Paper short abstract:

This report outlines the attempt to conduct another case-based approach to Japanese language classes in Europe. We focus on the activities to a blended class of Japanese language learners and Japanese (exchange) students and discuss their understanding on cases and language behaviors.

Paper long abstract:

We will present another report of the application of the 'case-based approach' (Kondoh and Kim 2010) as a part of 'Business Communication Education' conducted by those teachers and a business related trainer, who took part in the training in Alsace in July 2016. This report stands as an extended application of 'report 1', where we discuss the observations we had found in applying the 'case based approach' to Japanese courses in some universities in Europe. In this presentation, we focus on the activities to the blended group of Japanese language learners and Japanese (exchange) students. The main purpose of making a blended class was derived from the following situation that we had faced; when a teacher, who was, in our situation, the native speaker, invited opinions from Japanese learners about the case, the trouble that a foreigner had faced in the Japanese work environment, the learners expected us to offer 'correct answers' or 'clear solutions' at the end. Moreover, this 'teacher-learners' diagram seemed to have prevented learners from thinking of a variety of solutions or answers on the case. Therefore we decided to invite Japanese (exchange) students of universities, whose work experiences may be as little as those students of our courses. Then, we observed the different behaviors of students and its effects, and compared the findings between only Japanese learners classes and blended classes. In this report, we would like to verify the following points;

By inviting Japanese (exchange) students: (1) What was the impact on the interpretation and solution of the case?; (2) how did the discussion or volume of their opinions differ?; (3) what kind of new findings have learners had?;

At the end, we will address the further improvement of this application.