Holistic Approach to Teaching Japanese as a Foreign / Second language (1) : Focused on Holism

The present article aims to study the world view called Holism in connection with the educational view called Transformation in Japanese language education. Holistic Approach is based on the three fundamental principles (connectedness, wholeness and being) and on the eight teaching principles: educational pedagogy, consciousness, affect, activeness, visualization, systematicness, consecutiveness and duration. It requires building helping relationships and creating supportive classroom climate in the classroom

Analysis of New Directions of Japanese Language Pedagogy

日本語教育学における研究の動向と展望を探るために、代表的な学会誌『日本語教育』((社)日本語教育学会)を中心として過去5年間(2002年度～2006年度)の審査論文である「研究論文」・「調査報告」・「実践報告」(編集委員会が審査)と「口頭発表」(大会委員会が審査)を分析した。その結果、審査論文について「研究論文」では言語関係の分野に偏重しているが、「調査報告」・「実践報告」では教育関係の分野が多く、言語習得関係、言語関係、心理関係、文化・異文化関係の分野と続いている。後者と同じような傾向が「口頭発表」でも見られ、年少者日本語教育、専門分野別日本語教育、日本語教員養成、日本語教授法・指導法、第二言語習得研究、日本語文法研究、社会言語学的研究が主要な研究分野となっている。従来少なかった心理学領域と異文化間教育学領域が徐々に増えており、とりわけ認知心理学関係の手法を援用した調査・実験が目に付くようになった。日本語教育学においては、年少者日本語教育関連の調査が多く、中には参与観察法(質的調査研究)という文化人類学・異文化間教育学の手法を導入したものがある。さらに、社会学・社会言語学領域の研究が注目されている。戦前から続く日本事情教育から脱皮して、最近では言語と文化の統合を目指す日本文化教育(総合的言語活動論)、パフチン等の対話教育や状況的学習論(社会的・文化的アプローチ)が現れている。 最後に、文化庁から平成12年3月に発表された「日本語教育のための教員養成について」という報告書は、日本語教員養成の担当者から厳しい批判を浴びているが、新たな教員養成カリキュラムの枠組みと幅広い内容を提示している。どのような日本語教育をするために、どのような日本語教師が必要なのか、という観点から、日本語教育学のあり方についても考える契機を与えている。この報告書が提示しているように、日本語教育学は幅広い研究領域を有しているが、それらが一つのシステムとして成立することが求められる。日本語教育学においても、日本語教育「学」か、目本語教育「研究」か、という議論が本格的に始まったところである。The present article aims to find out the new directions of the study of Japanese language pedagogy and oral presentation at the academic society of Japanese language education through analysis of the articles and abstracts on oral presentation in the academic journal titled Nihongo Kyoiku published during the period of 2002 (vol. 112) to 2006 (vol. 131). The content of articles is characterized by the overemphasis on the theoretical study of Japanese linguistics, and the underemphasis on Japanese language education. As for the categories of both practical study and empirical research, the articles on Japanese language education are the greatest in number, in addition to oral presentation. Overall, the following areas of study have been most focused on: teaching Japanese to young children, Japanese for academic purposes, teacher training, teaching methods, second language acquisition, pedagogical grammar, and sociolinguistic research. Henceforth, the areas of psychology and multicultural education will be more emphasized in the study of Japanese language pedagogy in the future. Interestingly, Japanese language teaching/learning has been strongly supported by Japanese volunteers who have helped Asian refugees, Japanese returnees from China and nikkeijins from South America (mainly, Peru and Brazil) settle down in Japanese society. The Japanese Government (Bunkacho) has also helped them learn survival Japanese and Japanese culture in many districts in Japan. The Ministry of Education had to help their children learn Japanese for academic purposes in schools. This led to the development of Japanese language textbooks and the curriculum of content-based instruction. Moreover, the Bunkacho published the guidelines for Japanese language teacher training and tried to reform it radically in 2000 in accordance with school education. This led to the heated discussion that Japanese language pedagogy should be established instead of applied Japanese linguistics

Teaching Academic Japanese in School Education Inside and Outside Japan

The present article is aimed at the systematization of teaching academic Japanese in school education both at primary school level and secondary school level inside and outside Japan. This area is concerned with school education, academic Japanese versus general Japanese, teaching a foreign or second language in the elementary or secondary schools, purpose or means and so on. The report by the Japanese Ministry of Education (1998) shows that needs for Japanese language education in school education have been enhanced both in the elementary and secondary schools. Moreover, the interim report by the Japan Foundation (1999) indicates that school education has been much more important in foreign countries. Lastly, I exemplified the New Zealand (NZ) educational reform for the elementary and secondary schools in connection with Japanese language education

