National Symposium
on Japanese Language
Education
PROCEEDINGSEDITED BY ROBYN SPENCE-BROWN

ISSN: 2207-0184 (ONLINE)

EDITORIAL TEAMEDITORDr Robyn Spence-Brown, Monash University

TEXT EDITORDavid Kelly
Mari Minami

THE JAPAN FOUNDATION, SYDNEY
Maki Toshimori
Junko Yano
Leah Sourris

MONASH JAPANESE LANGUAGEEDUCATION CENTRE
Anne de Kretser

PEER REVIEW COMMITTEEDr Belinda Kennett, The University of Queensland
Dr Gwyn McClelland, The University of New England
Yutaka Nakajima, UNSW Sydney
Prof Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson, UNSW Sydney
Dr Naomi Wilks-Smith, RMIT University

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors, and do
not necessarily coincide with those of the editors, the members of thePeer Review Committee or The Japan Foundation, Sydney.
The papers in this publication were originally presented at the fourthbiennial National Symposium on Japanese Language Education, held on
November 2-3, 2018, co-hosted by the University of Technology Sydney
and The Japan Foundation, Sydney. They have been peer-reviewed andeach appears in these proceedings by permission of the author(s), who
retains copyright. The papers may be reproduced for fair use under the
Copyright Act 1968, its later amendments and other relevant legislation.
Japanese names are written in first name / surname order,in accordance with English-language convention.
May 2021© The Japan Foundation, Sydney 2021. All material in this publication is
copyright. Copyright of each paper belongs to the author. Copyright ofthe collection belongs to The Japan Foundation, Sydney. All copyrighted
images have been reproduced with permission and copyright remains
with the original copyright holders. Apart from any fair use as permitted
under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced without theprior permission of The Japan Foundation, Sydney and other copyrightholders.

DESIGNJon Zhu

PUBLISHER
The Japan Foundation, Sydney
Level 4, Central Park
28 Broadway Chippendale NSW 2008

ISSN-2207-0184 (ONLINE)
This serial publication is available for download from the
National Symposium on Japanese Language Education website
www.nsjle.org.au.
https://doi.org/10.26180/14446392

Co-organised by

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

Contents
4

Foreword
Keiji Shono

5

Introduction
Robyn Spence-Brown

8

Establishing a high-quality Japanese program
Nicholas Creed, Mandy O’Mara, Teresa Marnik
and Steven Miyazawa

13

67

Supporting mixed-group language learning throughCommunities of Practice and Boundary Crossing
Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson and Nagisa Fukui

72
図書館と日本語クラスの連携：情報リテラシー支援を通して図書館の言語教育現場への参加の試み(Bringing the library into the Japanese language
classroom: enhancing students’ information literacy)
Akiko Hiratsuka, Shoko Ono and Hirofumi Yada

83

Graduates’ use of Japanese language in the workplace
Rowena Ward

Oh what a feeling! Using Toyota as a case study
to teach Year 9 CLIL Economics and Business
Jessica Bretherton

18

Parental involvement in their children’s Japanese learning:
language course for parents at a high school
Yuji Okawa and Takuya Kojima

29

Using shuwa (Japanese sign language) gesturesin the Japanese classroom
Kathleen Duquemin

38
オーストラリアと日本の子どもたちをつなぐ
テレコラボレーションプロジェクト(Using telecollaboration to connect Australian andJapanese children: a case study)
Shinji Okumura and Masae Uekusa

47
日本語学習者のための hands-on 体験型教材:「発見」体験を創出する教材をめざして(Developing hands-on materials for Japanese language
learners: boosting motivation by creating ‘a-ha’ momentswith teaching materials)
Ayako Wada

59
日本語クラスで使用する新しいメソッド「ボイスサンプルプロジェクト」の提案(Using voice samples in Japanese classes: a proposedteaching method)
Nobuko Wang

96

Contributor Biographies

3

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

4

Foreword
KEIJI SHONO

It is a pleasure to present this selection of highlights from the National Symposium on Japanese Language Education(NSJLE) 2018.
NSJLE 2018, jointly organised by the Monash Japanese Language Education Centre and The Japan Foundation, Sydney,
was held on November 2-3, 2018 at the University of Technology Sydney. The fourth symposium since its inaugural eventin 2012, NSJLE 2018 provided an invaluable opportunity for those at the coalface of Japanese language education to share
their classroom innovations and insights with fellow members of the community.
The common pursuit of our dedicated Japanese language educators once again resonates through this collection: to
explore the notion of connection both within and outside the classroom, and to ensure the community is equipped torespond to enduring and emerging challenges in the field. Embodying the NSJLE 2018 theme of ‘Bigger, Broader, Better’,this volume of proceedings is testament to how the community continues to support Japanese language learning andensure its relevance in the global context.
I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to those involved in bringing this volume to fruition: namely, Dr Robyn
Spence-Brown, who provided invaluable assistance as chief editor of this volume of proceedings; in alphabetical order,
Dr Belinda Kennett, Dr Gwyn McClelland, Yutaka Nakajima, Prof Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson and Dr Naomi Wilks-Smithfor their commitment to the selection and reviewing process; David Kelly and Mari Minami for their assistance in editing
and proofreading; and Maki Toshimori, Junko Yano and Leah Sourris of The Japan Foundation, Sydney for their editorial
and administrative support. Finally, I would like to thank all the contributors to this volume, whose learnings within it willundoubtedly continue to inspire and drive forward Japanese language education in Australia and beyond.
It is my great hope that the contents of this volume will serve as a springboard for further discussion among not only
participants of the symposium but also the Japanese language education community at large, as well as provide a catalyst
for further innovation in the field.
Keiji Shono
Director
The Japan Foundation, Sydney
May 2021

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

5

IntroductioN
ROBYN SPENCE-BROWN
Monash University

This volume showcases a selection of ten papers, originally presented at the National Symposium on Japanese Language
Education (NSJLE) held in Sydney in 2018, with the theme of ‘Bigger, Broader, Better’. These papers reflect the positive andexpansive vision of Japanese language education embodied in this theme, and the wide-ranging and inclusive scope of thesymposium itself. They cover innovations at all levels of Japanese language education, from primary to tertiary, and include
both shorter practice-based reports and research papers of a more academic nature. The authors also represent a wide
range of perspectives, with participants based in both Australia and Japan, including Japanese language teachers, school
principals, academic researchers and even librarians. As was the case for the symposium, this volume is bilingual, reflecting
our bilingual Japanese language education community. There are six papers written in English and four in Japanese, eachwith an English abstract.
The first six papers describe cutting-edge developments in primary and secondary school programs, from the establishmentof a new Japanese language program, to a variety of innovative pedagogical approaches. The remaining four papers relate
to tertiary education. However, most of the papers have broader relevance to teachers at every level. Indeed, one of theaims of the symposium, and of this volume, is to promote cross-fertilisation of ideas and approaches across the different
educational levels.
Paper 1 by Nicholas Creed, Mandy O’Mara, Teresa Marnik and Steven Miyazawa, Establishing a high-quality Japanese
program, gives a comprehensive account of setting up a new secondary Japanese program which is thoroughly embeddedin the school and its community. The paper describes how the program was designed to fully integrate into the educational
mission of the school, to align with school ethos and goals, and to reach out to the local community and beyond. With
the support of both school leadership and the school community more broadly, the program has been able to contribute
substantially to the broader educational aims of the institution in ways that go far beyond classroom language learning.
In Paper 2, Oh what a feeling! Using Toyota as a case study to teach Year 9 CLIL Economics and Business, Jessica Bretherton
describes an ambitious and engaging CLIL unit for Year 9 students in a regional high school. The program incorporated visits
to Toyota dealerships and culminated in student-made TV ads using actual cars. The paper reflects themes which can also
be found in the volume, including the benefits of incorporating other curriculum areas, and of boosting engagement andperformance by setting more ambitious goals, rather than by dumbing-down or narrowing the focus of a program.
Paper 3 by Yuji Okawa and Takuya Kojima, Parental engagement in their children’s Japanese learning: language course
for parents at a high school, echoes some of the lessons learned by the school described in Paper 1, emphasising thepositive results of engaging with the broader school community. It explores how the introduction of a language course
for parents promoted a reciprocal and collaborative learning relationship between parents and children, which promoted
achievement, led both groups to view Japanese learning more positively, and also enhanced parent-teacher relationships.
It is a wonderful example of the many positive spin-offs which can result from an intervention that reaches beyond thewalls of the traditional classroom.
Paper 4, Using shuwa (Japanese sign language) gestures in the Japanese classroom by Kathleen Duquemin, discusses theintroduction of gesture-supported reading in a primary classroom, and the creation of an original text with which to use
this approach. It shows how this increasingly widely adopted technique enhanced comprehension, retention and student
engagement, and led to greatly increased outcomes for the students involved.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

6Paper 5, オーストラリアと日本の子どもたちをつなぐテレコラボレーションプロジェクト (Using telecollaboration
to connect Australian and Japanese children: a case study) by Shinji Okumura and Masae Uekusa, describes atelecollaboration project with a cultural focus involving primary-level students of Japanese in Australia and students ofEnglish in Japan through the use of a social networking site (SNS). It is another example of how an ambitious program
which expands beyond the classroom walls through the clever use of technology can enhance educational outcomes, andcreate meaningful authentic engagement across national boundaries. It will doubtlessly be very relevant to readers coming
to this volume in a post-pandemic world.
In Paper 6, Ayako Wada describes the development and use of kits containing various cultural materials in
日本語学習者のための hands-on 体験型教材:「発見」体験を創出する教材をめざして (Developing hands-on materials
for Japanese language learners: creating ‘a-ha’ moments with teaching materials). The author’s experience using thesepacks in various places suggests that employing such resources can make cultural learning more concrete, promote
discovery-based learning and enhance student motivation.
The final four papers relate to developments at the tertiary level. Paper 7, 日本語クラスで使用する新しい教材「ボイスサンプルプロジェクト」の提案 (Using voice samples in Japanese classes: a proposed teaching method) by
Nobuko Wang, describes an innovation for advanced-level tertiary students in Japan which involved the use of texts
produced as ‘voice samples’. Students listened to and transcribed the samples, and then recorded themselves readingthem aloud. The intervention was found to promote listening skills, pronunciation (including articulation and intonation)
writing, and vocabulary acquisition.
In Paper 8, Supporting mixed-group language learning through Communities of Practice and Boundary Crossing, Chihiro
Kinoshita Thomson and Nagisa Fukui describe the philosophy behind one of Australia’s largest tertiary Japanese programs(UNSW) and the innovative activities which it includes. The program connects students at different year levels, and also
fosters interaction between the students and local and international Japanese-speaking communities. This paper will
be of interest to school teachers wondering about what lies ahead when their senior secondary students transition into
tertiary study. It also argues for the relevance of a ‘Community of Practice’ approach at all levels of education. While
the terminology and program details may be different, the lessons learnt about the importance of a whole-community
approach within an educational institution, and the fostering of authentic connections with Japanese speakers, echoes theconclusions of several other papers in this volume, and will no doubt provide inspiration for teachers at all levels.
Paper 9 is entitled 図書館と日本語クラスの連携：情報リテラシー支援を通して図書館の言語教育現場への参加の試み(Bringing the library into the Japanese language classroom: enhancing students’ information literacy), by Akiko Hiratsuka,
Shoko Ono and Hirofumi Yada. It describes the information literacy support given to intermediate and advanced students
of Japanese at the University of Technology Sydney, by the library staff at The Japan Foundation, Sydney. The program
enhanced students’ use of selected digital information services and thus their digital literacy and autonomy, as well as theirperformance on assignments. It is another example of the ways in which connections to outside organisations can widen
perspectives and support both teachers and students in their endeavours.
Paper 10, Graduates’ use of Japanese language in the workplace by Rowena Ward concludes the volume with a studyof the use of Japanese in the workplace. Surveying graduates of Japanese language from Australian and New Zealanduniversities between 1997 and 2016, the study revealed that although improved employment opportunities was not the
primary reason for enrolment in Japanese programs, graduates were using their Japanese skills in a range of roles andcareers internationally, with 74% of those using the language reporting using spoken skills on a daily basis and 30% working
in Japan. While the positive impacts of studying Japanese include many broader educational and cultural benefits, it isheartening to know that many graduates of Japanese programs are also able to use and continue to expand their skills intheir working lives.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

7

If there is one message that we can take away from the ten papers in this volume, and from many of the otherpresentations at the symposium where they were first presented, it is that a ‘broader’, more ambitious vision for Japanese,and approaches which reach out to other organisations and to Japanese speaking communities, have enormous potential
to improve outcomes both for language learning, and for intercultural and other educational goals. The ‘broader’ visions
described here include whole-school approaches to program design, and strategic inclusion of the wider community, bothas a target of programs and a resource. The importance of leadership and collaboration shine through in many of thesuccessful programs described. They also include the incorporation of wider curriculum content and goals, and a variety
of innovative pedagogical approaches, including, but not limited to, the use of technology. Universally, more ambitious
goals coupled with engaging content and innovative methods are shown to lead to ‘better’ results on a range of different
measures. We hope that these papers, taken both individually and as a group, inspire other teachers to aim high, and to
think creatively, ensuring that Japanese language education in Australia continues to become Bigger, Broader and Better.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

8

Establishinga high-quality
Japanese program
NICHOLAS CREED, MANDY O’MARA, TERESA MARNIK AND STEVEN MIYAZAWA
Mernda Central P-12 College (Vic)

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to share successful practices by Japanese teachers and college leadership at Mernda Central
P-12 College when establishing a new language program. The vision of the College from the outset was to deliver the
language not just to the classes, but rather to the community as a whole, including students, staff, and parents. Japanesewas selected as the language for students to learn at Mernda Central P-12 College as it aligned with the college values andexpectations. The main goal over the first year was to build the capacity of all staff to support growth in students’ culturalawareness. It is hoped that by sharing examples of successful practice, ideas can be replicated to engage communities
in language education. Furthermore, this article will explore methods in developing a rich and vibrant program to expand
Japanese learning beyond the language classroom.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

9Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to share successful practices engaged in by Japanese teachers and college leadership at
Mernda Central P-12 College when establishing a new language program. The vision at the college from the outset was todeliver the language not just to the classes but also to the school community more broadly, including students, staff andparents. Japanese was selected as the language for students to learn at Mernda Central P-12 College as Japanese notionsof respect and hard work align closely with college expectations. The main goal over the first year of the program was tobuild the capacity of all staff to support growth in students’ cultural awareness. It is hoped that by sharing examples ofsuccessful practice, ideas can be replicated to engage communities in language education. This article will also explore
methods in developing a rich and vibrant program to expand Japanese learning beyond the language classroom.

Background
Mernda Central P-12 College is a co-educational government school that opened its doors in 2017, with enrolments initiallytaken from Foundation to Year 7. By 2022, the college will have enrolments from Foundation to Year 12. Mernda Central
P-12 College is part of the Public Private Partnership program (Department of Education and Training 2016)1, and at the endof 2018 had a student population of approximately 770. The College is located in a growth corridor in the north of Melbourne,
and enrolment numbers are expected to exceed 1,000 students in 2019. While the school has a very multicultural student
population, only two students speak Japanese at home.

College expectations in line with the School Wide Positive Behaviours Program
By aligning the language program with school expectations, the fledgling Japanese department was able to make strong
connections with the community. Mernda Central P-12 College is one of a number of Victorian government schools
engaged in the School Wide Positive Behaviours program. The purpose of this program is to have students strive towards
the four college expectations, those being ‘Aim High’, ‘Behave Safely’, ‘Show Respect’ and ‘Value Our Community’. Students
at the college are explicitly taught these four expectations across all subject areas, as well as during an hour each week
set aside for student wellness. To acknowledge students who exemplify these behaviours, a token-based reward system
is well established. Students observed modelling any of the expectations can receive a token from any member of staff,
which can then be traded in for a range of rewards, opportunities or experiences. At the request of the language teachers,
a Japanese version of these was created. Initially, these Japanese tokens were only awarded during Japanese classes, but
due to their popularity were soon being used by all staff across the college.

High Impact Teaching Strategies and adaptable spaces
The Victorian Department of Education released a series of High Impact Teaching Strategies (Department of Education andTraining 2017). Mernda Central P-12 College is committed to the application of these across all areas of curriculum, and unit
planners are structured in such a way that they can be explicitly used across courses. For languages, the strategy that was
best employed across 2018 was differentiation. Differentiation took place through effectively using co-teaching options
made accessible through the use of adaptable learning spaces. The Japanese classrooms were separated by a partiallyretractable glass door, and the classes also had access to numerous breakaway areas. As both Japanese teachers werealways teaching the same year level in these adjoining classes, there were always opportunities to adjust groupings andinstruction to suit student needs.

1	As part of the Public Private Partnership, the grounds and buildings of Mernda Central P-12 College are owned and maintained by privatecompanies. However, all aspects of curriculum, pedagogy and instruction are managed and delivered by the Department of Education.
Through this partnership, the school is able to invest greater time into educational priorities, while maintenance of grounds and facilities
remains the responsibility of private partners.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

10

Program
The Japanese program commenced at the end of 2017 following a collaborative process involving the whole college
community. During the collaboration, a survey took place to canvas interest in a variety of languages, with Japanese
selected by a majority of respondents. Japanese is not a community language; however, the values of ‘Respect’ and‘Value Our Community’ aligned well with cultural values inherent in Japanese society. Furthermore, a high level of interestin Japanese culture, particularly anime and manga subcultures, validated this selection. The college then went about
employing an experienced Japanese teacher to lead the program, and hired a second Japanese teacher to ensure allclasses would be staffed.
For the first six months of 2018, students in Year 7 and Year 8 undertook Japanese language studies. As this was the firstyear of Japanese for both levels, a similar curriculum was used for each. However, as the year progressed, Year 8 wasadjusted according to students’ individual needs and interests. This adjusted curriculum supported their pathway to Year 9
language study. Lessons were developed according to the college instructional model, which involved clear intentions forlearning, a mini lesson, independent or group work and reflection.
One of the most important aspects to establishing the program was designing a timetable to support instructional needs.
This timetable allowed classes to be blocked in pairs, utilising the adaptable learning spaces and creating co-teaching
opportunities. Curriculum was mapped to allow maximum collaboration, and the students were given the ability to workat their own pace through content. Many online programs such as Education Perfect, Quizlet, Learning Fields, Kahoot andSocrative were used to enable students to access varied and personalised learning tasks.
During the first semester, the Japanese teachers were provided additional time to informally introduce Japanese into
primary classes. This encouraged the teachers to have conversations with primary teachers and offer support with inquiry
units or one-off Japanese classes. There was a great uptake with these offers, with two of the learning communities
inviting the Japanese staff to give presentations and conduct question-and-answer sessions. The result of this was thatmany of the Year 5 and 6 students completed a research task on an aspect of Japanese culture. Following this success,the college took the next step and chose to introduce formal Japanese language study from Semester 2 for all students
in Years 5 and 6.
Other successful examples of collaboration beyond the Japanese department were evident across a range of subject areas.
Art teachers adjusted their curriculum to include a key focus on Japanese drawing techniques, and the Food Technology
class began making sushi as part of their course. Japanese parasols were purchased by the Drama department, andHistory classes incorporated more units related to Japan. Furthermore, the Japanese department offered lunchtime
origami classes to students of all year levels, seeing an opportunity to engage with the primary students who were yet toformally study the language.
Over the first few months of the program, one of the key non-teaching objectives of the language program was to explore
the possibility of a sister school in Japan. As both language teachers had years of experience in strong language faculties,
connections were explored and a number of options were tabled. Once a school had been identified, teachers at bothschools immediately set to working on a memorandum of understanding. The aim was for the school in Japan, Shōyōkan
Junior High, to visit for one day during their annual trip to Australia, at which time the memorandum would be formallysigned. This visit created the best opportunity to date to share the language and culture with the entire college community.
An assembly was held where the visiting students showcased Japanese culture and customs, and this was shared withthe college community via social media and other media. Students were engaged in a range of cross-cultural activities
for the day, with Mernda Central P-12 College students and teachers teaching their guests how to paint a boomerang, kickan AFL football, cook Anzac biscuits and solve a wooden puzzle. The level of collective efficacy on the day was the mosttelling, with most of the activities run by non-language teaching staff keen to be part of the experience.
One of the greatest successes in the first year outside of the languages classroom was the advent of Japanese clubs atthe college. At Mernda Central P-12 College, there is a mandatory clubs program on Wednesday afternoons in which all
staff are required to participate. The timing, purpose and nature of the clubs are at the discretion of the staff, but from thelanguage teachers’ point of view this was seen as an opportunity to further embed the subject into the fabric of the college.
Initially, a lunchtime language and culture club was established, and this group of students became a driving force for arange of other activities that followed. A Japanese cooking club ran during Term 2, the result of a partnership with a FoodNSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

11

Technology teacher who was keen to learn more about Japanese food and share this journey with students. The language
and culture club was heavily involved in supporting the sister school visit, and also participated in an excursion to Mount
Waverley Secondary College to observe their languages day. The purpose of this was to gather ideas to run a similar eventat Mernda Central P-12 College. To reciprocate for the visit, a cooking challenge was held in Term 4 where students madeokonomiyaki pancakes.
Over the course of the year, students were able to participate in a range of events and competitions. Many of these wereorganised and run by the Japanese Language Teachers Association of Victoria (JLTAV), a constant source of support to thelanguage department. These included the annual conference publication cover design competition, calligraphy competition
and the Junior Speech Contest. Participation in these events gave students the opportunity to compare their language
skills with others across the state and see the progress that they were already making.
The college was also pleased to welcome two language assistants during the year, firstly from the Teaching Japanese
as a Foreign Language (TJFL) program in Term 1, then from the Overseas Teaching Practicum Program (OTPP) in Term 3.
These two visitors provided students with authentic opportunities to practise their language skills and learn more about
Japanese youth culture.

Benefits and pitfalls
Benefits
The greatest benefit of establishing the Japanese program lay in staff and student engagement in studies of Japanese
language and culture. This engagement opened up further avenues to explore the subject, bringing in a range of
co-curricular and extracurricular opportunities. Furthermore, seeing the joy the students had in using a different language,
non-language teachers began using the target language during their classes. Teachers were also happy to volunteer theirtime to work with visiting students from the sister school, and principals began greeting students in Japanese duringcollege assemblies.
Having the Japanese tokens in circulation allowed Japanese to be ever-present across the campus. Furthermore,
the support and engagement that began with the sister school visit and primary inquiry projects led to non-language
teachers using target language in their lessons and allowing students time to sing songs taught during Japanese sessions.
Additionally, the exemplary behaviour of Japanese visitors to the college, both students and assistants, led to increasingly
positive views of the subject within the school community.
Successful differentiation in the Year 8 classroom meant that a number of students in that cohort had met or exceeded theVictorian Curriculum level expected at that time. This meant that running Year 9 language was not only a possibility, but anecessity. In addition to this, trials of a more immersive approach in classes were well received. This led to conversations
about a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) course that was added to the Year 9 Handbook at the end of 2018.

Pitfalls
One of the few challenges in establishing this program was the pressure to cover the curriculum faster so that Year 8
students were sufficiently prepared for their further studies. It was possible to ameliorate this concern by differentiating
the curriculum and extending those who demonstrated interest in more complex language. However, making up two yearsof study in one is not always ideal for depth of vocabulary acquisition. To ensure this does not have a lasting effect, time
will need to be spent reviewing vocabulary with the affected cohort so they are prepared for further studies.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

12

Conclusion
Through the engagement of the whole school community, Mernda Central P-12 College established an effective Japanese
program, delivering meaningful curricular and co-curricular outcomes to students. The strong alignment of Japanesebeliefs around respect and hard work with values the College strives for, along with positive attitudes and teamwork,
allowed this to happen. Subsequently, by making connections with a sister school, developing partnerships with anotherschool in Victoria, and utilising the support of teaching associations and their competitions and programs, a rich and vibrant
Japanese program was born at Mernda Central P-12 College.

Postscript
The Japanese department at Mernda Central P-12 College has continued to grow and flourish since this article waswritten. As of 2021, there are five Japanese teachers and a language assistant employed at the college, and Japanese istaught from Prep to Year 11, our highest level. With 75 students having elected to study the language in Year 9, the subject
continues to go from strength to strength. As buildings have been added to the college, they are assigned a Japanesename to further embed the Japanese language and culture. Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classes ran in
2019, connecting Japanese and history through a study of Edo Japan. Our CLIL program continues to evolve each year, withconnections now being made with Music and the Performing Arts to establish a taiko program. That year, 14 students also
took the opportunity to participate in our inaugural Japan study tour.
Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 in 2020, the college was still able to conduct virtual lessons with sister school
Shōyōkan Junior High School. These classes further solidified the connection between the two schools and the sharingof language and culture. The College has grown to just under 1,500 students in 2021 and will have its first Year 12 cohort
graduate at the end of 2022. Teachers from the college have also assisted in the establishment of Japanese programs at
a neighbouring school. It is an enormous source of pride that the network as a whole is benefitting from the program’scontinual growth. The college aspires to be known for its rich and vibrant Japanese program aimed to inspire student
learning in and beyond the language classroom.

References
Department of Education and Training. 2016. Project Summary, New Schools Public Private Partnership (PPP) Project. Accessed 18 March, 2019.
https://www.dtf.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-01/Project-Summary_New-Schools-PPP-Project.pdf.
Department of Education and Training. 2017. High Impact Teaching Strategies, Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Accessed 18 March, 2019.
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/documents/school/teachers/support/highimpactteachstrat.pdf.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

13

Oh what a feeling!
Using Toyota as acase study to teachYear 9 CLIL Economics
and Business
JESSICA BRETHERTON
Department of Education and Training (Vic)

Abstract
This paper documents my efforts to turn a personal trip to the Toyota factory in Aichi into an engaging CLIL (Content andLanguage Integrated Learning) unit of work for students in my Year 9 Japanese class. Using the Year 9 Economics andBusiness curriculum as a starting point, students studied the history of the Toyota company, its business model and work
ethic, the progression of environmentally-friendly cars and compared advertising success in Japan and Australia. Students
even got a tour of the local Toyota dealership, met mechanics and sales people and went for a test drive in the latest
models. The unit culminated in the students returning to the Toyota dealership and using real Toyota cars to film TV ads inJapanese. This was an incredible effort from students from a typically low-performing regional high school, and provedthat CLIL can work anywhere.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

14

Introduction
After successfully implementing a Year 9 Economics and Business CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) unit
at my school, I wanted to show other teachers that CLIL was achievable irrespective of the background and achievementlevels of both the teacher and the students. Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a dual-focused educational
approach in which the target language (in this instance, Japanese) is used for both the learning and teaching processes.
The focus is not only on the language, nor only on the content, as they are both interwoven (Coyle, Hood and Marsh 2010, 1).
It is incredible. It is engaging. It is meaningful. In the case of my school, the CLIL unit had a direct positive impact on retentionof students in senior language classes, as the Year 10 Japanese class the next year was the biggest ever. In the instanceof my unit, Japanese was used as the language to explore aspects of the Year 9 Economics and Business curriculum. CLIL
has the ability to transform the way you teach and the way your students learn. However, it is misunderstood by many. And
it is a lot of work. In the presentation this paper is based on, I delivered a mini CLIL lesson for other teachers to understandwhat a CLIL lesson feels like, talked through the curriculum, showed the final assessment pieces of the CLIL unit, andshared all of the resources I had created so that teachers were able to teach this unit to their own classes.

Background
School backgroundAt the time of delivering this program, I was working at a large regional secondary school in Victoria with approximately
1,300 students. Despite these huge numbers, Japanese only had four or five students continuing on to VCE, and the otherlanguage had not run a senior class in several years. Almost half the school population was classified as coming fromvery low socio-economic backgrounds, and literacy and numeracy levels were well below national averages. Despite this,thanks to a concerted recruitment effort by the language department, Japanese had three classes at the Year 9 level forthe first time ever—two elective classes and one compulsory Select Entry Accelerated Learning (SEAL) stream. Japanesein Year 10 was timetabled against electives in Surfing and Automotive—it was an uphill battle to encourage students totake the leap to senior Japanese, but I was determined to do something different. Given CLIL’s focus on both language andcontent, CLIL seemed like the perfect way to combine Japanese with a topic the students could be actively engaged inand boost senior school numbers. The focus here was not on achieving standards, as the Year 9 curriculum had alreadybeen completely taught by Term 4, but rather on students enjoying language classes and empowering them to acquire
knowledge while actively engaging and developing their own powers of perception, communication and reasoning (Coyle,
Hood and Marsh 2010, 6). As I had never taught using this methodology before, and the students had already completed
the prescribed Year 9 curriculum, I had no specific goals I needed to achieve; this CLIL unit was simply an opportunity to
explore a completely new methodology and learning style for both the students and myself. I wanted students to look backpositively on the experience, and to inspire some of them to continue on to Senior Japanese.

