# Development Plan and Trial of Japanese Language e-Learning System Focusing on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Suitable for Digital Education

Shizuka Nakamura, Katsumi Wasaki

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Shizuka Nakamura, Katsumi Wasaki. Development Plan and Trial of Japanese Language e-Learning System Focusing on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Suitable for Digital Education. IFIP World Conference on Computers in Education (WCCE), Aug 2022, Hiroshima, Japan. pp.21-26, 10.1007/978-3-031-43393-1_3 . hal-05533334

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# Development Plan and Trial of Japanese Language e-Learning System Focusing on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Suitable for Digital Education

Shizuka Nakamura<fnref n="1" />(✉) and Katsumi Wasaki<fnref n="2" />(✉)

**Abstract.** In the field of Japanese language education, even though it is very important to solidify the foundation of a student's pronunciation ability, this area is sometimes neglected due to a bias towards grammar lecturing and vocabulary building. In addition, although audio materials are commonly included in teaching materials, few students use them for self-learning. However, for non-kanji-reading learners, learning the Japanese writing systems (hiragana, katakana, and kanji) can be a major obstacle, which means audio materials increase in importance by providing an effective alternative way to learn the Japanese language. With those points in mind, this paper examines the development of digital education (DX) e-learning materials that can provide non-kanji-reading learners with authentic contexts and serve as a bridge to learning correct speech without causing them to feel psychologically intimidated by the intricacies of Japanese writing systems. We then report on the use of the first teaching materials developed for Japanese language education using neural speech based on a pedagogical method known as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). This material was developed as courseware on Moodle.

**Keywords:** Distance learning · Text-to-speech · Moodle · Neural voice · CLIL

# 1 Introduction

## 1.1 Current Status of Japanese Language Education

While the number of Japanese language learners is increasing rapidly both in Japan and abroad, the number of teachers can only support about 17% of the total number of learners in Japan [1] and about 2% abroad [2]. Therefore, online learning has become indispensable in the field of Japanese language education, and there is an urgent ongoing need to develop digital education (DX) e-learning materials to address the imbalance

<footnote n="1">¹ Graduate School of Medicine, Science and Technology, Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan
21hs206b@shinshu-u.ac.jp</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan
wasaki@cs.shinshu-u.ac.jp</footnote>
caused both by the shortage of teachers and the increasing number of learners. In addition, even though it is very important to solidify the foundation of students' pronunciation abilities, this area is sometimes neglected due to a bias toward grammar learning and vocabulary building [3]. However, even though a learner's spoken Japanese may be grammatically correct, incorrect pronunciation may lead to misunderstandings. Therefore, as has been stated in numerous learner objectives, simply learning correct Japanese grammar is insufficient for meeting professional job requirements.

In addition, for learners who are unable to read kanji, mastering the Japanese writing systems (hiragana, katakana, and kanji) is a major barrier [4] that has the potential to cause language anxiety (i.e., angst and tension caused by difficulties when learning a foreign language), which is one of the factors that can affect learning efforts [5]. Furthermore, focusing excessively on reading materials, particularly kanji, can lead to learning based predominantly on visual information, which can interfere with listening and speaking studies. Considering these issues, we believe developing e-learning curricula that utilize text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-text (STT) resources is necessary.

Furthermore, numerous words should only be used when they properly reflect the background of Japanese culture, and these concepts and contents are difficult to impart simply by memorizing literal vocabulary translations. From the earliest learning stages, the learners need to learn Japanese cultural awareness for advanced communication.

To resolve these problems in the field of Japanese language education, this paper describes the status of a learning management system (LMS) that was developed using audio learning materials and the method of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) for non-kanji-reading learners and published on Moodle, as well as ongoing efforts to develop more effective DX learning methods.

## 1.2 Literature Review

A previous study on Japanese speech materials has included the development of a system that automatically outputs a “prosody graph”, which is an easy-to-understand visualization of the prosodic features (prosody) that visually correct the rhythm of input Japanese speech using speech synthesis and speech recognition technology [6]. This system allows students to learn Japanese pronunciation comprehensively and easily with the proper accent, intonation, pauses, prominence, and voiceless vowels, along with proper syllable sense, rhythm, speech rate, and sentence-level voice affirmation.

Participants who used the system developed by Matsuzaki [6] rated it positively. However, most of those participants were Chinese language speakers, and the method has not been applied to students who were unable to read kanji. Accordingly, a method that provides useful learning content while taking into consideration the difficulty of providing teaching materials that do not rely entirely on visual information needs to be carefully considered.

