The Japan Foundation Los Angeles Language Center
Number Seven, June 1994

Textbooks for Pre-Collegiate Level (6)Textbook Analysis of Sentence Patterns
The table below shows twelve sentences patterns
covered in the twelve textbooks used at the secondary
level with the coverage rates of each pattern. The listof the textbooks that we studied is as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Basic Japanese Level 1-2
Bunka Shokyu Nibongo I
Hello in Japanese I-Il (Konnichiwa
Nihongo)Hiroko-san no Tanoshii Nihongo
Japanese 1 &2 (SERC)
Japanese Book 1-3 (Alfonso)
Japanese Made Possible Vol.1 &2Japanese Now Vol.1-il (Korekara no
Nihongo)
Kirnono I-ill
Nihongo Part I & II (Kakutani)
Nihongo: Introductory Japanese Vol. I&II
Nihongo Kantan Book 1-2 (Speak Japanese)

na-AdjV-tePre-masu
We selected and arranged the sentence patterns bybasically including all of the sentence patterns but
excluding usage of particles, adverbs and otherinterns which have no predicate. The sentence
patterns we selected are arranged according to: Noun,i-Adj, na-Adj and Verb forms. Other patterns whichmost of the textbooks view as grammatical items arelabeled "miscellaneous" (misc). When analyzing the
textbooks, we counted only the sentence patterns
which were explained in the "grammar notes" of thetexts.
Noun
N desuN1 no-N2
N da
N dattaN dei-Adj
Adj + N
Adj desu
Adj katta desu

V-nai
V-dictV-ta

V-(y)oo
V-(r)areru
Misc.

Adj teAdj (informal)
Adj + N
Adj desu
Adj deshita
Adj deAdj daAdj datta
V-te kudasai
V-te imasu (progressive)
V-te (and)V-te mo ii desu
V-te imasu (stative)
V-te wa ikemasen
V-te mimasu
V-te kara
V-te wa dame desu
V-te agemasu/kuremasu
V-te okimasu
V-masuV-mashioo/ka
V-tai-desuka
V-mashitaka
V-masenka
V-ni ikimasu/kimasu
V-nagara
V-naide kudasai
V-naideV (informal)
V-koto ga dekimasu
V (informal)
V-ta koto ga arimasu
V-tari, V-tari shimasu
V (volitional)
V (potintial)
Location ni/e Motion V-masu
Location ni N ga arimasu/imasu
N ga suki/kirai desu

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N ga dekimasu
N o kudasai
N ga joozu/heta desu
N ga hosii desu
N o agemasu/moraimasu/kuremasu
N ga wakarimasu~ n/no desu
~ deshoo~ soo desu (hearsay)~ to omoimasu~ koto ni shimasu~ soo desu (“looks”)~ no (nominalization)
relative clause~ kara, ~~ toki, ~~ to, ~
~ node, ~~ tara, ~~ ga, ~

Bold
Plane

Pattern covered in 12 out of 12 books.
Pattern covered in 9-11 out of 12 books.
Pattern covered in 6-8 out of 12 books.
Pattern covered in 3-5 out of 12 books.

