NSJLE 2022 PROCEEDINGSENGAGING STUDENTS IN
THEIR JAPANESE LEARNING
THROUGH PROJECT BASEDLEARNING (PBL)
NATHAN LANE
St Mary MacKillop College36

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ABSTRACTThis paper outlines an approach to engage students in their learning of Japanese through the Project Based Learning(PBL) pedagogy. The way the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) and an instructional model for explicit teaching wereincorporated in the Project Based Learning framework will also be outlined.

INTRODUCTION
There is a lot of information online and in a variety of books published about Project Based Learning (PBL). However, tomy knowledge little has been written about how PBL can be used as a contemporary pedagogy for teaching and learning
Japanese. The purpose of this paper is to outline how PBL can be a vehicle for engaging students in their study of Japanese
at a secondary school level.
A search on the internet provides many reasons about the importance of incorporating PBL into the curriculum.
For instance, Edutopia provides a comprehensive rationale for PBL:
PBL Helps Students Develop Skills for Living in a Knowledge-Based, Highly Technological Society. The old-schoolmodel of passively learning facts and reciting them out of context is no longer sufficient to prepare students to survive
in today's world. Solving highly complex problems requires that students have both fundamental skills (reading,writing, and math) and 21st century skills (teamwork, problem solving, research gathering, time management,information synthesizing, utilizing high tech tools). With this combination of skills, students become directors andmanagers of their learning process, guided and mentored by a skilled teacher. (Edutopia 2007)
There are a number of misconceptions and myths around PBL. The most common myth is that PBL is not rigorous, there is
no explicit teaching, and it is all about group work. To address these misconceptions, teachers can access PBL frameworks
that provide some structure and sequence to the creation of engaging units of work. One useful framework is available on
the Magnify Learning website (see Figure 1 below). This framework provides a useful structure for teachers to follow fromthe beginning to the end of a PBL unit of work.
The challenge for Japanese teachers embedding PBL into their programs is how to create authentic PBL experiences
without forcing the pedagogy into a unit of work.
The key features of this framework are:
• A driving question or a question to which students are unable to do a simple search online to find out the answer.
Rather this question needs to be open-ended and thought provoking; and it needs to spark interest.
• Entry event—an activity to spark the student’s interest in the unit.
• Scaffolding—this is where a model of explicit instruction can be incorporated, and addresses the misconceptionthat there is no explicit teaching in PBL. This issue will be discussed further below.
• Benchmark tasks—these are formative assessment tasks students complete as they progress through the unit.
• Presentation—or an opportunity for students to present their knowledge to the class, to another class or topeople outside of the school, either individually or in groups.
• Reflection—regular opportunities for students to reflect individually or with others on what they are learning andhow they are learning.

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Figure 1 Traditional Unit vs. PBL Unit

(Source: Magnify Learning (N.d.): https://www.magnifylearningin.org/planning-a-project-based-learning-unit)

MODEL OF EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION
The scaffolding component of the PBL framework allows a model of explicit instruction to be incorporated into PBL.
Recently, many schools have adopted a model of explicit instruction to assist in developing a common structure for theway lessons are taught, and a common language around teaching practice. An explicit instructional model also assists inembedding the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) developed by the Department of Education in Victoria. The HITS “area bank of 10 instructional practices that are internationally recognised as some of the most reliable teaching strategies fordelivering learning outcomes.” (State Government of Victoria 2023) The HITS are: setting goals, structuring lessons, explicit
teaching, worked examples, collaborative learning, multiple exposures, questioning, feedback, metacognitive strategies,and differentiated teaching. A useful and easy to remember and follow model of explicit instruction uses the LEARN
acronym (see Table 1).
Table 1
AN EXAMPLE OF A MODEL OF EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION
Learning Objective• Learning intentions and success criteria are introduced to students.

Engagement and Prior Knowledge• Engage students with a hook (or entry event) and/or explore student’s prior knowledge.
• Review learning from previous lessons.

Apply Learning• Encounter new learning using the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS).
• Opportunities for students to explore, create or build.

