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.