocab from the video and during class activates.
After:
• I was set to be ‘にっちょく’ for the class tomorrow, meaning that I have to write one sentence for the dictation test tomorrow. • After class, I planned to write and practice kanji from the last chapter of Nakama 1 (Chapter 12), since I didn’t understand some of the kanji written in class (in terms of stroke order and meaning). • Needed to memorise the script for the skit by Friday!!!!
Day 4
REFLECTION (28/2):
During:
• Covered family members, resultant state, physical appearance and connecting phrases in today’s class • First activity involved drawing a picture, where the appearance of a person had to be described and then using those descriptions, had to draw it out. I found this activity fun, although some words didn’t really come to mind. • Relearning body parts proved to be a bit challenging, since I had forgotten most the names of the body parts. • Today’s video was quite hard to understand, but it was ok since ‘XXX先生’ told us that we didn’t need to understand it. After the video, we had to outline differences between Japanese and Australian cultures. • I noted new vocabulary during the video, and that we had to use at least one word from that list in today’s role-play. • Family members: this wasn’t too hard, except for words like siblings, husband and wife. Everyone knew what they were doing. • Role-play: I found this one a bit hard to do, maybe because I was rushed towards the end of the day and that I had to leave early. Other than that, the other group on my table performed a role-play which was quite funny. • Being class leader for the day allowed me to use more Japanese.
After:
• I felt that today’s class; I used a bit more Japanese as I said above, being a class leader and describing pictures.
241 • The skit is tomorrow, my lines are prepared, and that we are going to be filmed. It’s the last day tomorrow, and I am going to make use of as much Japanese revision as I can, before class starts.
Day 5: No Journal was submitted.
242 G-11: Learning Journals (C2-10)
Day 1 initially felt uncomfortable but then relaxed as class progressed and everyone seemed to be around the same level of japanese. enjoyed the group activites today as it was easier to remember when it wasnt just one on one answers to the teacher and we could discuss the answers the recording made me feel a bit uncofortable, because i didnt want to make mistakes on something recored but after a while i forgot it was there so it was ok i liked the relaxed teaching style where everyoen is involved, but no one is picked on i find it easier to learn in a group then just by myself i think dont like the idea of having a role play posted on the internet my goal for the review session is to have revised the most difficult aspects of last year and to prepare myself for this semster. i want to find out wha tmy weaknesses are so that i can use the review session and week zero to study up on thoes areas and become more confident in them for week 1. i also want to practice speaking and pronounciation as i havent had a chance to speak with anyone since last semster and dont feel at all comfortable with speaking in japanese. i want to gain confidence so that in week 1 i can answer questions in class and not be laughed at.
Day2 felt more comfortable today adn wasnt bothered by all the recording. found the vidoe very interesting and learned lots of new vocab, expressions and culture from it, although it took me until like the forth time watching it to understand most of it as they spoke fast in some bits i dont usually like roleplays but todays were alright. it was better when we were spilt up into different groups for each roleplay because i got to learn different things from classmates that i usually woulnt talk to so much, so it was interesting getting to know them more and also finding out how they think about japanese and how they learn. i am not finding the kanji and katakana components of the class usfull as all of the kanji put up so far i already know, so i dont fell im learing anything new, and i am already pretty confident with thoes kanji. it would be nice to learn some new ones or to go over the harder ones from the end of the textbook. also the katakana words we are doing have the same proble, i already know most of them and it would be more helpful to learn some newer or more interesting katakana words. i liked working on the role play at the end as it really made me think about grammer structure and whats right/wrong and how to rephrase things so that i can use my grammer kn owledge to say them in japanese. with my group i feel that i am in the
243 middle, so i can learn things from XXX and help XXX, which is nice having everyone at different levels as i think you learn from teaching others and sharing knowledge and also being taught by your freind you arnt afraid to make mistakes or say somthing wrong so i cna try my hardest without feeling embarrassed.
Day3 today i especially liked the vidoe exercies. to use our limited knowledge to write the rest of the script was a good way to think about how to rephrase things so that we can use the grammer structures and vocab we know to get our ideas across the role plays with each other were fun, but i dont think the evaluation system is good because no one really says anything as everyone too afraid to critisise their friends and also you dont want to because you know everyone is really trying their best and you dont want to say anything to discourage them i wish we had gone over plain form for longer as i think its one of the hardest things and later trying to put everything into plain form i didnt know all the rules/wasnt sure how to do it. i would have liked some writen exercises on plain form to practice with. i like having the dictionary person write down all the words we dont understand so that we learn heaps more vocab because if we miss it we can always look on their paper to see what was previousaly written down and dont miss out on new vocab and expression if the clas sis going too fast
Day 4 enjoyed the video today - full of interesting cultural facts, although i couldnt understand the speaking i understood from watching. good to revise family members as i always forget ones like sobo drawing the pictures was fun and usefull to try and explain a picture in as many ways as possible, so used lots of vocab and sturctures learning the body parts was fun and i also learnt new vocab for it the interviw role play was ok, but i felt i didnt have enough questions to ask or didnt have enough interesting ones i could ask because of lack of vocab i feel like i learned alot today, not just vocab and structures but also japanese culture and about the cultures my classmates have been raised in
Day 5
Once again enjoyed the review session very much and found it very useful
I thought that going over plain form was the most helpful to me as I’m really bad at it, but I didn’t get enough time to copy all the notes from the board before they were wiped off!! I would have liked to have spent more time on this as it is one of my weak points, but we seemed to go through it very quickly and I still don’t completely understand plain form.
244
Learnt lots of new vocab today. Most of it is really useful vocab that I’ll be able to use in everyday situations.
