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Paper short abstract:

In order to respond to the particular need grammar education to be enriched, we are developing an online reference grammar for Japanese beginners. The items in the grammar are described in accordance with their functions and in relation to the sematic/functional synonym(s) of every form.

Paper long abstract:

In order to respond to the increase and diversification of the Japanese learners and learning methods, there is a need to enhance the educational content and improve the teaching methods of Japanese (Bunkacho). It has been pointed out that grammar and grammar education is the field which particularly needs to be enriched (Shirakawa 2018).

There are a wide range of issues surrounding grammar education, but here we would like to focus on the following two points:

(1) There are teaching materials for learners that do not have grammar explanation notes.

(2) The grammar handbooks and manuals do not necessarily provide the information the learners need.

In relation to those problems, especially on the premise of (2), we are developing a grammar handbook ("reference grammar") for Japanese beginners that can be used online. It has the following features.

1. The grammar is available online, and any learner from any place at any time can easily access it.

2. The target are the learners who have completed the beginner level, but beginner learners also can use it for autonomous learning. It could also be helpful for Japanese language teachers to organize their educational content of grammar.

3. The most prominent feature is the way the grammar is structured. In a previous questionnaire survey on Japanese learning, the respondents said that in grammar learning the most difficult and necessary thing is the distinction of the grammatical forms with sematic/functional similarity. Based on this, we describe the grammatical items in the reference grammar according to their functions and in relation to the sematic/functional synonym(s) of every form.

4. All the content of the reference grammar can be translated online to more than 130 languages.

The grammar aims to provide description from the learner's point of view, and to make it easy for anyone to obtain the information that meets the learners’ needs.

References:

Shirakawa Hiroyuki（2018）「日本語研究から日本語教育研究への越境」『日本語の研究』第14巻2号、pp. 68-83.

Bunkacho https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/kokugo_nihongo/kyoiku/index.html