Skype-Assisted Conversation Activity
to Foster Japanese Language Teacher
Nakamata Naoki(Kyoto University of Education, Japan)
2. Practice

1. Background
Students in China who want toimprove their Japanese(especially conversation skills)(CS)

Students in Japan who want to
be Japanese LanguageTeachers(JS)
Few opportunities
to teach in Japan

Few opportunities
to speak in China

2.1 Participants
12 students from Jissen Women’s University in Tokyo, Japan
15 students from Hunan University in Zhangsha, China
2.2 PeriodApril – July 2012 (Extended by a request from CS)
2.3 Activity
One-on-one conversations
1 session per week (max 90 min.)JS were not instructed to TEACH, just to “Enjoy.”
The themes were predetermined. A discussion of Japanese grammar was included inthe latter sessions.

SkypeThis activity provides…
• An authentic chance to teach / learn Japanese
language communicatively• Self-efficacy (Bandura 1977)• Conceptual skills and human skills (Soyoda &Okahigashi 2004) for JS• Reflection on the identity of “teacher” for JS

1. Self2. Campus life 3. Pop culture 4. Foods
introduction
6. Hometown 7. Honorifics 8. Festivals
9. Vacationand traditions

2.4 Themes

5. Home,family

2.5 Feedback
Comments on the Facebook group page

3. Effects & Evaluation
Q. What was your reason for participating in thisactivity?
To gain experience teaching Japanese (3)To improve my Japanese teaching skills (3)To talk to people in other countries (3)To learn about other countries’ cultures (3)Q. Have you achieved this purpose?
Yes, very well (3), Yes (8)Q. Did you enjoy this activity?
Yes, very much (6), Yes (4), No (1)Q. When did you feel so?
When I could explain things successfully (6)When my partner said my explanation was useful after thesession (2)When I noticed the gap between the two cultures (2)When my partner did not appear without notification (1)Q. How have the LEARNERS changed?
They have become more enthusiastic and ask more questions. (4)Special effects on
They have become able to understand fast speech. (2)students who are notvery active in aclassroom

Q. How have YOU changed?
I reflected on my Japanese to make myself understood.
I tried to speak clearly.
I tried more to create rapport with my partner than to speak well. I thought wecould teach only after we built a good relationship.
Identity as a
I enjoyed being TAUGHT.
teacher has
I want to become a Japanese language teacher even more than before!
changedQ. What is important to do when you talk with foreigners?
HumanSkills
A problem
to be solved

Q. Was it helpful to have the themes decided
previously?
Yes, very much (7), Yes (3), No (1)VariedQ. What is the most impressive theme?
answers
Campus life (2), Honorifics (2), Pop culture (3), Festivals andtraditions (1), Hometown (1), Foods (2)Q. Was Facebook helpful for reflection?
Yes, very well (5), Yes (5)Q. Why?
Because I could reflect on MY session (7)Because I could follow other students’ activities (4)120 comments on Facebook.
Some JS uploaded their original worksheets or materials spontaneously.
CS sent JS an index of grammatical items for which they wanted to hear
an explanation.

→This activity facilitated spontaneous learning.

Listen his/her words well (3)Know and respect each other’s culture (3)Enjoy the conversation (2)Not think my common sense is the same as others’ (2)Q. What is the problem
with this activity?

Q. What problems did you
encounter?

Poor quality of call or video (8)It is hard to explain culture (2)Explanation of synonyms
Timing of correction

Q. Did you read others’ comments?
Sometimes (8), Always (3)Q. What did you think at that time?
When our conversation stopped, I continued it with “I heard in China…”
At first, I was not sure how to maintain the conversation, so others’ comments
helped us. Some students analyzed the questions from the learner quite well.
My conversation preceded other pairs, so I used the comments for my reflection.

4. Final Remarks
The Skype-Assisted Conversation Activity helped develop conceptual &human skilｌs of the JS.
A future task is to conduct the same activity for students who want to be
Japanese teachers for Japanese students or elementary school teachers.
Also, a corpus based on this activity is being built.