The role play was fun, but once again I found it hard to give criticism as I know everyone is trying their best
Doing the skit wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. Watching the others was interesting to see how they had interpreted Mari/Eddie’s relationship based on the previous years worth of information about them and how they acted this out. I think this shows how everyone interprets language differently and gets different meanings from the same thing. It was also a good way to learn how to put emotion into my Japanese. Rather then just repeating lines or sentences it was good to think about how you would think normally in these situations and how you would react with emotion.
Overall I found the review session extremely helpful. The way it was arranged we could interact freely (which doesn’t usually happen in tutes as they are so full) and we also had time to ask questions and go over things we were unsure of. It was the first time that I have really enjoyed something like a tute for Japanese. I also like that we were not only just learning of the sensei’s but also from fellow classmates. With more time to discuss things I really got to know people better and also learn from their knowledge and different interpretations of Japanese. I wish all of my classes had review sessions like this.
245 G-12: Learning Journals (C2-11)
Day 1
My goal for this week is to gain more confidence in my ability to speak and write Japanese. Also I want to gain a better understanding of concepts that I could not grasp last year.
I believe that the class size is really good because the teacher can focus on each of us more thoroughly compared to the size of the classes last year which contained up to 30 people. Student interaction therefore is higher because in such an intimate space, people can get to know each other better and also help each other when we are in need.
The teacher is very thorough with her explanations and she makes sure that all our questions are answered. This allows the whole class to move at the same level at the same time which is very effective for learning. Moreover the students are able to learn at a faster speed because of the amount of assistance provided. Although at first there were quite a few awkward moments where the students didn’t quite understand what the teacher was asking or didn’t know how to answer, I believe that this will improve as the week goes on.
The tasks set by the teacher go through each topic very clearly and concisely. The first video was a little hard to understand because of the speed at which the actors were talking so it was difficult to answer the teacher’s questions. However, being provided with a copy of the script really helped a lot because I could read at my own pace and check up words that I could not understand. Being called up to the front of the class to perform is really nerve-wracking but I suppose it makes us try that little bit harder because we know that others are watching and listening. Compared to just private role plays, we don’t get much feedback because we only have one person listening. Feedback is really important to me because it’s the only way that we can improve our skills and help others. So I believe the amount of feedback that I’m currently getting in this class is sufficient and I’m able to understand more in a smaller space of time.
Day 2
Today’s lesson was quite interesting with quite a lot more student interaction and activities. I think now that the class has gotten to know each other better, it’s easier to interact with one another. I’ve also become more comfortable with the structure of the classes and there have been less awkward moments in the classroom which shows a great deal of improvement.
Dictation was quite difficult today mainly because the teacher spoke so fast that it was hard to remember most of the sentence while trying to remember Japanese characters. Correcting each other’s mistakes in the kanji and katakana activity I think is really effective because it makes us realise what we’re doing wrong to avoid making the same or similar mistakes again.
Role play was quite fun because it was a topic that all of us enjoyed mainly because
246 it’s easy to understand. However the skit seems like a very ambitious task especially with the ideas that my group has come up with knowing that we will have to express everything in Japanese. I’m not sure whether we will have enough time to complete it but I hope that we will make it.
I’m finding that group activities are the fastest way to learn because students are able to help each other and combine ideas. This also saves up a lot of the teacher’s time because many questions may be answered by our peers. I’m really enjoying the lessons so far and I hope that the rest of the week will be just as fun.
Day 3
For the skit, I really believe we don’t have enough time to complete it. Mainly because a lot of the expressions we’d like to say, we can’t express in Japanese. Having only an hour or less to work on it in class is not sufficient time since we also have to rehearse it. We want to make this skit as interesting and exciting as possible however translating ideas from English to Japanese is the most difficult part. Also having the skit filmed and uploaded on Youtube I think is a little too much pressure, knowing that we will most likely be reading off our scripts and will not be very fluent because of our lack of rehearsal. The original idea of a skit seemed good at first, however due to time restrictions it’s very difficult for us to be able to complete the task as best we can. So I hope you do not have very high expectations of our performance due to this reason. We will try our best anyway.
Day 4: No journal was submitted.
Day 5
End of review session. My goal on Monday was to gain confidence and a better understanding of Japanese language. Throughout the week, I learnt many new things and gained a better understanding of many concepts that I had learned last year. It was also an opportunity to use what I had learned in conversation with my peers. Overall, I think the review session did help me try and achieve that goal and although I do not think I really did reach my goal I definitely got much closer to it. With more time, I believe that I could have reached my aim but from what was taught in a week, I believe that is a great achievement in itself. I’m a little more comfortable with using Japanese though I still need to work on it a lot.
I think that the review session was a good starting point and a guide to how we can learn Japanese more effectively not only from the students’ point of view but also the teachers. Using more group activities and letting students take the lead allows everyone to interact more easily while learning at the same time.
XXX sensei was very patient with our class which is not easily found in a teacher and I really believe this worked to our advantage. She moved at a pace that was comfortable and at the same time a little bit challenging so that we would not get bored easily. The activities were always interesting and forced us to think which in turn aroused our curiosity.
247 I hope that we were as much fun to learn with as the teachers were with us. Through this review session, I have more confidence and am looking forward to learning Japanese this year.
ありがとうございました。
248 G-13: Learning Journals (C2-12)
Day 1
Goal: To reinstall the first year Japanese into my brain after a long and counter-productive holiday. Hopefully i will have built some sort of platform of the Japanese language by the time i have begun my second year of Japanese.
I was apprehensive and nervous after a long holiday. I have had two conversations with Japanese people during my break which was fun and valuable however these two occasions have been insufficient in maintaining the body of Japanese which i attained during my first year of Japanese.
I have decided to take new approaches to my second year of study. I understand that if i don't make changes then a fail is definitely on the horizon. With a fail i think my interest in learning Japanese at University will expire. I will begin tutoring with one of my brothers Japanese friends at least once if not twice a week and i will be more active in making Japanese friends and using the Japanese language as much as possible.