Unit of work backgroundThe year prior I had been honoured to participate in the Aichi-Victoria Teacher Exchange. When I was in Aichi on exchange,
my partner teacher took me to visit one of the Toyota plants. I wanted to see Japan’s number-one export from an economic
point of view, but given I view cars as simply a way to get from Point A to Point B, I did not think I would be particularlyinterested in the cars themselves. How wrong I was! The whole process was enthralling and I wanted to know more. It
immediately hit me that the manufacturing, business and environmental impacts of Toyota would make a great topic tostudy with my Year 9 students when we looked at transport. But the more I looked into it, the more I realised Toyota wasworthy of its own standalone subject.
About six months after I visited the Toyota factory, I studied the Bastow Institute’s CLIL course, which I found so informativeand inspiring. CLIL focuses on the interrelation between content, communication, cognition and culture. It is an educational
theory that came out of Europe in the mid-1990s, based on language education in Canada that saw mainstream curriculum
content delivered in the target language (Cross and Gearon 2013, 6). Research has shown that the benefits of CLIL include
academic achievement matching first-language instruction, positive gains in first-language literacy and heightened levelsof cultural awareness (Cross and Gearon 2013). It goes without saying that my program was much more modest thanestablished CLIL programs both in Australia and overseas, but I believed even just a CLIL taster would result in positive
benefits for my students.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

15

Toyota seemed like the perfect topic for CLIL—rich and engaging, deeply entrenched in Japanese culture, and also wellknown to my regional students. Initially, I was unsure which subject to teach the content through. I looked at the obvious
places like Technology and Science, but the curriculum did not really seem relevant to Toyota. I broadened my search andlooked at the curriculum for all subjects, and Business and Economics seemed like a great fit. The Victorian Business andEconomics Curriculum at Levels 9 and 10 looks at the nature of innovation and how businesses seek to create and maintaina competitive edge in local and global markets, as well as how enterprising behaviours and capabilities can be developed
to improve work and business environments (VCAA 2019). Given that Toyota is the world’s number one car manufacturer
in terms of production output (IOMVM 2019), it seemed like a great case study to explore innovation and competitiveness inbusiness. Although the unit changed, resulting in less of a business and economics focus by its end, this was definitely theinspiration and a real focus at the beginning. Conveniently, I am also a trained Humanities teacher, so felt more comfortableteaching my first CLIL unit with content that I understood.

Program
I taught CLIL four lessons per week for 50 minutes each lesson in Term 4 to both Year 9 Japanese elective classes.
The CLIL unit went for about six weeks, before camp, exams and transition began. In our first lesson, I explained in English
what CLIL was all about, and the students discussed their fears and hesitations around it. As my aim was to teach the vast
majority of the unit in Japanese, it was important we discussed some strategies for the students as a class, and as a result
most people’s fears were assuaged. I privately spoke to a few of the extremely weak students in the class, and told them
if at any point they wanted me to speak in English with them, I would quietly do so. This was important and empoweringin order to get the whole class on board. I did eventually speak some English in class, especially when explaining theassessment task, but initially I had the goal to use 100% Japanese in class.
Initially we looked at the history of Toyota, and used this to reinforce the use of past tense. Students completed timeline
activities before moving on to the company’s name change and the business decisions behind it. Students then designed
their own logos to use for the original company name Toyoda. We next looked at Toyota’s innovative environmentallyfriendly technology, which provided a lot of katakana practice. Students completed simple comparison activities about thedifferences and similarities between electric and petrol cars, before discussing and voting on whether electric cars werea good idea in our small regional town. The class decided ultimately the answer was no, as electric cars currently cannot
drive long distances, and are therefore unsuitable for regional areas in Australia. All of the resources were sourced online
using a combination of information from Toyota’s websites and advertising materials, Japanese media, and my own visit
to the Toyota factory.
At this point in the unit I arranged for my classes to visit the local Toyota dealership. The dealership allowed us to tour
their workshop, where the mechanics talked us through what they did (the students were very excited to see the police
car getting a service!), and we also got to tour the showroom and look under the bonnet of both a petrol and an eco car,comparing the engines and asking questions. Finally, the students were able to roam around the car yard, sitting in thecars and picking their favourites. For many of the students this was the first time they had ever been in a brand new car,and they felt very privileged. The fact that the students’ small town had a real and meaningful connection to such a huge
multinational Japanese company was a revelation for many students, and provided a very practical way to incorporate
another aspect of the Business and Economics curriculum—investigating Australia as a trading nation and discovering
its place within Asia and the global economy (VCAA 2019). The dealership was very accommodating and helpful to us,
and I am sure many others would be, too.
Back in the classroom, the students examined advertising for Toyota cars in Australia and Japan. We watched a few
different Toyota television commercials from both Japan and Australia, and the students described, using simple adjectives,
their thoughts about the advertising. We focused on the emotions behind the advertising, and questioned what Toyota
wanted us to feel when we watched the commercials. The students once again completed Venn diagrams comparing
and contrasting the similarities and differences between advertising in Australia and Japan, before receiving their main
assessment task for the unit: students were to write and film their own Toyota television commercial, in Japanese.
The most exciting part was that the dealership invited us back to film these in real Toyota cars. Students wrote scripts ingroups unassisted, and had them corrected by me. We returned to the dealership to film the commercials, then had quite
a few lessons in the computer lab to edit and subtitle them.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

16

On the due date, we had a film screening where all students watched one another’s commercials and provided feedback.
The best were both funny and clever, and showed a real understanding of the studies we had done on Toyota. The students
were very proud of their efforts, and so was I. The Toyota dealership was impressed by the student output as well,finding some of the videos hilarious, and was keen to continue the program the following year. I showed some of thebest commercials to my students in lower year levels, who were engaged and already anticipating being able to film theirown when they chose to study Year 9 Japanese. It was a real affirming moment for me, that CLIL had worked in termsof motivating students to get engaged in language learning. The students also improved their speaking skills thanks to thecommercials, and were more confident in their listening skills thanks to constant exposure to listening to Japanese in theclassroom.

Benefits and pitfalls
Benefits
I thoroughly enjoyed teaching this unit, and most of my students enjoyed studying it. At the end of the CLIL unit, 25 of the
28 students completed a Survey Monkey survey. Sixty-two percent agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘I haveenjoyed learning about Toyota’, while 25% gave the noncommittal neutral response. Sixty-four percent agreed or strongly
agreed with the statement ‘I enjoy video assessment tasks’. Less than 10% agreed with the statement ‘I regret choosing
to study Japanese in Year 9’. Year 9 Japanese comprises two electives, and was timetabled against some very attractive
electives like Surfing and Campfire Cooking, and so I would argue this was a win for language learning.
At the end of the survey, students were able to leave optional comments, all of which were positive. I have included twocomments here, with original spelling, capitalisation and punctuation.
	Japanese was enjoyable this year, I had fun learning about Toyota and its history, I also liked doing thevideo assessments, I learnt a lot of japanese this year that I didnt know already and I had lots fun in classthis year.
I love japanese. i am kind of regreting that i didnt choose it and i will miss my sensei.

Pitfalls
CLIL is an extremely time-intensive way to teach. I was lucky to have a three-term curriculum I was required to teach toYear 9, and had the freedom to determine the curriculum in the shortened fourth term. Without this free rein, as well as theunderstanding of my colleagues, I would not have been able to implement this CLIL unit. Additionally, CLIL requires a great
deal of content creation by the teacher. You are obliged to search for authentic materials that students can access at theirown level, or create your own. There needs to be more understanding and support of this, as well as better networking
around the country, in order for teachers to share CLIL units that others can implement.
Some limitations meant that students did not spend enough time on environmentally-friendly technology, and I did nottouch as much on business models and practices as I had originally wanted, as I believed the students did not have enoughlanguage skills. If I were to teach the unit again, I would need to critically reflect upon the content and restructure it.

Conclusion
A few months after teaching this unit with great success, I left teaching for a period of time. Upon returning, I moved toteaching primary Japanese. I wholeheartedly believe CLIL is a wonderful way to engage students and make language
learning authentic and meaningful, and have continued to implement smaller CLIL units in my primary classes. As for my
Toyota unit, I do not know how many students ultimately continued their Japanese language studies through to Year 12, but
I do know that the year after my Year 9 CLIL success the Year 10 Japanese class had its biggest enrolment ever. There wasa greater depth of content covered in these CLIL classes than in typical textbook topics, and I believe my students’ learning
was better because of it. I strongly encourage teachers curious about CLIL to give it a go.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

References
Coyle, D., P. Hood and D. Marsh. 2010. CLIL Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cross, R. and M. Gearon. 2013. Research and Evaluation of the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Approach to Teaching and Learning
Languages in Victorian Schools. Melbourne: Melbourne Graduate School of Education.
IOMVM (International Organisation of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers). 2019. 2017 Production Statistics. Accessed 16 July, 2019.
http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2017-statistics.
VCAA (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority). 2019. Economics and Business - Scope and Sequence. Accessed 16 July, 2019.
https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/the-humanities/economics-and-business/introduction/scope-and-sequence.

17

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

18

Parental Involvementin their children’s
Japanese learning:
language course forparents at a high school
YUJI OKAWA
Redlands, Sydney Church of England Coeducational Grammar School (NSW)TAKUYA KOJIMAUNSW Sydney (NSW); Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy)

Abstract
This study explores parental engagement in second/foreign language education. While the current literature highlights
the significance of parental engagement, it tends to view its impact as a unidirectional process from parents to children.
This study explores the reciprocal and broader impact that parental engagement can have on children, parents andschool communities. Data was collected from a Japanese language course designed for parents at a high school in
Sydney. Thematic analysis was applied to pre- and post-course surveys for parents, children’s video messages to theirparents, and teachers’ participant observation. The results identified that parents’ and children’s language learning wasmore collaborative, and that they also came to view Japanese learning more positively, thus further strengthening theirrelationships by considering each other as learning partners. Parental engagement also impacted on existing parent-teacher
relationships, which can be considered to support children more comprehensively through parent-teacher partnerships.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

19

Introduction
This paper explores the significance of parental engagement in Japanese language education (JLE) by drawing on thepractice of a Japanese course designed for parents at Redlands, a high school in Sydney.1 Parental engagement concerns“how parents and families support their children’s academic achievement and wellbeing” (DET 2018) and is conceived of
as a crucial element that enhances the academic performance and wellbeing of children (e.g., Henderson and Mapp 2002;
Harris and Goodall 2007; Emerson, Fear, Fox and Sanders 2012). Despite the various challenges that schools and teachers
may face when attempting to promote parental engagement, it is typically discussed as a viable educational strategy tosupport children’s learning.
In the context of second/foreign language education, research has given us indications of the influence parents have on
their children’s language learning. For example, several studies indicate that parents have varying degrees of influenceon their children’s attitudes to language learning (Bartram 2006; Curnow, Liddicoat and Scarino 2007; Kormos, Kiddle andCsizér 2011). Other studies also report the correlation between the level of parents’ competence in the target language andthat of their children (Bleakley and Chin 2008; Guven and Islam 2013). Furthermore, research has shown that even when
they are not able to speak the target language, parents can still encourage their children’s language learning by displaying
positive attitudes towards the target language and culture (Gardner, Masgoret and Tremblay 1999; Prescott and Orton2012).
The number of studies on Asian language education in Australia (including Japanese) that explore the issue of parental
engagement appears to be increasing. A report conducted by the Asia Education Foundation (2015a), for example,
qualitatively examined cases of parental engagement in schools across Australia and presented key approaches that
potentially enhance parental support for children’s language learning. Another study by the Asia Education Foundation(2015b) documented parents’ attitudes towards the learning of Asian languages in Australian schools. The study also
explored the current situation regarding parental engagement in children’s Asian language learning. The key findings of thestudy are considered to “assist in guiding future collaborative work with and within the schools sector to foster parental
attitudes towards Asian language learning in schools” (Asia Education Foundation 2015b, 4). These studies confirm theincreasing significance of parents as key stakeholders who can exert a strong and positive influence on their children’s
Asian language learning in the Australian context.
While the current literature implies the significance of parental engagement in children’s language learning, it tends todiscuss its educational value by separating parents and children and assuming a unidirectional influence, i.e., from parents
to their children. Drawing on a sociocultural view of language learning (Benson and Cooker 2013), this study aims toquestion this fundamental assumption and explores how both parents and children can mutually influence each other by
being collaboratively engaged in their foreign language learning. This sociocultural view further suggests the importanceof examining the impact of parental engagement on broader communities (e.g., the school community), which has not yet
been widely discussed. Our study also aims to explore this area.
To achieve these aims, this study explores the experiences of the individuals who participated in an eight-week Japanese
course for parents whose children were studying Japanese at Redlands. The paper will firstly explain how this study
views learning, then describe the design of the course and the study, and finally present the results of data analysis:
1) how parents and their children influenced each other’s learning by learning Japanese collaboratively; and 2) how parental
engagement impacted on the wider school community. The analysis identifies various benefits of parental engagement forparents, their children and teachers. The study concludes by discussing the implications of parental engagement in JLE at
the secondary level.

1	Redlands is a private coeducational school consisting of preschool and K-12 and is located in Sydney. This study focuses on Years 7-12.
One author (Yuji) is a Japanese teacher at Redlands, who initiated and executed this project. The other author (Takuya) is a PhD candidate
and Japanese teacher at UNSW Sydney, who contributed to the design of the course and also taught the course. Both have been involvedin the research part of this project, which was generously funded by the Association of Independent Schools of NSW. Redlands offers fiveforeign languages at the secondary level (Year 7 to 12); Group A constitutes Japanese, Chinese and Latin, and Group B constitutes Spanish
and French. Students are required to take two language courses (one from each group) in Year 7 and they must continue studying one of themin Years 8 and 9.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

20

Vertical and horizontal development
This study draws on the sociocultural concepts of “vertical development” and “horizontal development” (Beach 1999, 128)
to understand the language learning experiences of parents and their children, since these provide a useful two-dimensionalmodel of the dynamic process of learning. Vertical development refers to 1) increasing the amount of knowledge (e.g.,memorising expressions), and 2) refining one’s existing skills to do something more skilfully, (e.g., writing kanji faster andwell).2 Vertical development often requires repetitive engagement with knowledge and skills (e.g., pronouncing the target
expression a number of times). Horizontal development, on the other hand, is defined as “the transformation or creationof a new relation between individuals and social activities” (Beach 1999, 128). Horizontal development is triggered when
individuals realise a new aspect of what they already know. Therefore, instead of repeating a certain pattern of activity,
actually participating in various activities is the key to horizontal development. For instance, when individuals participate
in multiple contexts where a Japanese expression which they already know is used differently, they begin to understandit differently, which results in creating a new relationship with the expression and the activity involving the expression.
Likewise, when they interact with others in different contexts, they may receive different impressions about thoseparticipants and may change their relationships with them. Thus, activities promoting horizontal development can create
positive relationships with social activities and individuals involved in those activities (e.g., developing an interest in them).
Vertical and horizontal development are aspects which ideally grow together to enhance one’s language learning, although
they are often discussed separately (Beach 1999; Kagawa and Aoyama 2015). The interdependent relationship between
vertical and horizontal development is conceptualised as shown in Figure 1 below. When vertical development facilitates
one’s participation in a variety of social activities, we can imagine that horizontal development occurs, just as the roots of atree grow wider and stronger. In turn, this means that horizontal development encourages individuals’ active and sustained
engagement in activities, which promotes their vertical development, just as the tree grows taller and stronger.

Figure 1: The interdependence between vertical and horizontal development (Stubbing 2015; modification added by the authors)2	In the field of language acquisition, vertical development can be understood as the process of automatisation (Ellis 2003). Ellis explains thatlearners move from knowing what as declarative knowledge to knowing how as procedural knowledge through repetitive practice of certain
knowledge/skills. However, we take a sociocultural view of learning. Therefore, vertical development is not about one’s cognitive development
operating independently regardless of context but construed socially to acknowledge development dependent on a particular context.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

21

Study design
This study involves two components: 1) designing and implementing the Japanese course for parents, and 2) data collection
and analysis.3 The first component was crucial to enable both parents and their children to be collaboratively engaged inJapanese learning. The second component aimed to explore and understand the experience of individuals (e.g., parents,
their children, and teachers) involved in the project as well as the impact of the course on the wider community.

The Japanese course for parents
An eight-week Japanese course for parents was held every Tuesday between 18:30 and 20:30 during Term 3, 2017.4 The
target audience was beginners with no or little learning experience of Japanese; this was one of the requirements set
by the funding organisation. We designed the program by referring to the content of Stage 4 prescribed in the current
Japanese K-10 Syllabus (NSW Education Standards Authority 2003) so that parents and their children were more likely toshare their learning experiences. The following topics were included in the course:• Self-introduction;• Counting in Japanese, asking and saying age and year grade;• Family terms and descriptive expressions (adjectives);• Hobbies, likes and dislikes; and• Favourite Japanese foods/restaurants.
In addition to the contents of the K-10 Syllabus, the course also introduced expressions that aimed to better suit parents’learning context. For example, we included expressions such as Nansai ni miemasu ka5 and Eien no jūhassai desu6 toanswer the question O-ikutsu desu ka,7 and O-wakaku miemasu8 to make a compliment.
The primary motivation to provide this course for parents was to encourage parents and their children to be collaboratively
engaged in Japanese learning. To achieve this end, we adopted a project-based approach and several teaching and learning
strategies that are used for children’s Japanese learning at Redlands such as lecturing on basic language concepts,
conducting pattern practice, engaging in interactive pair and group activities, and using ICT. In addition, the class showedvideos in which participating parents’ children demonstrated model sentences and activities. This aimed to provide
opportunities for parents to see their children’s progress in Japanese learning while presenting goals for parents to achievewith their children.
Outside the class, participating parents were instructed to film themselves using Japanese with their children for homework.
Homework was based on what parents learned in their class. Therefore, parents could show what they had learned and,
when necessary, seek support from their children. That is, parents and their children could learn collaboratively at home.
These videos were shared at the beginning of each class so that parents could observe how their classmates were making
progress and, more importantly, could learn from each other.9
For the end product of the project, parents combined, added new parts to and edited homework videos to make one long
version of a video entitled “My Family Video Album”, in which they used what they had learned to introduce their family
members, their ages and year grades, personalities, hobbies and interests, and their favourite restaurants.10 At the end-ofcourse party (the last lesson), parents and their children watched the videos together in class and peer-voted the top three3	Ethics clearance was sought and granted by the school. Participating parents also gave their permission for data to be collected and used for thisstudy.
4	The authors decided on Term 3 because this is when children and their parents start to consider whether they will continue with the language inthe following year. While the influence of their decision has not been examined, based on our reflection, the course for parents should have moreor less a positive influence on their decision making.
5“How old do I look?”
6“I am forever 18.”
7
“How old are you?”
8“You look so young.”
9	We emphasised that homework was optional, as we assumed that making it compulsory could put excessive pressure on parents. Most parents
did their homework regularly.
10	We did not implement any assessment in this course as evaluating parents’ progress was not part of the course’s purpose. However, we
introduced peer voting for the final videos to determine the top three videos. The peer voting acknowledged the effort parents and their families
put into making the video. We also provided a certificate for the completion of the course to all parents.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

22

videos to acknowledge their efforts and progress together. In the last lesson, parents also watched their children’s video
messages, in which children expressed their gratitude to their parents and celebrated their parents’ successful completionof the course.11

Participating parents
Following an advertisement for the course via email to parents whose children were studying Japanese, 32 parents
registered, although 28 attended the first lesson. Six parents stopped coming mid-way through the course. Twentytwo parents completed the course. The number of absences varied among the participating parents. Out of the 22,
17 participants were female. Three pairs were couples.

Data collection and analysis
This study employed a qualitative approach to explore the experiences of those who were involved in the course: parents,
their children and the teachers. Three tools were used to collect data: 1) pre- and post-course surveys for parents; 2)
children’s video messages to parents; and 3) participant observation. These tools allowed for data triangulation (Rothbauer2008), which co-constructed reflection on the significance of parental engagement in children’s Japanese learning forindividuals and communities.
The first tool, a pre-course survey, was administered to gather general information about whether parents had studied
Japanese or been to Japan, their understanding regarding their child’s Japanese learning at Redlands, and their own
motivation for taking the course. The post-course survey asked about their interactions with their children through Japaneselearning during the course, the influence of their Japanese learning on their children, and an evaluation of the course using
a Likert scale along with open-ended questions. These were used to understand parents’ learning experiences in thiscourse, and relationships between their learning and interactive experiences that they had with their children.12
The second tool, children’s video messages, asked each child to make a video message regarding their parents’ Japaneselearning in the course. The video messages were shown to parents in the final lesson, then transcribed and analysed by
the authors. This helped the authors understand how the children observed, reflected upon and were influenced by theirparents’ Japanese learning.
The third tool, participant observation, was used to understand parents’ and children’s experiences and their changes
from the teachers’/researchers’ perspectives. After each lesson, the teachers wrote a journal to reflect upon participants’engagement in learning, their interactions, and their comments and conversations about their own and their children’s
language learning. The teachers regularly discussed what they had observed in order to deepen their understanding of theparticipants’ experiences in this course.
We conducted a thematic analysis (Nowell et al. 2017) to identify the salient themes in the data sets relevant to the aimsof this study. The concepts of vertical and horizontal development as the overarching framework guided the analysis.

Findings
The first part of these results of the data analysis sets out how parental engagement through collaborative learning ofJapanese impacted on parents and their children. Their vertical development is explored, followed by an exploration of
their horizontal development. We then illustrate the impact of the course for parents on the school community. The study
shows how parental engagement can bring about a positive impact on not only parent–child but also teacher–parent
relationships to benefit broader educational practice.

11
12

The schedule and brief summary of the course contents for each week are presented in Appendix I.
For the pre- and post-surveys, please see Appendix II.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

23

Child–parent mutual impact of parental engagement in Japanese learningThis study found that parental engagement enhanced children’s vertical development. First, it was salient that children
gained opportunities for their own vertical development in helping their parents’ vertical development. For instance, oneof the parents commented that “it was good to have her ‘teach’ or ‘tutor’ me. I’m still not very good but much better than
before” (Parent B). Parents and children often constitute unidirectional relationships in terms of learning, i.e., parents tend
to guide their child’s learning. Instead, in this case, they switched roles. Another parent called this “a good role reverse”(Parent C). Children, likewise, reported that they helped their parents, saying that “I like how you have to ask me questions
and I can help you” (Student B). This suggests that the children’s “help” was given when questions occurred to their parents
as they undertook the Japanese course, questions that could be dealt with by children who were more or less advanced
in Japanese.
Secondly, as parents kept using Japanese at home, their children’s exposure to Japanese increased. One child said that“it’s really nice when you come home and speak to me in Japanese” (Student A). The increased exposure was not only
about frequency but also variety. Parents’ Japanese uses were not the same as their children’s due to the extra contentsof the course and parents’ unique needs. As a result, one parent reported that her child “was forced to practise ‘my’ words
and new words that I asked her to pronounce” (Parent B). This signifies that children together with their parents not only
reviewed what they knew but also learned new knowledge that had not been introduced yet in their own Japanese class.
These parent–child interactions remained active and reciprocal. Children commented that “we are together […] doing workwith you” (Student C) and “you talk to me in Japanese at home, we can be fluent together” (Student D). Our observationof their homework videos affirmed that both parents and children were collaboratively engaged in their learning, and theyused Japanese in a mutually supportive way. Even while filming their performances, there was frequent scaffolding ofeach other’s listening, understanding and utterances.
Parents’ and children’s comments also suggest the occurrence of horizontal development in children. One of the key
feelings expressed by them was enjoyment and fun of learning Japanese together. One parent wrote that “[the children]
enjoyed learning together and so did I” (Parent F). Children also expressed such feelings by using the terms “fun”, “loved”,“happy”, “cool” and “nice” (Students A; C; D; and E). The homework videos (where a group of parents and children gathered
to play bingo in Japanese; a father cooking rice balls with his two sons and saying oishii13 together; and another father andhis son joking about whether he likes studying by using the expressions uso14 and usotsuki15) document how children andparents enjoyed “hang[ing] out together” (Parent L). Furthermore, parents and children encountered what one parent called“encouragement” (Parent H) to converse in Japanese together. In turn, children had their parents as their encouragement.
As one parent mentioned, “children find it encouraging that I am trying to learn new things” (Parent I). These comments
indicate that parental engagement in this case was not unidirectional and obtrusive, but mutually encouraging.
Such mutual encouragement supported children’s increase of motivation in Japanese learning. Parents wrote that “learning
together increased her motivation and confidence” (Parent K), “it was good to hang out together to do the video. It helps
build my son’s confidence” (Parent L), and “I think it made him more diligent with his homework knowing we were more
involved” (Parent D). Children also reported how they wanted to continue learning Japanese together with their parents;for example, Student A said “I hope you can learn further and practise with me.” All these comments suggest that childrenchanged how they viewed Japanese learning and built a (positive) relationship with Japanese learning when parents weremore involved.
The parental engagement in their children’s Japanese learning offered opportunities for children to see their parents
differently. The data indicate that children expressed their gratitude and respect to their parents by acknowledging theirparents’ initiative, persistence and progress in Japanese learning. Comments from children included “I am just really happy
that you are taking initiative to learn a language” (Student A), and “thank you for giving up your time to really try and learn
Japanese” (Student F). One of the children told his mother “well done on going to all the classes” (Student I), showing that
he was impressed with her sustained effort. Furthermore, children offered observations like “you’ve been really doing
good with Japanese and you progressed so much and you can say some really cool sentences now” (Student G), “I’ve been

13
14
15

“tasty”“lie”“liar”NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

24

very impressed with the work you’ve done in Japanese” (Student H), and “well done with your Japanese progression. I
noticed a very good improvement” (Student I). The children who commented appear to have drawn on an evaluative voice.
Considering the parents’ common role as guide in their children’s learning, perhaps it seemed unusual and yet impressive
and inspiring to children to see their parents demonstrating learning themselves.
Likewise, parents changed how they viewed their children. This change occurred when parents were brought to understandtheir children’s relationship with Japanese learning more intimately by experiencing their “interest and enthusiasm” (Parent
J) directly. In the pre-survey, most parents did not have a clear understanding of why their children selected Japanese.
What the data indicated was that parents not only practised Japanese with their children but also understood what learning
Japanese meant to their children. This better understanding resulted in filling the gap that had existed between them andtheir children in regard to Japanese learning.
Furthermore, by attending the course parents experienced how their children learn Japanese, since the class employedboth the content and pedagogy that were often used in their children’s Japanese classes. Importantly, when parents cameto know what learning Japanese was like, they acknowledged the difficulty involved and how well their children weremaking progress in such a challenging school subject. One of the parents wrote that “[I have gained] an appreciation of the
progress and confidence my daughter has achieved” (Parent K); another wrote “now, I fully understand it requires lots oftime and effort to learn Japanese well and I will provide my best support to her” (Parent N). In the end, being on the same
page allowed parents to view how their children were learning Japanese from the children’s perspective. This experienceenabled parents to respect and appreciate their children’s effort, progress and achievement. As a result, they increased
their willingness to ‘support’ their children.