Reflect and Feedback• Review learning intentions and success criteria.
• Students indicate their understanding.
• Teachers provide feedback to support student learning.

Next Steps• Identify areas for improvement and address students’ individual needs.This will inform the direction ofteaching in the next class.

Source: Adapted from Bayside P-12 College (2024) https://bayside.vic.edu.au/instructional-framework-2-2/

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AN EXAMPLE LESSON USING THE LEARN EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL
In this section an example lesson using the LEARN model will be discussed. The lesson is designed for the students to learnbody parts in Japanese.
Learning Objective
To be able to brainstorm adjectives in Japanese.
To be able to sing a song to learn the body parts.
To be able to label the body parts in Japanese on a character/mascot.
Engagement and Prior Knowledge
Brainstorm known adjectives.
Apply Learning
Introduce body parts using the “head, shoulders, knees and toes” song. Label body parts on どーもくん (Doomo-kun, the official
mascot of NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster) and use a Blooket game or Quizlet to practice the vocabulary for body parts.
Reflect and Feedback
Reflect on today’s learning. What did you find easy? What did you find challenging? In what other ways or areas can you
apply today’s learning?
Next Steps
To be able to use adjectives to describe body parts.
The engaging activities and explicit instruction in this lesson ensure the students achieve the Learning Objectives for thelesson.

USING THE PBL FRAMEWORKIn this section an example of the progression through the stages of the PBL framework created by Magnify Learning will beoutlined for a unit of work at Year 9 focusing on ゆるキャラ (see Table 2). The driving question for this unit is “How can wecreate a mascot to effectively promote a place?” Throughout the unit students conduct research and engage in discussions
and reflections on ゆるキャラ in order to respond to the driving question. Examples of where the HITS fit into the stages ofthe PBL framework have also been included in italics.
Table 2
AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THE PBL FRAMEWORK CAN BE USED
Entry Event

Scaffolding

Benchmark 1

Scaffolding

Benchmark 2

Hold a ゆるキャラ GrandPrix contest. Students maketheir favourite ゆるキャラ
out of materials they canfind around their home.

Review the ～がありま
す structure from Year
8 and the vocabulary forplaces in a city (e.g. beach,restaurant) and adjectives
to describe a place (e.g.
pretty).

Students choose a city
in Australia or aroundthe world, and create abrochure for this place inJapanese using the ～があります structure.
For example: メルボルンにきれいなうみがあります。

Introduce vocabulary: bodyparts (use song), colours(mini car activity and song),
and adjectives to describe
physical features (e.g. 大きい、小さい、長い).

Vocabulary quizzes onbody parts, colours andadjectives.

Look at photos and a videoof ゆるキャラ. What do yousee, think, wonder when you HITS questioning (what dolook at these viewing texts? we remember from Year 8?)
Throughout the unit ensure
learning intentions andsuccess criteria are provided
for each lesson. HITS settinggoals.

Provide an example of abrochure—HITS workedexamples.

Kahoot/Blooket/Quizlet tolearn vocabulary.
Body parts puzzle.
Fly swat game to learn
colours.
HITS explicit teaching,multiple exposures anddifferentiated teaching.

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Scaffolding

Benchmark 3

Scaffolding

Present

Reflection

Use vocabulary wheels
to learn the grammaticalstructures for describing
appearance.

Put together a poster of 10
different ゆるキャラ anduse the vocabulary wheels
to describe the features ofthe characters in Japanese.

Introduce the vocabulary
for writing a profile of acharacter (e.g. name, age,where they live, things theylike).

Students design a ゆるキャラ for the place theycreated the brochure for at
the start of the unit.

Provide an example ofa poster—HITS workedexamples.

Provide an example ofa profil—HITS workedexamples.

Student Reflections• What did I have to dotoday?
• What did I find easy?
• What did I find difficult?
• Which skills did I use?
• Where else could I use
these skills? (transfer ofskills to other learning, reallife etc.)• Continue to reflect on thedriving question.
• Use a rubric to assess the
fashion parade task.