This Revision session is an appropriate and necessary step in my 'Japanese at University' study to succeed.
Day One. I was admittedly overwhelmed on day one by my loss and lack of knowledge and left feeling a little bit helpless at the end of the day however in retrospect i realise that 5 days straight of Japanese can only have a positive effect.
I enjoyed the size of the class and the relaxed atmosphere however i was nervous to Speak Japanese.
One comment is that i find it much more productive to do the role plays in a stress free environment. When doing role plays just with friends you can correct each others Japanese together and you aren't 'put on the spot'. I find my Japanese gets worse if i have to perform it in front of people.
Some of the exercises were fun especially reviewing 'て form'. However some of the broader exercises like the video went over my head.
I look forward to the days ahead.
Day 2
Japanese slowly coming back. I hope this shows in Friday's test.
Kanji needs to be worked on because it is my weakest area and this is exposed in the kanji part of the lesson.
Dictation is also very difficult. I struggled with this for the entire last semester. My
249 mind simply isn't fast enough to convert Japanese sounds into writing. I think practice will help though. Writing Japanese is one area which i am comfortable with (aside from Kanji).
Role plays were fun today. I enjoyed other students assessing the performances because there was no pressure in making mistakes. I found this topic (Shopping) the most enjoyable in my last semester and once again i enjoyed it today.
Video was interesting. It is a good dose of solid Japanese. A lot of the content goes over my head however hearing and watching a Japanese conversation without pauses and gaps is undoubtedly helpful.
Apart from 'new words' many old words which i have forgotten during the holidays have been reinstalled into my memory. This is pleasing and it shows progress is being made. Different expressions are surfacing which will be useful in my second year of study.
I am going to find the skit to be an immense challenge – the video of the last sessions skit seemed flawless. However i will do the best i can, and hope we work well as a group.
Day 3
Becoming more comfortable with Japanese language used in the class.
Extremely happy with relaxed atmosphere in classroom. The Student-Student and Staff-Student interactions are positive and friendly.
Enjoyed video exercise. Good way to practice plain past form.
Bingo a good past experience method.
Still struggling with dictation, however it doesn't bother me very much. I know i will get better with practice.
Kanji is still a problem and will remain a problem until i put some serious effort in at home.
However my main goal for the week is to improve my Japanese speaking and hopefully i can learn some kanji next week (last week before second year starts).
This week has boosted my enthusiasm to speak Japanese more in everyday life. I am eager to meet more Japanese people so i can practice.
Role play was fun. I like the style of other groups monitoring another groups performance. I know for a lot of people, less pressure allows a clearer mind and therefore a stronger role play. Generally mistakes are handled by various class members on the spot rather than afterwards. This in my opinion is more constructive.
250 Day 4
* found actions (はいています、かぶています etc）and resultant state いる very helpful. This is knowledge which will be useful in Japanese conversation. Hopefully with a little bit of revision i can implant this into my memory.
* Enjoyed body parts exercise. I had a lot of trouble trying to learn these words last semester and i felt as if i was learning a lot of them today. The drawing exercise which followed after this helped to implant the words into my memory. * I found the video today to be incredibly useful in learning new words. This probably was also because i was dictionary person.
*family and someone else's family chart went over glossary which i already knew a lot of but was a handy reinforcement.
*role play was fun however i think it exposed how mixed up with grammar i am. I am unsure of ordering words and where to put particles. I think the best strategy for this challenge is more practice. I don't believe that simply studying grammar and particles will really help me. I have to get out there and talk with Japanese people. Experience should bring correct grammar naturally.
* I managed to complete one of the dictation sentences which was rewarding.
* Probably should start to memorise skit!!!
Day 5
* I think that learning today was overshadowed by the skit performance. Seeing i was trying to remember my lines etc, i found it harder to stay focused on the topics taught.
* Potential forms and sickness went over my head a little bit so my role play performance was not up to speed. I was glad however to go over these topics again before Uni restarts. I will try to go over them once more in the remaining holidays.
* I found that the best thing about being class leader was practising question words when asking classmates about tasks.
* I had a lot of fun organising and practising the skit. Of course I was a little bit nervous in the actual performance however not very much. I think this was a very good idea as a kind of laid back role play which we get to organise. The other groups were fun to watch as well as ours was fun to perform.
* This week has been the most progressive period of Japanese since beginning last year. I'm not sure yet if i have achieved my goals however i think it has been a very good start to my second year of studying Japanese. As well as helping to build a language platform which my first year alone failed to do, this week has provided a great deal of motivation for me to try harder and begin new approaches to my second year. It has been a very tiring week however i have had lots of fun. It extremely well taught and organised and the class was fantastic.
251 I look forward to the interview. I will come and organise a time and date.
252 G-14: Learning Journals (C2-13)
Day 1
The first day of the review session was very fulfilling and enjoyable. I had done some revision myself in the holidays, but the lack of chance to communicate verbally in Japanese did not help my speaking ability. I was glad for the review session as I think it would be a good revision before I begin my second year at university at learning Japanese.
At the start of the start, we were given a short listening exercise, in which we had to fill in the missing hiragana characters. However I thought this particular exercise was quite challenging as I could not keep up with some of the phrases as they were speaking very fast. After the quiz, the class watched a short video. I did not understand a lot of the material in the video after watching it for the first time. A lot of the words and phrases were unfamiliar to me. I also thought the characters spoke quite fast, however I do recognize that it is meant to be the normal pace that every day Japanese people speak. After the video, the tutor went through the unfamiliar vocabulary with us. When I watched the video for the second, third, fourth and fifth time, the meaning became a lot more clear to me.
We also reviewed some grammar during the day. I had looked over the ‘te’-form myself in the holidays, so I was already quite familiar with it. I thought by practicing the ‘te’-form again, I am now able to use it more fluently.