In Search of Articulation Between Secondary Level and College Level
Japanese
I. A High School Japanese Language Program
Yukiyo Moorman
Walt Whitman High School
Montgomery County, MarylandAt the ACTFL 94’s conference, one educator
asked me, “Why do you teach Japanese at thehigh school level?” This is a very importantand appropriate question for all high school Japaneseteachers. Before developing any program or
curriculum, we Japanese teachers must have a goodanswer for this question. Each state has an
educational goal or mission statement for secondary
education which is quite different in purpose andnature from that of higher education. Our mission
statement clearly states that the primary goal of
secondary education is to educate our students to befunctional, healthy, responsible, and caring American
citizens who understand democratic society, exercise
their rights, and are able to enjoy their lives andappreciate aesthetics. In order to reach these goats,
every program taught in the high school, including
the Japanese language must show objectives in the
curriculum clearly related to this goal. And theseobjectives must be implemented in the lesson plans.
Here are some examples of how these educational
objectives can be implemented in the Japanese
program. Every high school student must pass themath and language functional tests and a civics test inorder to receive a high school diploma. Since
conversing in unfamiliar Japanese is inhibiting
enough, the content of the lesson or topic should
cover familiar and relevant material for the learner.
So, Japanese lessons can incorporate some basic mathand algebra problems after students study
NUMBERS in Japanese, such as multiplication ofdecimal points, division by fractions, basic geometry,simple algebra and so forth, as follows:
4.5 / (waru) 2.3 = 1.956,
2/3 x (kakeru) 3/5 = 6/15
The teacher could review some basic formulas, suchas the area (menseki) and circumference (enshuu) ofa circle with a radius of 5 cm. are 2 pi.r (ni pai aaru)
and pi. squared (pai aaru no jijou) respectively. Or let
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Japanese students make a problem like, "How muchis 15% of $37.50 for a tip?" Or, "If a gallon of gas
costs $1.39, how much gas can one buy with five
dollars?" In this case, the content of the lesson is not
only relevant to learners, but also responds toimportant skills they need.
When students study about animals, that study may
include their natural habitats, then talk about best
suited environment for each animal using theJapanese terms. Such language study could coverecology, pollution, and the prevention of otherdamage to the environment. Even the recycling bin in
the school becomes an immediate topic in Japanese.
When students study about foods, it is very appropriate to learn nutrient values for each food group andtheir relationships to people's health after students
have learned basic vocabulary about foods. For
example;NIKU WA EIYOU WA ARUKEDO, KARADANIWARUI DESU, or MIZU WA EIYOU WANAIKEDO, KARADA NI II DESU. The
content/context, being very closely related to thestudents' immediate interests and concerns, will
stimulate students to talk about the issue in Japanese
as a functional skill.
When lessons are relevant to the students' interests orconcerns, it is easier to urge them to talk in the target
language. On the other hand, if a lesson covers rather
remote and unfamiliar contents for the learners, it isdifficult for the learners to talk about it in Japanese.
As the program or curriculum selects themes relevant
and meaningful to learners, then the same themes canbe repeated a each level with expanding emphasis. In
this manner, the learners will evolve from a very
basic vocabulary to abstract concepts without muchdifficulty. It is within reasonable expectation thatfourth year students of Japanese will be able toconverse about simple math problems or formulae inJapanese, express concerns about environmental
issues, healthy eating habits, or safety.
From the perspective of learning about Japan, areas
such as culture, education, history or contemporary
life could be presented by viewing videos or reading
printed materials, but this is not experiencing real
language learning. Teaching about Japan is not thesame as teaching the language. Teaching survival
language is quite interesting but not meaningful forhigh school students since they do not have
immediate plans to transfer to Japan either. A key
purpose of teaching Japanese at the high school levelis to help to educate a good American citizen-as thestudents broaden their knowledge of the Japanese
language and culture.

II. From High School Level to College Level Japanese:First-year Student Performance at Indiana University
Yasuko Ito Watt
Indiana UniversityAt the beginning of the fall semester of 1993,
thirty eight incoming first-year students took
the placement test in Japanese at Indiana
University. Among those students, two placed into
the third-year Japanese course. One of the two hadstudied Japanese for two years in high school and had
also studied for a year in Japan. The second students
had two years of college level Japanese while still ahigh school student.
Another group of three students placed into the second-year class. One of them had six years of Japanesein middle and high school; one had received college
level instruction in Japanese; and one had spent sometime in Japan in addition to having had three years ofJapanese in high school.
Nine students placed into the second semester offirst-year Japanese. The remaining students, a total oftwenty-four, did not test out of the first-semester ofthe first-year Japanese in spite of the fact that they
had studied Japanese from one to four years in highschool.
At the end of the fall semester, 126 students had completed J 101, the first semester of the first-year
Japanese course. Twenty-five students had dropped
the course before reaching the final examination.
Among the students who completed the course were:(1) 6 students who had studied in high school andwho placed into J102 (the second semester of firstyear Japanese) but who registered in J 101 in order tomaintain their Japanese until they could enroll in
J102 in the spring.
(2) 16 students who had studied in high school andwho did not test out of J101.
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(3) 16 students who studied in high school andregistered without taking the test (9 of these students

20% for the final exam (including both oral andwritten parts)
The performance of the five groups of students
described earlier is shown in the following graphs.
The graphs, each based on a 100% scale, reflects
their performance in each grading category.

were incoming first-year students and 7 were upperclass students).
(4) 7 students who were repeating Japanese after
having studied it at IU or at some other university.
(5) 81 students who had never studied Japanese
before.
Altogether thirty-eight students (those in Groups 1-3
above) who completed J101 had studied in highschool. In the first semester of the first-year Japanese
language class, student grades were calculated asfollows:
30% for class participation, judged mainly on thebasis of speaking (students were graded every day)
15% for homework assignments .25% for quizzes(mainly written)
10% for the midterm exam (including both oral andwritten parts)