Impact on the wider school community and PARENT-TEACHER relationships
The data analysis indicates that this course for parents functioned as a strategy for advocacy to promote the presence of
JLE at Redlands. Tohsaku (2014) emphasises the importance for advocacy of raising the visibility of JLE. To achieve this end,
the six Cs (Communication, Collaboration, Culture, Credibility, Connections, and Communities) need to be considered (seeNational Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL) (2011), in Tohsaku 2014). Regarding Communication, for example,
Tohsaku claims that “we [Japanese language educators] should communicate what we are doing in our classroom
to parents, other educators, community and stakeholders whenever possible” (2014, 9). This course was designed by
employing the content and teaching/learning strategies that are used for the children’s Japanese language learning. In thisway, the course provided one of the authors, Yuji, who teaches both participating parents and their children, with a directcommunication channel by which he could share what he does for their children with the participating parents.
The data support the view that this course functioned as a communication channel between the teacher and theparticipating parents. Several parents expressed that they formed a clearer understanding of how their children learned
Japanese at school, for example, commenting “[this course] makes me understand the learning process of my kids”(Parent N). Furthermore, many participating parents highly evaluated the professionalism presented by the teachers. This
positive evaluation was often represented by words such as “enthusiasm” (Parent D) and “commitment” (Parent E). This
indicates that this parents’ course also allowed Yuji not only to convey to parents what he teaches his students (the childrenof the participating parents), but also to communicate the passion and vision that he maintains to enrich their children’s
Japanese language learning.
The data indicated that the participating parents communicated with other parents in the school community regarding
their experiences in this course. One parent, for example, commented that “I’ve mentioned to other parents that I’m doing
the course, and I think there would be a lot of interest from parents to do a Chinese, Latin, French, and Spanish course
too” (Parent D). This comment is considered important not only for raising the visibility of the Japanese language programin the wider school community, but also for highlighting the great potential of this course to advocate foreign languages
education programs in the school by involving other stakeholders such as other language teachers and collaboratively
working with them.
This course for parents was considered beneficial in terms of strengthening the teacher–parent partnerships for children’s
learning. Parent P, for example, commented “it was fun to meet other parents and teachers”. As explained above, Yuji
has been teaching their children for some time; it may therefore sound somewhat strange to hear “meet teachers” fromparents, since he has met them before. Reflecting upon this comment, it is important to ask how much he knew about

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

25

the parents of the children in his classrooms. Although we come to know each other through various opportunities where
teachers and parents interact (e.g., school events, emails, telephone calls, and parent–teacher nights), it appears likely thatparent-teacher relationships were strengthened considerably by working together towards a particular goal, discussing
children’s progress regarding Japanese on a more regular basis, exchanging and negotiating their educational visions, andsharing a lot of laughs throughout this course.
Interestingly, before this course, many parents addressed Yuji as Mr Okawa, to signify that he was their children’s classroom
teacher. However, as the course progressed, the same parents began calling him not only Okawa Sensei (the significanceof which was explained to parents) but also Yuji (his first name). This is another example that indicates that relationships
shifted to create something different, something that parents and teachers could establish by sharing a larger amount oftime and a stronger sense of trust towards each other.

Discussion
This study demonstrated how improved parental engagement facilitated opportunities for children and parents to influenceeach other’s development (vertical and horizontal) in the context of the Japanese course for parents. As our literature
review identified, the current scholarship on parental engagement in second/foreign language education tends to discuss
its educational values by addressing parents separately from children, based on the assumption that parents influencechildren’s language learning (e.g., Prescott and Orton 2012). However, as shown above, through the series of activities set
in this course, the children and parents were able to mutually scaffold each other’s vertical and horizontal development ina variety of ways. Thus, this study suggests that an emphasis needs to be placed on this mutual engagement in Japaneselearning when viewing, designing and facilitating parental engagement.
It is now clear that mutual influence between children and parents brings about additional benefits, i.e., increased horizontal
development rather than just increased vertical development. When a unidirectional influence of parental engagement
is assumed, the individual activity and child–parent relationships are unlikely to change. However, child–parent mutual
involvement in Japanese learning altered how they engaged with and viewed Japanese learning. To them, learning Japanese
became not merely a school subject to study but a social activity where they “[hung] out”, enjoyed and shared their “interest
and enthusiasm”. Furthermore, children and parents gradually came to view each other differently as they understood,
acknowledged and respected each other’s initiative, effort, persistence, progress, confidence and achievement in Japaneselearning. This change transformed their relationships into more harmonious, mutually encouraging and collaborative ones.
These positive relationships between children, parents and Japanese learning enhanced children’s motivation, confidence
and diligence in their own Japanese learning. This interplay between vertical and horizontal development can facilitate
development of a child as a whole person, thus putting their wellbeing at the forefront.
The focus on mutuality in this study requires re-addressing what it means to support children in language learning. As
mentioned, parental engagement concerns “how parents and families ‘support’ their children’s academic achievement
and wellbeing” (DET 2018, single quotes added). It is certainly beneficial for children to receive direct support in forms ofteaching and guiding from their parents. In high school core subjects that parents are likely to have studied themselves,
such as English and mathematics, they often have more knowledge than their children and are able to support theirchildren. However, for subjects that parents often have not studied, such as Japanese, a different approach is needed. This
study demonstrated that children can develop their knowledge and skills in Japanese by tutoring and helping their parents
who are less advanced in Japanese than themselves, revising language items with their parents, and being exposed to new
expressions that are brought back to the home by their parents. Both parents and children could develop their language
knowledge and skills through a “good role reverse”, by being involved in the varied tasks that were set to promote theircollaboration. This suggests that support can take different forms. Importantly, parents do not have to teach the subject
or guide their children with their expertise. Parents’ “best support” can be provided not only as guides who walk ahead ofchildren but also as partners who walk alongside their children. When support is viewed in this way, parental engagement
can become achievable for subjects like Japanese.
The results of this current study also suggest that teachers reflect upon their views of parents to design a more supportive
learning environment for children. Harris and Goodall’s study (2007) revealed that, while parental engagement is often
regarded as a “good thing” by teachers, parents and children, these three cohorts interpret the term differently. They foundthat children view parental engagement as being primarily about moral support and interest in their progress, parents

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

26

view it as offering support to their children, and teachers view it as a means for improving behaviour (39). These findings
cannot be overgeneralised, and we, as educators, need to be cautious about this result. The gap that appears between
parents and teachers might confine parents to a limited role for their children’s learning or may even exclude them fromthe process. It is also debatable if teachers can provide the “best support” for their students on their own. Rather, it can besuggested that this best support takes a stronger and more comprehensive form by encouraging parents and teachers towork collaboratively without confining them into certain roles.
The results of this study further indicated that the teachers and participating parents began to construct stronger
relationships by sharing their interests, passion and educational visions around Japanese language learning. They shifted
the focus of their mutual gaze and came together by reconstructing their expected roles. This shift is a type of horizontal
development that enabled teachers and parents to realise their potential to better support their students/children byconnecting with each other differently. It seems that the stronger parent-teacher partnership fostered through this course
can function as a more solid foundation that enables students’ (children’s) Japanese language learning at school and home.

Concluding Remarks
This study questioned an often-fundamental assumption that parental engagement operates in one direction, i.e., parent
to student. We investigated how both parents and children can mutually influence each other’s learning. The study also
explored the potential impact that parental engagement can have on the broader school community. The results discussed
above clearly indicate that the Japanese course designed for parents enhanced both parents’ and children’s vertical andhorizontal development, affecting how the notions of support and of parental engagement ought to be reconceptualised.
We used the metaphor of a tree in Figure 1 to illustrate vertical and horizontal development. We conclude by returning to it
here. Parental engagement can promote both vertical and horizontal development of children. To nurture the tree or child tobecome taller and stronger (vertical development; something that is visible to the eye), the tree also requires an extensive
network of roots (horizontal development; something that is invisible to the eye). To become a healthier tree, however, thetree (child) also needs a number of optimal conditions (contexts) that support its growth and development. One way thiscan be achieved, through parental engagement, is discussed in this paper. Through their mutual partnership and interest in
the tree, parents and teachers can provide the nourishment that best supports a child’s learning and wellbeing.

Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Association of Independent Schools of NSW. We, the authors, would like to express
our appreciation to Dr William S. Armour, Dr Maki Yoshida and Dr Todd James Allen for their constructive comments thatallowed us to refine our ideas and writing. We are grateful for the warm support of Ms Sarah McGarry (Deputy Principal of
Redlands) for our project. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

ReferencES
Asia Education Foundation. 2015a. What works 8: Parents and the Learning of Asian Languages in Schools. Melbourne: Asia Education Foundation.
---. 2015b. Parent Attitudes towards Asian Language Learning in Schools. Melbourne: Asia Education Foundation.
Bartram, B. 2006. “An Examination of Perceptions of Parental Influence on Attitudes to Language Learning.” Educational Research 48 (2): 211-221.
Beach, K. 1999. “Consequential Transitions: A Sociocultural Expedition Beyond Transfer in Education.” Review of Research in Education 24 (1): 101-139.
Benson, P. and L. Cooker, eds. 2013. The Applied Linguistic Individual: Sociocultural Approaches to Identity, Agency and Autonomy. London: Equinox.
Bleakley, H. and A. Chin. 2008. “What Holds Back the Second Generation?: The Intergenerational Transmission of Language Human Capital Among
Immigrants.” The Journal of Human Resources 43 (2): 267-298.
Curnow, T. J., A. J. Liddicoat and A. Scarino. 2007. Situational Analysis for the Development of Nationally Co-ordinated Promotion of the Benefits of Languages
Learning in Schools Project. Adelaide: Research Centre for Languages and Cultures Education, University of South Australia.
DET (Department of Education and Training). 2018. Parental Engagement in Learning. Accessed 27 January, 2019.
www.education.gov.au/parent-engagement-learning-1.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

27

Ellis, R. 2003. Task-based Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Emerson, L., J. Fear, S. Fox and E. Sanders. 2012. Parental Engagement in Learning and Schooling: Lessons from Research. Canberra: The Family-School andCommunity Partnerships Bureau.
Gardner, R. C., A.-M. Masgoret and P. F. Tremblay. 1999. “Home Background Characteristics and Second Language Learning.” Journal of Language and Social
Psychology 18 (4): 419-437.
Guven, C. and A. Islam. 2013. “Age at Migration, Language Proficiency, and Socioeconomic Outcomes: Evidence from Australia.” Demography 52 (2): 513542.
Harris, A. and J Goodall. 2007. Engaging Parents in Raising Achievement: Do Parents Know They Matter? London: Department for Children, Schools andFamilies.
Henderson, A. T. and K. L. Mapp. 2002. A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement. Austin,
Texas: National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools.
Kagawa, S. [香川 秀太] and M. Aoyama [青山 征彦]. 2015. Ekkyō suru taiwa to manabi: ishitsu na hito soshiki komyuniti o tsunagu [越境する対話と学び：異質な人・組織・コミュニティをつなぐ]. Tokyo: Shin’yōsha [新曜社].
Kormos, J., T. Kiddle and K. Csizér. 2011. “Systems of Goals, Attitudes, and Self-related Beliefs in Second-language-learning Motivation.” Applied Linguistics
32 (5): 495-516.
Nowell, L. S., J. M. Norris, D. E. White and N. J. Moules. 2017. “Thematic Analysis: Striving to Meet the Trustworthiness Criteria.” International Journal of
Qualitative Methods 1 (6): 1-13.
NSW Education Standards Authority. 2003. Japanese K-10 Syllabus, Sydney: Board of Studies NSW. Accessed 1 July, 2017.
http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/languages/japanese-k-10-syllabus.
Prescott, C. and J. Orton. 2012. Good Learners of Chinese: Profiles of Students in Secondary School. Melbourne: The University of Melbourne.
http://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/631599/good_language-learners-of-Chinese.pdf. Accessed 20 March, 2016.
Rothbauer, M. P. 2008. “Triangulation.” In The SAGE Encyclopaedia of Qualitative Research Methods, edited by L. M. Given, 892-894. Thousand Oaks CA: SAGE
Publication Inc.
Stubbings, L. 2015. “Don’t Forget Your Roots, My Friend....”
http://i.pinimg.com/originals/a5/21/73/a52173e7a8d3edbce404ae3f46972eda.gif.
Tohsaku, Y. 2014. “Japanese Language Education in the Global Era: New Perspectives and Advocacy.” In National Symposium on Japanese Language
Education Proceedings: 2012 Creating the Future, edited by C. Kinoshita Thomson, 3-13. Sydney: The Japan Foundation, Sydney.

Appendix I
Summary of schedule, topics, and activities of the Japanese course for parents
WEEK

TOPIC

ACTIVITIESCOOKING LESSONHOMEWORK

1

Getting to know each other(Self-introduction)Role-play(Greetings at a gorgeous party)

Welcome sweets

Introduce yourself to yourfamily members in Japanese!

2

Counting in Japanese(age, year grade)

Bingo in Japanese!

Onigiri rice ballPlay Bingo with your family!!

3

Introducing your family
members(description)

Ask me about my family

4

Revision Week

5

Talking about your hobbies,
what you like to do, what you
are good at

Find your best friends!

Ask your child about what they
proud of themselves!

6

Talking about your favourite
Japanese foods

Let’s use Interactive
Whiteboard!

Family time at your favourite
Japanese restaurant

7

Expressions and sentences you
want to know

Okonomiyaki
Yakisoba

8

Presenation:
My Family Video Album

Party!!

Interview your child using
Japanese!
(e.g. Personality)
Temakizushi

Make onigiri rice balls with yourchild!

Edit your video clips for yourpresentation with your child

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGSAppendix II
Samples of pre- and post-surveys
Pre-survey

Parental Polyglots - Japanese class preliminary survey3) Do you have any chance to speak Japanese? Give details

Thank you very much for participating in this survey.
This survey aims to obtain some information regarding why you have decided to takethis Japanese language course. The survey will be useful for us to design and deliver
this course and future courses. Information contained in this survey is strictly
confidential, however, we would like to be able to present our findings to several
stakeholders such as the school and in other venues. To gain your permission for the
information to be used (anonymously), please check the appropriate box below.

4) Why have you chosen to study the Japanese language in this course?

[] I give my permission for the information in this survey to be used.

Yes, (give details)[] I do not give my permission for the information in this survey to be used.

5) Do you know why your son/daughter chose Japanese at Redlands?

No

We are planning to set a post-course survey in which we would like to understandyour potential change you might experience by having done this course. Please createa pseudonym (a combination of first name and family name) which allows us to link
your preliminary course survey (this survey) with your post-course survey. Pleaseavoid names that are considered ‘typical’ (e.g., John Smith or Mary Jones). You will
be asked to write your pseudonym on your post-course survey.

6) Do you discuss their study of the Japanese language with your son or daughter?
If yes, what do you discuss with him/her?

If no, why not?

Your pseudonym:
1) Have you ever studied the Japanese language before?

7) What do you want to achieve by doing this short Japanese language course?

If yes,When?
How long?
Where?
No

8) Any comments for us to consider at this stage of the program?

2) Have you ever been to Japan?
Yes (give details)
No, but would like toThank you for your cooperation.

No, and don’t intend to
Never really thought about it

Post-survey
Parental Polyglots - Japanese class post-course survey2) What, in your opinion, were some of the best things about doing this course?

Thank you very much for participating in the post-course survey. This survey aims to obtain some information
regarding your experience of learning Japanese language in this course. The survey will be useful for our reflectionand evaluation of this course as well for planning future courses. Information contained in this survey is strictly
confidential, however, we would like to be able to present our findings to several stakeholders such as the school andin other venues. To gain your permission for the information to be used (anonymously), please check the appropriate
box below.
[[

3) Have your chances to speak in Japanese increased since doing this course? Give details.

] I give my permission for the information in this survey to be used.
] I do not give my permission for the information in this survey to be used.

Please circle the pseudonym that you created for the preliminary survey from the list below.
List of pseudonyms

4) Did your participation in this course assist your child's language learning? If so, how?

1) Please evaluate the following aspects of the course by circling the most appropriate number on the scale.
a) Satisfaction
1 - - - - - - - - - - 2- - - - - - - - - - 3- - - - - - - - - - 4 - - - - - - - - - - 5
Extremely low5) What did you think about learning the Japanese language with your child? Why do you think so?

Extremely highProvide reasons:b) Applicability to your situation

6) What do you think you have achieved by having done this Japanese language course?

1 - - - - - - - - - - 2- - - - - - - - - - 3- - - - - - - - - - 4 - - - - - - - - - - 5
Not applicableat allHighly applicable

Provide reasons:7) Did you find it beneficial for you to get to know other parents doing this course? Give reasons.

c) Motivation
1 - - - - - - - - - - 2- - - - - - - - - - 3- - - - - - - - - - 4 - - - - - - - - - - 5
UnmotivatedHighly motivated8) Any further comments?

Provide reasons:d) Curriculum (e.g. teaching, course content, materials)
1 - - - - - - - - - - 2- - - - - - - - - - 3- - - - - - - - - - 4 - - - - - - - - - - 5
PoorProvide reasons:

ExcellentThank you for your cooperation.

28

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

29

Using shuwa(Japanese sign language)
GESTURES in theJapanese classroom
KATHLEEN DUQUEMIN
Gardenvale Primary School (Vic)

Abstract
This paper outlines a new initiative where gestures based on shuwa (Japanese sign language; hereafter referred to as‘shuwa’) were introduced as a support for language learning in a primary classroom. An original text that aligned with
the Australian Curriculum was created to work with the shuwa, which became a platform for language learning. The trial
surpassed expectations, with students engaged and successful in the learning intentions.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

30

Introduction	‘I hear and I forget,
I see and I remember,
I do and I understand.’(Confucius)
There has been a variety of research in the use of gestures to support second language learning. Some studies havefocused on the influence of gestures toward auditory learning (Hirata and Kelly 2010), while others have focused on therole of co-speech – gestures that naturally accompany speech. A plethora of research addresses the positive benefits of
the use of gestures in language learning, particularly in relation to supporting comprehension and recall of newly acquired
language.1 Rosborough (2004) focuses on “whole body sense making” (227), where the gesture supports comprehension.
McCafferty (2002) views the use of gesture as supporting interaction between participants in a social environment. Porter(2016) explores the use of gestures to support second language learning where language classes occurred once a week,
and in particular compared the use of visuals on their own to using visuals with gestures. Findings showed that visualswith gestures led to more effective retrieval cues and richer memory traces. Gullberg (2010) suggests gestures used insecond language acquisition are interconnected with oral communication, and refers to them as not simply gestures but
as a system. This more substantial view of the use of gestures has also been supported by Mathison (2017), who suggeststhat the use of gestures “enhances mental representations” (289). This would perhaps be a sound argument for the useof shuwa (手話; Japanese sign language), which is not only culturally significant in teaching Japanese but also brings awonderful shared-experience and story-telling element to language learning. I think we would all agree that students learn
more from experiences than from vocabulary lessons.

Background
Rationale
The decision to use shuwa to support Japanese language learning was the result of a small group of teachers who met
to explore the benefits and pitfalls of using gestures to support language learning. The first challenge faced was that noneof the teachers were trained in Japanese sign language. This group met on numerous occasions which led to the JLTAV
Shuwa Project, a project coordinated by the Japanese Language Teachers Association of Victoria (JLTAV) and comprisingteachers from both primary and secondary member schools. The goal of the JLTAV Shuwa Project is to develop a databaseof consistent and culturally-authentic signs that can be used by teachers to support Japanese language learning. Thesesigns were all taken from Japanese sign language databases or online sources and were kept authentic except where
culturally incompatible (e.g., where signs have a negative meaning in the Australian culture), in which case modifications
were made.
In spite of a lack of training in Japanese sign language, this group sourced shuwa dictionaries and educational texts, online
resources including comprehensive search engines for shuwa and video resources, and developed a goal and a timeline.
In the three years since this rather small and humble beginning, the goals have grown and the JLTAV Shuwa Project has
expanded to include the development of original texts, supporting videos (uploaded to the JLTAV Youtube Channel) andresources.
While the JLTAV Shuwa Project has indeed grown into a significant initiative of the JLTAV, it is in the language classroom
where shuwa is delivering real benefit. Not only has this trial increased motivation among the students, it has also led tosignificant improvement in the oral and reading skills of the students.

1	This argument is highly supported by a number of scholars including McCafferty (2002), Tellier (2008), Gullberg (2006 and 2008) Hirata and Kelly(2010), Churchill et al. (2010), Casey et al. (2011), Rosborough (2014), Hirata et al. (2014), Morett (2014), Wakefield and James (2015), Porter(2016) and Mathison (2017).

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

31

Primary School: Shuwa trial
Year 4 students were the first to engage in using shuwa as co-language in a trial of the unit, Nekochan to Sakanasan (“TheCat and the Fish”). This unit was based on an original text created for the Shuwa Project and included not only Japanesesign language for all of the language within the story, but a significant linguistic component including a focus on the useof furigana (phonetic guide) with kanji (Chinese characters), the introduction of a variety of adjective types, and use of anumber of grammatical particles and sentence structures. With each new page of the story, a new linguistic focus wasintroduced which built upon the previous one. By the end of the unit of work, the Year 4 students were able to read thefull text (17 PowerPoint slides in hiragana), read a number of high-frequency kanji, and demonstrate their comprehension
through the use of shuwa.
This trial was successful on a number of fronts. The students thoroughly enjoyed the story and the activities that
accompanied the story, and commented on the use of shuwa in a positive way, stating that when they didn’t use shuwa
it was much more difficult to understand the meaning of the text. It is worth noting that as they progressed, some of thesigning dropped off a little as students became more confident in their knowledge, while other students used the signs
almost subconsciously. The co-learning of shuwa by the students with the teacher contributed to a deeper and moreauthentic relationship within the classroom which positively influenced classroom behaviour and the overall atmospherein the learning environment.
The linguistic progress made by the students far surpassed expectations. The student recall of vocabulary andcomprehension of the content was quick and thorough, and due to this, learning to read the text in hiragana becamealmost autonomous.

Benefits of using shuwa
Using shuwa provided visual support for comprehension, so when students appeared to struggle with understanding,the teacher was able to sign using shuwa and this triggered the students’ memory. The visual connection between thesign, and the lexical item (and at times also the kanji character) allowed the students to visualise the word in the second
language and use that to recall the word (Porter 2016). The kinaesthetic aspect of using sign meant that the signs became
muscle memory and students were able to use the shuwa to trigger this memory both orally and kinaesthetically. The signand oral language became a single unit in the students’ memory (Tellier 2009). The student use of shuwa became active
language learning incorporating multimodal aspects (Tellier 2009) and as a result students were holistically focused on
the language. This meant that the students were thoroughly engaged throughout the course of this unit of study which
benefited behaviour management.
The origin of each of the signs used was discussed when it was introduced. The origins of some of the signs are culturallyrich and through the sharing of the story, the language became a shared experience and memory, not just a lexical item.

Program
The story of “The Cat and the Fish” was designed to address the achievement standards in the Australian Curriculum in theYear 3-4 Band, while engaging students and providing a launching pad for using shuwa to support language learning. Eachinstalment of the story addressed a new linguistic focus that built upon the previous learning. While the overarching goal
was to read a text in hiragana and kanji with the support of shuwa, this unit also met a number of additional Achievement
Standards, as outlined below.

Instalment 1
The first three pages introduced the students to the main characters, Nekochan and Sakanasan (Figure 1).

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

32

Figure 1: First three pages of the story Nekochan to Sakanasan

The language accompanying this instalment included the use of furigana to support kanji reading, adjective/noun order insentences, grammatical subject and object particles, and two sentence patterns and the use of both positive and negative
verb endings. Students also looked at punctuation, comparing Japanese to English.
In using shuwa, the students were able to recall the vocabulary very quickly, with related shuwa providing clear
comprehension clues and shuwa origin stories creating a shared experience in the telling of the tale. For example, theshuwa for ‘bear’ (くま; kuma) is drawing a ‘moon’ shape from one shoulder to the other, which prompted a discussion
about what are often referred to as ‘moon bears’ (Figure 2).
The shuwa for ‘cat’ (ねこ; neko) is moving one hand up and down like a Japanese ‘lucky cat’, which again provided an
opportunity for a conversation about culture and the origin of the lucky cat. Signs for ‘mountain’ and ‘fish’ are also visuallysimilar to the actual object, providing instant comprehension clues for students. Throughout this unit, students were often
able to recall the word in response to the sign from the teacher.

Figure 2: Shuwa for ‘bear’, ‘cat’, ‘mountain’ and ‘fish’ (all shuwa images sourced from http://hs84.blog.jp/)

Instalment 2
Repetition of the sentence pattern provided reinforcement for the sentence patterns learned. New kanji were introducedwith discussion focusing on how kanji is built in parts. This instalment of the story included the use of counters (which
students learned in their previous year of study using the counter for small animals). Students were challenged to countthe monkeys in kanji (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Instalment 2 of Nekochan to Sakanasan

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

33

The shuwa introduced in this part of the story related to ‘tree’ (木; ki) and ‘forest’ (森; mori), and after a discussion about
the shuwa (Figure 4), students felt that these signs closely related to the actual kanji. This opportunity to discuss thepossible origin of the sign language led to a deeper understanding of not only the vocabulary items, but also of the kanji
and the culture of Japan.
Students were invited to imagine what the shuwa for ‘monkey’ might be, with some very interesting results, but again
resulting in sound comprehension of both vocabulary and shuwa.

Figure 4: Shuwa for ‘tree’, ‘forest’ and ‘monkey’

Instalment 3
The kanji focus in Instalment 3 built on the previous one, where ‘tree’ (木; ki) and ‘forest’ (森; mori) were introduced, andstudents were challenged to try to work out the meaning of this kanji using their understanding of how kanji is read and thecontext in the images (Figure 5). An additional focus in this part of the story was on the double vowel used in the word for‘wolf’, i.e., ookami (おおかみ), which is an important pronunciation feature in Japanese language, and students discussed
other Japanese words that might use similar patterns, coming up with the word for ‘big’ (おおきい; ookii) and the name of
the city ‘Osaka’ (おおさか; Oosaka).

Figure 5: Instalment 3 of Nekochan to Sakanasan

Again, students were challenged to anticipate what this shuwa might be and students really focused on the shape andcomposition of the kanji in this endeavour. When they were finally introduced to the shuwa, they felt it was consistent withother kanji relating to trees (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Shuwa for ‘woods’

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

34

Instalment 4
In this part of the story students explored the concept of compound kanji with the use of ‘bamboo forest’ (竹林; takebayashi)
and again provided examples of other kanji in compound words (i.e., two kanji used to write a single word), coming up with
‘volcano’ (火山; kazan), ‘one small animal’ (一匹; ippiki) and ‘Japan’ (日本; Nihon), to name a few. The shuwa which reflects
both the object (i.e., bamboo) and the shape of the kanji brought forward much discussion about the origins of language,
both sign and oral (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Shuwa for ‘bamboo’

An additional focus was on pronunciation of both ‘scary’ (こわい; kowai) and ‘cute’ (かわいい; kawaii), where the initial
vowel sounds ‘o’ and ‘a’ after the initial consonant ‘k’ can easily be mispronounced, and the final extended ‘ii’ is alsoessential in the pronunciation to differentiate the meaning. These are common issues in pronunciation that students often
struggle with. Using the sign language with these adjectives seemed to enable students to be more aware of thesepronunciation issues and in this part of the story; using the shuwa not only supported comprehension but also improved
pronunciation of the adjectives.
Furthermore, through this discussion students began to take notice of the hiragana representation of long vowel sounds
not only in the adjective for ‘cute’ (かわいい; kawaii), but also in the words ‘yellow’ (きいいろ; kiiro) and ‘big’ (おおきい;
ookii) (Figure 8), which contain a similar long vowel.

Figure 8: Instalment 4 of Nekochan to Sakanasan

Instalment 5
The kanji focus in this instalment was on identifying different parts of kanji (called radicals) which often carry meaning that
contributes to the overall meaning of the character. In this instalment, the focus was specifically on the so-called ‘splash’
radical (representing the element ‘water’, occurring on the left side of the character) in the kanji for ‘sea’ (海; umi).
In addition, the students were asked to read more complex sentences using colour adjectives and sentences containing
words connected with the particle for ‘and’ (と; to) (Figure 9).

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

35

Figure 9: Instalment 5 of Nekochan to Sakanasan

The shuwa for ‘sea’ (海; umi) instigated a lot of discussion, particularly relating to the ‘splash’ radical and whether this kindof compound was also represented in the shuwa sign (Figure 10).

Figure 10: Shuwa for ‘sea’

Instalment 6
In this final instalment, the use of the ‘splash’ radical was further explored with the kanji for pond (池; ike) that also included
this water element, and students read more complex sentences comprising adjectives and nouns learned throughout thestory. At this point, the students were able to read with very little support, although they still used the shuwa to convey
the meaning (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Final instalment of Nekochan to Sakanasan

Introducing the shuwa for ‘pond’ led to a discussion around similarities in the shuwa for ‘tree’ (木; ki), ‘woods’ (林; hayashi)and ‘forest’ (森; mori), and whether this was consistent in other related vocabulary items, for example, bodies of water(Figure 12). Through these in-depth discussions around the structure of languages, the students not only developed theirunderstanding of Japanese language, but also expanded their cultural understandings of both Japanese oral and sign
language.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

36

Figure 12: Shuwa for ‘pond’

The creation of an original text as a foundation for the introduction of shuwa was successful, and creating this text
purposefully allowed us to align with the Australian Curriculum standards and incorporate the additional linguistic focal
points effectively, while maximising the support that shuwa provided. Certainly, it is worth the effort of creating a text tosuit student linguistic and developmental level and learning intentions.