The dictation as well as the kanji and katakana practice was relatively easy. However I enjoyed having the challenge of being tested in Japanese again. Overall I think the day was very fun, and I appreciated the chance of review and learning a lot of new Japanese phrases, words and grammar tense.
Day 2
The second day of the review session went better than yesterday’s session (I though personally). One of the first things we did was also to review a video. The video was a lot easier to understand than the one that we watched yesterday. I was able to pick up the general idea and meaning of the video after watching it just once. It is also because the vocabularies used are a lot easier.
We also went through Japanese counters today. The method of separating them into charts and telling us to continuously repeat the counters made it easy for me to remember them. I also went through some counters myself during the holidays, so it was just like a little revision again.
One of the most fun parts of the day was when we were constantly divided into little groups and given the task of doing simple role plays. I like role plays because it gives me a chance to show and speak the Japanese I have learnt and have the opportunity of the tutor correcting what I said. I think I enjoy the chance to speak Japanese as I think it could improve my fluency and speaking ability. I also enjoy the chance of watching other groups perform their role play, where I have the chance to pick up words or phrases I don’t know, and learn from other students. I think the method of letting
253 students evaluating other students is very useful, and I think I got some really useful feedback.
I also learnt a lot of phrases and new words today. I think it is very useful that we put those words into practical use in our role plays, because it is a lot easier to remember the new words after we use it ourselves in our conversation. The dictation today was a bit more challenging than the dictation yesterday. The sentences were longer and vocabularies were slightly more complicated. However I managed them quite well.
I really enjoyed the second day, because I think I learnt a lot of new words, reviewed counters which I think is very useful and had a lot of fun with doing all the different role plays.
Day 3, 4, and 5: No journal was submitted.
254 Appendix H: Nicchoku-led interaction sequences in dictation tests (‘cheking- answer’ part)
H-1: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation test (Day 1)
I: Initiation R: Response F: Feedback N: Nicchoku T: Teacher L(1, 2, 3…) : Learner UL: Unidentified Learner (s) AL: All Learners
1: I: N: Jaa, L1-san, ichiban no kotae o yonde kudasai. (Well, L1, please read aloud the answer of the number one.)
2: R: L1: Aaaan, dochira kara irasshaimasu… (Well, where are you from…?)
3: I: N: Mina san, ichiban no kotae wa doo desu ka. (Everyone, how is the answer of number one?)
4: I: N: Ichiban… (Number one…)
5: I: N: …Seems like there is a problem… (…Seems like there is a problem…)
6: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
7: R: L2: A… (L2 is going to the whiteboard and corrects her answer on the whiteboard.) (Ah…)
8: I: N: Ii desu ka. (Is it good?)
9: R: L3: It should be ‘tsu’ somewhere… (It should be ‘tsu’ somewhere…)
10: F: N: Dochira kara irashaimashita ka. (Where are you from?)
11: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
12: I: N: Ii desu ka. (Is it good?)
13: R: L3: Hai. (yes.)
14: R: T: Yoku nai to omoimasu. (I think that it is not good.)
255
15: R: T: Yoku nai to (It is not good)
16: F: N: Yoku (Good.)
17: F: T: Yoku nai to omoimasu. (I think that it is not good.)
18: R: L4: Little ‘tsu’ after ‘i’. (Little ‘tsu’ after ‘i’.)
19: R: L3: ‘Tsu’ is somewhere… yeah.. I think after ‘i’ (‘Tsu’ is somewhere… yeah.. I think after ‘i’)
20: R: D: Little ‘tsu’ after ‘i’. (Little ‘tsu’ after ‘i’.)
(L3 tries to go to the whiteboard.)
21: I: N: Kite kudasai. (Please come.)
22: AL: (Laugh)
(L3 corrected the answer on the whiteboard. N and L3 looks at T.)
23: R: T: Irrashaimase. Irrashai. (Please come. Come.)
24: F: N: I don’t think so. Irasshai. (I don’t think so. Come.)
(L3 corrects the answer again.)
25: UL: Ira. (Ira.)
26: UL: Ira. (Ira.)
27: I: N: Mina san, kore ii desu ka. (N is pointing out the answer.) (Everyone, is this good?)
28: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
29: R: T: Ii to omoimasu. (I think that is good.)
256 30: F: N: Doomo arigatoo. (Thank you very much.)
31: I: N: Jaa, L5-san, ni-ban no kotae o yonde kudasai. Ni-ban. Hai. (Well, L5, the answer of number two. Number two. Yes.)
32: R: L5: Arisu-san to arisu-san no tomodachi to nyuu yooku kara kimashita. (Alice and Alice’s friend came from New York.)
33: I: N: Mina san, ni-ban no kotae wa doo desuka. Ni-ban. (Everyone. How is the answer to number two? Number two.)
34: R: L3: It’s good. It’s good. (It’s good. It’s good.)
35: AL: (Laugh)
(L5 indicates that the answer is wrong, using a gesture.)
36: I: N: Dochira desu ka. (Which one is it?)
37: R: L5: Dochira… A, tomodachi ‘wa’. (Which… Ah, a friend ‘wa’.)
38: F: N: Tomodachi… (a friend…)
39: R: L5: Tomodachi ‘to’. (J is pointing out the answer on the white board.) (A friend ‘to’.)
40: F: N: Tomodachi to. (A friend ‘to’.)
41: R: L5: Tomodachi ‘wa’. (A friend ‘wa’.)
42: I: N: Soo desu ka. (to the teacher) (Is it so?)
43: R: T: Minasan ni kiite kudasai. (Please ask everyone.)
44: I: L5: Is this ‘to’? (Is this ‘to’?)
45: I: L5: Wasn’t ‘wa’? (Wasn’t it ‘wa’?)
