A Re-evaluation of Kanji Textbooks for Learners of Japanese as a Second Language

As perhaps one of the most difficult areas of Japanese as a second language (JSL), kanji pose a number of problems for the foreign learner. A glance through a small sample of JSL kanji textbooks will reveal the wide range of kanji learning methodologies used to overcome these difficulties. These methods are, on close analysis, often based on inaccurate or over-generalised assumptions on kanji, which can be traced back to the central belief that kanji are essentially a logographic script. Naturally, there are differences in learners and their environments which must be considered when creating JSL kanji learning materials, though psycholinguistic research has shown that most kanji cognition and production processes are essentially universal. It is therefore possible that a re-evaluation of kanji texts and learning materials used by native speakers may yield ideas which could facilitate JSL kanji learning in both the introduction and application areas, and duly enhance the learner’s kanji competence. As with all other linguistic representations, kanji do not exist in a vacuum; they only assume their phonological and semantic qualities when they occur in context. It is therefore only logical to study them with consideration of this fact, along with an understanding of their multi-faceted and complex nature. Stripping kanji of context or any of their equally important representations may adversely affect JSL learners’ cognitive structure to a greater degree than it eases their learning burden. The principles inherent in the Communicative Kanji Teaching approach seem to best address these concerns, and their application into JSL kanji texts would seem to be both practical and worthwhile