The most noticeable point is that the results shown ineach graph seem to be similar regardless of the background of the students, except for the category of
homework assignments. Those who placed in thesecond semester but registered in the first semester(Group 1) always had the highest scores; those who
had never studied Japanese before (Group 5) were thelowest. Those who repeated Japanese after having
studied it sometime in the past at IU or at some otheruniversity (Group 4) were the second highest. Thosestudents who studied Japanese in high school ranked
next. Those who took the placement test (Group 2)
did slightly better than those who did not (Group 3).
Finally, those who had never studied Japanese before(Group 5) came last in every category except for the
category of homework assignments. They ranked
higher in this category than those who studied in highschool and who did not take the placement test. It isinteresting to note that the patterns for the final
examination as well as the total score for the fivecategories are almost the same.
Examining the data, we may say that the six students
who placed out of J101 probably should not have

The Breeze. Number Seven. June 1994
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been in that class; in fact, they might have benefited
most by being pushed in J201 (the first semester of
second-year Japanese).
As far as the other students who studied Japanese inhigh school are concerned (Groups 2 and 3), theiraverage scores were higher than those of students
who had never studied Japanese before. However, thetotal point difference between these groups was three
to five points. It has been shown that, in general,
students who take Japanese in high school tend to be
the better students (Jorden with Lambert, 1991).
Setting aside the varying significance of the A grade,
almost all of the students who had studied in highschool said that they received an A in high school
Japanese. Therefore, it may be natural that the scoresof these students are higher than those of students
who had never studied Japanese before. However, thedifference between the students who had studied inhigh school and those who had not is not very great.

This leads us to ask about the articulation between
high school and university level Japanese instruction.
In March of this year, over seventy high school anduniversity teachers met for two days at Indiana
University to discuss how we might better coordinate
our efforts. This meeting was sponsored by the Stateof Indiana, Earlham College and Indiana University.
Both the high school and the university teachers
agreed to work together to maximize the potential forstudent growth.
Reference
Jorden, E. H. with Lambert, R. D. Japanese Language
Instruction in the United States: Resources. Practice.
and Investment Strategy. Washington, DC: The
National Foreign Language Center at the Johns
Hopkins University.

Follow-up Workshop
Date: February 26, 1994
Saturday, 9:00 am-5:30 pm

In this follow-up workshop, we invited thirteen
people who had completed our summer workshop
in 1993, and had a total of ten participate. The
purpose of the follow-up workshop is to study
feedback from the summer workshop and strengthen
the network of the participants.
In the morning session, we discussed what aspects ofour summer workshop were or were not helpful inteaching. Step by step, we evaluated the whose
program. The participants highly regarded the valueof the workshop, especially 'Textbook Analysis,"which seemed to have helped their teaching andexpand their knowledge in Japanese language
teaching. We were also happy to learn that most of
the participants utilized the course plan which they
made during the workshop for their everyday
teaching plan. In addition, we received advice for
future workshops, including a suggestion that weshould have explained the purpose of the workshop
and each separate stage clearly prior tocommencement.
In the afternoon session, the issue was Curriculum
Development. First, we introduced the syllabi ofAustralia and New Zealand. Then we discussed thecharacteristics of each syllabus and what kind of curriculum are ideal for each participant. Curriculum
Development is a hot issue in pre-collegiate Japanese
education and two hours was simply not enough time
to talk about it from a variety of different aspects. We
hope this session gave the participants a glimpse of
curriculum development.
After the afternoon session, we all went to the library.
Following a brief introduction of new teachingmaterials and CAl software, participants spent sometime doing individual research.
The following is the list of participants.
Yuko Akamatsu, Joel E. Ferris High School, WA
Yuko Norton, McMichael High School, NC
Cathleen Yonezawa, The Catlin Gable School, OR
Takeko Sakakura, Fairview High School, CO
Erko Uyesugi, Gompers Secondary School, CA
Trasey Nomachi, Venice High School, CA
Willard Staats, Diamond High School, AK
Hirofumi Nagaoka, Lathiop High School, A
Kagenobu Nakamoto, Fort Bend Independent School,
TX
Todd Nishimura, Kalani High School, HI

