2023 Fall

Vol. 16Interview with Japanese Language Tenured SeniorLecturer Itabashi and her Student Lee Dongmin
Creating classes that
support mutual
learning among
students
This interview was conducted to look into
the Japanese language learning process atAPU. We interviewed Tenured SeniorLecturer Itabashi, an APU Japanese language
teacher, and her student Lee Dongmin tobetter understand how Japanese language
classes work and how the Professor and her
student think about teaching and learning
processes.

Tenured Senior Lecturer Itabashi

Q. Please introduce yourselves.
Lee Dongmin: My name is Lee Dongmin. I’m from
Korea and I am currently a 2nd-year student in theCollege of International Management (APM) at APU.
Professor Itabashi: I am Tamiko Itabashi, a Japanese
language teacher at APU.

Part 1: In-class Activities
Q. What do you like the most about Japanese class?

Lee Dongmin

Lee Dongmin: My favorite part of the class is having
time to share the meaning and story behind the newwords we learn each week. Thanks to that, we canrefresh our vocabulary and share new words withfriends.

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Professor Itabashi: The part I like about
Japanese class is comparing students’
different approaches and values fromvarious regions worldwide. Moreover,being able to directly witness thestudents’ Japanese skills develop eachsemester is something I love aboutteaching Japanese classes.

they had discussions with theirclassmates to ultimately understand whatkind of evidence can be used to make astrong argument.

Q. Lee Dongmin-san, what is theatmosphere like in Professor Itabashi’sclass? How do you feel influenced by theProfessor’s class?

Lee Dongmin: One activity I wasimpressed by was the discovery activity.
In this activity, we thoroughly researcheda topic that we were interested in andpresented it to our classmates. I
researched the reason why JR Kyushu
tickets are more expensive compared totrain tickets in Korea from an economic
perspective. Since then, I have continued
to be interested in the JR Company.

Lee Dongmin: The atmosphere ofProfessor Itabashi’s class feels very open.
It’s an atmosphere where students
continue to learn independently as
discussions with the teacher andclassmates are valued. In Professor
Itabashi’sclass,I
think
logicalexplanations and being able to write
prose are essential. We read the textbook
andcraftcriticalquestionsforassignments, which also helps my criticalthinking skills.
Q. That’s interesting. Professor Itabashi,
could you share about the criticalthinking aspect that Lee-san mentioned?
Professor Itabashi: Regarding criticalthinking, I thought about what could bedone and called critical thinking. I readvarious literature on the subject andthought of one specific action as having
various questions towards what we read
and what people say. From that, I gave
assignments in which students create
critical questions to make opportunities
for them to consider evidence. Towards
what the students thought themselves,

Q. Lee Dongmin-san, what were some ofProfessor Itabashi’s assignments oractivities that left an impression on you?

Q. Professor Itabashi, are students free
to choose the research activity topic?
Professor Itabashi: Choosing a topic is
not entirely up to the students, but as six
topics are covered in class, including
tourism, language, and child labor, fromthose topics students choose a topic
relevant to their specialization or proceedwith a topic that they are interested in.
Q. Can you share your methods fororganizing a class?
Professor Itabashi: Students cannot
choose the textbook, but I try to let themchoose what kinds of activities are donein class. I also enable them to choose
homework and create an atmosphere inwhich they are asked to choose topics
they like such as in the discovery activity.
As expected, in the class evaluation

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2023 Fall
survey, many students commented thatbeing able to choose something theywanted to do was a positive point.
Q. How do you motivate students tomove on to Advanced Japanese?
Professor Itabashi: I have recently beenteaching the Japanese Intermediate
Course. In teaching this class, I do notthink much about “having intermediatelevel students proceed to the advancedlevel class”, but instead want to help
students achieve their goals for the classby giving them the necessary resources,
as each student’s goals are different.
Within this process, I also sometimes
recommend that students considering
work in Japan, taking the JLPT (JapaneseLanguage Proficiency Test), or taking
more Japanese language classes take theadvanced-level class.

Vol. 16
Q. Could you elaborate more on thereason your love for Japan grew?
Lee Dongmin: Before coming to APU, myimage of Japan was a peaceful image.
After coming to APU, I realized that Japanis a unique society. In addition to being
peaceful, Japan is growing economically,
and its national character is kindness.
These points attracted me, and I came tolove Japan more.

Part 2: Extracurricular Activities
Interviewer’s Note: The Self-Access
Learning Center (SALC) offers a wide
range of language support options forstudents studying Japanese (and otherlanguages),
includingconversation
practice provided by a Japanese teacher(Professor Itabashi this semester) in two
30-minute slots each week.

