Paper short abstract:

"JF Japanese e-Learning Minato" is a platform to learn Japanese online for people of the world who have had no access to the language due to geographic or time constraints. We discuss ways to support self-study e-learning using examples from the development and operation of Japanese Online Courses.

Paper long abstract:

The institute with which the presenters are affiliated has, since July 2016, been operating an openly available online Japanese language learning platform utilizing a LMS. The platform is called 'JF Japanese e-Learning Minato' (https://minato-jf.jp , hereafter referred to as 'Minato'). The aim of 'Minato' is to provide an opportunity to learn Japanese for anyone around the world who previously was not able to begin, or continue their studies due to geographical or time constraints, and to this end currently a wide variety of Japanese language courses have been made available online.

At the present date of January, 2017, there are currently over 6000 registered users from 124 countries/regions around the world. In Europe, beginning with Spain and Britain, and including countries such as Kosovo and Andorra where there are no confirmed Japanese language education institutions, there are currently users from 42 separate countries/regions.

With 'Minato' there are two main types of course available: Self-Study courses that allow you to learn by yourself using interactive e-learning study materials, and Tutor-Support courses that enhance your self-study with an instructor who performs assignment corrections and Live Lessons, etc. This allows users to select courses catering to their particular interests and learning style.

The institute that the presenters are affiliated with developed and now operates courses such as the following (currently level A1, with English as the language of explanation) - The 'Marugoto Course '; the 'Hiragana/Katakana Course'; and the 'Anime/Manga Japanese Course'.

In this presentation, specific examples will be given to introduce the various Japanese online courses available at 'Minato', including - ways to encourage students to continue their self-study e-learning; the creative techniques employed within these courses that differ from lessons and materials used in classrooms; and both the developmental side of courses that use interactive e-learning study materials together with the operational side of running courses such as the Tutor-Support course.

From August, 2017, we also plan to begin operation of the Japanese courses on 'Minato' via our European offices, and hope to discuss how we can contribute to Japanese language education within Europe.

Paper short abstract:

Based on the data of skype conversation between learners of Japanese in Europe and native Japanese teachers to be in Japan, we will mainly lead the following conclusion; the learners of Japanese who have contacted with Japanese teachers to be through skype feel familiar with learning Japanese.

Paper long abstract:

Nakamata et al.(2010) shows that some Japanese teachers to be, who have talked to learners of Japanese as a foreign language through skype, have learnt something important to be a Japanese teacher. Also, they claim how effective co-operative sessions are by using teleconference skype system in terms of teaching Japanese. However, Nakamata et al.(2010) has not refer to how effective skype sessions are in terms of learning Japanese as a foreign language.

Contrary to this previous research, we claim that how effective it is to use skype between learners of Japanese in Europe and native Japanese teachers to be in Japan in terms of learning Japanese, too. We will use the skype data between learners of Japanese at University of Zagreb and native Japanese teachers to be at a Japanese university. In some skype sessions, the participants discuss each other's culture and language in Japanese. Also, the sessions are organized by the qualified native Japanese teachers to be and are facilitated by their qualified professors.

Kumagai (2016) pointed the students who are acquainted with Chinese food take Chinese culture and Chinese people positively. Based on this previous research, we will lead the following two conclusions; firstly, the learners of Japanese in Europe who have contacted with Japanese teachers to be through skype conversation tend to feel familiar with learning Japanese and take Japan itself positively.

Secondly, we conclude that Japanese teachers to be who have talked to learners of Japanese in Europe tend to feel familiar with Europe and take Europe and teaching Japanese itself positively.

Paper short abstract:

This work will explore how blended learning would facilitate implementation of CLIL courses for intermediate learners by examining a case study with video lectures. We will also consider what we can do to make more effective use of ready-made video lectures on the web for intermediate learners.

Paper long abstract:

The present work will explore how blended (hybrid) learning facilitates implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) courses for intermediate learners in Japanese. More specifically, we will demonstrate how video lectures provide learners with content studies and language skill training in a CLIL course that targets learners with the JF Standard for Japanese-language education B1 level.

CLIL involves all of the three modes of language use, namely interpretive (receptive), presentational (productive), and interpersonal (interactive). However, for CLIL in Japanese, implementing activities of listening to lectures, a category in the interpretive mode, is a challenge. As discussed in Chikamatsu (2012), in a content-based course, we may want a specialist in the content field to give a lecture. However, it is not easy to find someone who could give a lecture in Japanese when we conduct a course outside of Japan. At the same time, a question arises as to how difficult a lecture by the field specialist would be for the target students whose proficiency level is the JF Standard B1 (see Morikawa et al. 2008 for relevant discussion). Nevertheless, we definitely want to include lecturer listening activities into the course for the sake of both content learning and language skill training.

In this work, we will consider the merits of video lectures as opposed to live lectures for both instructors and students in light of Tateyama (2015), among others. We will, then, examine the survey results from a CLIL course with video lectures. The results of the survey demonstrate that the students watched the video lectures using different strategies according to the levels of language difficulties. Based on our findings, we will discuss the merits of including video lectures in a CLIL course. Moreover, we will consider what we can do in order to utilize ready-made video lectures on the web more effectively to enhance a Japanese course for intermediate learners. They were basically created for native speakers of Japanese; therefore, we need to provide scaffoldings when we use them for intermediate learners.