46: R: L4: Isn’t Alice’s friend…
257 (Isn’t Alice’s friend…)
47: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
48: R: N: Arisu-san to arisu no… (Alice and Alice’s…)
49: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
50: R: L3: Oh, should be ‘wa’. Yeah, ‘wa’, ‘wa’. (Oh, should be ‘wa’. Yeah, ‘wa’, ‘wa’.)
51: R: UL: Tomodachi. Wa. No. Tomodachi. Wa kimashita. (A friend. ‘Wa’. No. A friend. Came.)
52: I: N: Kore? (N is pointing out the answer on the white board.) (This?)
53: R: UL: Yeah. Hai. Hai. (Yeah. Yes.Yes.)
54: R: UL: ‘Wa’. ‘Wa’. (‘Wa’. ‘Wa’.)
55: F: N: Tien. (N corrected the answer.) (Tien.)
56: F: UL: ‘Wa’. (‘Wa’.)
57: F: L6: Ii desu ne. (It is good.)
58: F: N: Ii desu. Tien. (It is good. Tien.)
59: AL: (Laugh)
60: I: N: Jaa, san-ban…no kotae o…eeto, L7-san, yonde kudasai. San-ban no kotae… (Well, the answer of number three, L7, please read aloud. The answer of number three…)
61: R: L7: Nnn, yamada, yamada-san no senkoo wa keega… (Hmm. Yamada, Yamada-san’s major is …)
62: F: L4: Keigaku. (Business and administration.)
63: R: L7: Keega… (Business and administration.)
258
64: F: L4: Ku. (Ku.)
65: R: L7: Keegaku desu. Keegaku desu. (Business and administration. Business and administration.)
66: I: N: Mina san , san-ban no kotae wa doo desu ka. (Everyone, how is the answer to number three.)
67: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously)
68: R: L5: Kee-ee-gaku. (Business and administration.)
69: I: N: Kee-ee-gaku? (Business and administration?)
70: R: L6&L5: Kee-ei. (Business and administration.)
71: F: N: Ke. (Ke.)
72: R: L5: E. (E.)
73: R: L6: Keiei. (Business and administration.)
74: I: N: Keiei? (Business and administration?)
75: I: L5: Right? (Right?)
76: R: L6: Two… no.. keiei. (Two…no… business and administration.)
77: F: L5: No. (No.)
78: I: L4: What? (What?)
79: R: L5: No. (No.)
80: I: N: Keiei?
259 (Business and administration?)
81: R: L5: Kee-ee. (Business and administration.)
82: R: L6: Is it two long vowels? Along ‘ke’ ..along ‘e’. (Are they two long vowels? Along ‘ke’ ..along ‘e’.)
83: F: L5: I thought kee-ei. (I thought kee-ei.)
84: F: N: Yeah, I thought kee-ei. (Yeah, I thought kee-ei.)
85: F: L5: kee-ei. (Business and administration.)
86: I: L3: The first one … (The first one …)
87: R: L6: I just check… (G is looking at a textbook.) (I just check…)
88: AL: (Laugh)
89: I: L3: I think the first one should be right… (I think the first one should be right…)
90: R: N: kei.. keiei… (N is correcting the answer.) (Business and administration.)
91: AL: (Laugh)
92: R: N: kee-ei. (Business and administration.)
93: I: L4: Let’s vote! (Let’s vote!)
94: AL: (Laugh)
95: L5: Inaudible
96: I: L5: Keiei. (Business and administration.)
97: R: UL: Keikei. (Business and administration.)
98: I: L5: Ke-i-e-i is business and administration.
260 (Ke-i-e-i is business and administration.)
99: I: N: Kore?（N is pointing out the answer on the whiteboard.) (This?)
100: I: N: Keiei (Business and administration.)
101: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
102: I: N: ‘Keiei’ desu ka. (To the teacher) (Is it ‘keiei’?)
103: R: T: Hai. Keiei. (Yes. Keiei.)
104: F: N: Kei… Taran! (Kei… Taran!)
105: I: T: ‘Gaku’ wa kanji ga aru. (There is a kanji for ‘gaku’.)
106: R: N: ‘Gaku’. Oh, sumimasen. (‘Gaku’. Oh, I am sorry.)
107: R: N: Gaku. (Gaku.)
108: I: T: Jaa, N-san, ichi-ban no eigo no imi wa nan desu ka. (Well, N-san, what is the meaning of number one in English.)
109: I: N: Mina san, ichi-ban no ke…ke…kotae… eigo wa nan desu ka. (Everyone, what is the answer to number one in English?)
110: AL: (silence)
111: I: N: Eigo wa nan desu ka. Ichi-ban kotae… (What is it in English? The answer of number one…)
112: R: L3: Where are you from? (Where are you from?)
113: F: N: Taran! (Taran!)
114: I: N: Jaa, ni-ban koeta. (Well, the answer tonumber two.)
115: I: T: Kotae. (The answer.)
261
116: R: N: Oh, kotae. (Oh, the answer.)
117: I: N: Kotae eigo wa nan desu ka. Etto. (What is the answer in English? Well.)
118: R: L3: Alice and Alice’s friend is from New York… came from New York …yes. (Alice and Alice’s friend is from New York… came from New York ….yes.)
119: F: N: Ii desu. (It is good.)
120: I: N: Jaa, san-ban koe…kotae (laugh) eigo wa nan desu ka. (Well, the answer to number three, what is it in English?)
121: R: AL: (Almost all learners are saying the answer.)
122: I: N: Can someone repeat? (Can someone repeat?)
123: AL: (Laugh)
124: R: L5: Yamada-san… (Yamada-san…)
125: R: L4: Yamada san’s major is business and administration. (Yamada-san’s major is business and administration.)
126: F: N: Hai. Ii desu. (Yes. It is good.)