Q. Lee Dongmin-san, what was thereason that you wanted to take Advanced
Japanese and what are your particulargoals?
Lee Dongmin: After coming to APU, mylove for Japan grew and I decided that I
would like to continue living here after I
graduate. Therefore, I needed thecommunication skills to job hunt andwork in Japan in the future, and so I took
the Advanced Japanese class. My othergoals before taking Japanese language
classes were to learn the academic skillsof reading and listening comprehension.

The Self-Access Learning Center (SALC)

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2023 Fall
Q. Professor Itabashi, as the SALC
Coordinator and an APU Japanese
language teacher, what do you think is
critical for students to improve theirJapanese skills? In what ways do you
think activities outside of class areimportant for learning Japanese?
Professor Itabashi: The crucial factor in
improving Japanese is becoming alanguage user rather than a student
studying Japanese. Moreover, selfreflection on your Japanese language
learning and becoming someone who
uses metacognition to consider what theyneed is essential for improving language
skills. As for extracurricular activities, itis important for students to do the things
that they want to do. For example, rather
than doing an activity for reasons such asjob hunting, students should dosomething they want to do based on theirown interests to be deeply rather thansuperficially involved.

Vol. 16
Japanese so I can certainly learn Japanese
while studying the course content.
Interviewer’s Note: The Language
Festival is a 1-day event in which students
from countries with small numbers at
APU act as lecturers and introduce
languages representing their cultures,histories, and values. The Language
Festival event held on October 28th, 2023
marks the third time it has been held atAPU.
Q. Could you share about the Language
Festival on October 28th, 2023?
Professor Itabashi: This time, I ran theLanguage Festival together with an
English language teacher, Professor
Tomoko Eto, and Lee-san. I see Lee-san
not as a student but a staff member that I
respect while working on the same
project. Being able to work with older
people in a new language that you learned
is wonderful, and I think Lee-san also

Q. Lee Dongmin-san, have you ever usedthe SALC? Also, how do you study
Japanese outside of class?
Lee Dongmin: I have used the SALC
about three or four times. At that time, I
received help checking my writing andimproving my conversational skills
through questions about the meaning oflines in a drama. Now that I want to be
surrounded by Japanese as much as
possible in my daily life, I readnewspapers and listen to podcasts inJapanese. Comedy shows on YouTube arealso really engaging, so I have a lot of funlearning new words and expressions.
Also, I'm taking classes offered inAPU Language Festival04

2023 Fall

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became much more confident by being
able to work on this project and useJapanese.
Lee Dongmin: In this year’s Language
Festival, I was not in a student position,and I needed to teach and guide people asa core staff member. In a setting where I
needed to explain things in Japanese, I
found it difficult to explain things in away that was easy to understand.

Professor Itabashi: In this sense, rather
than doing something to use Japanese,
I’m glad that “using Japanese while doinga project together” like at this language
festival became a means to do the project.
Also, although some people may feel
intimidated to invite others to join an
event because of a language barrier, I
think it is lovely to have people like Leesan be able to respond with the required
language when necessary.

APU Language FestivalQ. What was your motivation to take partin organizing the Language Festival?
Professor Itabashi: I heard from
Professor Eto that the Language Festivalwas being organized on the premise of
having students from countries withsmall numbers at APU present theirnative languages to others as a chance tofeel proud about their countries andlanguages. There are many opportunities
in my Japanese class for students topresent about various countries. Still, I

think there are few opportunities forthese students to present outside of thelanguage classroom, so I decided to takepart in organizing the event.

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2023 Fall
Lee Dongmin: In 2022, I saw theannouncement about the Language
Festival on Campus Terminal and thought
it looked interesting, so I joined as a staff
member. After my experience as a staff
member, I wanted more people tobecome interested in this event, so in
2023 I participated as a core staff
member. In doing so, I wanted tochallenge myself to see how well I could
manage the event.
Q. Your performance at the Language
Festival as an MC was excellent. Which
aspects
werechallenging
when
preparing to be an MC?
Lee Dongmin: When Professor Itabashi
checked my MC script, I had made many
mistakes regarding words to use fortalking in front of an audience.
Specifically, I felt that the intonation ofpeople’s names and differentiating
between the kunyomi (native Japanesereading) and onyomi (Chinese-derivedreading) of the kanji characters weredifficult. I thought these parts were toughand even though I wanted to practice, Ifelt like I was not yet up to the nativelevel.
ProfessorItabashi:ButLee-san’s
Japanese is very good. I rarely correct his
Japanese in everyday conversations, butfor speaking as an MC in front of people
there were a few parts that werenoticeable. Having the chance to talk with
Lee-san about those points was a great
opportunity.