In addition, CLIL pedagogy has become recognized internationally, including in Europe, and there are numerous examples of its application in the English as a second language (ESL) field. However, only a few studies have applied the CLIL approach to teaching Japanese as a second language, and there are no reports of its application to speech education.
# 2 Methods

## 2.1 Teaching Materials on Moodle

The teaching materials used in our system were developed based on courseware deployed on Moodle. This LMS has numerous features aimed at improving user management and efficiency that can be used to centralize learner progress reports and relieve instructor burdens.

Trial materials for basic, beginner and intermediate classes have been released, and improvements were made based on instructor and learner feedback. In addition, we have developed a variety of subjects that touch on Japanese culture and use discussions, which are ideal for student-instructor interactions, to share experiences and teach them about Japanese culture.

## 2.2 Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text

We used TTS speech synthesis technology, which vocalizes text via an artificial voice; and STT, which displays voice data input by the learner in text form, to present learning content and facilitate practice sessions. The use of TTS allows learners to advance their studies without being bound by the Japanese writing systems (hiragana, katakana, and kanji).

In contrast, by using STT to practice speaking as part of their self-study efforts, students can work on their pronunciation skills as often as they desire, without embarrassment, and thus gain confidence via repeat learning.

In the trial materials, non-neural voices were used, but both learners and instructors pointed out that the voice was monotonous, and the intonation was unnatural. Therefore, a switch was made to neural voices, and other improvements were implemented. In addition, the pitch and intonation of the neural voices were carefully adjusted to achieve more human-like enunciations.

## 2.3 Content and Language Integrated Learning

CLIL is a pedagogy in which students acquire both content and language by learning specific content (subjects, themes, and topics) through the target language [7]. CLIL is characterized by a method that follows the four concepts of content (applied to cultural studies), communication (applied to language acquisition), cognition (applied to cultural comparisons), and community/culture (applied to presentations/discussions). Therefore, we could avoid the introduction of vocabulary that relies on translations and instead provide a curriculum aligned with learners at all levels. In addition, the grammar introduction exercise, materials could introduce many interesting aspects of Japanese culture to the learners.

# 3 Trial for Japanese Learners

## 3.1 The Target Learner

To evaluate TTS, one non-kanji-reading intermediate learner was tasked with role-playing the receipt of a complaint over the telephone.
Furthermore, 19 beginner-level learners of Japanese were randomly divided into two groups to evaluate the learning effects in the TTS-based learning group (10 learners) and the conventional learning group (9 learners).

## 3.2 Implementation Details

We practiced a role-playing scenario that involved making/receiving a complaint over the phone and evaluated the learner's progress after two weeks of practice. For five days, we presented a standard neural voice to the learner to encourage self-learning of the role of conveying complaints. Then, on Day 7, the neural voice was presented with an adjusted tone and pitch, and the learner was again encouraged to self-learn for an additional five days. The adjusted neural voices are shown in the following Table 1.

Furthermore, in the evaluation involving beginners, the learners were required to complete weekly homework assignments such as reviewing grammar, memorizing vocabulary, researching Japanese culture, etc. during the eight-week course.

<table><caption>Table 1. Adjusted neural voices.</caption><thead><tr><th>Adjusted voices</th><th>Speaker A</th><th>Speaker B</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Emotions</td><td>Voice somewhat remorseful<br>Voice somewhat panicked</td><td>Voice somewhat angry</td></tr><tr><td>Voice rate</td><td>1.0</td><td>0.9</td></tr><tr><td>Voice pitch</td><td>1.0</td><td>0.8</td></tr><tr><td>Voice intonation</td><td>Adjust intonation to be more<br>human-like</td><td>Adjust intonation to be more<br>human-like</td></tr></tbody></table>

## 3.3 Intonation Adjustment

There is a wide variety of Japanese language education audio files that are available on compact disks (CDs) or for downloading from the Internet. However, those audio materials are recordings of human voices because no materials are currently available using neural voices. The problem with human voices is that there are many areas where the audio cannot be adjusted sufficiently to create different senses of emotion or realism, which means intonations need to be carefully adjusted to make speech sounds natural enough for effective use in repeated practice sessions. In this study, we attempted to fine-tune an unadjusted neutral voice to make it more closely resemble a human voice.