Students listen to a
description and make thebody part out of plasticine(e.g. 目が大きいです。)
HITS explicit teaching,multiple exposures anddifferentiated teaching

They describe their mascot
in Japanese and present
their description to the class(and another class) in a
fashion parade activity.
They design the costumefor their mascot that theirpartner will wear during the
fashion parade while theyread the description.

HITS feedback andmetacognitive strategies.

Students write a profile ofthe character they design(e.g. name, age, where they
live, things they like).
Peer feedback will beprovided as well as
feedback from the teacher
in the form of a rubric.
HITS collaborative learning.

Footnote: Spinning vocabulary wheels are useful interactive learning tools. The large wheel has the words written inJapanese on the side. The smaller wheel has a cut-out section that will reveal the translation of the word in English as it ismoved around. The two wheels are joined together by a split pin.
The Magnify Learning PBL framework uses benchmarks to assess learning throughout the unit. The benchmark tasks
can be formative assessment tasks, for example vocabulary quizzes. The assessment of macro skills throughout the unit
is through the use of rubrics: for example, the brochure and poster writing tasks, written profile and description of themascot, and the oral presentation describing the mascot.

CONCLUSION
There are a number of things to consider when implementing PBL pedagogy in a Japanese program. First is student
collaboration. Teachers cannot assume that students know how to collaborate and work effectively in a group situation.
Experience shows that some students do more work than others and this can cause friction. Students therefore need tobe taught the skills on how to collaborate. One way PBL addresses, and supports, student collaboration is to make students
accountable in a group situation through group contracts. These contracts outline how the group will work together, andinclude norms and agreements to help keep the students on track throughout the project.
Second, student voice and agency are important considerations when developing a program that will engage students
in their learning of Japanese. Opportunities for students to be involved in developing PBL units need to be explored. Thisincludes finding out what students want to learn, and receiving feedback from them at the end of the unit on what they
enjoyed and did not enjoy so the unit can be refined for future use.
Third, a key component of PBL is developing 21st century skills. Rubrics for language learning tend to focus on the way
students are developing their skills to communicate in Japanese, for example, their listening, speaking, reading, writing andviewing skills. However, ways to assess 21st century skills in rubrics, for example, critical thinking, creativity, collaborationand communication, also need to be explored.

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subjects are taught in silos, but PBL presents an opportunity to explore connections across subject areas. These links
across curriculum areas should be authentic and meaningful, and not forced.
Fifth, a PBL unit is framed around a driving question. One way to develop such questions is by framing them in a similarmanner to the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Program (MYP), which provides three types of inquiry questions
to promote deeper levels of thinking. These are 1) factual inquiry questions—remembering facts and topics; 2) conceptual
questions—analysing big ideas; and 3) debatable questions—evaluating perspectives and developing theories. This will
enable lots of deep thought and reflection throughout the unit as these questions are explored. At the junior secondary
level, much of the reflection will be in English as students do not have the language skills to reflect in Japanese. However,in the ゆるキャラ unit there are opportunities for students to develop their Japanese language skills through engaging in
the activities outlined above.
Finally, PBL encourages students to share their learning in a public forum. Such a forum may take the form of presenting topeers, adults or people from outside of the school. Opportunities for students to present in Japanese in a public forum need
to be explored more comprehensively. In the ゆるキャラ unit, the students present their fashion parade of characters/
mascots to students from another class. In this way, PBL offers opportunities for teachers to explore how student learning
can be shared and displayed beyond the classroom. Other options may include a display in a public space such as thelibrary, thereby creating links with members of the community and local organisations.

REFERENCE LIST
Bayside P-12 College. 2024. “Instructional Framework.” Accessed April 23, 2023. https://bayside.vic.edu.au/instructional-framework-2-2/.
Edutopia. 2007. “Why is project-based learning important? The many merits of using project-based learning in the classroom.” Accessed April 23, 2023.
https://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-guide-importance.
Magnify Learning. N.d. “How do I plan a PBL unit?” Accessed April 23, 2023. https://www.magnifylearningin.org/planning-a-project-based-learning-unit.
State Government of Victoria. 2023. “High impact teaching strategies (HITS).” Accessed April 23, 2023. https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/
teachingresources/practice/improve/Pages/hits.aspx .