Benefits and pitfalls
Benefits
At the end of this trial in Year 4, the students were able to read the full text with comprehension and did so with confidence.
They felt successful and this motivated them to want to learn even more. The inclusion of shuwa changed the atmosphereof the classroom to one where reading was not a passive activity, but rather a fun and high-energy kinaesthetic one.
Shuwa provided not only comprehension clues for students throughout the reading of the text, but turned the learning
process into a more active one, where students were involved both mentally and physically. Additionally, using shuwa
provided additional visual clues for learners who required additional support in their language learning.
The amount of cultural context underlying the shuwa also added a depth to the language learning that turned simple
vocabulary lessons into learning experiences. Students’ interest in similarities and differences between Japan andAustralia was piqued, particularly in relation to native animals (while learning the vocabulary for ‘bear’) and in the difference
between ‘woods’ (林; hayashi) and ‘forest’ (森; mori). By shifting the learning from incidental vocabulary to a sharedlearning experience, the students’ learning was deeper and more comprehensive.
One of the most positive outcomes of using shuwa in conjunction with the teaching of this unit was the commitment of
the students. Where traditional reading activities can lead to passivity and opportunities for students to disengage, using
shuwa meant that all students were participating in the moment and any disengagement was immediately apparent.
This allowed for maximum participation within the classroom and positively benefited the behaviour management of theclassroom.

Pitfalls
The major stumbling block in delving into the use of shuwa was in obtaining resources to learn the sign language, andin navigating the various ‘dialects’ and making decisions about which signs to use. NHK’s online shuwa dictionary2 wasa valuable resource, as was the website Shuwa Shuwa shushushu3, particularly due to its search function. In addition,
a number of texts were obtained from Japan, which provided further resources. There is still some concern, however,that the shuwa language is being respected and taught effectively given that the teachers using it are all self-taught. This
became particularly problematic in relation to particles and other grammatical items that did not have easily accessible
resources; in fact, in some cases it was necessary to view lengthy shuwa videos to identify signs that were being used
for particles.

23

https://www2.nhk.or.jp/signlanguage/
http://hs84.blog.jp/

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

37

In addition, there are some signs that, while a standard part of shuwa, are not appropriate for use in Australian schools.
These had to be modified (e.g., ‘brother’, which involves raising the middle finger of the hand, and ‘siblings’ which requires the
middle finger of both hands being raised multiple times). These modifications were made after discussion with colleagues
and based on similar but less offensive gestures (e.g., using the thumb, rather than the middle finger, as the thumb wasused for ‘father’ and ‘grandfather’ and therefore reflected the male line of the family).
The final pitfall has both negative and positive aspects. The learning achieved by the students over the course of this trial
meant that the future curriculum will need to be rewritten, as the students far surpassed expectations and accomplishednearly all the set work. Certainly, shuwa will continue to feature in these students’ learning as they are now quite competentsigners (to the extent of this text) and are keen to expand their physical vocabulary. One possible concern is that thestudents will become so dependent on the co-language of oral and sign that their oral language skills will deteriorate
without the physical support of shuwa. This is yet to be seen, but potentially a concern in the future.

Conclusion
Throughout this trial period, while shuwa was a focal point of the language learning, students were able to improve theiroral and reading skills as well, and the shuwa became a co-language that both supported comprehension and improved
communication. Student use of shuwa became almost automatic, but the most exciting result was the confidence withwhich they used oral language. The explicit instruction on the grammar in the teaching of this text led to an additional
benefit. The students became more comfortable in the use of grammatical particles, word order and sentence structure
and this carried on in subsequent teaching units. Whether this acquisition was a rote-learning process resulting fromexplicit instruction or involved acquisition at a deeper level is as yet unknown (Ellis 2002), and perhaps would justify future
work in this area with grammatical acquisition as an additional focal point.

Reference List
Casey, S., K. Emmorey and H. Larrabee. 2012. “The Effects of Learning American Sign Language on Co-speech Gesture.” Bilingualism: Language andCognition 1 5(4): 677-686.
Churchill, E., H. Okada, T. Nishino and D. Atkinson. 2010. “Symbiotic Gesture and the Sociocognitive Visibility of Grammar in Second Language
Acquisition.” The Modern Language Journal 94 (2): 234-253.
Ellis, R. 2002. “Grammar Teaching – Practice or Consciousness-raising.” In Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice, edited by J.
C. Richards, 167-174.
Gullberg, M. 2006. “Some Reasons for Studying Gesture and Second Language Acquisition (Hommage à Adam Kendon).” IRAL-International Review of Applied
Linguistics in Language Teaching 44 (2): 103-124.
Gullberg, M. 2010. “Methodological Reflections on Gesture Analysis in Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism Research.” Second Language
Research 26 (1): 75-102.
Hirata, Y. and S. D. Kelly. 2010. “Effects of Lips and Hands on Auditory Learning of Second Language Speech Sounds.” Journal of Speech, Language, andHearing Research 53 (2): 298-310.
Hirata, Y., S. D. Kelly, J. Huang and M. Manansala. 2014. “Effects of Hand Gestures on Auditory Learning of Second-language Vowel Length
Contrasts.” Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 57 (6): 2090-2101.
Mathison, L. 2017. “Balancing Direction and Independence in Second Language Vocabulary Learning: A Gesture Pilot.” Hispania 100 (2): 289–301.
McCafferty, S. 2002. “Gesture and Creating Zones of Proximal Development for Second Language Learning.” The Modern Language Journal 86 (2): 192-203.
Morett, L. M. 2014. “When Hands Speak Louder Than Words: The Role of Gesture in the Communication, Encoding, and Recall of Words in a Novel Second
Language.” The Modern Language Journal 98 (3): 834-853.
Porter, A. 2016. “A Helping Hand with Language Learning: Teaching French Vocabulary with Gesture.” The Language Learning Journal 44 (2): 236-256.
Rosborough, A. 2014. “Gesture, Meaning Making and Embodiment: Second Language Learning in an Elementary Classroom.” Journal of Pedagogy 5 (2): 227250.
Tellier, M. 2008. “The Effect of Gestures on Second Language Memorisation by Young Children.” Gesture 8 (2): 219-235.
Wakefield, E. and K. James. 2015. “Effects of Learning with Gesture on Children’s Understanding of a New Language Concept.” Developmental Psychology
51 (8): 1105-1114.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

38

オーストラリアと日本の子どもたちをつなぐ
テレコラボレーションプロジェクト(Using telecollaboration
to connect Australianand Japanese children:
A case study)
SHINJI OKUMURA (奥村 真司)
Mukogawa Women’s University (Hyogo)
MASAE UEKUSA (植草 雅絵)
Tecoma Primary School (Vic)

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to report an attempt of asynchronous telecollaboration amongst Japanese and Australianprimary school students. Using an educational social networking site (SNS), students introduced typical cultural eventsfrom their own countries in written language. Observing students’ engagement and reviewing their reflections, it was
acknowledged that exchanging cultural information on the SNS became an authentic and meaningful opportunity in learning
foreign languages (FLs). Moreover, the telecollaboration project enabled many students to enhance their motivation inlearning FLs and understanding different cultures. Conclusively, telecollaboration amongst primary school students canbe significant for enhancing FL learning and triggering intercultural understanding (IU), and thus, a telecollaboration project
beyond borders is recommended for FL education for young learners.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

39

はじめに
これからの小学校外国語教育においては、コンピューターやタブレットなどの情報通信技術（Information
Communication Technology: ICT）機器のさらなる拡充が期待される。とりわけ、Web 2.0 テクノロジーに着目すると、Facebook、Twitter などに代表されるソーシャルネットワークサービス（Social Network Service: SNS）は、国や地域の境界を越えたオンライン上での人々のつながりを容易にしている。言語教育の現場においても、SNS を活用したオン
ラインコミュニケーションは、当該目標言語を使用または学習する相手に対して実際に使用するというオーセンティッ
クな言語活用の機会を提供するものとなる。また、その活動に文化理解的要素を取り込み、学習者同士が協働的学びを行うことによって、異文化理解向上の機会となる。このようなオンライン上での協働的学びは、「テレコラボレーション」と位置づけられている。Belz（2003: 2） は、テレコラボレーションを「外国語学習と異文化理解のために、言語文化
教育のエキスパート（例えば教師）による指導のもとに体系化された電子媒体による異文化間コミュニケーション」であると定義づけている。
言語教育におけるテレコラボレーションの有効性は、さまざまな研究者によって述べられている。言語教育に関して、
例えば Barrs（2012）は、テレコラボレーションは、教室外で目標言語の話者と継続的につながることのできる便利で有効な場となると主張している。また、Pinkman（2005）は、実在の相手が存在する SNS にメッセージやコメントを書くという活動は、意味のあるオーセンティックなライティング活動であると述べている。異文化理解については、曺（2006）
は、日韓の小学生を対象としたテレコラボレーションの活動が、双方の児童が相手の国の文化を理解することの促進につながったと述べている。
本稿では、現在の外国語教育における ICT 活用の重要性と外国との積極的な相互交流の機会の有効性に鑑み、試験的に導入した小学校外国語教育におけるテレコラボレーションプロジェクトの概要、成果ならびに課題を報告する。

背景
ビクトリア州では、政府の方針として言語教育とICT活用の連携を推進している。具体的には、ビクトリア州の教育課程であるビクトリアン・カリキュラム（Victorian Curriculum）において、ICT は言語教育を推進する強力な道具であると述べている（Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2018）。また、Victorian Curriculum and Assessment
Authority（2018）は、ICT を活用したコミュニケーションという側面について、ブログ、SNS やバーチャルクラスルームな
どのデジタル教材を活用したオンラインコラボレーションを推奨している。さらには、このような ICT の活用によって、ビクトリア州の子どもたちが、国境を越えた他の国や地域の子どもたちとつながり、オーセンティックな言語使用と異文化理解の貴重な体験ができると期待している。
日本語教育実践に焦点を当てた場合、日本とのつながりについて意識することも肝要である。オーストラリアの日本語教育においては、日本語母語話者との接触場面が極めて少ないことから日本とのつながりを実感しにくく、日本語教
師はさまざまな工夫をしている。その一つに、ICT を積極的に活用したネイティブ・スピーカーとの交流促進が挙げられる。例えば、ビクトリア州のいくつかの小学校では、日本の公立小学校とビデオ会議システムを活用した交流活動を行っている（奥村 2016）。ビクトリア州では、教育政策および現場での実践において、ICT の活用は外国語学習と密接につながっており、
今後もますます拡充される領域であるといえる。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

40

日本においても、文部科学省が、2014年に「グローバル化に対応した英語教育改革実施計画」（文部科学省2014）を公表し、英語を最優先外国語とした言語教育政策を推進している。とりわけ、2020年全面実施の新学習指導要領では、英語教育の開始が中学年（第3、4学年）に引き下げられ、「外国語活動」として音声重視の活動が行われる。また、新規に導入される高学年（第5、6学年）のための教科「外国語」では、「読む」、「書く」を加えた4技能を扱う。文部科
学省は、小学校英語教育の充実に向けて、ICT を活用した情報通信ネットワーク等を通した国内外の様々な学校との交流を推奨している（文部科学省 2016）。
両国の小学校外国語教育における ICT の活用の推進に鑑みれば、日本語と英語を媒介とするテレコラボレーション
は、日本語学習者および英語学習者の双方にとって、オーセンティックな言語活動を提供する貴重な機会となりえるであろう。また、このような機会がさまざまな学校に広がることによって、オーストラリアと日本間の相互尊重、相互理解にもつながると考える。

テレコラボレーションプロジェクトの概要
意義
小学校の外国語学習におけるプロジェクト学習型テレコラボレーションの活動事例はまだ少ない。したがって、異文化理解としての小学校間テレコラボレーションを計画し実行すること、またその効果および課題を検証することは、ICTを活用した小学校の外国語教育における世界とのつながりの発展に寄与すると考える。
参加者
本プロジェクトへの参加児童は、オーストラリア側は、ビクトリア州の公立小学校の 5、6学年 3クラスの 70名であった。
すべてが初級日本語学習者であり、事前のアンケート調査によると、学外（課外）においても日本語を学んでいる熱心な児童は、わずか 6％で、31%の児童にとっては異なる言語や文化に触れる機会は学校のみであった。日本側は、東京都の公立小学校の 6学年 1クラス、初級英語学習者の 32名であった。事前アンケート調査では、43% の児童が課外でも英語を学習しており、56％が外国人と英語で接触する機会を持っていた。指導者として、日本の小学校は学級担任
1名、オーストラリアの小学校は、日本人の日本語専科教師 1名が参加した。
使用サイト
本プロジェクトでは、教育用 SNS である Edmodo (www.edmodo.com) を使用した。Edmodo は、2008年に米国で開発された無料の教育用サイトで、英語だけでなく日本語を含めた複数の言語をサポートしている。Edmodo は主に、幼稚園から高校までの児童・生徒を対象とし、学習者、教師、保護者がともに学習を推進、管理するための機能が盛り込まれている。Edmodo では、個人の学習や管理だけでなく、グループ学習も行うことができる。グループの掲示板に文字を書き込むことができる他、写真や動画、また他のサイトのリンクを掲載することもできる。掲示板では、相手の投稿に直接コメントするのみでなく、「いいね」（英語版では、‘like’）の機能を使って、相手の投稿に対して、面白い、気に入ったなどの感情を表すことができる。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

41

また、グループコードを共有することによって、様々な国や地域の学校の児童生徒がオンライン学習コミュニティを形成し、交流できるようになる。
本プロジェクトにおける Edmodo の使用理由は、登録した教師および児童のみでの活動ができる安全性と、ビクトリア
州の小学校で、すでに、さまざまな教科の授業において、Edmodo を活用していることである。

図1 Edmodo のインターフェイス（サンプル）

準備段階
外国語教育における ICT 活用の重要性と海外との積極的な交流機会の模索に鑑み、日本での小学校教員経験があり、現在日本およびオーストラリアの小学校外国語教育の研究を行っている言語教育研究者（筆者）が、自分自身の大学の英語教育でのテレコラボレーションの実践経験をもとに、小学校外国語教育におけるテレコラボレーションの可能性を模索すべく、プロジェクトを立ち上げた。このプロジェクトには、私的教育機関のスタッフおよび Edmodo 社のスタッフも参加し、チームによってはじめに原案が作成された。原案では、児童の外国語学習に対する負担を考慮し、児童が好きなもの、好きなことなどを目標言語で紹介しあう活動を取り入れた。
その後、言語教育研究者が知っている日本とオーストラリアの小学校各 1校に計画を打診し、プロジェクト実施について両校の学校長の許可を得た。その際、日本の小学校には、Edmodo について、その安全性や機能を説明し、Edmodo
を使用することへの了解も得た。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

42

プロジェクトが正式に各学校によって認可された後、このプロジェクトを担当することになった教員にプロジェクトの原案を提示し理解を求めたが、日本の小学校の校長並びに担当教員から、日本の小学校学習指導要領の内容を踏まえ、社会科との連携を図った文化紹介の活動を行いたいとの希望があり、オーストラリアの日本語教師の同意を得て、文化紹介を扱うテレコラボレーションを行うこととなった。
活動時間および内容の設定については、各小学校のカリキュラムを考慮し、各学校の担当教員にとって過度な負担を与えることのないようにし、プロジェクトチームと各教師が連携し意見交換をしながら、具体的な内容や必要となる教材等を決定していった。
到達目標
児童の到達目標としては、テレコラボレーションによる国際交流活動において、文化紹介の活動を通して、オーストラリ
アと日本の児童が、異文化理解能力と目標言語学習への意欲を高めることである。
実践
すべての準備が整った 2017年11月から12月の2か月間に本プロジェクトは実践された。活動の内容は、表1が示す通りで
ある。
活動内容
事前活動

事前アンケートに回答をする。

1時間目

Edmodo の使い方を知る。
（日本の児童のみ）

2時間目

個人学習として「自分の国らしいと思う行事」を調べ、小グループで共有する。

3時間目

小グループで行事を1つ選択し、それぞれの目標言語2、3文と画像・絵を盛り込んだ各々の文化を紹介する資料を作成し、掲示板に投稿する。

4時間目

相手の投稿を閲覧し、相手の国の行事について学習し、理解を深める。

事後活動

事後アンケートに回答する。

表1 プロジェクトの活動内容

本プロジェクトは、両校児童の外国語学習および異文化理解に関する実態を把握するために、事前アンケートを両校で行った。アンケートには、「日本語（英語）の学習は好きか」、「外国の文化に興味があるか」、「学校以外で、日本語（英語）を学習する機会はあるか」、「学校以外で日本語（英語）を話す機会はあるか」などの質問を盛り込み、児童の外国語学習への興味・関心と学校外での外国語学習および異文化体験の有無について調査した。アンケートの質問項
目は、日本語、英語ともに同内容とした。
前述の通り、プロジェクトに参加したビクトリア州の小学校では、すでに、さまざまな教科の授業において Edmodo を活用しており、児童はその使用に慣れていた。一方、日本の小学校では、SNS 自体使用している児童が少なく、SNS への投稿の仕方、写真等のアップロードの仕方など基本的な操作への理解が必要であったことから、１時間目に Edmodoの使い方について学ぶ時間を設定した。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

43

2時間目では、はじめに双方の教師が、交流相手の国の児童に自国の文化を紹介するという本プロジェクトの活動の目的を説明し、どのようなものが自国らしい文化であり、何を相手の国の児童に紹介するかをグループで話し合い決めてもらった。その後、決定した内容をどのように説明するか、それぞれの第1言語で考えた。
3時間目では、児童が2時間目で考えた文化の内容を目標言語に変換するとともに、Edmodo 上で紹介するための資料を作成した。オーストラリアの児童は、普段の授業でコンピューターを使用する頻度が高くパワーポイントの使用になれているため、資料作成のためにパワーポイントを使用した。文化紹介の題材として、オーストラリア特有の文化といえる「オーストラリア・デー」1 や「オーストラリアン・ルールズ・フットボール」2、またオーストラリアだけでなく一般的な西洋文化である「ハロウィン」、「クリスマス」、「イースター」も取り上げた（図2）。
日本の児童は、ワードプロセッサーの使用に慣れていないため、画用紙を使用した手書きのものを作成した。文化紹介の英文を作成する際、児童の英語能力を考慮し、担任教師が英文作成のための資料を作成し、児童に提示した（図3参照）。紹介する文化としては、「正月」や「七五三」などに加えて、青森県の「ねぶた祭」など全国的に有名な祭を紹介するグループもあった（図4）。
投稿後、双方の児童は、相手の国の児童による投稿に対して「いいね」の機能を使って、相手の投稿に対して好意的な感情を示したり、「たのしそう」、「おもしろそう」などという簡単な日本語または英語でコメントをしたりした。
4時間目では、Edmodo の掲示板で相手国の児童が紹介した文化について、児童がグループで考えを共有し、文化紹介の伝え方の良かった点と相手国の文化の特色について意見をまとめ発表した。
全ての活動終了後、本プロジェクトを通した外国語学習および異文化理解に対する児童の意識の変容を探るため振り返りアンケートを両校で実施した。事後アンケートには、このプロジェクトを通して、「外国語学習にさらなる興味・関心を持ったか」、「自国文化にさらなる興味・関心を持ったか」、「外国文化にさらなる興味・関心を持ったか」などの質問を盛り込んだ。アンケートの質問項目は、事前アンケート同様、日本語、英語ともに同内容とした。

図 2 オーストラリア人児童により作成された文化紹介の資料例

1	毎年1月26日にオーストラリアの人々が祝う国民の祝日であり、オーストラリアの建国記念の日にあたる。1788年1月26日にイギリス艦隊がシドニー・コーブに到着した事に因んで定められた。
2	ラグビーを基にしてルールが定められたオーストラリア式のフットボールであり、オ ーストラリアでは、最も古い歴史を持つとともに最も人気がある。毎年 9月には、9万人以上の観衆を集めるグランドファイナル（決勝戦）がメルボルンで行われる。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

44

図3 英文作成のための資料

図 4 日本人児童により作成された文化紹介の資料例

児童の反応
事後アンケートの結果から、双方の国の児童の多くは、今回のプロジェクトを楽しい経験と捉えていた。オーストラリ
ア側では、外国にいる日本の子どもたちとインターネットを通して交流でき、外国人との新たなつながりを楽しいものと認識している児童が多くみられた。この点においては、本プロジェクトの到達目標はおおむね達成できたと考えている。この根拠となる児童によるコメント例を紹介する。なお、児童名は仮名である。
Emma: It’s fun because we got to work in a group and see what Japanese kids do in English.
Justin: We get to share things with kids our age that live in a different place.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

45

日本側では、英語学習や外国文化理解へのさらなる興味関心の高まりを示す児童が多くみられた。具体的なコメント
例は以下の通りである。なお、名前は仮名を使用している。
さとし：エドモドをやって、もっと英語を話したいし、英語が分かったら、世界の見かたも変わるし、英語が楽しいともっと思える。
ともこ：日本と全然違う文化とかもあれば、少し似ているものもあって、面白い。外国の文化はまだまだ知らないのがあり、もっと知りたいと思い、興味を持った。

一方、双方の児童の中には、外国語学習そのものに否定的な見方をするものもいたことも注視すべきである。具体的なコメントには次のようなものがあった。
Jeff: (I don’t want to learn Japanese) because I won’t use this language in the future.
ゆうた：エドモドは楽しかったけど、英語は苦手だし、使いたいとは思わない。

成果と課題
テレコラボレーションを実践した双方の教師による振り返りから、本プロジェクトの成果と課題を述べる。
成果
オーストラリア側の成果の一つに、児童が、自分達の投稿に対して、日本人児童から「いいね」やコメントを受け取ることができ、タイムラグなく相手の反応を見ることができたことによって有意義な交流となったことが挙げられる。とりわ
け、「いいね」の機能は、目標言語を書くことに慣れていない外国語学習初級者同士の交流でも、相手に自分の感情を示すことができる点において有効であったと考える。
また、教師は、活動の進捗状況を確認しながら、指導や計画を随時調整できたことから、SNS を活用したコミュニケー
ション活動を取り入れることによって、言語教育の柔軟性と利便性を高めることができるという可能性を認識した。
日本側の成果としては、振り返りアンケートの結果から、多くの児童が、外国語でのコミュニケーションの楽しさを感じることができたことがある。それは、通常の外国語活動の授業での日本人児童同士によるコミュニケーションとは異なる、外国人とのつながりを喜び活動する態度として観察された。さらには、外国人との実際のコミュニケーション活動
体験が、英語学習へのさらなる興味関心へとつながり、プロジェクト終了後、児童がアルファベットを書く活動を空き時間等に自主的に取り組む様子が見られるようになった。このような日本人児童の変容は、英語を書くことへの意欲向上と認められる。
課題
一方、本プロジェクトには、双方の学校に共通する課題も見出された。その一つは、事前準備段階において教師による積極的な交流ができなかったことである。今回の実践では、現場教師の忙しさを理由に、計画についてはプロジェクト
チーム主導で行い、内容の連絡調整については、チームの担当者が、それぞれの教師とやりとりをした。事前準備段階

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

46

から、教師同士が自己紹介を含めた交流を行いながら、プロジェクトについての意見交換やそれぞれの児童の実態等の情報交換ができればよかったと考えている。今回のプロジェクトの指導者がどちらも日本人であったことの利点を教師の相互交流、相互理解に活かすことができなかった。
プロジェクトにおける児童の活動は、文化紹介に特化したが、児童による活発なコミュニケーションのためには、自己紹介などの児童に身近な内容を取り上げた活動内容が妥当であったと考える。文化紹介等は教科統合（今回の場合、外国語と社会科）の側面が強いが、教科統合に関連するトピックについては、語彙の難易度が上がってしまう場合がある。それぞれの外国語学習のレベルと児童の実態を考慮した上で、テレコラボレーションで扱うトピックやタスクを考える必要もある。

おわりに本プロジェクトが示した通り、外国語学習におけるテレコラボレーションによる体験的な活動は、伝える相手が実在し、伝える内容が明確であることによって、言語や文化への関心意欲の高まり、そして目標言語と異文化理解能力の向上の大きなきっかけとなると考える。また、テレコラボレーションよって、世界の子どもたちがつながり、交流することは、外国語や文化に対する意欲や能力を高めるだけでなく、外国語学習のボーダーレス化を実感させてくれるのであろう。

参考文献
奥村真司（2016）「オーストラリアの外国語教育における日本とのつながり」日本比較教育学会第52回大会
曹圭福（2006）「日韓小学生間の E-mail 交流授業における異文化コミュニケーション 能力の分析」『日本教育工学会論文誌』2006 年 30 巻 1 号、59-67
文部科学省（2014）「今後の英語教育の改善・充実方策について 報告～グローバル化に対応した英語教育改革の五つの提言～」<http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chousa/shotou/102/houkoku/attach/1352464.htm> 2018 年5月15日参照
文部科学省（2016）「外国語教育における ICT の活用について（たたき台）（現状と今後の方向性）」<http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo3/058/siryo/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2016/05/25/1371098_5.pdf> 2018年2月10日参照
Barrs, K. 2012. Fostering Computer-mediated L2 Interaction Beyond the Classroom. Language Learning & Technology, 16 (1): 10-25.
Belz, J. A. 2003. From the Special Issue Editor. Language Learning & Technology 7 (2): 2-5.
O’Dowd, R. 2011. “Intercultural communicative competence through telecollaboration.” In The Routledge Handbook of Language and Intercultural
Communication, edited by J. Jackson, 342-358. Abingdon: Routledge.
Pinkman, K. 2005. “Using Blogs in the Foreign Classroom: Encouraging Learner Independence.” The JALCALL Journal 1 (1): 12-24.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). 2018. Victorian Curriculum. Accessed 29 October, 2018.
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/Pages/default.aspx.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

47

日本語学習者のための Hands-on
体験型教材:「発見」体験を創出する教材をめざして(Developing hands-on
materials for Japanese
language learners:
creating ‘a-ha’ momentswith teaching materials)
AYAKO WADA (和田 綾子)
Konan Women's University (Hyogo)

Abstract
It is important for teachers to find a motivator for their learners that leads them to continue learning Japanese positively
and autonomously, especially when they are JFL (Japanese as a foreign language) students. The key is to ask “How
can teachers create the conditions within which learners will motivate themselves?”, not “How can teachers motivate
learners?” To create these conditions, more ‘a-ha’ moments are needed in the learning experience. The hands-on material
called “The Japan Pack” aims to do just this; through it, students are able to discover new language and culture througheveryday items, increasing their skill in the Japanese language. These everyday items introduce more usable language,
hence making different cultures interesting, more accessible and more relatable to learners. Furthermore, they create
a better understanding of Japanese culture and society and allow students to rediscover their own culture and society
through the experience. This leads to a more sustainable integrative orientation and intrinsic motivation.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

48

はじめに
本稿は、
「学習者をいかに主体的に学習に向かわせるか」という問題意識のもとに実施した実践を報告するものである。JSL（Japanese as a second language）ではなくJFL（Japanese as a foreign language）として学ぶため、動機づけがより難しい海外の日本語学習者を、「ことばを学ぶこと」と「発見体験」を結びつけることにより、より主体的に学習できることをめざした「日本語学習者のための hands-on 体験型教材―日本パック」とその実践について報告する。

動機づけに関する先行理論 －「学習者を動機づける」とは海外における JFL としての日本語教育の場では、「教師は学習者をどのように動機づければ良いのだろうか？」という問いに常にさらされる。さらに言うならば、「他者をどのように動機づけるか」ではなく、「どのようにすれば他者が自らを動機づける条件を生み出せるか」（デシ・フラスト 1999）という問いから逃れられない。海外の中等教育レベル（中学生・高校生）の学習者に日本語を主体的に学んでほしい、日本文化への一過性の興味だけでなく、持続的に「日本」と「日本語」への興味を持ってほしいと望むとき、我々は学習者を報酬によって、罰によって、強制によって学習に向かわせようとすることがある。しかし、そのような方法で一時的に動機づけられたとしても、その意欲は長続きしない。
第二言語学習における動機づけ研究では、その言語を学習する気にさせる原動力になっている動機は「統合的動機づけ（integrative motivation）」「道具的動機づけ（instrumental motivation）」と呼ばれる。その言語を使う集団とコミュニケーションしたい、その社会や文化を知りたいという理由に支えられるのが「統合的動機づけ」で、良い成績や仕事を得るためなどの損得、実利的な理由に支えられるのが「道具的動機づけ」である。フランス語と英語という2つの異なる言語・文化的背景を持つ環境でカナダ人学習者に対する動機づけ研究を行ったガードナーとランバート（Gardner and Lambert 1972）は、統合的動機づけを持つ学習者の方が第二言語学習に成功しやすいと考えたが、学習者の置かれた状況、条件などにより結果には異なりがあるようだ。
例えば、日本語学習者の動機づけについての調査では、中国の大学の日本語学科で学ぶ学習者を対象としたものがあり、道具的動機づけ（将来日系企業に就職し、日本の大学院に進学したいなど）が高い学習者の方が成績が良いという結果が出ている（郭、全 2006）。和田、宋（2012）は、学習動機と継続的な学習の関連性について、韓国人の日本語学習者を対象に調査を行ったが、その結果、統合的志向（integrative orientation）による日本語学習者は、学習を継続する傾向が高く、道具的志向（instrumental orientation）による日本語学習者は学習を継続する傾向が低いことが分かった。また、JSL と JFL の動機づけと学習の継続性の関係について韓国人日本語学習者を対象として調査した李（2003）によると、動機づけにおいては JSL日本語学習者は JFL 日本語学習者よりも高いにも関わらず、その高い動機が持続しない。その理由の一つとして JFL の学習者は JSL の学習者より自己効力感を感じにくいことが指摘され、JFL の学習者の動機づけを持続させるためには自己効力感を感じさせる環境づくりが重要であることが示されている。
教育心理学の分野における動機づけ理論の一つ、自己決定理論（self-determination theory）（Deci and Ryan 2002）
では、動機づけを、自己決定の度合いが低く、「家族や教師に勧められたから」「必修科目だから」などの、外部からのある種の強制によって他律的に取り組む「外発的」に動機づけられた（外発的動機づけ extrinsic motivation）状態か
ら、知的好奇心や楽しさを感じたことから生じる積極的、自律的に自ら進んで「学びたい」という「内発的」な動機づけ（内発的動機づけ intrinsic motivation）に移行していく段階的なプロセスと捉えている。そして、この学習者の動機づけの発達を促すための条件として「自律性の欲求」「有能感への欲求」「関係性の欲求」の 3つを満たすことが重要だと考えられている。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