## 3.4 The Results

The target learner was asked to complete a five-point self-assessment survey (see Table 2), the results of which showed that self-learning using neural speech made the students more confident about their speech and increased the frequency of their practice
sessions. In addition, by adjusting the audio, we could see that the learner was learning while imagining more realistic scenes. In other words, the target learner was able to produce smoother and more natural speech because of practicing with adjusted voices compared to practicing with unadjusted voices.

In addition, the following Table 3 shows the main results of interviews with beginning learners. In Group 1, we found that the learners were confident in their speech and enjoyed the conversation. On the other hand, Group 2 was found to be nervous about speaking.

<table><caption>**Table 2.** Target learner assessment of standard neural voices week 1, adjusted neural voices week 2 (five-point scale)</caption><thead><tr><th>Assessment Items</th><th>Day 1</th><th>Day 7</th><th>Day 14</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1. Language skills are growing</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>2. The audio material is interesting</td><td>5</td><td>5</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>3. The content is interesting</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>4. Self-learning is interesting</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>5. I have more confidence in my speech</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>6. I was able to understand the audio</td><td>1</td><td>3</td><td>5</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>**Table 3.** Main results of interviews with beginning learners</caption><thead><tr><th>Group 1: Learners with TTS</th><th>Group 2: Learners without TTS</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1. I gained confidence in my speech</td><td>1. I want to take the next classes</td></tr><tr><td>2. I enjoyed interacting with my classmates and accessing the materials daily</td><td>2. I was nervous when my name was called first in the online class</td></tr><tr><td>3. The breakout exercises were lively</td><td>3. The pace of the class was fast</td></tr><tr><td>4. There was a lot of content, and the pace of the class was fast</td><td>4. I was nervous when my classmates asked me questions in Japanese</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Development Plans

As explained in Sect. 3.3, a wide variety of Japanese language education audio files are available on CDs or for downloading from the Internet. However, they use human voices, while the material used in this study is neural speech to improve the efficiency of the learning process. Looking to the future, we intend to implement a Moodle plugin that will allow easy generation of neural speech and free adjustment of the speech. This implementation is expected to further improve the quality of our teaching materials.
# 4 Discussion and Conclusions

In this paper, we reported on the development of a Japanese e-learning system focusing on CLIL that is suitable for DX. To accomplish this, we developed an e-learning material using neural speech and evaluated it with one intermediate and 19 beginner students. As a result, using TTS, the learners enjoyed learning, were more confident in their speech, and showed higher self-evaluation. In addition, they also reported being more absorbed in learning about Japanese culture and the Japanese language and it was the success of our system by a survey in which 90% of the responses were positive.

However, improvements to neural speech materials based on the questionnaire results were made to enhance the speech ability of target learners, but the expression of emotion was still found to be weak compared to human voices, so further improvements will be needed.

Our future work will consider TTS and STT function enhancements as well as additional APIs as part of efforts to improve the quality of Japanese pronunciation to a level equivalent to that of native Japanese speakers. In addition, as mentioned above, a Moodle plugin using neural voices will be implemented so that the audio can be adjusted in that API.

Although the CLIL approach was found to be a suitable pedagogical method for fast content learning, motivating learners, keeping them interested in learning, and helping them learn authentic Japanese language skills, we also intend to continue to analyze conventional and advanced learning with this system.

# References

1. Japan Foundation: Survey Report on Japanese-Language Education Abroad 2018. pp. 10–11, 25–26 (2020)

2. Agency for Cultural Affairs: Government of Japan: Overview of Japanese Language Education in Japan in 2019, p. 5 (2020)

3. Byrne, M.: Teaching Japanese with High and Low Accents. Japanese Language and Culture Training Program Training Reports, vol. 27, pp. 44–63 (2012)

4. Nakamura, M.: Proposal of kanji learning to reduce the burden on non-kanji learners. J. Res. Teach. Jpn. Lang. 4, 31–54 (2019)

5. Nishitani, M., Matsuda, T.: The development of e-learning teaching materials for teaching Japanese based on the interpretation of language anxiety. Jpn. Soc. Inform. Syst. Educ. 29(3), 140–151 (2012)

6. Matsuzaki, H.: Development of a system outputting “prosody graph” using an automatic speech recognition engine. Jpn. Lang. Educ. Methods 19(1), 72–73 (2012)

7. Okuno, Y., Kobayashi, A., Sato, R., Motoda, S., Watanabe, T.: Introduction to CLIL (Content-Integrated Learning) for Japanese Language Teachers, 2nd edn. Bonjinsha, Tokyo (2020)