127: F: T: Hai. Arigatoo gozaimasu. N-san. Hai, ii desu ne. Nicchoku san. Hai. Arigatoo. (Yes. Thank you. N-san. Yes, it is good. Nicchoku-san. Yes. Thanks.)
262
H-2: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation test (Day 2)
I: Initiation R: Response F: Feedback N: Nicchoku T: Teacher L(1, 2, 3…) : Learner UL: Unidentified Learner(s) AL: All Learners
1: I: N: Anoo, L1-san, ichi-ban no… (Well, A-san, the number one’s…)
2: F: T: Kotae (Answer.)
3: I: N: Kotae o yonde kudasai. (Please read number one’s answer.)
4: R: L1: E, tabeta…totte…owao…dondon (laugh). (Oh, eat…take… owao…dondon.)
5: I: L1: Is that ‘ho’ or ‘wa’? (Is that ‘ho’ or ‘wa’?)
6: R: L2: Ho, a, hai. (‘Ho’, ah, yes.)
7: R: L1: Hoo ga ii desu. (It is better.)
8: I: N: Mina san, ichi-ban no kotae wa doo desu ka. (Everyone, how is the answer to number one?)
9: AL: (Silence. Then, laugh)
10: R: L1&L3: Tabeta ato de. (After you ate.)
11: F: N: Tabeta… (Ate.)
12: R: L1: Ato. (After.)
13: F: N: Ato de. (After.)
14: R: L1: Mita kedo. (Although I looked at.)
15: F: N: Ga. (Ga.)
263
16: R: L1: Mitai. (Want to see.)
17: F: N: Mitai ga. (Want to see but)
18: I: L1: What’s ‘mitai ga’? (A is checking a dictionary.) (What’s ‘mitai ga’?)
19: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
20: I: N: Eigo no imi wa nan desu ka. (What’s the meaning in English?)
21: R: L1: Better to eat… (Better to eat…)
22: F: N: Better to brush your teeth after eating. (Better to brush your teeth after eating.)
23: F: N: Eat breakfast and brush your teeth… (Eat breakfast and brush your teeth…)
24: I: N: Aa, ni-ban no, oh, L4-san, ni-ban no kotae o. (Ah, number two, oh, L4, the answer to number two.)
25: R: L4: Etto, kurasu ni okurete kimasen yo. (Well, you should not be late for the class.)
26: I: N: Mina san, doo desu ka. (Everyone, how is the answer?)
27: R: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
28: I: N: Doo desu ka. (How is it?)
29: AL: (Silence)
30: R: L1: Okurete, okurete. (Late, late.)
31: F: T: Okurete ikemasen yo. (You should not be late.)
32: R: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
33: F: N: Ikemasen yo. Okurete ikemasen yo. Okurete… (Should not. You should not be late. Late…)
264
34: I: T: Eigo no imi. (The meaning in English.)
35: I: N: Eigo no imi wa nan desu ka. (What is the meaning in English?)
36: R: L1: You are late for the class… is it? (You are late for class… is it?)
37: F: N: You cannot be late in class. (You cannot be late in class.)
38: R: UL: Ooo. (Oh.)
39: F: N: That’s you, L7. (That’s you, L7.)
40: AL: (Laugh)
41: I: T: L7-san, kurasu ni okurete. (L7. You are late for class.)
42: R: N: L7. (L7.)
43: I: N: L5-san, san-ban no kotae o. (L5, the answer to number three.)
44: F: T: Yonde. (Read.)
45: I: N: Yonde kudasai. (Please read.)
46: R: L5: Kyoo wa hayaku ie ni kaette mo ii desu yo. (Today it is alright to go home early.)
47: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
48: I: N: Mina san doo desu ka. (Everyone, how is it?)
49: R: L6: Ii desu. (It is good.)
50: F: N: Yeah. (Yeah.)
265 51: I: T: Eigo de, eigo. (English, English.)
52: I: N: Eigo no imi wa… (The meaning of English…)
53: R: L2: Today we are gonna go home early… (Today we are gonna go home early…)
54: F: N: Yeah. (Yeah.)
55: AL: (Laugh)
56: I: N: Owarimasu. (We finish.)
57: R: T: Hai. Arigatoo gozaimasu. (Yes. Thank you.)
58: R: T: Nicchoku san mo arigotoo. Mina san mo ii desu ne. (Thank you to the nicchoku. Everyone is also good.)
59: F: T: Tabeta ato de ha o migaita hoo ga ii desu yo. Migakimasu wa, ‘migaku’. ‘U’ baabu desu. Hai. (It is better to brush your teeth after you ate foods. To brush is ‘migaku’. It is a ‘u’- verb. Yes.)
60: F: T: Hai. Kurasu ni okurete wa ikemasen yo. L7-san. Hai. (Yes. You should not be late for class. L7.Yes.)
61: F: T: Kyoo wa hayaku ie ni kaette mo ii desu yo. (Today it is alright to go home early.)
62: F: T: Hai. Ii desu ne. (Yes. It is good.)
266 H-3: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation test (Day 3)
I: Initiation R: Response F: Feedback N: Nicchoku T: Teacher L(1, 2, 3…) : Learner UL: Unidentified Learner(s) AL: All Learners
1: I: N: Hai. Mina san, ichi-ban, ii desu ka. (Yes. Everyone, how is number one?)
2: R: L1: Inaudible (L1 is talking about a long vowel in a word ‘computer’ but the voice is too small.)
3: I: N: Kore? (N is pointing out the answer on the white board). (This?)
4: I: N: Ii desu ka. (Is it good?)
5: R: L1: Ii to omoimasu. (I think that it is good.)
6: I: T: Jaa, yonde kudasai. (To the Nicchoku) (Then, please read aloud.)
7: I: N: Mina san yonde kudasai. (Everyone, please read aloud.)