The Actual Use of Vocabulary by Young Japanese Language Learners in Japanese Primary School Life

The present article aims to study how useful and important to school life the 620 words selected by the author are felt by young Japanese language learners from Brazil, Peru and so on and by Japanese school children in the elementary school at Kannabe Town in Hiroshima Pref in mutual verbal communication. The data were elicited from them through the questionnaire: how useful and important to daily school life they feel each word. Each word was ranked: 0 is not useful or important at all, 1 is slightly useful and important, and 2 is very useful and important. The mean scores of all the words were calculated. Young Japanese language learners showed the most useful and important 59 words; Japanese school children also felt that 35.9 percent of them had been very useful and important. As for the least useful and important 19 words, 64.9 percent of them were overlapped. Accordingly, about 64 percent of the most useful and important words were different but about 35 percent of the least useful and important words were different. As for the most useful and important words, young Japanese language learners have needs different from Japanese school children to a great extent. Seven of the most useful and important words were shared: asobu, sansuu, gakkoo, kokugo, kyoo, enpitsu and shukudai. The thirteen least useful and important words were similarly shared: kooin, gishi, bukkyoo, teiryuujo, gaka, oka, jimushitsu, waakubukku, keikan, ten'in, inaka, ferii and ragubii. The vocabulary list had some problems. One of them was that several useful and important words had been missing like 'toire.' Secondly, the younger hildren in the lower grades had more difficulties in answering the questionnaire, which may have lessened reliability in the research. Thirdly, the vocabulary list focussed on BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills), not on CALP (Cognitive Academic Learning Proficiency). Young Japanese language learners have much more needs for CALP in their school life

Holistic Approach to Teaching Japanese as a Second Language (3) : Focused on the Concept of Caring and Sharing for Teachers

The present article aims to focus on the concept of "caring and sharing" in Japanese language education and to seek for the essence of the new direction toward "teacher development" from the standpoint of Holistic Approach. First, what sort of Japanese language education is necessary for school education should be sought for. Second, what type of Japanese language teachers students feel are outstanding and how they are effectively trained should be studied empirically. Our research shows that the characteristics of outstanding Japanese language teachers can be categorized into five: 1. cognitive mastery, esp. communicative proficiency, 2. teaching experiences and qualifications, 3. individual teacher's personality, 4. curriculum design and its assessment, 5. classroom management. The curriculum for teacher development comprises these five factors and emphasizes the growth and development of a teacher as a person in particular

A Study on Kiichiro Yamaguchi's Theory of Foreign Language Education

Kiichiro Yamaguchi, the most prominent educator of Japanese language, devised Yamaguchi's Direct Method. It is characterized by the emphasis on the affective and social sides of foreign language teaching, on the significance of life in it, on communication and acquisition, on the harmony of language development and personal development and on the interface between learning and acquisition. The purpose of the present article is to discuss the basic ideas of his direct method from the standpoint of foreign language education in the 80s. The article consists of 6 sections. The first one gives the purpose of the article. The second focuses on Yamaguchi's view of language. He discusses semantics by dividing meaning and sense. The third deals with the significance of life in FL teaching. This is the essence of the idea "acquisition". It is clear that he basically supported the interface hypothesis, though he didn t know the technical terminology in those days. The fifth summarizes his whole idea of his direct method. Its main topic is his view of language education: language teaching and lauguage learning. His view of communication presents us new insights of language education today. The last one is the concluding remarks

Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools : Problems and Their Solutions

The purpose of the article is to find out the actual situations and problems posited in 'Japanese Language in the Elementary Schools'(JLES) in Hiroshima Prefecture, and to give the directions to the improvement of JLES. There has been rapid increase in number of foreign pupils, especially Brazilian pupils, in Japanese schools since 1990. Hiroshima Pref. has about three hundred and twenty foreign students in the elementary schools and junior high schools. Consequently, speciaUapanese language education classrooms have been created in most of the schools for compulsory education which have accepted foreign students. The Japanese language education classrooms are responsible for giving them basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) and cognitive/academic language proficiency (CALP). I focused on the intensive training of BICS as one component of JLES in the present article. I gave the BICS course its own framework. I mean by framework that JLES is a system, where its essence, i.e., what JLES is, is central. I discussed the essence of JLES from which its aims come