49「自律性の欲求」とは自分の行動を自己決定し責任感を持ちたいという欲求であり、「有能感への欲求」とは自分自身への自信や自分の能力を示すことへの欲求で、「関係性の欲求」とは周囲の人々や社会と密接に関わりたいという欲求のことだが、これらの欲求が満たされると、学習者は内発的に動機づけられるとされる。
日本語学習場面においては、「自律性の欲求」が満たされた状態とは、自らニーズや興味を認識し、日本語学習を自らが選択している状態、「有能感への欲求」が満たされた状態とは、日本語使用によって何事かを成し遂げること、それによって得られる達成感、「関係性の欲求」とは、日本語や日本文化・社会、日本語使用者あるいは日本語指導者との関係性が満たされた状態というように置き換えられるだろう。ターゲット言語である日本語との接触・日本語体験のほとんどが教室内での活動に限られ、この 3つの欲求を環境の中で満たされにくい JFL の学習者の場合は、「外発的動機づけ」から「内発的動機づけ」への動機づけプロセスについて意識し、これらの 3つの欲求を満たすようにすることが、より重要だと考えられる。
これらの先行研究と、海外の日本語学習者についての調査結果を併せ考えると、学習者の所属する社会と日本との関係、日本の国際社会の中での経済的・政治的な位置、学習者の所属する社会自体の変化に伴い、学習者にとっての日
本語の位置づけは移り変わっていくものであり、動機づけを道具的なものに求めても、統合的なものに求めても、それは脆弱なものだと言わざるを得ない。また、国・地域、教育段階によって、学習を成功へ導く動機が異なる上に、海外の日本語学習者の最も大きい層である初等・中等教育レベルの日本語学習者にとって、進学・就職・昇給が報酬として常に有効に働くとは考えにくい。
そこで、もっと根本的に学ぶことの楽しさに立ち返ることができ、なおかつ日本語に対する動機づけ、特に「内発的動機づけ」を高めるためのメソッドとして、体験型教材を開発し、これを活用した授業実践を行った。

体験型教材のコンセプト
内発的動機づけ（intrinsic motivation）は、「活動することそれ自体がその活動の目的であるような行為の過程、つまり、活動それ自体に内在する報酬のために行う行為の過程」（デシ・フラスト 1999）を意味するが、これを日本語学習に当てはめると、日本語を学ぶ活動それ自体の中に「好奇心」
「楽しさ」
「体験」
「達成感」を学習者が自律的に見出せるということになるだろう。それを可能にする学習活動に欠かせないことは「発見（‘aha moment’）」ではないだろうか。日本語による「発見」の瞬間を学習活動の中に組み込むために、「モノ」と「ことば」を組み合わせて「発見」に導く活動を意識的に教材化した。
「ことば」は身近で日常的なものであり、「生活」したり「思考」したりするために使う道具である。言語学習においては、「ことば」の役割として強調されるのはコミュニケーションの道具としての役割である。そしてその次には、思考の道具としての役割であろう。しかし、「ことば」は、知らなかったことの「発見」と「理解」のための道具でもあるだろう。
体験型教材を開発するにあたり、「ことば」の「発見と理解」の役割を重視し、次の 3点をコンセプトの柱とした。
 まず、①何かの「ための」日本語学習ではなく、単純に「おもしろい」と思える活動をめざすこと、 そして、②ステレオタイプを強化するオリエンタリズムとしての日本文化の強調ではなく、身近なものにこそ

生きた文化や価値観が現れ、そこにこそ発見があると考えること、 最後に、③日本文化・社会への興味が「日本語」学習のおもしろさや達成感につながるように、身近な文化を「体験」し「発見」する場を作り、その「発見体験」には「ことば」の介在があること、である。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

50

教材を作成し、実践をする際、常に意識すべきことはことばを使用した学習体験と日本語による発見である。
体験と発見がしやすいように、教材作成の際には、「自文化の知識」「現在の日本語知識」「現在の日本文化理解」を利用しながら、体験教材を「見る」「触る」「読む」そして「推測」することができるもの、そして、「考える」「比較する」「感動する」「不思議に思う」「おもしろがる」などの活動が起こりやすいように「日本語で日本文化・社会を発見する」体験と「自分の所属する文化・社会を再考する」体験が作りやすい「モノ」で構成することを意識した。

教材作成上の留意点―日本語教育と博物館教育の融合
教材作成には、博物館のアウトリーチ教育のための hands-on materials（資料を館外へ貸し出すためのスーツケースキット）の手法（中牧・森茂・多田 2009）を取り入れ、「日本語教育」のためのアウトリーチ教材として体験型教材「日本パック」（図1、2）を作成した。博物館のアウトリーチ教育のためのスーツケースキットは、「実物を見に行くことができない人のために、実物を持ち込む」という考え方だが、この考え方を適用した「日本パック」は、
「個人的」
「直接的」
「体験的」な日本・日本語との出会と発見の場を JFL の教室に持ち込むという手法だ。
「日本パック」を作成するにあたって、留意したのは以下の点である。まず、管理しやすく、モジュールとしても使いやすくするために、すべてのアイテムに番号をつけ、また、モジュールごとにアイテムカード（図3）を作成した。
また、「本物」’authentic’ であることも JFL の教室では大事であると考え、アイテムは「本物」を揃えた。食品や化粧品などは、パッケージの形態やそこに描かれた絵や写真などの視覚情報をヒントにして、日本語の文字情報を読み、理解するという日本語使用場面を教室に持ち込むことができる典型的なアイテムである。日本で日本語を使用して生活している場面を生き生きと想像できる活動でもあろう。しかし、「本物」であるため、使用期限がある内容物の処理が必要である。そこで、これらのアイテムの作成、管理には博物館学専門の教員の協力を仰いだ。博物館では、「本物」を展示するために、中身が「ある」ように中身を取り除く方法が使用されている。取り除いた跡が分からないように開封し、内容物を取り出し、内側を洗浄し、あたかも中身がそのままであるかのように代替物を詰めるという処理を施した。
また、「文化」だけにフォーカスするのではなく、文化の発見に「ことば」を使うもの、「ことば」へのフォーカスをさせやすいものをアイテムに選ぶことも意識した。文化体験だけでなく言語活動がそこにある「ことばを使用した学習体験」が実現できるアイテムを選択した。さらに、学習者が母語・自分の文化で持っている知識が有効に使えるように、身近に感じられる「モノ」を選ぶことも重要である。身近であること／身近に感じられることにより比較の視点を持ちやすいからである。

実践例「日本パック」は 2014年から実際に使用及び貸出を始め、これまでに、韓国の高等学校での実践、オーストラリアの高等学校への貸出と実践、インドネシアの高等学校への貸出での実践がある（表1）。本稿では、韓国、そしてオーストラ
リアでの実践例を報告する。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

51

韓国での実践例
韓国では、東国大学校師範大学附属女子高等学校で筆者が実践を行った。この高等学校では、選択授業としての日本語クラスが週1回（50分授業）設置されており、実践した際は、高校2年生クラス29名と高校 3年生クラス 23名の編成であった。学習者のレベルは入門～初級で、日本語を独習している学習者も数名いた。それぞれのクラスで1時間ずつ、「日本パック」を使用した授業を実施した。
学習目標は「パッケージの日本語を読み取る」「語呂合わせ・オノマトペを理解する」「自分の国の受験文化と比較する」とし、授業は次の手順で行った。
まず、持参した「日本パック」のスーツケースを見せ、「スーツケースの中に何があるでしょう？」と問いかけ、学習へと動機づけた。次に、スーツケースの中から「日本の高校生のカバン」を取り出し、身近で日常的なものを自分の経験をもとに「予測」し「発見」する作業を行った。これは、学習者自身の生活経験を学習に生かすことと、「ある日本の高校生のカバン」を見せることにより、日本・日本語・日本人との個人的なつながりを感じさせることを意図している。そして、「合格祈願おかし」を読み解く活動を、ワークシート（図4）を使用したグループワークとして実施した。
韓国では日本と同様、あるいはそれ以上に「大学受験」が高校生の生活の中で、大きな関心事である。そこで「受験文化」を比較し、自文化の再発見へと促す意図もあり、「合格祈願おかし」のアイテムを使用した。グループワークでは実際に「モノ」を手に取り、パッケージに書かれている文字を読み取り、情報を集めてワークシートに答えなければならな
いため、学習者一人一人が、主体的に関わり、また、入門レベルの学習者であっても、自分の国の「受験文化」という知識と、目の前にある「モノ」とそこに書かれてある「日本語」から読み取れる情報を組み合わせて、主体的に活動に参加することができる。
授業後に学習者へのアンケートを実施した。活動についての感想を自由に記述するアンケート項目では、ほとんどの学
習者が「日本パック」を使用した活動を肯定的に捉えていることが分かる記述があった。
「とてもおもしろかったし、次もまたこんな活動が多くあればいいと思います」「（パックの中身）すべてが不思議で、絶対日本に旅行に行きたい」「直接、日本の物を持って来てくれて、生き生きと感じることができたし、日本についてもっと勉強したいという気持ちになりました」「とても不思議で楽しく、新しい時間でした」「日本の高校生がどんなふうなのかわかっておもしろかった」「双方向の疎通の授業が楽しかった。特に食べ物体験がよかった」「完全にいちばんいい経験になりました。日本に行って、探訪しながら過ごしたいです」「たびたびこんな活動があったらいいと思います」「おもしろかったし不思議なものが多かった」など、体験をとおして日本や日本語とつながりを感じられたことへの言及と、活動での達成感の獲得を示すコメントが得られた。

オーストラリアでの実践例
オーストラリアでは、Port Lincoln High School Year 8 (Y8)（中学2年生相当）の選択科目としての日本語のクラスで実践を行った。この実践はTAとして派遣されていた田中亜衣さんに依頼し実施した（田中亜衣さんは筆者が担当する日本
語教員養成課程の卒業生）。Y8 のクラスは 19名の編成で、学習者は入門レベルであった。学習目標は「日本パックの中身が何か、どうやって使うか、何が違うか発見する」とし、スーツケースの中の以下の 5つのアイテムを使用した。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

52①スクールバッグ（教科書、書道セット、お弁当箱）②筆箱③化粧ポーチ④合格グッズ⑤制服、ファッション雑誌
授業は、次の手順で行った。まず、ワークシート（上記の①～⑤のアイテムについて「パッケージに何が書いてあるか」「初めて見るものはあるか」「オーストラリアのものと違うところは」などを問うもの。授業実施者が作成）を配り、各グ
ループのテーブルにパックの中身を置く。次に4～5人のグループで「モノ」を手に取り、情報を読み取り、ワークシートの問いに答えていく。そして最後に、活動のフィードバックを行った。
オーストラリアでの実践の場合、Y8のクラスだったため、また文化的・社会的背景が日本とは大きく異なるため、「合格祈願おかし」などを読み解くのは難しかったことが問題点として挙げられる。一方、「制服」は着用することも可能で、「毎日着るのか？」「公立でもこのような制服があるのか？」「スカートは短くしてもいいのか？」など疑問を持ち、良い反応が見られた。
学習者に人気があったものとしては、まず、気軽に触ることができ、自分たちのものと「同じだが違う」ところがおもし
ろい「文房具」、そして、2段重ねで、お箸も内蔵することができるなど構造が面白く、「バラン」や「たれびん」など小物も豊富な「お弁当箱」、最後に不思議な「モノ」が入っている「化粧ポーチ」だった。
「化粧ポーチ」の内容物の中で、特に「アイプチテープ」に興味を持った学習者が多く、「なぜ二重まぶたにしたいのか？」という疑問が生まれ、ここには、自文化、そして異文化への気づき、比較の視点の萌芽が見られる。
実際に使用した田中さんからは、「学習者たちが今まで見たことないものをどのように扱うか、取り入れるかというのが一番の課題だった。説明だけの授業にはしたくないが、限界もあり、Y8 の場合ひらがなを読んで考えるというのも難しい」というフィードバックを得た。

体験型教材「日本パック」の課題
貸出も含めた実践から、課題が見えてきた。まず、教室の中に「今」実際に使用されている本物の「モノ」を持ち込むという意味から、改訂が必要であるということだ。ただし、アイテムはモジュール化されているため「日本パック」の内容を一度に全て入れ替える必要はなく、「教科書」や「制服」のように長期で使用可能なものと、「スクールバッグ」「化粧ポーチ」のようにその時の社会の様子や流行が反映されやすく、一定の期間ごとに改訂が必要なものがある。したがって、モジュールごとに必要に応じてアップデートすればよい。
次に、使用する国、機関、学習者の年齢などによるアイテムとその使用法の調整が必要であるという点だ。今回は中等レベルの学習者向けとして作成したため、「日本の高校生」の生活を感じられるような内容構成にしているが、初等レベル向け、中学生向けには、またそれに合わせた内容構成が必要となる。
また、媒介言語の使用も学習者に合わせて調節する必要がある。これまでの実践では、学習者が自ら「モノ」に書かれてある日本語情報を読み解くことも意識したが、学習者が「発見」を体験することを重視しているため、媒介言語もある程度使用している。韓国での実践後のアンケートには「先生が韓国語を使ったので、大きな負担がなく、お菓子を利用して授業をするのが面白かった」という回答があった。学習者が安心して「発見体験」に取り組めるようにする手段

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

53

として、状況に合わせて、媒介言語の使用も柔軟に考えてもよいのではないだろうか。ただし、媒介言語は「説明」のために使用するのではなく、学習者の「発見」と「考えること」を手助けするための使用にとどめるべきである。
そして最も大きい課題は、アイテムを言語学習につなげるファシリテーターとしての教師の役割が重要であるという点だ。体験型教材「日本パック」の実践においては、「モノ」を説明したのでは意味がなく、「モノ」から学習者自身が「発見」体験をし、そこに日本語が介在することが重要である。そのために、学習者の文化・社会的背景、日本語・日本文化
経験に合わせて「モノ」を選定し、教材として使用したときに学習者の発見の瞬間を生み出せる仕掛けを作ることが、教師の役割である。アイテムを「説明」するのではなく、学習者の「発見」と「思考」を手助けするという立場を常に意識し、そのための仕掛けを授業の中に作り出さなければならない。

結論
そもそも「ことばの学習はもっと楽しいものであったはず」という考えから始めたこの実践だが、異なる社会・文化を学
ぶことはいつも「発見の瞬間」の連続であり、その「発見」に学習言語・日本語が介在すれば、「ことば」を学ぶことへの内発的動機につながり、学習者を次の学習へと向かわせる原動力になるだろう。おもしろい「モノ」に出会い、それにつながる異文化・社会を発見し、そして、その発見から自分の文化や社会を再発見する。学習言語である日本語でその瞬間を作り出すことを意図したこの実践は、学習者の日本語学習の場での自己効力感を高めることができたのではな
いだろうか。

期間

貸出先

使用者

2014年6月

東国大学校師範大学附属女子高等学校
（韓国）

和田綾子

2014年8月〜2015年1月

Port Lincoln High School Japanese room
（オーストラリア）

田中亜衣さん
（甲南女子大学日本語教員養成プログラム修了生）

2015年12月〜6月

SMA Labschool Rawamangun（高等学校）（インドネシア）

坂本愛美さん日本語パートナーズ※

2015年1月〜6月

国際交流基金ジャカルタ日本文化センター（インドネシア）

日本語パートナーズ（４カ所で利用。いずれも高等学校）

2015年8月〜2017年4月

表1 日本パック貸出先※日本語パートナーズとは、2014年から国際交流基金アジアセンターが実施している派遣事業で、アジアの中学・高校などに、現地の日本語教師や生徒のパートナーとして授業のアシスタントや、日本文化の紹介を行うもの。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

図1 Hands-on materials「日本パック」

54

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

図2 Hands-on materials の内容構成
女子高生パック（韓国・オーストラリア向け）※パーソナルカードとは、パックの所有者として設定した「女子高生」の情報カード。家族構成や趣味などが記されている。

55

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

図3 アイテムカード例

56

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS읽어 보자！ 생생 일본어알아 보자！ 생생 일본문화
にほん

か し

日本 の お 菓子Ｂ

いろいろな
あじが あります。
しけんう

試験に 受かーる

ごう かく

き

がん

合 格 祈 願평소의 패키지
か し한국어로 써도됩니다.

なまえ

１．この お 菓子 の 名前 は？
２．いつもの パッケージと평소의 패키지와

なにが ちがいますか？
무엇이 다릅니까？
た

３．いつ 食 べますか ？
언제 쯤 먹는 것일까?

おも

４．どうして そう 思 いますか？

図4 ワークシート例

57

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

58

参考文献
李受香（2003）「第2言語および外国語としての日本語学習者における動機づけの比較―韓国人日本語学習者を対象として―」『世界の日本語教育』
13 、 国際交流基金
エドワード Ｌ デシ・リチャード フラスト著・桜井茂男監訳（1999）『人を伸ばす力：内発と自律のすすめ』新曜社
ゾルタン・ドルニェイ著 米山朝二／関昭典訳（2005）『動機づけを高める英語指導ストラテジー 』 35 、 大修館書店
独立行政法人国際交流基金（2017）『海外の日本語教育の現状 2015年度日本語教育機関調査より』
独立行政法人国際交流基金 「日本語教育 国・地域別情報 韓国（2017年度）」<https://www.jpf.go.jp/j/project/japanese/survey/area/country/2017/korea.html> 2018年10月28日参照
独立行政法人国際交流基金アジアセンター 「日本語パートナーズ」 <https://jfac.jp/partners/> 2019年6月15日参照
中牧弘允・森茂岳雄・多田孝志（2009）『学校と博物館でつくる国際理解教育』明石書店
和田綾子・宋承姫（2012）「学習動機と継続的な学習の関連性について―韓国人日本語学習者を対象にー」『日本語教育學研究』第24号、韓国日語教育
學会
Deci, E.L. and R. M. Ryan. 2002. Handbook of Self-Determination Research. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
Gardner, R. C. and W. E. Lambert. 1972. Attitudes and Motivation in Second-language Learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

59

日本語クラスで使用する
新しいメソッド「ボイスサンプル
プロジェクト」の提案(Using voice samples
in Japanese classes:
a proposed teaching
method)NOBUKO WANG (王 伸子)
Senshu University (Tokyo)

Abstract
Language teachers can turn students’ voice samples into active-learning projects to teach several aspects of language
including listening, pronunciation, writing, and new vocabulary. In this study, students firstly listened to a voice sample
several times and attempted to write it down correctly. Teachers were then able to check how many mistakes students
made in terms of sokuon, hikuon, or grammar/conjugation errors. Secondly, students practised reading words aloud again
and again with good articulation and intonation in preparation to make a copy. After that, teachers recorded the students’
own voice samples, adding music and sound effects. It was thought students would be encouraged by listening to their own
voice samples. I attempted to use these materials with students whose levels were higher than N1 in Japanese-language
classes in a university in Japan. The following interview and evaluation by rubric indicate that students’ motivation to learn
increased as a result, with higher levels of participation in class than previously recorded.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

60

はじめに
言語教育の中で学習者のコミュニケーション能力を向上させるには、音声をともなう指導は欠かせないものだ。発話および聞き取り能力が重要だからである。一方、適切なイントネーションやポーズを習得する練習は、文法や漢字の学習より後回しにされることが多く、発音や表現に関する練習は困難だと感じる教師も多いのが現実である。そこで、学習者自身が音声表現能力の向上に取り組める活動として、プロの声優やナレーターが、広報活動のために作成する「ボイスサンプル」作成の過程を取り入れる指導を行うと効果があるのではないかと着想した。
一つの作品が2分ほどと短く、学術的解説、CM などさまざまな場面を想定した原稿を読み上げる「ボイスサンプル」
は、音声表現力の獲得にとって有用な素材となる。言語教育のクラスで、ボイスサンプルを単なる音読リソースとして使用するだけではなく、ボイスサンプルを作成する一連の活動を実行すれば、学習者が音声素材を聴取して原稿を作成し、それを練習して読み上げ、録音するというプロジェクトベースの活動であるアクティブラーニングとして位置づけることもできる。また、「ボイスサンプル」が外国語教育に応用された先行研究はまだ報告されていない。
筆者はこのプロジェクトを授業内で実施するための教師研修をすでに香港、シドニー、トロント等の国際交流基金等でおこなった。この研修では、日本語母語話者の日本語教師も、非母語話者の日本語教師も同様の条件で活動し、お互いに学びあうワークショップを行うこともできた。

ボイスサンプルプロジェクトの概要
ボイスサンプルとは「ボイスサンプル」ということばは、なじみが薄い用語であろう。前述したように、声を仕事のツールとして使用している職業人のテクニカルタームである。ボイスデモとも表現することがあり、プロとしての自分の声を聴いてもらう声の名
刺のようなものである。いずれにしても、1本が2分ほどと短く、学術的解説、CM などさまざまな場面を想定した原稿を読み上げ、それに背景音楽（background music 以下、BGM）を付加したり効果音を入れて、聞く人を惹きつける構成になっている。録音の冒頭部分に自分の名前を名乗り、自己紹介をおこなう構成になっているものが多いのも、ボイスサ
ンプルの特徴である。実際には、ナレーター、声優、司会業、フリーアナウンサーなど、声の仕事をする職業人の声によるポートフォリオだと言える。

先行研究
これまで、音声を素材とした言語学習の方法やそれに関する研究としては、ディクテーション、ディクトグロス、シャドーイングなどがある。短い文を扱うディクテーションから、まとまったものを聞いて文章を再生するディクトグロス、また、同時通訳の訓練方法であるシャドーイングなどが言語学習には応用されている。とくにシャドーイングに関するもの
は、日本語教育においても、英語教育においても、日本国内では相当数の論文が抽出できるが、シャドーイングだけの練習はボイスサンプルを使用した方法とは異なるので、ここでは取り上げない。シャドーイングとディクテーションを組み合わせたものについては、小川（2018）が上級者でも効果がみられたという実践報告による研究結果を発表している。その他、茅野（2006）も同様にシャドーイングとディクテーションを組み合わせた観察を発表している。しかし、ボ
イスサンプルあるいはボイスデモを教材として使用した報告は王・大塚（2017）、王・シャープ・善積（2018）のほかは見られず、新しい着眼点の指導法である。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

61

ボイスサンプルを使用した指導法
ボイスサンプルの作成を日本語教育に応用した手順は以下の通りである。
1 原稿準備 			Prepare script

2 読みあげの練習		

Practice reading aloud

3 読みあげの指導 		

Get coaching

4 録音する 			

Record5 録音を聞く			Listen to own voice sample

6 保存版録音 			

Record final version

7 編集、BGM、効果音付加

Edit, add BGM, sound effects

まず、原稿の準備をする。原稿の準備には以下の二つの方法がある。
・教師が用意した原稿を学習者に渡す。
・学習者が音源を聞いて原稿に書き起こす。
時間的に可能であれば、学習者が音源を聞いて書き起こす作業をさせることが望ましい。音源を繰り返し聞くことにもなり、ディクテーション作業をすることになるので、学習者が聞き取れている箇所とそうでない箇所が明確になるからである。
次に、それを読み上げる練習をさせる。そのためには、学習者が繰り返し音源を聞き、個々の音の発音やアクセントだけ
でなく、速さやポーズの長さなどもオリジナルに近づけるように留意して、練習するように指示をする。
練習して読み上げたものを学習者各自に録音させて、クラスで学習者同士がそれを聞き、互いに感想を述べたり、次の録音の参考にしたりすることができる。
最後に、それぞれが課題として提出用の録音を行うことを宿題とする。また、これに BGM や効果音を付けることも作業の一つである。これは、オリジナルの音源に BGM がついているということも一つの理由だが、クラスで練習する際にも、教師が学習者の練習用にBGMを用意して流すことを行っている。その理由は二つあげられる。第一の理由は、任意の音楽とともに学習したものは、その音楽とともに記憶されやすく、当該音楽が流れると記憶した内容も再生されやす
いと考えられ、すでに谷口（1989）では「音楽による気分が語の記銘に影響を与える」ことを明らかにできたという実験結果が報告されている。第二の理由は、学習者が練習した内容を教室で発表する際、音楽が流れることによって自分の声がある程度マスキングされ、過度な緊張をせずに発表できると考えられるからであり、これについては、すでに石橋・加藤・村上）において、BGM にはマスキング効果もあることが報告されている。学習者によっては、人の前で読み上げることに慣れておらず、恥ずかしい、あるいは早く終わらせたいという気持ちで、読み上げ速度が必要以上に速くなってしまう場合もあるが、そうした雰囲気や人前での緊張感からのマスキング効果も期待できるという理由で、このメソッ
ドでも BGM とともに読み上げをおこなうという方法を選択し、録音にも BGM を付加している。さらに、学習者が自分の好きな音楽を付けるということで、この作業を楽しんで行えるということも期待し、課題の一つとしている。
こうした一連の作業の中で、とくに原稿準備の段階では、ボイスサンプルとなる音源を選び、それを聞いて書き取るという作業をするので、結果的にはいくつかの音源を何度も聞いて、それらの中から自分の練習したいボイスサンプルを選択するという流れになり、その後、さらに選択したものを繰り返し聞いて書き取り、原稿にするという活動をする。この段階で、目的を持って日本語を一定時間聞くことになり、日本語に接する機会の少ない海外の日本語学習にとっては、
とくに有益な時間になると期待できる。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

62

音源を聞いて作成した原稿を教師、あるいは TA （Teaching Assistant = 授業補助の大学院生）等がチェックする段階
では、どのような日本語の間違いがあるのかということも確認可能である。たとえば、促音や引き音（長音）を含む語
彙の書き取りができていない場合は、音の聞き取りだけではなく、語彙の習得が不十分であるとも予測できる。また、動詞の場合、例えばテ形の促音を間違えて書き取っていれば、活用を正しく習得していないということも観察できる（正：見ている → 誤：見っている）。こうした観察は、学習者の日本語能力の評価に用いるルーブリックの評価尺度として用いることもできる。
次の図1 は、学習者が書き取ったものの一部である。

図1 学習者の書き取り例（TOYOTA NOAH のテレビコマーシャルより）で囲んだ部分は、学習者の書き取りが適切ではなかった部分である。促音が抜けていたり、「ワーク」というカタカナ語であるべき個所が、「わく」などとなっていることが見て取れる。
また、録音については、IC レコーダーを使用すれば、よい音質で録音できるが、スマートフォンの録音機能でも代用できる。その場合は編集ソフトに読み込めるファイル形式で保存することが必要である。以下に紹介するフリーソフト
ウェアである Audacity を使用する場合、非圧縮ファイルである .wav 拡張子で保存する必要がある。しかし、例えば
iPhone の場合、ファイルの拡張子は .m4a という圧縮ファイルなので、Web 上のソフトウェアなどを使用してファイルを変換しなければならない。
録音の編集は、筆者の場合、以下のフリーソフトウェアを使用している。
Audacity https://www.audacityteam.org (2019/ Jan 10)
著作権フリー音楽サイトは以下を使用している。
「甘茶の音楽工房」https://amachamusic.chagasi.com (2019/ Jan 10)
効果音は以下を使用している。
「効果音ラボ」https://soundeffect-lab.info (2019/ Jan 10)

