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.