8: R: AL: Tsukue no ue ni konpyuuta to denwa ga arimasu.(Many learners says the meaning) (There are a computer and a telephone on a desk.)
9: I: T: Eigo. Eigo de. (To the Nicchoku) (English. English.)
10: I: N: Eigo de…doo iu imi desu ka. (What is the meaning in English?)
11: R: AL: On the top of a desk, there are a computer and a telephone. (Many learners says the meaing.) (On the top of a desk, there are a computer and a telephone.)
12: F: N: (Laugh) Hai. (Yes.)
13: AL: (Laugh)
14: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
15: I: N: Un, ni-ban, (laugh) …ii desu ka.
267 (Yes. Number two… is it good?)
16: R: L2: Should be extra ‘n’ after. (Should be extra ‘n’ after.)
17: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
18: R: L2: Before. (Before.)
19: F: T: ‘Su’ no mae. Nihongo de ne. ( Before ‘su’. In Japanese please.)
20: R: L2: ‘Su’ no mae. (Before ‘su’.)
21: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
22: I: N: Mina san, ni-ban ii desu ka. (Everyone, is number two good?)
23: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
24: R: L3: Bracket. (Bracket.)
25: F: T: Arimasu. Daijoobu. Arimasen. Daijoobu. (With bracket. Alright. No bracket. Alright.)
26: UL: Oh. (Oh.)
27: I: N: Jaa, eigo de doo iu imi desu ka. (Then, what is the meaning in English?)
28: R: L4: You study at UNSW. (You study at UNSW.)
29: F: N: Hai (laugh). (Yes.)
30: I: T: Ano, chotto hitotsu dake, watashi kara. Eeto, mi-n-na san wa, eeto, mi-n-na wa ii desu. Demo, mi-na san wa ‘n’ arimasen. (Well, only one thing from me. Well, ‘mi-n-na san is, well, mi-n-na is good. But there is no ‘n’ in mi-na san.)
31: R: UL: Arimasen. (There is no.)
32: R: UL: Aa.
268 (Ah.)
33: I: T: Mi-n-na ka mi-na san. Ii desu ka. Kore wa mi-na san desu ne. (‘Mi-n-na’ or ‘mi-na san’. Is it alright? In this case, it is ‘mi-na san’.
34: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
35: I: N: San-ban, ii desu ka. (Number three, is it good?)
36: R: L5: Sekai no otoko no naka de, L6-san wa ichi-ban omoshiroi desu. (Out of all the guys in the world, ah, L6 is the most interesting.)
37: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
38: I: N: San-ban ii desu ka. (Is number three good?)
39: R: L5: Ii desu. (It is good.)
40: R: L1: Ii to omoimasu. (I think that it is good.)
41: I: N: Eigo de doo iu imi desu ka. (What is the meaning in English?)
42: AL: (Laugh)
43: I: L1: K-san, doozo. (K-san, please.)
44: R: L6: Out of all the guys in the world, ah, L6 is the most interesting. (Out of all the guys in the world, ah, L6 is the most interesting.)
45: AL: (Laugh)
46: F: T: Hai. Arigatoo gozaimasu. Ii desu ne. Subarashii. (Yes. Thank you. It is good. Great.)
269 H-4: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation test (Day 4)
I: Initiation R: Response F: Feedback N: Nicchoku T: Teacher L(1, 2, 3…) : Learner UL: Unidentified Learner(s) AL: All Learners
1: I: N: Hai. Anoo, L1-san ichi-ban yonde kudasai. (Yes. Well, L1 please read number one.)
2: R: L1: Kore wa chichi ga kodomo no toki ni suki datta uchi desu. (This is the house that my father liked when he was a child.)
3: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
4: I: N: Ii desu ka. (Is it good?)
5: R: L1: It should be… (It should be…)
6: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
7: I: T: Eigo. (English)
8: I: N: Eigo de nan desu ka. (What is it in English?)
9:R: L2: This is the house…(The voice became inaudible.) (This is the house…)
10: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
11: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
12: I: T: Ii desu ka. (Is it good?)
13: R: N: Ii desu. (It is good.)
14: I: T: Chotto L2-san ookii koe de moo ichido. (L-san, one more time with a little louder voice please.)
15: R: L2: This is the house that my father used to love when he was a child. (This is the house that my father used to love when he was a child.)
16: F: N: Hai.
270 (Yes.)
17: F: T: Hai. (Yes.)
18: I: N: Anoo, L3-san ni-ban. (Well, L3 number two.)
19: R: L3: Hai. (Yes.)
20: I: N: Yonde kudasai. (Please read aloud.)
21: R: L3: Nihongo o ichi-nen benkyoo shita kara, …sukoshi kanji ga yomemasu. (I can read kanji a little because I have studied Japanese for one year.)
22: I: N: Ii desu ka. (Is it good?)
23: AL: (Silence)
24: R: L1: Ii to omoimasu. (I think it is good.)
25: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
26: F: T: Un. Ii to omoimasu. (Yes. I think it is good.)
27: I: N: Eigo de nan desu ka. (What is it in English?)
28: R: L1: I’ve studied Jap for a year, I can read a bit of kanji. (I’ve studied Japanese for a year, I can read a bit of kanji.)
29: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
30: I: N: Anoo, L3-san wa san-ban o yonde kudasai. (Well, L3, please read aloud number three.)
31: R: L3: Waka, wakaranakattara, nihonjin no tomodachi ni kite kudasai. (If you do not understand, please ask your Japanese friend.)
32: I: N: Ii desu ka. (Is it good?)
33: R: L4: Ki-i-te. (Ask)
271
34: R: UL: Ki-i-te. (Ask)
35: R: UL: Ki-i-te. (Ask)
(N corrects the answer.)
36: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
37: UL: Inaudible (Many learners talk to each other simultaneously.)
38: I: N: Ii desu ka. (Is it good?)