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

63

図2 は、Audacity を使用して、音声録音、BGM、効果音を付けた編集画面である。
上の層が学習者の録音音声、中間層が BGM、下の層が効果音である。

図2 Audacity 編集画面

実践例について
現在、著者が担当しているのは日本の大学の学部1年生の日本語のクラスである。
「日本語音声理解」という科目で、1回90分のクラスであるが、音源選びから学習者の録音提出まで、6回授業をおこなった。また、共同研究をおこなっているカナダのカルガリー大学における日本語のクラスでも実施してもらい、1回 50分のクラスで、録音提出まで3回授業をおこなった。宿題として課す量によって、授業に費やす時間は変わってくる。以上の 2か所は、ともに大学における実施例だが、日本の大学の学習者は新日本語能力試験の程度は N1 以上であり、カナダの学習者は、N4～N2と、学習者によって日本語のレベルは異なる状況である。
このプロジェクトの効果
前述したプロジェクトをおこなうことにより、音声指導だけではなく、音源を聞いて書き取り、作成した原稿をもとに読む練習をおこない、声に出して韻律的特徴も練習するという、言語の 4技能を活用した練習が可能である。
また、音源を繰り返し聞くことにより目標言語の音声を習得するので、これを教材にすることによって、何をどのように聞いて練習するのかという指示が出せればよいので、日本語が母語ではない教師にとっても、音声指導の授業をおこなうことが大きな負担ではなくなると思われる。
学習者からのフィードバック
学習者に、学期が終わった段階で、前期・後期の両方で行ったボイスサンプル作成練習についてフォローアップ調査を実施したところ、以下のような内容の回答があった。なお、当調査は、学期が終わって成績を提出したあとに実施しているものである。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

64

学習者への設問は以下の内容で、Wordファイルに書き込んだものを、メールで送信してもらったものである。
設問：「ボイスサンプルを作成した感想を書いてください。具体的に、難しかったことや、よかったと思うことなどを書いてください。」
学習者からの回答をテキストマイニングソフトの Kh-Coder にかけて頻出語と特徴語の分析を行い、さらにクラスター
分析をおこなって隣接グループに属する語から記述をひろい、そこから質的に記述すると以下のようになった。
• 何度も練習したので、発音がよくなったと思う。
• 話す速度を調節するようになった。
• 聞き取る能力が上がったと思う。
• 違う自分を発見できた。
• ストレス解消にもなる。
• 録音は大変な作業である。
個々人のフォローアップ調査をおこなった理由は、学習者個人の発音に関する能力、発話への取り組みは、能力の数値化によって可視化するのではなく、質的な変化を観察することを主眼とするべきであろうという判断からである。例えば、日本語を発話するのがおもしろいと思えるようになるか否か、参加する姿勢が変わるか否かなどのような観点を設定して、継続的に観察したいということからこのような方法をおこなった。
学習者自身も単純に「うまくなりました」などの表現ではなく、どのような点が伸びたと感じたか、どのように取り組んだか、何がたいへんだったのか、あるいは、特に難しさを感じなかったのかなど、詳細に表現することもできており、そのこと自体が積極的に取り組めたと評価できる回答となっている。日本の大学でおこなった調査の実際の回答を、学
習者 A、B、C、D、E の記述したものについて、以下に紹介する（原文のまま）。
学習者A（中国出身）	前期の絶叫型のものは、なんか違う自分を見つけたような気がしまして、それにストレス発散に役立ちそうです。後期のナレーションは発音に厳しいので、練習するたびに、自分の発音が良くなった気がします。話すときはまだです
が、文章を読む時に促音や長音を注意するようになりました。話すときもできるだけ注意していますが、内容を考えるだけでもう精一杯で、注意しようとしてもなかなかうまくできません。
	学習者B（中国出身）	中国の南エリアの出身で、「ら」と「な」の音が時々間違えて発音した事があります。録音した音声でその点を気づきまして、何遍もの練習を通じて以前よりだいぶよくなったと思います。
学習者C（中国出身）	自分で素材を聞いて、原稿を作って、聞き取る能力が上がったと思います。日本語を話すとき、ゆっくり話すこと、しっかり発言することとイントネーションはとても重要なことだとわかりました。私は日本語を話す時、日本語で発表する時、よくスピードが速いと言われます。この授業で、ゆっくり話すことは大事だとわかりました。とても役に立つだと思います。今後も、意識しながら、日本語を話したいです。
	ポイズサンプルを作った時一番大変なことは録音です。練習して、よく間違いったところを繰り返して、何回も録音をしました。とても大変でした。私はパソコンが苦手ですから、録音に音楽を付けることも難しいと思います。
	学習者D（中国・香港特別行政区出身）前期のボイスサンプルはせっかくなのでよくナレーションや CM で聞く声優さんのボイスサンプルを選びました。内容も各パートの雰囲気が違うのでボイスサンプルを作る点としてもいいんじゃ
ないかなと思ってます。後期は前にボイスサンプルをやったので、ナレーションをやりました。
	元々もっと長いやつにするつもりだったのですが、これくらいの長さがいいのかなと思って。ちょうどこの番組を見返NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

65

してたので、ナレーションもいい感じだし、この番組を切り取って課題にしました。大変だったところは実際あまりなく、強いて言えば部屋がちょうど大きな道路の横にあるので、車がどんどん通り過ぎていく音がマイクに入ってしまうことですね。なので録音は深夜か早朝に録ってます。
	学習者E（中国出身）最初、前期の CM を読むとき、緊張のせいで、ついついに速さが早くなって、発音も間違いところが多く出ました。しかし、最後バージョンは、最初のものと比べて、ずっとよくなりました。
そして後期で練習した時は、前期で練習の時より、楽になりました。

問題点
この練習は、Web

環境がない教室や、コンピューター設備や録音ツールが何もないと実行が難しい。また、録音室などがあるとかなりよい録音が可能である。ICT をクラスで取り入れていない教員には、少々取り入れにくい指導法かもしれないが、今まで実際のクラスを観察していると、若年層の学習者たちはあまり問題なく取り組んでいることがわかる。また、得意な学習者が苦手な学習者を手助けして行うピア学習にもなり、この指導法を取り入れることによって、クラス内のラポールも形成されることが観察できている。
また、学習者の成果である録音の一部を YouTube にあげてあるので以下に URL を記載しておく。日本の大学のクラスで作成したものと、カナダのクラスで作成したものであり、いずれも学習者からは了承の書面を得ている。
ボイスサンプル1 https://youtu.be/VI97Db-L2Cg (日本) (2019/Jan 10)
ボイスサンプル2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9_ypn1w46s&feature=yout.be (カナダ)(2019/Jan 10)

さらに、ボイスサンプルの音源であるプロのナレーターのボイスサンプルの例は以下の URL である。各ナレーターには
授業での使用と掲載の許可を得ている。
オオツカメイコ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwJ4eJ2R_Gc (2019/Jan 10)
藤本隆行

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQFuc9IoDws (2019/Jan 10)

島田洋子

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOPVs52OTnk (2019/Jan 10)

おわりに
このメソッドでこれまで試みてきた例を概観すると、学習者の日本語の運用能力が初級であっても上級であっても、選択するボイスサンプル次第で練習を実施し、録音記録を作成することは可能であることがわかる。また、聴取も産出も稼働する4技能を使用する練習となる。とくに、録音した学習者自身の声を聴くということは、これまでの練習ではあまりおこなうことがなかった作業であるが、学習者が自分の出来栄えを自覚するのに最も適した方法であると思われる。
自分の録音を聞いたり、他の学習者の録音を聞いたりし、工夫した音楽や効果音を付ける作業が面白いと感じる学習者も多いからか、日本、カナダの両大学のクラスでは、学習者の参加度が上がったと教師が感じたという報告を得たが、今後は、学習者へのフォローアップ調査の回数と量を増やし、採集した資料から、質的分析を行う予定である。
また、以上のような指導法について、多くの日本語授業で取り入れてもらうためには、まず、教師研修が必要であろうという判断から、最初に述べたように教師に対する研修を実施した。
また、ナレーターの協力も得ているので、今後は、教室で使えるリソースを蓄積し、Web 上で共有できるようにすることも計画している。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

66

参考文献
石橋隼・加藤俊一・村上昌志、（2011）「環境音の心理的負荷を低減させる楽曲とその特徴量の分析」『映像情報メディア学会技術報告 』 35 No. 20映像
情報メディア学会
王伸子（2012）「学部上級日本語クラスにおける協働的授業：ピアラーニングの視点から考察する」『専修人文論集』90 号、501-516、専修大学学会ーーー（2015）「言語教育モデル CBI、CLIL の枠組みと大学における日本語教育音声教育につなげるため」『専修国文』100号、1-13、専修大学日本語日本
文学文化学会
王伸子・大塚明子（2017）「「ボイスサンプル」を応用した日本語音声指導の研究」『CAJLE2018 大会 Proceedings 』272-278、Canadian Association forJapanese Language Education
王伸子・シャープ昭子・善積祐希子（2018）「新しい日本語音声指導法「ボイスサンプルプロジェクト」の教材化とその評価」『CAJLE2019 大会
Proceedings』299-306、 Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education
小川都（2018）「聴解指導におけるディクテーションとシャドーイングの効果について：「音声理解」教室活動の事例研究を通して」『専修大学外国語教育
論集』第46 巻、77-91、専修大学外国語教育研究室
茅野潤一郎「ディクテーションとシャドーイングによる指導法が聴 解力に与える効果」『 Language Education and Technology 』43号、95–109、外国語教
育メディア学会
谷口高士「単語記憶に及ぼす聴取音楽の影響」『日本教育心理学会総会発表論文集 』31日本教育心理学会

付記
本研究は平成29年度より3年間の文部科学省科学研究費基盤研究C（課題番号17K02866）として採択されている研究
成果の一部である。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

67

Supporting mixed-group
language learning
through Communities ofPractice and Boundary
Crossing
CHIHIRO KINOSHITA THOMSON AND NAGISA FUKUIUNSW Sydney (NSW)

Abstract
Tertiary teachers of Japanese are able to observe the outcomes of school Japanese language education in the students
who enter their courses after completing Year 12. However, there are few similar opportunities for school teachers to see
what their students will learn if they continue their studies at university. This paper has two purposes: one is to informsecondary school teachers of what awaits their students after they leave school and enter a university Japanese program,as well as their potential graduate destinations. The other is to share with school teachers and other general readersdetails of the UNSW Japanese program, which aims to connect students and others using Japanese, and to illustrate how
the concepts of Communities of Practice and Boundary Crossing can be applied to language programs.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

68

Introduction
The authors of this paper teach Japanese at UNSW Sydney (the University of New South Wales, Sydney). We receive anumber of students who have studied Japanese in secondary school into our university classes and see the outcomeof school Japanese education embodied in these students. However, school teachers of Japanese do not usually haveopportunities to see what their students learn once they graduate high school and continue their Japanese studies atuniversity. This is especially evident in experienced teachers who have been teaching for a number of years and may not
be familiar with current university practices.
This paper has two purposes: one is for secondary school teachers to find what awaits their students after they leaveschool and enter a Japanese program at university (in this case, UNSW). The other is to inform school teachers and othergeneral readers about the concepts of Communities of Practice and Boundary Crossing used within the UNSW Japanese
program, which aims to connect students and others using Japanese.

Background
The UNSW Japanese Program
At UNSW, we offer a full range of Japanese courses from absolute beginner to professional level courses. High schoolleavers with HSC Japanese experience enter directly into intermediate-level courses. They may study Japanese as elective
courses while carrying one or more majors in different disciplines, or they may major in Japanese studies as a single
major or in double-major/double-degree structures. A typical student for us will enter our program after completing HSC
Japanese, and major in Japanese studies as part of a double-degree program. These students often go on exchange toJapanese universities for one semester in their second or third year. At the end of their university career, they enrol in theJapanese Capstone course, the final course for those who major in Japanese studies.
Our Japanese program at UNSW aims to foster students who can connect with each other and with other Japanese
speakers by using Japanese. Underpinning this aim is the theory of sociocultural understanding of languages and learning;that is, we learn languages as we make social connections. Our program is envisaged as a network of Communities ofPractice (Wenger 1998, Thomson 2017) where each Japanese course forms a community and our students engage inBoundary Crossing; that is, they move between multiple communities (Aoyama 2015, Ishiyama 2018). This paper takes the
Capstone course as an example to show how we operationalise these theoretical constructs in our program.

Communities of Practice (CoP)A CoP is a type of community where members regularly and interactively engage in participatory practices to achieve
shared goals. In the UNSW Japanese CoP, students use the Japanese language in networked communities, within andbeyond the classroom and the course. This approach breaks down the walls between teachers and students acrosscourses, and sometimes between the university and the Japanese community in Sydney. In teaching Japanese in Australia,
we design our program to provide students with a clear purpose for using Japanese. Students are given opportunities
within the program to use their Japanese skills in real-world contexts by meeting with a variety of people. The concept of
CoP works well to achieve this type of learning environment.
In this CoP, students regularly engage in interactive activities using Japanese with other members of the community, who
are their peers, classroom teachers, senior student supporters who regularly attend junior classes, postgraduate student
supporters, and native-speaker supporters. They form a ‘community’ (Wenger 1998) of people who share a ‘domain’(Wenger 1998) for purposes of learning and supporting the learning of the Japanese language. They engage in shared‘practices’ (Wenger 1998) of pair-work role plays, interviews and so on. Our students learn as they participate in thesepractices, with support from various types of scaffolding from other members of the community. Every student can draw
support from the unique strengths of their peers. The roles of supporter and the supported are interchangeable dependingon the strength of the members and the tasks they are engaged in. Participation of more capable senior students andnative-speaker supporters brings yet more variety to the practices. In other words, our students never learn alone.
Concrete examples of how the UNSW Japanese CoP operates are illustrated in Thomson (2017). Our Japanese program
CoP is illustrated in Figure 1.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

69

Figure 1: UNSW CoP Network

Boundary Crossing
While our students participate in a variety of practices in their own CoPs, they also engage in Boundary Crossing by moving
between multiple CoPs. Cross-boundary Learners (CBLs) are those who move between two or more situations and,through that process, connect the communities. CBLs learn as they move to a new community and by participating in the
different and unique practices of the new community. Furthermore, Boundary Crossing mutually transforms CBLs and all
the communities they are engaged with (Ishiyama 2018).
CBLs typically experience two types of learning: ‘vertical learning’ and ‘horizontal learning’ (Aoyama 2015; see Figure2). Vertical learning refers to mastery or acquisition of knowledge and skills, such as new vocabulary and using new
grammatical structures. While vertical learning can be seen in a single community, horizontal learning is particularly
characteristic of Boundary Crossing. It refers to noticing new ideas and gaining new perspectives, as we compare how,what and why two communities do things. An example of horizontal learning could be the personal development of asenior student who participates in a beginner Japanese class community as a teacher’s assistant. The senior students canassess their own Japanese ability against beginner students. Simultaneously, they are perceived as advanced speakers byboth beginner students and their teacher. As a result, they develop a new identity as an advanced-level user of Japanese.
This boosts their confidence and motivation for studying Japanese, whilst also developing a greater sense of responsibility
and care for their kōhai (juniors).

Figure 2: Learning by Cross-boundary Learners

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

70

Program
The Capstone course is the last course for those who major in Japanese and consists of three hours of face-to-faceclasses per week for 13 weeks. The course offers the students an opportunity to conduct a small group-research projecton various aspects of Japan, and then present their findings in Japanese to members of the UNSW Japanese program CoP
and to the members of the Sydney Japanese community at a student conference. The student conference is managed by
the students of the Capstone course with support from the students of other courses who enter the Capstone community
as they cross the course boundary. The roles of Capstone students in relation to the conference include contacting
Japanese media, advertising the event, creating the conference program booklet and corresponding with guests, while theroles of students from other courses include acting as MCs at the conference, managing the registration desk and setting
up the venue.
The backgrounds of our students are quite diverse in two different ways. Firstly, they have a variety of expertise in addition
to Japanese studies; the majority of our students take double degrees combining the Arts and Social Sciences degree withanother undergraduate degree. Many students are taking an Engineering, Commerce or Science degree simultaneouslywith their Japanese major within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). Some of our students are majoring inboth Education and Japanese within FASS to pursue future careers as Japanese teachers at high school. Secondly, theJapanese language proficiency levels vary among the students. Some start learning Japanese with us, which means they
have been studying Japanese for only two and a half years, while others have completed the Japanese HSC subjects andhave been studying Japanese for almost nine years. We also have quite a few heritage-language students.
Students in the Capstone course are placed into small groups of 4-5 each. The teachers carefully form these groups byconsidering each member’s Japanese language proficiency level, their gender and ethnic backgrounds, their interests,
their expertise, and their requests. Typically, in one group there will be 2-3 students who have completed HSC Japaneseat their high schools alongside 2-3 students who started learning Japanese with us at the university. Once groups areformed, students liaise with other members in their group to define their research topic and commence their research.
Different students possess different strengths in a group and they utilise those strengths for achieving their common goal.
Those who have stronger Japanese language skills help other students’ Japanese, while those who have strong researchskills can lead the group research. We often see that one or two students in each group have excellent organisational
and interpersonal skills and they are great assets for sustaining the collaborative group work effectively and minimising
frustrations encountered by the group members.
The students also organise the conference by themselves with the support of the teachers and students of other courses.
They are allocated to different groups for these tasks. For example, one group works on public relations by contacting local
Japanese media such as Nichigo Press as well as officials and companies such as JETRO and the Japanese Consulate torequest to advertise the conference in their newsletters. A different group may work on creating the program booklet forthe conference. They organise a photoshoot day for the class and discuss with their peers about designs and photos to be
included in the program, after which they create the whole program booklet.
The conference is a showcase of the UNSW Japanese studies community, not just of the Capstone students. The firstyear students help out where non-complex Japanese usages are required, such as being a time-keeper and photographer,while ex-Capstone students take the MC roles. The advanced Japanese students are at the guest registration desk, asking
guests’ names and receiving their meishi. These tasks are mostly performed using Japanese. Also, many other students
from our Japanese courses come to the conference to listen to presentations and support the Capstone students.
During an intermission and a small party after the conference, the students have an opportunity to talk with the guests andother students. Those opportunities are great for socialising as well as for discussing their research findings.
The Capstone conference itself forms part of course assessment for the students. The audience evaluates each group’s
presentation and how they handle a question-and-answer session. They also evaluate the conference overall, and thosemarks are used as formal assessment. The teachers evaluate the progress of each student and give their feedback tostudents individually, to the group, and to the whole class constantly during the semester. In addition, the students also
evaluate their peers and themselves at the end of the semester.
A short clip of our 2017 Capstone conference can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/UNSWCapstone2017.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

71

Benefits and pitfalls
Insights
The concepts of CoP and Boundary Crossing are working in our Capstone course. The group research projects are mutually
supported by the students of the Capstone course who regularly comment on each other in the process of preparation.
This course encompasses a social practice that enhances the students’ engagement with the Japanese language andboosts their motivation. The students apply Japanese in a real-life context, practise by peer collaboration, enhance their
Japanese communication skills, and subsequently find and become role models of the UNSW CoP. Our students develop
a sense of belonging to their course community, and to the overall Japanese program community. In the process, thestudents cross the boundaries between multiple communities within the UNSW CoP network, to support and be supported
by each other. They also cross the boundaries into the Sydney Japanese community and engage in various practices using
Japanese, while members of the Sydney Japanese community join us at our conference and undergo their own newlearning experiences. Cross Boundary Learning happens at both ends (Ishiyama 2018).
The experiences of the Capstone course give the students not only the joy of connecting with others and crossing
boundaries to see and experience new communities, but also enhance their graduate capabilities. Some of our Capstone
graduates are currently working locally at high schools, at the Board of Studies, at universities in Japan, in the JET program,at Japanese enterprises in Japan, or for international firms.

Pitfalls
The motivation of students varies in any course, and our students are no exception. As a result, some students put lesseffort than others into the course and create an uneven workload. We have created both peer- and self-assessment
systems for evaluating how much everyone contributes to the project work. This evaluation system has been effective inunderstanding whether any unbalanced work contribution occurs within groups; however, it has been unable to change
the situation.
Furthermore, the course requires high commitment and is time consuming. Students take other subjects at the university
and have other commitments in their lives. We need to consider their lifestyles and might have to reduce the workload tomeet their needs.

Conclusion
This paper showcases one of our Japanese courses, providing an example of how the Japanese program is designed
at UNSW. It is intended to give school teachers an understanding of what awaits their students after they leave highschool and enter a university Japanese program. It also demonstrates how the UNSW Japanese program aims to connect
our students with other Japanese users, and how the concepts of Communities of Practice and Boundary Crossing canbe applied in a language program. We hope that language practitioners will find this paper informative and helpful inunderstanding the benefits of practising these new approaches in language learning.

References
Aoyama, M. [青山 征彦]. 2015. Ekkyō to katsudō riron no koto hajime [越境と活動理論のことはじめ], in Ekkyō suru taiwa to manabi [越境する対話と学び],
edited by S. Kagawa, S. [香川 秀太] and M. Aoyama, M. [青山 征彦], 19-33. Tokyo: Shin’yōsha [新曜社].
Ishiyama, N. [石山 恒貴]. 2018. Ekkyōteki gakushū no mekanizumu: Jissen kyōdōtai o ōkan shi kyaria kōchiku suru narejji, burōkaa no jitsuzō [越境的学習のメ
カニズム：実戦共同体を往還しキャリア構築するナレッジブローカーの実像]. Tokyo: Fukumura Shuppan [福村出版].
Thomson, C. K. [トムソン木下千尋], ed. 2017. Gaikokugo gakushū no jissen komyunitii: Sanka suru manabi o tsukuru shikake [外国語学習の実践コミュニテ
ィ：参加する学びを作るしかけ]. Tokyo: Koko Shuppan [ココ出版].
Wenger, E. 1998. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

72

図書館と日本語クラスの連携：
情報リテラシー支援を通して図書館の言語教育現場への参加の試み(Bringing the library
into the Japanese
language classroom:
enhancing students’
information literacy)
AKIKO HIRATSUKA (平塚 昭子)
University of Technology Sydney (NSW)HIROFUMI YADA (矢田 浩文)
The Japan Foundation, Sydney (NSW)SHOKO ONO (大野 唱子)
University of Technology Sydney (NSW)

Abstract
This report describes the information literacy support given to students of intermediate and advanced Japanese courses at
the University of Technology Sydney, with the cooperation of the library at The Japan Foundation, Sydney. Students were
instructed how to effectively use selected digital information services to find appropriate Japanese literature at information
literacy sessions. The post-session survey shows that students gave favourable assessments of the session content,
noting that it was of benefit to their course assignments. This report concludes that the information literacy session helped
students better locate Japanese literature to refer to in their assignments. Furthermore, the outcomes achieved from outof-classroom-style instructions prompted students to study autonomously. Since a considerable number of the students
experienced difficulties finding good search keywords due to their limited vocabulary, methods to help students find more
effective keywords should be investigated further.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

73

１．はじめに
本稿では、国際交流基金シドニー日本文化センター（以下 JPF Sydney）の図書館員とシドニー工科大学（以下 UTS）
中級・上級日本語コースの教師が協働で実施した学習者への情報リテラシー支援「図書館セッション」についての取り組みを紹介する。このセッションは、2018年に UTS の計4クラスで授業の 1コマ（12時間）を充てて実施した。学習者である UTS の学生が、日本文化や社会事情をリサーチする際、新聞・雑誌記事やウェブサイトをオンライン上で読むことを支援するのが目的である。本稿では、情報リテラシーの観点から、図書館と日本語の教室が連携して言語教育を支援する例を紹介し、図書館の言語教育現場への参加の可能性を示唆したい。

２．背景
2.1. 情報リテラシー
情報リテラシーについては、従来から図書館がその教育的役割を大きく担ってきた。Bordonaro（2013）はアメリカの大学図書館で看過されがちな第二言語学習者を利用者として考慮し、ニーズを見極めることで、適切な支援が可能である
ことを示している。情報リテラシーは、自律学習に基づく生涯学習の基礎を支える能力ととらえられる (Bundy 2004)。
一般にアクセス可能な情報が量・手段ともに増加の一途をたどる現代において、情報格差が拡大している（梅田 2005)
ことと同時に、質が保証されない情報の増加も懸念される。Hock (2007) は外国語教育において、教師が言語や文化の知識を与えるだけでなく、学習者自らが探索・評価選択した情報を自身の技能や知識へと転化させる能力育成の必要性を主張し、情報リテラシー指導を意識的に組み入れることを提案している。高橋（2012）はアメリカの大学で初級日本語学習者クラスにおいて情報リテラシー指導のためのセッションを実施し、自律学習へつながる可能性を示唆している。
今回 JPF Sydney と UTS との協働を促すきっかけとなったのは、双方が大学で日本語を学ぶ学生に、コース終了後も学習を続け、日本への興味・関わりを保持してもらいたいという希望を強く持っていたことがある。そのため、生涯学習の要である学習者の自律性を促進するためにも、情報リテラシーの重要性を確認しあった。梅田（2005）が、生涯学習について「自分の人生を主体的に生きるために、他者に依存した情報収集ではなく、自分に必要な情報を自分の手で取ることが重要なのだという考えに立脚した学びである。」（梅田 2005: 62）と述べるように、自律的に情報を取り入れるためのサポートは、長期的展望にのっとって学習者を支援していくことにおいて意義があるだろう。教育の現場では、カリキュラムの変更など大きな改革は難しいのが現状であるが、本稿で紹介する単発のセッション 1 は、比較的実現しやすい事例ではないだろうか。
2.2. UTS中級・上級日本語コースと課題
UTS の中級コース 2クラスと、上級コース 2クラスを対象に支援を実施した。どのコースでもリサーチ課題が成績評価に組み込まれている。中級コースでは、使用教科書 2 に沿ったトピックで、小クループディスカッション、またはグループリ
サーチの発表を行う。上級コースは、コンテンツに焦点を当てた授業を展開しており、学期ごとにテーマも異なる。対象となった上級コースは「Japanese films and pop culture」と「Japanese language and identity」である。両コースとも学生がテーマに合うトピックを自由に選び、学期最後に小論文にまとめ、口頭発表も行う。

1	実施にあたっては、国際交流基金関西支部の報告（浜口• 畠中 2013）を参照している。特に第二言語話者を考慮したハンドアウトの作成や、参加者が事前に検索語を選んでおくなど、参考になる点が多かった。
2
岡 まゆみ 他（2009）『上級へのとびら』くろしお出版

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

74

学生はインターネットを日々利用しており、教師からの指示がなくても教室内外で多くのアプリ、辞書・翻訳機能、学習支援ツールなどを使用しているが、学生からはリサーチする上で適切な資料を探し出し、読みこなすのは困難だという声が上がっていた。一方教師は学生が参照する情報や文献に、信憑性が疑わしいデータやネット上にあふれている個人の偏った意見が使われていることに懸念を感じていた。つまり学習言語である日本語で、目的に合った適切な情報を見つけ出し、その質を見極めるためには、ツールを利用するスキルに留まらない、言語力・読解力・批判的判断力までに及ぶ高度な総合的能力が必要である。そこで、以前から授業の一環として行なっていた図書館訪問を発展させ、より効果的な支援を行いたいと考えた。
2.3. これまでの JPF Sydney 図書館の日本語履修大学生への支援と問題点
JPF Sydney 図書館は日本語教育と日本文化・社会事情を取り扱う約18,000点のコレクションを有し、これまでも近隣大学で日本語を履修する学生に対する支援として図書館ガイダンスとレファレンスサービスを行ってきた。
図書館ガイダンスでは、まず JPF Sydney 図書館コレクション概要と目録使用について説明し、続いてオーストラリア国
内の他図書館の蔵書を横断検索できる Trove 3 やインターネット上で公開している日本語学術文献を探す CiNii Articles4を紹介するのが、これまで大学生向ガイダンスの定番であったが、学生からの反応は鈍かった。情報リテラシーに焦点を当てたセッションを行うにあたり UTS の教師と意見を交換し合い、次の三つの問題を確認した。
• ガイダンスで紹介した目録や情報サービスでは、文章中の日本語難易度で検索結果をフィルターできない。
学生は数ある検索結果の中から、自分が読みこなせる文献を見つける作業に疲れてしまうのではないか。
• Google など一般検索エンジンの検索結果から、情報の質まで考慮して情報を選び取るのは、学生の限られた日本語読解力と背景知識では難しいと考えられる。そうであれば、一般検索エンジンに代わる情報サービ
ス、特に収録されている情報の主題や難易度が限定されていて、課題のテーマに合致するサービスを学生に提示すべきではないか。
• どのような情報検索であっても、適切な検索語を選び出し、そこから最適な検索結果を導き出す行為には代わりはない。そこでは満足できる検索結果を得るまで、検索語の見直し・再検索を繰り返すのだが、学生が日本語で類義語・関連語を知っているとは限らない。再検索のための類義語・関連語を効率的に知る方法はな
いか。
一方レファレンスサービスは、学生が個々に来館し、図書館員に自身の情報検索ニーズを伝え、情報検索の支援を得る
パーソナルなサービスであるが、教育的見地から二つの問題点があることを確認した。
• 図 書館員が検索ツールの選定、検索語の選定・見直し、検索結果の評価など情報リテラシースキルに関わる部分を代行することが多いので、学生自身にスキル 養 成の機 会を与えないことになる。
• 応対する図書館員や状況によって、学生が受ける支援の質・量が変わってくる。学生自身の力量と関係ない要素が提出課題の出来不出来を左右するのは、評価の不公平につながる。