The Breeze. Number Seven. June 1994
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List of Colleges Offering Master's Degrees in Teaching Japanese or Related
FieldsWe often receive inquiries on what to do to
become a Japanese language teacher. Since
a Master's degree is preferred, we decided
to introduce colleges which offer the degree inteaching Japanese or related fields, such as foreign
language education.
•
Arizona State University (from Fall, 1995)
Dept. of Languages and Literatures, Tempe, AZ
85287-0202•
Brigham Young University, Dept. of Asianand Near Eastern Languages Provo, UT 84602•
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Dept. of
East Asian Languages and Literatures, Honolulu, HI
96822•
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dept. of East Asian Languages and Cultures Urbana,IL 61801•
Indiana University, Bloomington* Dept. of
E. Asian Languages & Cultures Bloomington, IN
47405•
University of Iowa, Dept. of Asian
Languages and Literatures, Iowa City, IA 52242•
Michigan State University Dept. of Ling. &Lang., E.Lansing MI 48824•
The Ohio State University Dept. of East
Asian Languages and Literatures Columbus, OH
43210-1229•
University of Oregon, Dept. of East Asian

Languages and Literatures Eugene, OR 97402•
Purdue University, Dept. of Foreign
Languages and Literatures, W. Lafayette, IN 47907•
San Francisco State University, Dept. of
Foreign Languages and Literatures San Francisco,
CA 94132•
University of Texas, Austin, Dept. ofOriental and African Lang. & Lit. Austin, TX 78712•
University of Wisconsin, Madison, East
Asian Languages and Literatures Madison, WI 53706*Indiana University will offer a graduate course inteaching Japanese as a foreign language starting
Spring '95.
References
ALC. 1993. Nihongo Kyooshi no tame no Kaigal
Shuushoku Joohoo. Tokyo: ALC.
The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. 1992.
Japanese
Language
TeacherDevelopment:
Opportunities in Canada, Australia, Japan and the
U.S. Vancouver, Canada: The Asia PacificFoundation of Canada.
We thank those of you for e-mailing us school
information via
JTIT-L.

Result of the1993 Japanese Language Proficiency Test in Los Mean Percentage for Each
Test & Total Score

The Breeze. Number Seven. June 1994
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The Japan Foundation Language Center -Grant ProgramsDeadlines for Applications:
December 1 ------Programs for April - June
March 1 ----------Programs for July - September
June 1 -------------Programs for October - December
September 1 -----Programs for January - Marchcandidates would be granted up to $3,000.00. This
grant should be used as seed money for the formationof regional associations.

Application guidelines are available from The JapanFoundation Language Center upon request.

This grant program is designed to facilitate Japanese
language teachers' participation in workshops or conferences on Japanese language education held outside
the United States. Successful candidates would be
granted international air fare (economy class), roomand board expenses according to the regulations of
The Japan Foundation.

(1)
Workshops
ProgramandConferences

Grant

This grant program is designed to assist regional
teachers' workshops, symposiums, and conferences.
Successful candidates would be granted up to$2,000.00. In addition, The Center may dispatch
lecturers or guest speakers, if so requested.
(2)

Association Grant ProgramThis grant program is to assist the formation of aregional association of Japanese teachers. Successful(3)

Travel Grant Program (Abroad))(4)
Travel Grant Program (Within the UnitedStates)This grant program is to facilitate Japanese language
teachers' participation in workshops and conferences
on Japanese language education held in the UnitedStates. Successful candidates would be granted
registration fee, half the cost of air fare, and half the
The Breeze. Number Seven. June 1994
7/7

cost of room and board expenses.
(5)
Curriculum Development Grant Programfor Pre-Collegiate Level

who will be developing curriculum for the precollegiate
level. Successful candidates would be granted up to$2,000.00. Individual proposals may not be
considered.

This grant program is to support a teachers' group

The Japan Foundation Language Related Programs
Deadline for applications: December 1
Application forms are available from The JapanFoundation Language Center upon written request
after August 1 each year (request may be sent byfacsimile).
1.
Salary Assistance Program for Full-Time
Japanese Language Teachers2.
Training Programs for Teachers of theJapanese Language:(1) Short-Term Training Program for Foreign
Teachers of the Japanese Language(2) Training Program for Teachers of theJapanese Language (For Japanese Abroad)(3) Long-Term Training Program for Teachersof the Japanese Language
3.
Japanese Language Study Program for
Librarians
4.
Assistance Program for the Development ofJapanese Language Teaching Resources
5.
Japanese Language Education Fellowship
Program (formerly the "Teaching Resources andMethodology Fellowship Program")
6. Japanese Language Teaching Materials Donation
Program
7. Japanese Language Research Grant Program

8. Japanese

Language
Conferences/Seminars
Workshops Grant Program

Library Service
he Japan Foundation Language Center Libraryoffers library services in order to provide
access for teachers of Japanese to teachingmaterials and resources.

T

license.
3.
We may ask for proof of membership in theapplicant 5 affiliated association if we are not able toverify such membership from our lists.