39: R: L4: Hai. Ii desu. (Yes. It is good.)
40: I: N: Eigo de nan desu ka. (What is it in English?)
41: R: L1: If you don’t understand something, let’s ask your Japanese friend, please ask a Japanese friend. (If you don’t understand something, let’s ask your Japanese friend, please ask a Japanese friend.)
42: F: N: Hai. Soo desu. (Yes. It is alright.)
43: F: T: Hai. Arigatoo. Subarashii. (Yes. Thanks. Excellent.)
44: F: T: Hai. Doomo. Ii desu ne. (Yes. Thank you. It is good.)
272 H-5: Nicchoku-led interaction in dictation test (Day 5)
I: Initiation R: Response F: Feedback N: Nicchoku T: Teacher L(1, 2, 3…) : Learner UL: Unidentified Learner(s) AL: All Learners
1: I: N: L1-san, ichiban o yonde kudasai. (L1, please read aloud number one.)
2: R: L1: kinoo no eiga wa, … (Yesterday’s movie…)
3: I: L2: Amari. (Not so)
4: R: L1: What’s that? …amari omoshiori. (What’s that? ...not so interesting.)
5: R: UL: Kunakute. (Not interesting)
6: R: L1: Kunakute, yokunakatta desu. (Not so interesting and not so good.)
7: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
8: I: N: Minasan, ii desu ka? (Everyone, is this good?)
9: R: L2: Iie. Amari no ‘an’. (while pointing out the white board) (No. ‘an’ of Amari.)
10: F: L3: Anmari… (Not so…)
11: I: N: Arimasen desu ka? (Is there no ‘n’?)
12: R: L2: Hai. (Yes.)
13: R: L2: Amari (Not so)
Nicchoku erased ‘n’ from ‘anmari’ on the white board.
14: F: L2: Hai. Ii to omoimasu. (Yes. I think it is good.)
273 15: I: N: Ii desu ka? (Is it good?)
16: R: L2: Hai. (Yes)
17: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
18: I: N: Ee, ahn, L4-san. Ee, ni-ban o yonde kudasai. (Well, ah, L4. Well, please read aloud number two.)
19: R: L4: Hai. Yamada-san wa nihongo de, deki, oh, tegami o kakimasu. (Yes. Mr Yamada writes a letter in Japan.)
20: F: UL: Hai. (Yes.)
21: R: L4: Kakimasu. (Write)
22: I: N: Ii desu ka? (Is it good?)
23: UL: (inaudible)
24: R: L5: Kaki, kaki… kanji, kanji ga arimasu. (There is a kanji for ‘write’.)
The nicchoku wrote a kanji for “ka”.
25: I: N: ‘Ka’? (Is it “ka”? ) (It means that “does the kanji for ‘write’ cover only the ‘ka’ part of the ‘kakimasu’?”)
26: R: L2: Hai. (Yes.)
27: R: L5: ‘Ka’. Hai. (‘Ka’. Yes)
28: I: N: Ii desu ka? (Is it good?)
29: R: L2: Hai. Ii to omoimasu. (Yes. I think that it is good.)
30: I: N: Ahh… ee…, L6-san, san-ban o yonde kudasai. (Ahh…well…, L6, please read aloud number three.)
274 31: R: L6: Un…, doyoobi ni Lucia-san kooen de booto ni norimashita. (Hmm…, on Saturday, Lucia rowed a boat in a park.)
32: I: N: Ii desu ka? (Is it good?)
33: I: L2: Booto wa ‘botto’ desu ka? (Is a boat ‘botto’?)
34: R: UL: Booto. (Booto.)
35: I: L2: Booto desu ka? (Is it ‘booto’?)
36: R: T: ‘Booto’ desu. (It is ‘booto’.)
37: F: L2: Botto. (Botto.)
38: R: T: Ah, hooto. Iie. (Oh, ‘hooto’. No.)
39: I: UL: Booto… (Booto…)
40: R: T: Booto. Hai. Booto desu. (Booto. Yes. It is ‘booto’.)
41: UL: (Inaudible)
42: I: N: Ii desu ka? (Is it good?)
43: R: L7: Ii desu. Ii to omoimasu. (It is good. I think it is good.)
44: R: L8: ‘Ha’. (‘Ha’.)
45: F: N: Hai. (Yes.)
46: F: L2: Oh, “ha” (Oh, “ha”.)
47: UL: (Inaudible)
48: F: N: Hai.
275 (Yes)
49: I: T: Eigo o onegaishimasu. Eigo. (To the nicchoku) (English please. English.)
50: I: N: Eigo… onegaishimasu. (English… please.)
51: I: N: An, an, L7-san ichi-ban o yonde kudasai. (Ah, hmm, L7 please read aloud number one.)
52: I: L7: Eigo? (English?)
53: R: N: Hai. Eigo. (Yes. English.)
54: UL: (Laugh)
55: R：L7: Yesterday…(inaudible) (Yesterday…)
56: I: N: L1-san ni-ban o yonde kudasai. (Please read aloud number two, L1.)
57: I: L1: Suimasen? Eigo de? (Excuse me? In English?)
58: R: N: Hai. (Yes)
59: R: L1: Yamada-san…(inaudible) (Yamada-san…(inaudible))
60: AL: (Laugh)
61: I: T: Moo ichido. Moo ichido onegaishimasu. Moo ichido. (One more time. One more time please. One more time.)
62: R: L1: Yamada-san…(inaudible) (Yamada-san…(inaudible))
63: I: N: L9-san, san-ban… (L9, number three…)
64: R: L9: Unnn… Saturday… Lucia…(inaudible) (Unnn… Saturday… Lucia…(inaudible))
65: F: UL: Saturday. (Saturday.)
276
66: F: L2: Yeah. (Yeah.)
67: I: T: Ii desu ka. (Is it alright?)
277