34

https://trove.nla.gov.au/
https://ci.nii.ac.jp/

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

75

３．大学生の日本語学習者に向けた情報リテラシー支援の実際
3.1. 2018年前期の情報リテラシー支援
これまでの情報リテラシー支援方法での問題点を共有した後は、具体的にどの程度の支援を今回行うのかを確認した。以下は支援の方向性と実際に 2018年前期に行った情報リテラシー支援の内容である。
• 課題のテーマに直結したガイダンスを行う。
図書館目録や Trove など、課題のテーマに関係なく汎用的に使う情報サービスに興味を示す学生は少数であった。学生の日本語力を補うため、テーマに沿った検索語や書架分類番号をハンドアウトで提示した。また中級程度で読める図書のディスプレイを行った。課題のテーマを事前に話し合っておくことで、ガイダンス中に全学生に均一な情報提供が可能となった。
• 信頼するに足る記事を使用することを推奨する。
著者、出版社、刊行メディアなどの書誌要素も記事の信頼性を計る要素であるが、日本語資料の背景知識に乏しい学習者には判断が難しい。今回上級の学習テーマに「Japanese films and pop culture」があったので、権威ある映画批評誌『キネマ旬報』を紹介した。さらに、デジタルコピーのないキネマ旬報は CiNii Articles で
記事単位の書誌情報を検索後、書架にある収録号・掲載ページを探すという図書館利用プロセスの原点を実例で説明できた。
• アプリなどコンピュータ支援による課題遂行を推奨する。ポップアップ辞書『Rikaikun』5、ふりがな付与『ひらひらのひらがなめがね』6、語注自動作成『リーディングチュウ太』7 を紹介した。支援ツールの使用・不使用は個々の学生の判断に委ねたが、Google Translate で英文和訳して課題執筆することは禁じた。
3.2. 2018年後期の情報リテラシー支援
前期ガイダンス後の学生の反応から、学生は課題執筆に直結する情報リテラシースキルを習得することに前向きであるが、日本語でのオンライン検索のためには、言語能力を補うストラテジーが必要だと感じた。そこで後期は一歩進んで、読解支援ツールや信頼性がある情報サービスを実際に利用する演習を取りいれて、躓いている学生をその場で支援することにした。図書館員が事前に情報サービスを選定、収録情報の内容と質、読解支援ツールとの相性を教師に説明し、了承を得ておいた。限られた演習時間を学生自身の課題テーマに使うために、テーマと検索キーワード設定を演習日までの宿題にしておいた。以下、使用した情報サービスである。
•コ
 トバンク 8
無料オンライン事典サイト。著名な出版社が刊行した事典 120タイトル以上を横断検索できる。主題についての正しい背景知識や関連語を見つけることがリサーチの取り掛かりには必要で、匿名編集ではない権威ある事典を参照させるため取り上げた。主な収録事典は以下の通り『世界大百科事典 第2版（平凡社）」『ブリタ
ニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典（ブリタニカ・ジャパン）』『日本大百科全書（小学館）』『知恵蔵（朝日新聞
出版）』『デジタル版 日本人名大辞典+Plus（講談社）』

5
6
7
8

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rikaikun/jipdnfibhldikgcjhfnomkfpcebammhp
http://www.hiragana.jp/en/
http://language.tiu.ac.jp/
https://kotobank.jp/

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

76•リ
 サーチ･リサーチ 9
日本で行われた意識・行動調査結果を検索できる無料サイト。サイト運営者が調査結果をすべてタグ付で要約しているので、学生は平易な要約を読んで情報の取捨選択を効率的にできる。調査元のレポート全文も要約にあるリンクからアクセス可能。一般検索エンジンでも数値を伴う調査情報は探すことはできるが、検索結果にノイズが多いので今回このサイトを取り上げた。
• Factiva 10
Dow Jones 社が運営するビジネス情報データベースで、UTS 図書館の利用ライセンスでログインした。世界各国の新聞記事を収録し、日本語新聞も全国紙のみならず、スポーツ紙、地方紙、業界専門紙など多数収録。
また『週刊東洋経済』といったビジネス雑誌も収録。総務省情報通信政策研究所が行った調査 11 によると、新聞記事は他のメディアに発表された記事と比べて信頼性があると考えられており、また機能面でも Factiva
は横断検索で複数の新聞から記事を効率的に収集できることから今回取り上げた。新聞記事は上級履修者の日本語読解力に相応しい文章難易度と教師が判断したので、特に上級コースの演習では Factiva に時間を割いた。
演習では、これらの情報サービスを検索し、前期で紹介した読解支援ツールを併用して記事を読むことを体験してもらった。また演習内容を後で復習できるようにマニュアル「 Workshop: Find Japanese newspaper articles, read themwith computer assisted tools 」（資料1）を学生に配布した。

4. アンケート結果と分析
前期・後期とも、
セッションに参加した学生を対象にアンケート調査 12 を行った。
4.1 前期
前期は中級クラス・上級クラスがそれぞれ教師とともに JPF Sydney 図書館を訪問、セッションを行った。
4.1.1 前期 中級 （受講者数：47人）
前期は図書館訪問の後に、中級・上級クラスとも自由記述形式でアンケートを施行した。セッションの効果について問うものであったが、中級クラスでは「色々なリンクなどの情報が役に立った」というセッションの有用性を指摘したコメ
ントの他に「日本語をクラスの外で聞く機会がないので、ガイダンスが日本語で行われたのはとてもよかった」また「セッションのあとでも、自分のトピックに関連した資料を見つけられなかった」というコメントが見られた（回答は資料2を参照のこと）。
ここで特筆すべきは、学生の関心分野で図書館員が予め選書し、サンプルとしてディスプレイしたことであろう。セッシ
ョン後、学生がめいめいサンプル図書を手に取り自主的に話し合っており、課題遂行に向けてのブレインストーミングに繋がった。図書館を利用した自律学習の一歩とみてよい。

9
10
11
12

https://www.lisalisa50.com/
https://www.dowjones.com/products/factiva/
総務省情報通信政策研究所（2016）『平成 27年情報通信メディアの利用時間と情報行動に関する調査：報告書』
アンケート調査は UTS Human Research Ethics Committee の承認を得て実施した（承認番号：ETH18-2685）。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

77

4.1.2 前期 上級 （受講者数：18人）
一方、上級でも「クラス外活動で、学習への動機が一層高まった」と教室外での活動の効果を指摘する回答が見られた。また「一人で文献を探すのは容易ではない。分からない漢字が多すぎるため。セッションが文献検索に大いに役立った」という回答もあった（資料3）。
また上級クラスに課されるリサーチプロジェクトにおいて、18名中 6名がセッションで紹介された文献やオンライン資料を引用していた。残りの学生のプロジェクトにはセッションで学んだことが反映されていなかったのは、セッションは学生にとって、有用ではあるものの実用的ではないのかも知れない。後期には更なる工夫を凝らす必要があると感じられた。
4.2 後期
後期は図書館訪問型のセッションではなく、JPF Sydney 図書館員に協力を仰ぎ、大学のコンピューターラボにてセッションを実施した（詳細は 3.2 を参照）。
セッション事前アンケートでは、中級・上級ともに言語を特定しない情報リテラシー能力を自己診断してもらった。セッション事後アンケートでは、セッションの有用性や効果について選択式回答で評価してもらい、自由記述コメント欄を加えた（資料4）。
4.2.1 事前アンケート結果 中級（受講者数：35人）、上級（同：18人）
中級・上級とも、90％以上の学生が日本語を使用してのリサーチを「問題なく敢行できる」とする一方、「日本語で読みながらのリサーチ」には「あまり自信がない」と回答している。また同数の学生が、リサーチに際し、「インターネットで得られるニュース記事や雑誌、論文や書籍を参考にしている」と回答した。
中級では「リサーチ時に何が一番難しいと感じているか」という問いに対し、「漢字」「キーワードの発見」「時間がかかりすぎる」「時間の使い方」などの回答が挙がった。上級でも「語彙を調べるのに時間がかかる」「漢字や専門用語の読解に時間が取られる」という意見が圧倒的であった。
4.2.2 セッション後のアンケート結果と分析
選択式の質問「セッションで得たリサーチスキルは、自分のリサーチに活かせるか」では、中級では 75％の学生が「活かせる」としたのに対し、上級では 100％が「活かせる」と回答している。また「セッションの後では、日本語及び日本文化を学ぶ際に、図書館の蔵書を効果的に利用できそうだ」というコメントに関しては中級では「非常にそう思う」
が 37.5％、上級では 72.7％、とレベルによって回答に差があった。これは日本語能力の差だけではなく、コースで要求されている課題の差からくる印象ではないかと推察する（資料5）。
一方、中級の自由記述式のコメントには「セッションのおかげで、これまで日本語の記事を探せなかったのに、方法が分かって本当によかった。グーグルはターゲットが広すぎて使いこなせなかったので」「丁寧にリサーチのやり方を教わったので、データベースをより効果的に使えそうだ」また「信頼できる情報源の見つけ方と読み方がわかって有用だった」「情報へのアプローチの仕方を再考するよい機会となった」とあった。課題遂行にあたり目的に適った情報を見つ
け出し、その質を見極めるスキルの向上に繋がる活動であったと言えよう（資料6）。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

78

上級のコメントでは具体的に「Factiva が役立ちそうだ」「Rikaikun の導入が有難かった」とツールについての言及が目立った（資料7）。
その一方で、中級、上級に共通したコメントに「キーワードが探しきれなかった」「もっと絞り込んだリサーチができる
ようなセッションを」など、数名の学生にとっては不十分なセッションであったことも判明した。次回の課題としたい。

5. 結論
今回実施した「図書館セッション」は、以下の点で非常に有意義であったと言える。
• コースの課題を遂行する前に、クラスメート、教師、図書館員と協働でインターネットを使用した効果的なリサーチ方法を学ぶことにより、学生が課題テーマを絞りやすくなり、入手したい日本語文献をイメージしやすくなった。
• 日本語での情報収集にあたり、学生には情報リテラシーの支援が必要であることが改めて確認された。必要な支援を得ることで信頼性ある多様な日本語文献に触れることから、豊かなリサーチに結実すると考えられる。
• 日本語クラスと JPF Sydney 図書館の連携により、課外活動が可能になり、教室外で日本語でのガイダンスを経験し、自主的に文献を調べるなど、学生の自律学習を促す機会になった。
未解決の問題としては、学生が日本語での検索語選出に苦労していた点で、プロジェクトのトピックによっては、百科事
典等使用しても検索結果につながる類義語・関連語を見つけ出せなかった点、それによって得られた情報量に差が出たことが挙げられるだろう。今後どのようなアプローチが効果的か、引き続き検討の余地があると考える。
今回の協働セッションにより、学生の日本語情報リテラシー能力が向上し、さらなる日本語学習への動機に結び付くことが期待されている。また、大学在学中のみならず生涯学習の過程においても活用されればと願っている。

謝辞
本プロジェクトの実施、本稿の執筆にあたり、UTS の平井泰氏、JPF Sydneyの齊藤真実氏にご協力、ご助言をいただきました。ここに記し、感謝を申し上げます。

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

資料1: マニュアル Workshop: Find Japanese newspaper articles, read them with computer assisted tools.
This resource is provided as a separate PDF file for download from the NSJLE 2018 Proceedings website.
資料2: 2018年前期 中級 セッション後のアンケート（記述式回答より抜粋）• Valuable resources were introduced.
• The links that were introduced on the slides look useful.
• There were some new discoveries for me in the use of the Library catalogue.
• It was great to be able to hear a Japanese librarian giving us guidance, as I don’t have any opportunity tolisten to Japanese aside from hearing my teachers at university.
• All the books that were displayed for us today were related to our research, which was helpful.
• I could not find any resources about Japanese baseball, which is my topic.
資料3: 2018年前期 上級 セッション後のアンケート（記述式回答より抜粋）• The library seems to contain a lot of books, which I should find useful for my research.
• It was really good to find out that the library has many magazines and DVDs. I would like to spend moretime there to look for what I want.
• Having a short excursion to the place itself was really uplifting and showed me opportunities I can makethe most of.
• I actually came to the library in the previous summer holidays to look for Japanese fiction to read. I could
not find any though, as they seemed to have a lot of kanji that I could not understand. After today’s visit,
however, I now feel that I can find something suitable for my level of Japanese.
• The library is clean and seems to contain a lot of books, but I am not sure yet about online searching/referencing.
資料4:
2018年後期中級・ 上級 事前アンケート（選択式回答の結果）

79

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

80

2018年後期 中級 事前アンケート（記述式回答より抜粋）
What are problems or difficulties you have experienced conducting research in Japanese?
• Too many/too few results, hard to find relevant results sometimes• Finding relevant articles for the topic I chose, finding articles that are recent and not too old• The lack of ability to read Japanese articles due to kanji and trouble understanding some websites.
• J apanese may be too high advanced for my level, or there is too much kanji I do not know so myunderstanding of the reading may be at a very low level.
• When there's a lot of unknown vocabulary, it gets tedious to read.
• Finding the right keywords, using the right databases, filtering relevant information• Amount of time taken to read through articles
2018年後期 上級 事前アンケート（記述式回答より抜粋）
What are problems or difficulties you have experienced conducting research in Japanese?
•T he sheer intensity of grammar and vocabulary in more academic articles makes it a very time consuming
process. Firstly, you must be able to read everything, then understand everything by its isolated parts,
then understand the text as a whole, and then understand the article as a synthesised text.
• It takes longer to research and checking everything and making sure you understand everything• Reading kanji, understanding technical vocabs, and finding the right resources• Finding a variety in sources of relevant data.
• Getting a rough idea whether an article is relevant before putting the effort into reading and translating
the whole thing. It’s discouraging when you finally understand it only to find it is not relevant.
資料5:
2018年後期中級・ 上級 セッション後のアンケート（選択式回答の結果）

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

資料6: 2018年後期 中級 セッション後のアンケート（記述式回答より抜粋）• It was a productive and helpful session.
• I thought it was very informative and helpful as previously I had no idea how to research for Japanese
articles or resources, and the ones on Google were too advanced (in their use of Japanese) for me.
• The library session was well structured and informative.
•S howing us how to search for resources step-by-step helped with better understanding how to use
Japanese search engines.
• Learning not only websites we could go to, but pop ups we could use to view the meanings of Japanesewords on any website as we were browsing.
• Provided information on how to find credible Japanese sources and ways to read them
• Explanation on how to use search engine and keywords. Also, their strengths and weaknesses.
• It was useful to see demonstration of many different websites in regards to the Japanese research task.
• It made me reconsider how I should approach looking for sources.
• The sources were not comprehensive and did not cover a variety of topics one might want to research

81

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

82

資料7: 2018年後期 上級 セッション後のアンケート（記述式回答より抜粋）• Useful to know how to use keyword searches and sort through articles• Showing different resources I wasn’t aware of before was inspiring.
• The handouts, the translation tools, and Factiva will be quite useful.
• Introduction of the online resources like rikaikun was much appreciated.
• It was informative and encouraged me to use Japanese resources (newspaper) for my assignment.
• Thank you for taking the time to explain these resources, if they weren't introduced today I probably
would not have used them.
• Didn't really cover how to generate key words.
• It was useful but needed to be more tailored to specific types of research

参考文献
梅田康子（2005）「学習者の自律性を重視した日本語教育コースにおける教師の役割―学部留学生に対する自律学習コース展開の可能性を探る―」『愛知大学 言語と文化』第12号、59-77
岡まゆみ 他 (2009)『上級へのとびら - コンテンツとマルチメディアで学ぶ日本語 TOBIRA Gateway to Advanced Japanese Learning Through Content andMultimedia』 くろしお出版
高橋温子（2012）「情報リテラシー教育を取り入れた初級日本語コースカリキュラムの作成と実践報告」『大学図書館研究』第96号、1-9
浜口美由紀・畠中朋子（2013）「日本語学習者に向けた情報リテラシー教育―日本研究に役立つ情報検索ガイド実践報告―」『国際交流基金 日本語教育紀要』第9号、159-166
総務省情報通信政策研究所（2016）「平成27年情報通信メディアの利用時間と情報行動に関する調査 : 報告書」75
Bordonaro, K. 2013. The Intersection of Library Learning and Second-Language Learning: Theory and Practice. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Bundy, A. 2004. Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy Framework: Principles, Standards and Practice. 2nd ed. Adelaide: ANZIIL. Accessed 25
August, 2018. http://archive2010.caul.edu.au/caul-programs/information-literacy/publications.
Hock, L. 2007. “Information Literacy across the German-Studies Curriculum.” Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 40 (1): 46-56.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

83

Graduates’ use ofJapanese languagein the workplace1
ROWENA WARD
University of Wollongong (NSW)

Abstract
Underscoring a series of government initiatives promoting language education in Australia and New Zealand, particularly
Asian language education, is the presumption that the study of a language will lead to greater employment opportunities.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that some university Japanese language learners anticipate using their Japanese language
skills in the workplace and/or that their language skills will help them gain employment. Yet, no research specificallyaddresses these questions.
This article discusses the results of a 2017 online survey of graduates of Japanese language from Australian and New
Zealand universities between 1997 and 2016. Responses were received from 67 graduates, 60 of whom had used theirlanguage skills in at least one role post graduation. In almost 30% of cases this role was located in Japan. The discussion
covers the degrees completed by all respondents, the reason(s) why they studied Japanese at university and whether
they expected to use their language skills in the workplace at the time of graduation. Interestingly, improved employment
opportunities was not the primary reason for graduates studying Japanese. Discussion also covers the specific language
skills used, as well as the regularity of use. Discussion of spoken skills also covers the level of skill used. The results showthat spoken skills are the most commonly used skill in the workplace, followed by reading and writing. Almost 80% of
graduates who used their spoken skills did so at the basic or advanced level, and almost 74% used their spoken skills ona daily basis.
A number of graduates’ comments on the use of Japanese language skills in the workplace are also discussed.
Graduates recommend that language students undertake professional/technical studies in addition to their language
studies. The results have implications for careers advisers, university marketers and degree administrators.

1

This project was funded through a LHA Challenge Grant. It has UOW Ethics Approval (2017: 308).

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

84

Introduction
Anecdotal evidence from university language classrooms—especially at the advanced level—suggests that a numberof language learners hope to use their linguistic skills in their post-graduation employment and/or believe that theirlanguage studies will provide them with an added advantage in seeking employment. Yet, little research has considered
whether or how graduates use their language skills in the workplace. This is despite many of the Australian Federal
Government’s language policies over the last three decades or so being instrumentalist in nature and predicated on theidea that language skills—especially Asian language skills—would lead to employment opportunities. The former Federal
Labor Government’s now archived “Australia in the Asian Century White Paper” (hereafter, ‘Asian Century White Paper’),for instance, suggested that Asian language skills would be useful for “building capacity” for Australia’s engagement with
its regional neighbours, and that the development of Asian language literacy would lead to employment opportunities forspeakers of Asian languages (PM&C 2012). The Joint Australia-Japan Working Group’s “Strengthening Japanese Language
Learning and Support for the Australian-Japanese Business Academic Relationship” report (2010) recommended improved
support for career opportunities and incentives for Japanese language learners, but few new initiatives have emerged. The
one notable exception is the inclusion of an internship in the Federal Government’s flagship New Colombo Plan Scholarship
Program (The New Colombo Plan Scholarship Program 2018 n.d.), although this is, understandably, not restricted toJapanese language learners. The Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) in its 2015 “Smart Engagement with
Asia: Leveraging Language, Research and Culture” report, highlights various sectors (e.g., science) where engagement with
Asian countries would benefit from language development (ACOLA 2015) but does not address the issue of how languages
are used at present.
Due to the dearth of research into the employment of language graduates, irrespective of the language, it is largely
unknown how university language graduates are using their language skills in the workplace. One exception is Ward
(2016), who discusses the level of skill and regularity of use of Japanese language in the workplace by graduates in thefive years post-graduation. According to Ward, graduates with both majors and minors in Japanese were most likely to
use their Japanese language skills in their first position post graduation, in most cases using only their spoken skills and at
a basic/beginner level (2016, 156). Ward recommends that further research be undertaken into the field. In line with thisrecommendation, a questionnaire was developed to investigate graduates’ motivations for studying an Asian language atuniversity, whether they used their language skills in the workplace and whether they expected to use their language skillsin the workplace at the time of graduation.

Japanese language and the use of language skills
The teaching of Japanese in Australia has a long history. James Murdoch was appointed to concurrently teach Japaneseat the University of Sydney and the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1917 (Sissons 1986). Until the 1980s, enrolments
in Japanese language classes tended to be low compared to European languages but from late that decade, as theJapanese economy expanded rapidly, there was a “tsunami” of enrolments (Lo Bianco 2000). However, the collapse of
the Japanese economy in the 1990s had an adverse effect on enrolments. As an indication, enrolments in Japanese atAustralian universities stood at 6,387 in 1990, but by 1993-1994 had risen to 9,697, which constitutes an increase of 51.8% infour years (The Japan Foundation 1992, 1995). By 1998, enrolments had fallen slightly to 9,593, but by 2003 were down to
8,520 or a fall of 12.1% since 1993–1994 (The Japan Foundation 2000, 2005, 1995). Whilst enrolments recovered to register
9,682 in 2012, there was a sharp decline to just 6,420 in 2015 (The Japan Foundation 2013, 2017).2 In New Zealand, 965
students were enrolled in a Japanese language course as part of a bachelor’s degree in 2010, but by 2018 enrolments had
declined to 690 (Education Counts 2019). The fall in enrolments in both countries occurred despite the appeal of Japanese
popular culture (e.g., anime and manga) as a motivational factor encouraging students to learn Japanese. According to one
survey of language educators, 54% believed that an “interest in manga, anime, J-Pop etc” was a reason for their students
learning Japanese (The Japan Foundation 2013, 6). This is broadly in line with a Northwood and Kinoshita Thomson study,
which found that the third most common reason given by students for continuing their language studies was that they“enjoy reading manga, watching anime and drama” and that 76% of advanced level students express an interest in those
activities (2012, 341). From a different perspective, Armour and Iida (2016) show that consumers of Japanese pop culture
were interested in learning Japanese, but this interest did not necessarily mean studying in a formal setting.

2	The 2012 figures include 2,445 undertaking a major in Japanese, 6,677 studying Japanese as an elective and 560 as extracurricular studies. In
2015, the figure for students undertaking a major was 1,354, whilst 4,745 were enrolled in Japanese as an elective and 321 as an extracurricularsubject.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

85

According to The Japan Foundation, in 2015 Australia was ranked no. 4 in the world in terms of the number of Japanese
language learners and had the highest number per 100,000 people (The Japan Foundation 2017). Whilst pop culture may
be a factor in students learning Japanese, discussions with learners indicate that at least some of them hope to use
their language skills in the workplace; that is, they are aspiring towards what Nakamura (2015) refers to as the “career
domain”.3 This anecdotal evidence is supported by research by Curnow and Kohler (2007) who considered secondary
school students’ reasons for continuing their language studies, and Northwood and Kinoshita Thomson’s (2012) study ofuniversity students’ reasons for continuing their Japanese language studies. According to Curnow and Kohler, a “small”
number of secondary students continued with their language studies (albeit not specifically Japanese) “for career-related
reasons, although the justification was not related to a particular career goal” (2007, 22). That is, the continuing students
think that their language studies “might help in the future” or “can help in a future career path” (Curnow and Kohler 2007,22). Northwood and Kinoshita Thomson found that 47% of advanced level students thought that Japanese was “useful for
my career” (2012, 341) whilst 75% of students “who already spoke another language…indicated that Japanese might be ofpractical benefit to their career” (2012, 351). Despite learners’ stated interest in learning a language for career purposes,
only limited research has focused on whether graduates use their language skills—Japanese or otherwise—in Australian
workplaces. According to Enderwick and Akoorie’s study of successful and non-successful exporters in New Zealand,
language graduates were employed primarily in “marketing” related roles (1994, 12). Webb’s small-scale study of language
graduates from one university in the United Kingdom showed that 96% use their language skills in their employment and
54% held “jobs where foreign languages were essential” (Webb 2010, 32). In their study of Irish exporters, Clarke (2000)
found that “[t]he ability to read a communication in a foreign language” was considered the “most important language
skill required” whilst “writing ability” was the “least important” (2010, 86). In the Australian context, 79% of the linguistic
functions graduates report using at work are “oral” and only 19% were reading (11%) or writing (8%) (Kinoshita Thomson
1996, 27). Ward’s (2016) research also found that oral skills were used more than reading and writing skills.
The lack of research on the use of language skills in the workplace is disconcerting in light of the globalisation of business
operations that has led to an increased global recruitment of staff. The British Council report “Culture at Work”, which
details the results of a survey of the criteria that employers in nine countries (although not Australia) look for when selecting
employees, notes that many consider candidates’ ability in “speaking a foreign language” (2013, 13). However, Phillip (sic)Turner, Director, Global Stakeholder Affairs, Fonterra NZ, commented that “[i]f someone comes into a job interview here
and says they’re fluent in a language, does that make me more likely to employ them than someone that doesn’t? (No,it doesn’t)” (Corder, Kawai and Roskvist 2018, 47). From a different angle, Michael Byrne, Chief Executive of Linfox, in his
criticism of Australia’s education standards commented that his company was increasingly hiring staff from Asia because
they “speak four or five languages” (SBS News 2014). Yet, one of the respondents to this survey commented that “[i]n myexperience, there are limited jobs in Australia where language ability is a requirement. But students with a passion for
languages can find opportunities—or make their own.” Irrespective of whether this respondent’s experience is common
or not, too little research has focused on whether, or how, graduates use their language skills in the workplace. Moreover,as Bashfield (2013, 11) indicates, there are “few recognisable measures of the success” of policies outlined in documents
such as the Asian Century White Paper. Without research, such measures cannot be developed.

Survey questions
In order to understand if employment opportunities figured in graduates’ reasons for studying an Asian language at university
and whether they expected to use their language skills in the workplace at the time of graduation, a short questionnaire wasdeveloped and made available online. The target population was graduates who had completed a major or a minor4 in an
Asian language in Australia or New Zealand between 1997 and 2016. The questionnaire was available for about four weeks
from late August 2017 and a total of 128 responses were received. This paper deals only with the 67 responses received
from graduates of Japanese. The questionnaire comprised a series of multiple-choice and short-answer questions. Somequestions were compulsory (for example, questions relating to degree completed and the industry sector where they usedtheir language skills) whilst others were optional. The questionnaire specifically asked graduates to answer in terms of
the role/position in which they had used their language skills the most. That is, respondents were asked to focus on only
one role/position post graduation. Questions addressed sex, the industry sector of the role/position and the role/position

3	Nakamura’s (2015) use of “career domain” is loosely based on Unemori et al’s “career/education” thematic self category.
4
A minor typically constitutes four consecutive language subjects.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

86

title. In terms of the use of spoken skills, the questions addressed the regularity and level (‘Basic’, ‘Intermediate’ and‘Advanced’) of use. The definition of the three levels was based on The Japan Foundation’s ‘JF Standard’ (Japan Foundation
2015). Questions on the use of graduates’ Japanese reading and writing skills also addressed the same issues, but after
the survey had gone live it was found that the descriptions for intermediate- and advanced-level reading and writing skills
were incorrectly uploaded. Consequently, discussion on reading and writing refers only to whether the graduates used theirreading and writing skills and the regularity of use, and not the level of use.
At the end of the questionnaire, the graduates were given the option to leave a comment for present and future Japanese
university language learners about employability using language skills. Over half of respondents left comments. A numberof these comments are discussed below.

Survey results
Respondent backgroundAn invitation to participate in an anonymous online questionnaire was sent by email to graduates of the Chief Investigator’s(CI) own institution as well as to coordinators of Japanese at other Australian and New Zealand universities to forward totheir graduates. In addition, the invitation was posted on the Japanese Studies Association of Australia (JSAA) Facebook
page and to a number of other organisations (e.g., the JET Alumni). The invitation encouraged recipients to forward theinvitation to their contacts. Through this modified cascade approach, a total of 67 responses were received from graduatesof Japanese.5 Of these, 61 (91.04%) were graduates of Australian universities and six (8.96%) were graduates of New
Zealand universities (Figure 1). In terms of Student Type, 92.54% were domestic students and 7.46% were international
students (Figure 2). All but one of the international students were female and had studied in Australia. The fifth international
student was male and had graduated from a New Zealand university. For brevity, the respondents from both Australian and
New Zealand universities and the domestic and international student cohorts are discussed together. Almost all graduates(66) had completed a major in Japanese, with only one graduate (1.49%) completing a minor.