Library Membership
Teachers who are affiliated with one or more of thefollowing associations are eligible for membership:•
Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ)•
National Council of Secondary Teachers ofJapanese (NCSTJ)•
Teachers of Japanese in Southern California(TJSC)•
Regional Japanese language teachers
associations affiliated with the NCSTJ

Circulation Loan Period and Limits
Circulation books3 weeks, 3 items
Audio-visual materials .3 weeks, 1 set
Items may be renewed one time only.

Applicants for library membership are required toprovide the following:
1.
Individual application form.
2.
A copy of identification, such as a driver's

Circulation by Mail
The registered patrons are also allowed to borrow thelibrary materials by mail. Requests can be made by
telephone or by mail.
The borrowing period through the mail is three weeks
with an additional one week turnaround period.
Library Materials List
A list of our library holdings, including audio-visualmaterial, textbooks, teaching material, magazines andothers, is available to all members.
The Breeze. Number Seven. June 1994
8/8

Library Hours and Holidays
Monday through Friday
10:00 am-5:00 pm
The library is closed on the following days to observe
these holidays:
Independence Day
July 4, 1994

Labor Day
Septemper 5, 1994
Columbus Day (observed) October 10, 1994
Veteran’s Day
November 11, 1994
Thanksgiving Day
November 24, 1994
The library is closed from December 23, 1994
through January 4, 1995 for reorganization.

Recipients of The Japan Foundation Language Center Grant Programs
Association Grant Program
1.
2.
3.
4.

Teachers of Japanese Language & Culture
Association of Texas, $2,000.00
The Arizona Association of Teachers ofJapanese, $1,000.00
Indiana Teachers of Japanese, $820.00
The National Council of Secondary
Teachers of Japanese, $3,000.00, June-

September 1994
Travel Grant Program (within the U.S.)
Mary S. Bastiani
Portland Public Schools"1994 Japanese Immersion Education Networking
Conference", June 3-5, 1994, $302.00

Breezy Message• "National Strategic Planning In the Less Commonly
Taught Languages" by Dr.s Richard D. Brecht and A.
Ronald Walton of the National Foreign Language
Center (NFLC) informs those of us involved inlanguage teaching as to what is the most important
issue at present in teaching these languages. It tells
what is the National Needs and the National Capacity,
and what should be done to improve the language
teaching situation while considering its status quo.
There surely is a necessity to seriously consider thehandling and maintenance of things like research andorganizational structures that support many programs
and projects. JFLC looks at our activities as one of
the gears in this structure.
When I came to the United States three years ago, I
was taken aback to find just how un-internationalized
a country it is, in terms of foreign language
instruction. Doubtless, one of the biggest reasons forthis is the fact that English can be used all over theworld, and there is little need for Americans to learn
the languages of other countries.
I believe that the basic theme of last year's NFLC's
National Foreign Language Policy Seminar and therecently held Annual Meeting of the Joint National
Committee for Languages was the recognition andsense of crisis about this. Perhaps it was because ofthis that foreign language education was establishedin kindergarten/elementary schools. There are also
language programs established at many different
levels-some children begin studying in middle school,some in high school, others simply take a year incollege. For Japanese, this seemingly non-structured
instruction environment is rather difficult to comprehend, since in Japan, everyone must learn a foreign
language after they enter middle school for a required
number of years. Looking also at the crisis now being
faced by present-day America and American
educational circles, I feel that there is a need tocarefully watch over these new efforts along withpre-collegiate level foreign language education.
• The other day, when I went to observe Culver City's
Immersion Program, I was deeply impressed when I
heard from the principal of the elementary school thatthey wanted to teach their students both the good
points of Japanese education, such as courtesy andgood manners, and the creativity of American
education. I believe that the merits of America mostcertainly lie in the respect that each individual canmanifest their own creativity. This is how I assess thegood points of America.

The Breeze. Number Seven. June 1994
9/9

• My two children are going to American public
elementary school. While there are, of course,
difficulties at times, I believe that this is anexperience for them for which there is no substitute.
The children are also learning things like gymnastics
and swimming outside of the classroom. The firstwinter in the States, our family went skiing, and thechildren were delighted with ski school-they became
quite good at the sport! When I asked him how ski

school was, my son 's' smiling reply, that the coach
was very encouraging was an extremely memorable
moment. Even in tennis lessons, when you miss ashot, they say, "Nice try!" don't they? These are thegood points about America, and if our motto is going
to be "Free, fresh and open-minded," then we must do
nothing less than apply them in our language
education. (YK)The Breeze. Number Seven. June 1994
10/10