Paper short abstract:

The purpose of this study is to analyze which expressions do intermediate learners of Japanese use to describe unexpected events on their writing story telling tasks of the I-JAS corpus. Through comparison with oral tasks, I will clarify the differences in expressions in terms of planning time.

Paper long abstract:

The purpose of this study is to analyze which expressions do intermediate learners of Japanese use to describe unexpected events on their writing story telling tasks of the I-JAS corpus. Through comparison with oral story telling tasks, I will clarify the differences in expressions produced between speaking and writing tasks in terms of planning time.

Yuan and Ellis (2003) mentioned the planning time and time constraints of tasks that affect the learner's language processing. Okuno and Dianni (2015) found the variability of accuracy and complexity in the use of passive patterns in speaking verses writing tasks of Japanese learners. However, few studies attempt to see the interlanguage variability used in a specific situation. Therefore, in this research, I focused on the unexpected event which is the important part in discourse.

The data used in this study consists of intermediate Japanese language learners from four countries, 15 speakers each of Korean, Chinese, English and Hungarian, for a total of 60 learners and 15 Japanese native speakers.

Through my research, I found there were four different features of using expressions: 1) Conjunctions, 2) Topic and Subject Marker, 3) Adverb, 4) Others, between native speakers and learners. Specifically, native speakers used conjunctions not only to describe the events along a time axis but also them to　show their surprise as an evaluation of the event. For example, native speakers used "suruto" and "-to" as a conjunction, with the intent to indicate an unexpected event in the following clause. However learners used "-toki" and "-te" as a conjunction, which only connect two events in order. Furthermore, I also found leaner's variability in the use of these expressions in speaking verses writing tasks. For example, learners did not use "-to" in speaking tasks despite the fact native Japanese often use it as a conjunction, however some learners use it in writing tasks with planning time. Based on these results, I conclude that intermediate learners already know some expressions, which show their evaluation toward the unexpected event, as a metalinguistic knowledge, however it might be difficult for them to employ those expressions intuitively during oral tasks.

Paper short abstract:

The purpose of this study is to examine the context validity of the reading fluency measurement tool. From the results of a pilot study was conducted on 308 learners, we made 10 sets of 'Japanese texts' and '10 content comprehension questions' with high validity at the elementary completion level.

Paper long abstract:

The purpose of this study is to examine the validity (context validity) of the reading fluency measurement tool under development, based on the social cognitive framework (Weir, 2005). In recent years, extensive reading and speed reading, which are expected to improve reading fluency, are attracting attention in the Japanese language education field. However, a few studies have demonstrated these effects. To begin with, it has been pointed out that the problem is that there is no valid tool that can measure reading fluency (e.g. Watanabe, Xu, Yamashita, Yokoyama, Oidaira, 2015). Therefore, in this study, we first made 10 sets of three-language versions (Japanese, English, and Chinese) of 'Japanese texts' and '13 four-choice multiple-choice content comprehension questions' at the elementary completion level. While preparing this, we sought opinions from experts, and consulted prior research (Quinn, Nation and Millett, 2007) regarding English speed reading tools. Next, a pilot study was conducted on a total of 308 Japanese language learners from various backgrounds (from those who had completed a beginner-level class to those studying at an advanced level, and from over 15 countries). The survey was conducted by explaining its method, handing out books, giving a practice test, and having participants fill out an information sheet and a consent form. We gathered data about reading speeds, content comprehension question scores, evaluations of the text content in terms of familiarity, difficulty, and interestingness. From the results of the item analysis using descriptive statistics of these data and the classical test theory, we were able to select 10 content comprehension questions with high validity (with an item discrimination index and bilinear correlation coefficient greater than .40). In this presentation, by comprehensively examining not only language content parameters, but also the process of developing a reading fluency measurement tool and a pilot survey, we propose a better method of enforcement, under which this tool will be used for moving forward. In the future, we will collect longitudinal data, and, along with continuing to verify its validity, advance the development of an intermediate-level reading fluency measurement tool.

Paper short abstract:

This paper outlines the teaching of citation writing in humanities papers by int'l students. A theoretical framework for this has been created recognizing: the style of humanities papers, role of tutors, necessity for materials development, application of this framework to other research areas.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will discuss the development of a teaching method for expressions used in citations when creating Humanities papers in Japanese. The focus will be on a teaching method which makes it possible for international postgraduate students to write high quality academic papers in their own field of research.

Previous research on academic writing has been based on treating academic writing the same as normal composition, however, the following three characteristics of academic citations have been made clear based on research by Sadoshima (2008) and Yamamoto (2016). 1) characteristics of citation expressions in papers from different disciplines within the humanities 2) difficulties faced by international students when writing papers in the own areas and according to their different native languages 3) differences in logical construction and citation expressions used international students compared to Japanese native speakers. Furthermore, a theoretical framework for effective teaching of citations for international students in humanities has been created.

From the above, 1) the style of humanities papers and skills for citation structure have become clearer 2) the role of tutors for international students has also been clarified, reducing the workload for academic advisors 3) the expectations towards international students carrying out postgraduate level research have become clearer, making it possible to reassess Japanese language teaching that attends to the needs of advanced learners 4) this in turn opens the way for necessary materials development 5) by creating a theoretical framework for academic writing in the humanities, we can now attempt to apply this to other research areas.

Sadoshima, Saori & Yoshino, Ayako (2008) Textbook on writing research papers designed for a 15 week class, Hituzi Shobo, Tokyo

Yamamoto, Fumiko (2016) Unintentional Plagiarism in Japanese Writing: Confusion of Modalities and Citation without Interpretation, Global communication 6, 117-132, Musashino University Global Research and Education Center, Tokyo