Figure 1: Respondents by Australian and New Zealand university5

Due to the ‘optional’ nature of some questions, not all questions received the same number of responses.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

87

Figure 2: Student Type: Domestic or International

Almost two-thirds of the respondents (41 or 61.19%) were female and 26 (38.81%) were male (Figure 3). It is unclear how
accurately this breakdown reflects the female/male Japanese language major and minor cohort, but anecdotally in many
universities female students outnumber male students at the upper levels.

Figure 3: Respondents by sex

In terms of the degrees which the respondents had completed, the highest proportion had completed a Bachelor of Arts
(BA) (41.79%), with combined degrees (32.84%) the next most common (Figure 4). One student also completed a Diplomaof Languages, which is usually studied concurrently with another degree program. No graduate completed a single
degree in Engineering or Science, although two completed a BA/Bachelor of Science, one completed a BA/Bachelor of
Medical Science and one completed a Bachelor of International Studies/Bachelor of Science (Honours). The most common
combined degrees completed were the BA/BCommerce (four graduates) and the BA/BEducation (also four).
Over two-thirds of graduates (67.16%) had completed a double major as part of their degree. The most common majorother than Japanese was Politics and International Relations (4), whilst Asian Studies (4) and Asia-Pacific Studies (2)accounted for another six graduates. An additional eight graduates completed a major in another language (two in Frenchand one each in Italian, Korean, German, Chinese, Spanish and Indonesian). Of the seven graduates who had completed an
Honours program, three replied regarding the discipline of their Honours program: one completed an Honours in Japanese
Literature, one in Japanese Studies and one in Science.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

88

Figure 4: Respondents by degree(s) which they completed

As it was anticipated that graduates may have had more than one reason for studying Japanese, the question relating to
the reason(s) for studying Japanese at university allowed for multiple answers. The most common reason (88.06%) was‘General interest’ which was followed by ‘Belief in ability to speak more than one language’ (55.22%) and ‘I thought that
it would help me get a job’ (50.75%) (see Figure 5). That is, just over half of respondents believed that studying Japanese
would be beneficial for their employment opportunities. A minority of graduates (9 or 13.43%) studied Japanese because
a language was a requirement of their degree. Similarly, despite anecdotal evidence that the number of students with atleast one parent born in Japan had increased over the two decades covered by the survey, less than 3% replied that theystudied Japanese for ‘Heritage’ reasons. The 11 respondents who indicated that they had studied Japanese for ‘Other’reasons included three who had returned from exchange in Japan and one who replied that they wanted a “qualification
to go with their language ability”. This indicates that a small number of graduates had lived in Japan prior to commencing
their Japanese language studies at university. It is unclear whether their language background provided these graduateswith more opportunities in the workplace than those who began their language studies at university.

Figure 5: Reason(s) for studying Japanese at university

Interestingly, an overwhelming majority (91.09%) of graduates indicated that at graduation they expected to use theirlanguage skills in the workplace (Figure 6). As discussed below, whilst only six graduates did not expect to use theirlanguage skills, in practice seven did not use any language skills (see Figure 8). Of the six graduates who did not think theywould use their language skills, four left a comment. Three replied that they had “changed their career goals”, “pursued acareer related to the other degree” or similar. The fourth replied that they had “not attained a high enough standard”. These
responses indicate that some students change their career aspirations after they commence their tertiary studies. MoreNSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

89

research on this issue as well as on skill achievement levels is required. On the latter issue, an interviewee in a recent New
Zealand report on languages commented that “I think it is questionable what you can do with the Japanese language thatyou have learnt only for a few years at university” (Corder, Kawai and Roskvist 2018, 47). That is, university level language
studies are not necessarily sufficient for language proficiency.

Figure 6: Expect to use language skills in employment at the time of graduation

Figure 7: Industry sector of position where Japanese was most usedThe ‘Education & Training’ sector was the most common industry sector where the graduates’ role/position using their
Japanese skills was located (Figure 8). In terms of position type, 25 (43.86%) of the respondents described their positionas ‘Educator/Trainer’ whilst 12 (21.05%) described their role as ‘Administrative’ and 10 (17.54%) described it as ‘Technical/
Specialist’ (Table 1). The number of respondents working as an ‘Educator/Trainer’ (25) is lower than those employed inthe ‘Education & Training’ Sector (28), which means that not all graduates working in that sector are educators. Yet, it
is unclear whether the high proportion of respondents working in the ‘Education & Training’ sector reflects the reality
for Japanese language graduates or whether it is a reflection of the dissemination of the survey by Japanese-teaching
related organisations, such as the Japanese Teachers’ Association of NSW (JTAN) and JET Alumni (JETAA). Members of
associations such as JTAN are primarily employed in either primary or secondary schools and this would have an impact
on the results, especially in terms of the level and regularity of use. For example, primary school teachers are unlikely touse ‘Intermediate’ or ‘Advanced’ level skills, although they may use their skills on a daily basis. Of the 25 who worked as an‘Educator/Trainer’, ten (40%) indicated that the role was in Japan. However, more research is needed to better understandwhere language graduates—Japanese or otherwise—find employment post graduation.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

Position TypeNo. of responses

Percentage

Administrative

12

21.05%

Educator/Trainer

25

43.86%

Management

2

3.51%

Technical/Specialist

1017.54%

Other

8

14.04%

Total

57

100%

90

Table 1: Role/Position description

Language skills
Of the 67 graduates of Japanese who responded, 60 or 89.55% used their language skills in at least one role/position after
graduation (Figure 8). This proportion is significantly higher than in Ward’s (2016) pilot study but is one less than the numberof graduates who at the time of graduation expected to use their language skills. Of the 58 respondents who replied
regarding the location of the role, 37 (63.79%) replied that it was in Australia, two (3.45%) that it was in New Zealand and19 (32.76%) that it was in another country. Of the latter, 17 (29.31% of all respondents) replied that the role was in Japan.
That is, almost 30% of the graduates who used Japanese at work, did so in Japan. It is possible that a number of graduatesworked in ‘Teaching in Japan’ roles, including those on the JET Program.

Figure 8: Proportion of graduates who used any Japanese language skill in the workplace

Five of the seven graduates who had not used their language skills left a comment as to the reason: one wrote that “thejob nature does not require the language. Does not coincide with my other degree”; one wrote that language skills were“not recognised/valued”; another wrote “not required”; one wrote they were “not relevant, and my language skills were nothigh enough for the type of jobs I would have liked to apply for”; and the other wrote “no jobs”.
Of the graduates who used their language skills, just over 95% used their spoken skills (Figure 9). This makes spoken skills
the most commonly used skill, which is in line with the studies undertaken by Kinoshita Thomson (1996) and Ward (2016).

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

91

Figure 9: Respondents who used their Japanese spoken skills

In regards to the frequency of use, most graduates used their spoken skills ‘On a daily basis’ (73.68%) whilst 10.53% of thegraduates used their spoken skills ‘Once a week’ (Table 2). An additional 15.79% (nine out of 57) used them ‘As required’ oron an inconsistent basis.
Regularity

No. of responses

Percentage

On a daily basis

42

73.68

Once a week

6

10.53

Once a month00

As required

9

15.79

Total

57

100

Table 2: Regularity of use of spoken skills

In terms of the level of Japanese spoken skills used, 42.11% of respondents used their language skills at the ‘Basic’level whilst 36.84% of respondents used ‘Advanced’ level skills (see Table 3). The high proportion of graduates who used
‘Advanced’ level skills is encouraging and indicates that there is not only a significant number of graduates with this levelof skill but they are also using their skills. More research on the contexts where advanced-level skills are being used isneeded. Interestingly, intermediate-level skills were used by the least proportion of graduates. In terms of the combinationof sectors and skill level, of the 24 who used their skills at the ‘Basic’ level, 15 were employed in the ‘Education & Training’sector. That is, more than half of the respondents who used basic-level spoken skills were employed in that sector. This is
a probable reflection of the level of skills taught in that sector and/or the possibility that they taught English.
Level

No. of responses

Percentage

Basic (e.g., participate in conversations on common work-related topics in
informal context)

24

42.11

Intermediate (e.g., summarise and/or describe issues raised at meetings)

12

21.05

Advanced (e.g., give presentations on specialist topics, adapt language
appropriately for different audiences, be interviewed in the language)

21

36.84

Total

57

100

Table 3: Level of spoken skills used

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

92

Figure 10: Use of reading skills

In regards to the use of their reading skills, almost 90% (52 of 58) used this skill (Figure 10). The proportion of graduatesusing this skill is significantly higher than in both the Kinoshita Thomson (1996) and Ward (2016) studies. This result could
be partially explained by the high proportion of graduates employed in the ‘Education & Training’ sector. In terms of theregularity of use of their reading skills, 37 (72.55%) used them ‘On a daily basis’ whilst nine (17.65%) indicated that theyused them ‘As required’ (Table 4). The use of graduates’ reading skills on a daily basis is far higher than the results of theWard (2016, 156-157) study which showed that less than half of the respondents with a major used their Japanese reading
skills on a daily basis.
Regularity

No. of responses

Percentage

On a daily basis

37

72.55%

Once a week

4

7.84%

Once a month

1

1.96%

As required

917.65%

Total

51

100

Table 4: Regularity of use of reading skills

Figure 11: Use of writing skills

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

93

In terms of writing skills, 79.31% of respondents reported using this skill. However, in comparison to the use of reading
skills, twice as many did not use their writing skills. In regards to the regularity of use, 29 of the 44 graduates who use theirwriting skills reported using them ‘On a daily basis’ whilst seven (15.91%) reported using them ‘Once a week’ (Table 5). The
remaining eight (18.18%) used their writing skills ‘As required’.
Regularity

No. of responses

Percentage

On a daily basis

29

65.91%

Once a week7

15.91%

Once a month00

As required

8

18.18%

Total

44

100%

Table 5: Regularity of use of written skills

Finally, more than 35 graduates left comments/suggestions for present or future university Japanese language learners
regarding employment using language skills. One common theme was the need for students to undertake technical/
professional studies in addition to the study of Japanese. The following two comments are examples:
Language is essential to differentiate yourself in a tight labour market but tends to be icing on cake – so ensure you have atechnical qualification as well eg economics or law or science.
	Language/culture by itself will not be enough for employment beyond something like the JET program or academia. You musthave another qualification or interest under your belt that is not language-related (i.e. public policy, accounting, audit, law,finance). Find the industries in which your country/language are strong in Australia. Examples include mining, engineering, andprofessional services such as financial advisory, law, audit or something similar. In short, your foreign language/culture skills
will be of use in the long run, but you MUST have a professional skill or qualification (the plus-alpha as they call it in Japan) tooffer a prospective employer.

The above comments are broadly in line with comments mentioned in Ward (2016). Other graduates noted the importanceof the skills that language learners develop in the process of language learning (e.g., ‘soft’ skills such as intercultural
understanding) and the need for ongoing engagement with the language to maintain proficiency. Examples include:	It isn’t all about employability, it is about understanding others who are not like you. Learning a language opens up a world of
culture, difference, acceptance and richness.
	Actively look for ways to engage with native Japanese speakers on a regular basis. Since graduating, as I haven’t had thechance to use my Japanese language skills my level of Japanese has dropped back to a beginner’s level unfortunately.

Conclusion
The results of this study show a complexity as to how university graduates use their Japanese language skills in theworkplace and why they chose to study Japanese. Significantly, the results show that a high proportion of graduates
are using their language skills in the workplace in at least one role post graduation. Moreover, in line with Kinoshita
Thomson (1996) and Ward (2016), speaking is the most commonly used skill, followed by reading and writing in that order.
Importantly, a high number of graduates use their spoken skills at an advanced level and, compared to both the Kinoshita
Thomson (1996) and Ward (2016) studies, a higher proportion of graduates use their reading and writing skills. This latter
difference could be due to the high proportion of responding graduates employed in the ‘Education & Training’ sector where
the teaching of reading and writing skills is an essential element of the curriculum. The results also show that a numberof graduates use their skills on an ‘As required’ basis, which indicates that they are not used regularly. Such a scenario
could potentially have a negative impact on graduates’ ability to maintain their linguistic skill levels. The results also showthat whilst over 50% of graduates study Japanese because they think it will be useful for their employment prospects,

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

94

an even higher proportion do so for ‘General interest’ or because of a ‘Belief in ability to speak more than one language’.
That is, perceived employment opportunities are not necessarily the main reason for graduates to have studied Japanese.
Importantly, a high proportion expect at the time of graduation to use their language skills in the workplace and, for themost part, this expectation is met. However, in nearly 30% of cases, the role is located in Japan. Whilst such a situation
indicates that graduates of Australian and New Zealand universities are successful in gaining employment in Japan, it could
indicate that there is a lack of ‘value’ placed on language skills by Australian (and possibly New Zealand) businesses. Yet, it
could also be a reflection of graduates’ strategic use of a sojourn in Japan to improve their language skills.
These considerations clearly indicate that more research is needed on the employment of language graduates. Research
incorporating interviews which specifically addresses how graduates use their language skills would provide greater
clarity on the employment by industry sectors, location of the role as well as the regularity and level of use. Research on
graduates’ comments about their language skills being “not valued/recognised” by business is also needed. Finally, whilst
not specific to language graduates, research into students’ changing career aspirations during university studies would beof use to university teaching staff and administrators.
The results of this study have implications for career advisers, university marketers and degree-structure administrators,
particularly in terms of the need for students to develop technical or professional skills in addition to their language skills.
The results also have implications for policy makers; government programs encouraging and/or supporting language
studies are important, but business needs to be engaged more so that opportunities for language graduates (or eveninternships) are available and there is greater recognition of the value of language skills.

References
Armour, W. and S. Iida. 2016. “Are Australian Fans of Anime and Manga Motivated to Learn Japanese Language?” Asia Pacific Journal of Education 36 (1): 3147. https://doi.org/10/1080/02188791.2014.922459.
Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA). 2015. “Smart Engagement with Asia: Leveraging Language, Research and Culture.” Accessed 5
November, 2019. https://acola.org/engaging-with-asia-saf03/.
Bashfield, S. 2013. “Indonesian Literacy in Australia: Vocational Experiences of Indonesian Language Graduates”. Honours Thesis, Monash University.
British Council. 2013. “Culture at Work: The Value of Intercultural Skills in the Workplace.” Accessed 2 January, 2018.
https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/policy-insight-research/research/culture-work-intercultural-skills-workplace.
Clarke, W. M. 2000. “The Use of Foreign Languages by Irish Exporters.” European Journal of Marketing 34 (1-2): 80-90.
https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560010306214.
Corder, D., J. Kawai, and A. Roskvist. 2018. “Report on the Need to Build Capacity in International Language and Intercultural Capabilities in New Zealand: The
Role of Tertiary Education (Japanese as an Illustration).” Accessed 8 July, 2019.
http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/admission/scholarships-bursaries-awards/other-scholarships/sasakawa/japanese-language-fund/report-on-the-needto-build-capacity-in-international-language-and-intercultural-capabilities-in-new-zealand-the-role-o.cfm?lang=en.
Curnow, T., and M. Kohler. 2007. “Languages are important. But That’s Not Why I’m Studying One.” Babel 42 (2): 20-24, 38.
PM&C (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet). 2012. Australia in the Asian Century. Accessed 13 November, 2014.
http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/verve/_resources/australia-in-the-asian-century-white-paper.pdf.
Education Counts. 2019. “Participation: Languages.” Accessed 9 July, 2019. https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/tertiary-education/
participation.
Enderwick, P. and M. Akoorie. 1994. “Pilot Study Research Note: The Employment of Foreign Language Specialists and Export Success – The Case of New
Zealand”. International Marketing Review 11 (4): 4-18. https://doi.org.org/10.1108/02651339410069218.
The Japan Foundation. 1992. Kaigai no Nihongo kyōiku no genjō (shūkeihyō 1-1: Nihongo kyōiku kikansū·kyōshisū/gakushūshasū) [海外の日本語教育の現状（集計表1-1：日本語教育機関数教師数・学習者数]. Accessed 8 July, 2019. https://www.jpf.go.jp/j/project/japanese/survey/result/dl/1990gaiyou.pdf.
The Japan Foundation. 1995. Kaigai no Nihongo Kyōiku no genjō (beppyō 1: Kuni·chiikibetsu Nihongo kyōiku kikansū·kyōshisū·gakushūshasū (1993))[海外の日本語教育の現状（別表1：国地域別日本語教育機関数・教師数学習者数（1993年））]. Accessed 8 July, 2019.
https://www.jpf.go.jp/j/project/japanese/survey/result/dl/1993gaiyou.pdf.
The Japan Foundation. 2000. Present Condition of Overseas Japanese-Language Education (Summary). Accessed 8 July 2019.
https://www.jpf.go.jp/j/project/japanese/survey/result/dl/e_gaiyou.pdf.
The Japan Foundation. 2013. Survey Report on Japanese-Language Education Abroad 2012 (English Summary). Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers.
The Japan Foundation. 2015. The JF Standard for Japanese-Language Education. Accessed 5 November, 2019.
https://jfstandard.jp/pdf/CEFR_Cando_Category_list.pdf.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS95

The Japan Foundation. 2017. Survey Report on Japanese-Language Education Abroad 2015. Accessed 21 April 2019.
https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/project/japanese/survey/result/survey15.html.
Joint Australia-Japan Working Group for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education and People-to-People Exchange. 2010. Strengthening Japanese
Language Learning and Support for the Australian-Japanese Business Academic Relationship. Accessed 21 April, 2019.
https://dfat.gov.au/geo/japan/Documents/strengthening-japanese-language-learning.pdf.
Kinoshita Thomson, C. 1996. “Employment and Language Ability of Australian Non-native Speakers of Japanese: A Sydney Case Study.” Japanese Studies
Bulletin 16 (1): 15-34.
Lo Bianco, J. 2000. “After the Tsunami, Some Dilemmas.” Australian Language Matters 8 (1): 10-13.
Nakamura, T. 2015. “Motivations for Learning Japanese and Additional Languages: A Study of L2 Self-Image across Multiple Languages.” New Voices inJapanese Studies, 7 (39-58). https://doi.org/10.21159/nvjs.07.03.
Northwood, B. and C. Kinoshita Thomson, 2012. “What Keeps Them Going? Investigating Ongoing Learners of Japanese in Australian Universities.” JapaneseStudies 32 (3): 335-355. https://doi.org/10.1080/10371397.2012.735988.
SBS News. “Lift Education Standards: Linfox Boss”, 7 May, 2014. Accessed 17 April, 2019.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/lift-education-standards-linfox-boss.
Sissons, D. C. S. n.d. “Murdoch, James (1856–1921).” Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National
University. Accessed March 9, 2021. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murdoch-james-7690/text13461.
The New Colombo Plan Scholarship Program 2018, n.d. Accessed 17 June, 2017. http://dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/new-colombo-plan/scholarshipprogram/Pages/scholarship-program.aspx.
Ward, R. 2016. “Employment of Graduates of Japanese Language.” In Local Connections, Global Visions: 2014 National Symposium on Japanese Language
Education Proceedings, edited by C. Kinoshita Thomson, 148-167. Sydney: The Japan Foundation, Sydney.
Webb, G. 2010. “Enhancing the Employability of Language Graduates.” Assessement, Teaching and Learning Journal 10 (Winter): 30-32.
Unemori, P., H. Omoregie and H. Markus. 2004. “Self-portraits: Possible Selves in European-American, Chilean, Japanese and Japanese-American Cultural
Contexts.” Self and Identity 3 (4): 321-338.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

96

Contributor
Biographies
Jessica Bretherton has taught Japanese, Humanities, Music and EAL at a variety of regional and suburban Victorian
primary and secondary schools. She currently teaches Japanese at a small primary school in the Dandenong Ranges.
Jessica taught English in Aichi, Japan, and lived in China where she attempted to learn Mandarin while running workshops
for Chinese teachers on creativity in foreign language classes. Jessica is always looking for new ways to make learning
real and meaningful for her students, and believes CLIL is the way to do this.
Nicholas Creed is currently the College Innovations Assistant Principal at Mernda Central P-12 College. He completeda Bachelor of Arts at The University of Melbourne alongside a Diploma in Modern Languages (Japanese). Nicholas
subsequently completed a Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary), and in 2012 completed a Professional Certificate
in Education (CLIL). Nicholas moved to Mernda Central College in 2018 to establish the Japanese program. Prior to this,he taught Japanese and History for 12 years at Mount Waverley Secondary College. Nicholas has extensive experienceteaching Year 7-VCE Japanese in flexible learning environments, and a passion for sharing knowledge of Japanese
language and culture.
Kathleen Duquemin holds a Masters of Applied Linguistics and Graduate Diplomas in Japanese Language and Primary
Education. She has been involved in curriculum development for second language education and has contributed as awriter and curator to develop digital resources for Japanese language learning. She currently teaches Japanese from
Foundation to Year 6, incorporating texts, technology and Japanese sign language in the classroom to differentiate andenrich the language learning experience.
Nagisa Fukui is Senior Lecturer of Japanese Studies at UNSW Sydney. She has developed and taught a wide range ofJapanese courses at UNSW Sydney, including the university’s largest language course. She also supervises Japanese
language teaching practicum students interested in teaching at tertiary institutions. Nagisa’s research interests include
Japanese language education and Japanese discourse analysis through the systemic functional approach (SFL). Nagisa
has published book chapters and articles on Japanese language learning and SFL.
Akiko Hiratsuka is an associate lecturer of Japanese language and culture in International Studies at the University ofTechnology Sydney, where she has taught since 2006. She is involved in program development for intermediate- andadvanced-level courses. She also regularly teaches at Western Sydney University, and has previously taught at UNSW
Sydney and The University of Sydney. Her area of teaching includes Japanese language, intercultural communicationand linguistics. Her experience extends to teaching Japanese language in the adult education sector, having taught at
a community language school in Australia. Akiko was a Japanese teacher in Daegu, Korea and Tokyo, Japan prior to
moving to Australia in 2004, and holds a Master of Letters in Linguistics from The University of Sydney. Her ongoing
research interests lie primarily in the fields of multilingualism and language practice in families.
Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson is Professor of Japanese Studies at UNSW Sydney, where she engages in both undergraduate
language teaching and postgraduate research supervision. Her research areas include Japanese language education,
applied and educational linguistics, and inclusiveness and the role of language learning in learner development. Herteaching reflects her research interest in bringing together learners and members of different communities to engage
with each other. She is a recipient of numerous honours including The Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation, an
Australian Government Citation, and a UNSW Vice Chancellor’s Award. Chihiro was Chief Editor of the 2012 and 2014
NSJLE Proceedings.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

97

Takuya Kojima is a PhD candidate at UNSW Sydney and Japanese language teacher at UNSW Sydney and Macquarie
University. His research interests include social learning theories, language learner identity, language learning in
Communities of Practice, and cross-boundary learning in Japanese language education. His teaching is informed by thesocial learning theories. Takuya is also involved in organising research activities for postgraduate students both locallyand internationally. Takuya has published articles and book chapters on learners and postgraduate students of Japanese
language education.
Teresa Marnik is Junior School Assistant Principal at Mernda Central P-12 College. She completed her Bachelor of
Education at The University of Melbourne, and recently earned a Master of Education (Literacy and Reading) at Torrens
University Australia. Teresa has 20 years’ experience in education and is dedicated to developing an authentic andengaging learning experience for all students, using her expert pedagogical knowledge and extensive experience inleading curriculum at a whole-school level. Teresa values the importance of second language learning and understands
the benefits of learning Japanese. She also values innovation and creativity within and beyond the curriculum.
Steven Miyazawa has been teaching Japanese since graduating with postgraduate qualifications in education from The
University of Melbourne in 2013. Prior to his postgraduate study, Steven attended Sophia University, Tokyo, on a one-yearexchange program, which afforded him the opportunity to enrich his cultural and linguistic knowledge about his subject
area. Steven moved to Mernda Central P-12 College in 2018 to help start the College’s new Japanese language program.
Steven is passionate about the education of young adults and is a strong advocate of second language learning. As of 2021,
Steven Miyazawa is Curriculum Leader of Japanese in the middle and senior schools at Mernda Central P-12 College.
Yuji Okawa is an experienced secondary school Japanese language teacher, having taught in Sydney since 2008.
Yuji utilises his rich academic and practitioner knowledge to put educational theories into practice and regularly reports
his findings back to the academic community. Yuji is currently a PhD candidate at UNSW Sydney. Prior to this, hecompleted a Master of Arts in Japanese Studies at UNSW Sydney in 2017. He also holds a Master of Social Anthropology
from SOAS, University of London, a Masters of Applied Linguistics from UNSW Sydney, a Diploma of Education from the
University Technology, Sydney, and a Bachelor of Economics from Doshisha University, Kyoto.
Shinji Okumura obtained his doctoral degree in applied linguistics at Monash University. He was previously Associate
Professor of English at Mukogawa Women’s University, and is currently Associate Professor of English in the Facultyof Information and Communications at Bukyo University, Kanagawa, Japan. Shinji’s research interests are focused ontechnology-enhanced language learning, foreign language education in primary schools, and language-in-education
policy. He has served as a reviewer for Computer Assisted Language Learning (Taylor & Francis). His articles haveappeared in Intercultural Education (Taylor & Francis), among other publications.
Mandy O’Mara has worked in state education for over 30 years, and was the inaugural principal of Mernda Central
P-12 College. She graduated with a Diploma of Teaching from The Phillip Institute, followed by a Bachelor of Education(Science) from Victoria University. Mandy has taught and led in many settings including primary, Prep–12 colleges andschools operating under the Public Private Partnership Program. She is passionate about all students acquiring an
education that will challenge, inspire, and prepare them for successful futures. Mandy is also committed to supporting
teachers to develop skills and competencies to deliver engaging curriculum that motivates students. As of 2021, Mandy
is College Principal of Point Cook College.
Shoko Ono has many years’ experience teaching Japanese language and culture in various Australian institutions.
She is currently a lecturer of Japanese Language and Culture at the University of Technology Sydney, and lecturer ofJapanese language at The Japan Foundation, Sydney. She holds a Masters of Arts in comparative English literature andJapanese studies from The University of Sydney. Shoko’s interests include how educators can effectively support thefurther development of Japanese language learners at the advanced and upper-advanced level, with particular focus
on reading and writing skills. She is passionate about issues concerning children and young adults in relation to heritage
language learning.

NSJLE 2018 PROCEEDINGS

98

Masae Uekusa obtained a master’s degree in applied linguistics and postgraduate degree in education from Monash
University. She is currently a primary school teacher at three government schools in Victoria. Her research interests areforeign language education in Australia and Japan, ICT-based language teaching, and gesture-based language teaching
methods. She participated in the research on the use of “inking” conducted by Dr Sarah Passfield Neofitou, and presented“Use of tablet computers in a beginners’ Japanese course: benefits and issues of using inking in the classroom” at the
NSJLE 2012.
Ayako Wada started her career as a Japanese language teacher and has taught students from diverse backgrounds
and levels in South Korea and Japan. She is currently in charge of both Japanese teacher training and Japanese learning
courses for foreign students at Konan Women’s University in Japan. Her longstanding research interests include
motivation in foreign language learning, language teaching methodology, developing classroom activities, and how
to spread the concept of a multicultural society through language learning. Her recent work focuses on the learning
experience ofJapanese language learners abroad using hands-on materials. This material has been used in South Korea,
Australia and Indonesia.
Nobuko Wang obtained a master’s degrees in area studies and teaching Japanese as a second language from Tsukuba
University in 1988. She is now a professor at the School of Letters, Department of Japanese Language at Senshu
University. Her research interests include the teaching of Japanese language phonetics to learners. Nobuko previously
received a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) from 2017
to 2020.
Rowena Ward was President of the Japanese Studies Association of Australia (JSAA) from 2017-2019, and SeniorLecturer in Japanese at the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, The University of Wollongong. Rowena graduatedwith a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Newcastle and holds a PhD in politics and international relations
from UNSW Sydney. Rowena’s research interests cover the internment and repatriation of Japanese civilians resident in
the Asia-Pacific region before December 1941, gendered language use in the language classroom and the employmentof language graduates.
Hirofumi Yada has been a librarian at The Japan Foundation, Sydney since 2001, where his duties include acquisition,
cataloguing and reference services. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Library and Information Science,
Japan. Hirofumi worked for a library of a private university in Japan before joining The Japan Foundation, Sydney. His
current goal is to make the library’s Japanese-language collection more accessible to language learners.