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- Convenor:
-
Hisashi Noda
(Nihon University)
Send message to Convenor
- Stream:
- Japanese Language Education
- Location:
- Torre B, Piso 3, Auditório 2
- Sessions:
- Friday 1 September, -
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
Short Abstract:
This panel investigates effective reading lessons for learners in Europe from the two surveys conducted in Germany, Spain, France and UK of over 90 learners. Survey 1: What the learners want to read and have to read, as well as what the learners do not read. Survey 2: What makes reading difficult.
Long Abstract:
In this panel, we discuss reading comprehension lessons that are beneficial to learners in Europe in the following presentations.
1. Purposes and methods.
2. Needs analysis concerning reading materials for learners in Europe.
3. Effective reading lessons for beginners - from the results of the survey investigating what makes reading difficult.
4. Effective reading lessons for intermediate learners - from the results of survey investigating what makes reading difficult.
In Japanese language education the aims of reading are often for the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary. Therefore vocabulary and grammar are controlled in the reading materials. However for learners to be able to read practical texts, it is necessary for them to have experience of reading activities which are used in real life.
We investigated how European learners read in surveys 4 and 5. These surveys were conducted in Germany, Spain, France and UK of over 90 learners at the beginner and intermediate levels.
5. Needs survey: What the learners want to read, have to read as well as what the learners do not read.
6. Reading difficulties survey: What makes reading difficult.
The results show that
7. The use of reading materials such as mail, SMS, blog, Internet pages, manuals etc. should be encouraged.
8. The following areas need to be addressed in reading lessons:
・ How to group words properly.
・ Effective use of dictionaries.
・ Analytic ability for function words and verb conjugations.
・ Identify subjects.
・ Analytic ability to grasp the structure of long and complex sentences.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 1 September, 2017, -Paper short abstract:
This presentation will clarify the purpose and methods of our research into what reading materials are needed and what skills should be taught in reading lessons which cater for more practical needs of Japanese learners in Europe.
Paper long abstract:
The purposes of this research
For the learners to enhance their practical reading ability, it is necessary for them to have reading materials are needed and what skills should be taught. In this panel, using the results of our surveys, we would like to suggest what kinds of reading materials are needed and how we might address reading comprehension lessons.
Method: Needs analysis
We interviewed over 50 learners in Germany, Spain, France and UK about their reading. The learners were asked questions 1-3 in their native language. We also asked:
1. What they want to read.
2. What they have to read.
3. What they do not read.
In the summary we excluded the responses which are more to do with improving their general proficiency as our concern in this research is primarily their practical needs.
Method: the survey of what makes reading difficult
To find out what areas should be addressed in reading lessons, we conducted the survey to see how learners actually read, e.g. which part they misread and how they dealt with the part they have difficulty understanding.
The survey was conducted as in the procedures 4-6 of over 40 learners in Germany, Spain and France at the beginner and intermediate levels.
4. Ask a learner to choose an authentic reading text.
5. Ask a learner to read the text as her usual manner of reading e.g. if she uses a dictionary when reading, then to use dictionary. While reading, talk about the way she read, e.g. what she understood or did not understand, what she did when she did not understand, how she inferred or guessed meaning etc.
6. Ask questions to check comprehension of the text.
We discuss the results and suggestions in the following three presentations.
Paper short abstract:
The learners realized the usefulness of understanding the text that has real purpose and list such texts as labels, flyers etc. Reflecting social networking, they list SMS, blogs and other on-line texts. They do not read Japanese if information is available in English or in their native language.
Paper long abstract:
At the beginners level, most reading texts used in the classrooms are specially written for the learners in order to acquire vocabulary and grammar. Recently textbooks using not just paragraphs, but flyers, information and signs as well as graded readers offering stories in substantial length are appearing. However in these texts, vocabulary and grammar are still heavily controlled and kanji is most of the time annotated with furigana.
In the JSL environment, the learners encounter authentic Japanese everyday irrespective of their proficiency level. However there are very few occasions when learners in Europe encounter 'real' Japanese texts.
For these learners at what level and what kinds of authentic texts can be successfully introduced in the classroom?
We asked the learners what they want to read, what they have to read as well as what they do not read as described in the presentation 1.
The learners realized that it is useful for them if they can understand the text that has real purpose and they list texts such as job advertisements, supermarket flyers, receipts, texts on packages, timetables, manuals, foods ingredients etc. Reflecting the spread of the social network, they also list SMS, blogs and other on-line texts. They want to be able to read 'Line' messages from friends.
As they are interested in learning about Japan, they want to read novels, folk tales, newspaper and magazine articles, but if they can find detailed explanations or information in English or in their native language, e.g. Japanese universities or hotel sites, then they do not read Japanese texts.
Paper short abstract:
At the beginners level, learners were not grouping the words correctly, were not paying attention to functional words and not identifying hidden subjects. We suggest that practice is needed to address these problems as well as how to use dictionaries effectively.
Paper long abstract:
We report the findings of the survey about 'what makes reading difficult' and suggest what is required for effective reading lessons at the beginners level.
The following reading difficulties were identified.
1. Learners could not properly group the words.
2. Not paying enough attention to functional words and tried to understand meaning from the contents words resulting in misunderstanding.
3. Not noticing discourse level meaning, could not identify subject or a thematic speaker.
4. Could not use a dictionary effectively.
Suggestions
From the difficulties identified as above, we suggest the following areas need to be addressed at the beginners level:
5. Grouping words correctly: The learners need to identify words including compound words.
6. How to use a dictionary: The learners need to input words correctly and learn how to use a dictionary effectively according to the different types of dictionaries.
7. Understanding from grammar: The learners need to pay more attention to function words and verb conjugations which indicate grammar of the text.
8. Identifying subjects: in Japanese sentences often a subject or a speaker is not indicated. Therefore it is necessary for the learners to think about the meaning of words and sentences at the discourse level.
Paper short abstract:
Intermediate level learners could not grasp the structure of longer and more complex sentences, misunderstood kanji jukugo and unfamiliar vocabulary. Lessons focusing on the skills, 1 to analyze and grasp the sentence structure, 2 to infer meaning from the contexts and 3 how to use dictionary.
Paper long abstract:
Purposes
In this presentation we report the findings of the survey 'what makes reading difficult' and suggest what is required for effective reading lessons at the intermediate level.
Results
The following reading difficulties were identified in our survey.
1. The longer the sentence and the more complex it becomes, the more difficult it is for learners to grasp the structure of the sentence.
2. Relying on the meaning of each kanji already known, when jukugo appears, the meaning of the jukugo was inferred from individual kanji meaning, resulting in miscomprehension.
3. Misunderstanding unfamiliar vocabulary.
Suggestions
From the difficulties identified as above, we suggest the following areas need to be addressed:
4. The ability to infer from the context: It is not unusual 'to guess' the meaning of unknown words without consulting a dictionary. In reading authentic texts, it is necessary to cultivate the ability to 'infer' the meaning from the contexts.
5. How to use dictionary: practice to identify the most appropriate meaning from the multiple entries of dictionary explanations.
6. The ability to grasp the long and complex sentence structure correctly: Even though the learner knows the vocabulary, if the structure was not analyzed correctly, they cannot comprehend the meaning correctly. Authentic texts have many complex structures. It is necessary to teach how to analyze and grasp the sentence structure correctly.