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Part 3: Conclusion
Q. Professor Itabashi, how do you
increase students’ motivation to study
Japanese in general?
Professor Itabashi: The best motivation
for learning Japanese is to have fun withit. After all, learning new words andcommunicating with and understanding
others is fun. Moreover, I heard from mystudents in the intermediate-level classthat they were afraid to speak Japanese.
However, I want them to have thecourage to make mistakes and to try andspeak, and to gradually build up enjoyable
experiences.
Q. Lee Dongmin-san, how do you
maintain study habits?
Lee Dongmin: In the Advanced Japaneseclass, I made a habit of actively
participating in class discussions andraising my hand to speak to increase mychances of speaking Japanese. Moreover, I
also tried to learn as much as possible inclass. When there were words andexpressions that I didn’t understand, I
took notes and later reviewed andmemorized them.

APU Language Festival06

2023 FallQ. Professor Itabashi, in your opinion,
what is important in the process ofJapanese language education?
Professor Itabashi: At first, I thought themost important thing was introducing thenew language successfully. However, I
now think that encouraging students tolearn voluntarily and creating acollaborative learning environment inclass are some of the more importantpoints. Therefore, rather than having aclass format in which the teacher explains
everything, I take on the format of having
the students learn from one another.
Also, to avoid putting pressure on
students and to encourage them to speak
Japanese, I have recently been trying
several initiatives.
Q: Specifically, what are some of thoseinitiatives?
Professor Itabashi: In the advanced-levelclass, I am doing a “Human Library” inwhich students share their personal
experiences, such as their past concernsand struggles, as though they themselves
are “books”. When organizing this class, it
is divided into three groups: “book”

Vol. 16
people, writers, and the audience. The
writer group will summarize the “books”
in an attractive way, the audience groupwill read the summaries and choose the“books” that they like and listen to the“books” to ask questions and interview
them. Through this activity, I hope thatstudents deepen their understanding of
one another and feel that it is easier to beopen about their own opinions andfeelings in discussions going forward. The
classmates students sit next to have allsort of opinions and pasts, and somestudents have responded in interviews
that they were able to come closer to thecontexts that produced those opinions.
Q. Professor Itabashi, what do you
expect from the students who take yourclass?
Professor Itabashi: I hope that students
at the intermediate level do not come to“dislike” the Japanese language. Since theJapaneseIntermediate
Courseismandatory, there are many students whoare taking it because they must take it. I
want to enable those students to have funand be positive and to want to continue
studying Japanese even after the courseends. For advanced-level students, I hope
they learn about society using Japaneseand try speaking with their friends. In
particular, I would like them to learn
about what Japanese students at APU are
thinking not only by using daily Japanese,but by engaging in dialogue that enables
an exchange of diverse values.

Professor Itabashi, Lee Dongmin, and ALRCS
members07

2023 FallVol. 16

INTERVIEWERS’
IMPRESSIONSInterviewer & Author
Name: Kando Miu

College : APM
Country: Japan
Impression: This interview has left mewith two impressions. First, it is essentialthat when learning languages, we should
apply the language in daily life. For that reason, I have also felt that it is importantto talk in English with my friends daily and to become a language user. The second
impression that this interview left on me is about Professor Itabashi’s lesson inwhich she respected the students’ wishes. Enabling the students to choose thecontent for research activities based on their own ideas can motivate them to learn
Japanese and I think it is also an excellent opportunity to use Japanese to learn
other subjects.

Interviewer & TranslatorName. : NGUYEN Kieu Chi
College. : APM, Accounting & FinanceCountry: Vietnam
Impression: This interview was my firsttime being involved in an all-Japaneseinterview. As a Japanese learner, I am
glad to learn the different points of view
from a Japanese teacher and her student. I am also highly impressed that both areso passionate about the language they are using, and would like to deliver thatmessage to other Japanese learners as well. Professor Itabashi is always warm andconsiderate and is one of the most dedicated Japanese teachers I have met at APU.
Lee-san is also highly motivated and has a close connection with the Japanese082023 Fall

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INTERVIEWERS’
IMPRESSION
language, even though it is not his mother tongue. The Professor and student bothhave essential values when it comes to language learning:
1. Having fun and incorporating the language into daily life
2. Respecting others’ points of view about language learning and not forcing
opinions.
3. Genuinely caring about the language used and wanting to use it to deliver ideas(wanting to deliver personal ideas through the language)
Through this chance, I learned a lot from both the teacher and her student,
motivating me to work on Japanese and become an excellent Japanese speaker.

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