Givens 1

Ebony Givens

Masha Fedorova

Writing 2

14 November 2018

WP2: Final Draft

Japanese 4 is a foreign language class that focuses on teaching students the grammar, the

syntax, and the structure/order of words to improve their verbal and written communication in

Japanese. To accomplish this goal, this course utilizes a plethora of interactive materials, such as

textbooks, lectures (which includes the use of notes on the projector and class participation), and

homework assignments. These teaching strategies help students memorize class material, though

with varying degrees of success. Due to the fact that students have different learning styles,

Japanese 4 makes use of materials that are suited to these specific learning styles so students are

able to figure out which one aids them best. Additionally, these materials help reinforce what Commented [MOU1]: This part of the sentence repeats
the first half of the sentence.
students learn. This learning and memorization of topics influences how students express

themselves, improving how students articulate themselves when both writing and speaking. Commented [MOU2]: What do you mean by this?
Commented [MOU3]: Isn’t it the same as “expressing
The textbook for Japanese 4, Genki Second Edition: An Integrated Course In Japanese, is themselves?”
Commented [MOU4]: Strong thesis. Nice context. Try
one such example of an interactive material, mainly advantageous for students who are solitary to be more concise -> check for ideas/sentences/words
that can deleted or substituted with shorter phrases.
and visual learners. The textbook includes vocabulary words both written in hiragana and kanji

(if they can be written that way) separated into sections by what part of speech they are (ex:

nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, counters, etc.) along with their meaning in English. The book

also contains grammar points with a description on how to use them, examples of sentences in

Japanese showcasing where and how the word is used in a sentence, and their English

translations below that. This book is a good way to practice both reading Japanese and

translating sentences into English because of the way it is structured. Students can cover up the
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English translation of sentences and try to translate the sentences themselves, later checking to

see if they did it correctly. Similarly, students can cover the sentences written in Japanese and

see if they can translate their meaning into English correctly. Doing this benefits solitary learners

because they are able to practice their comprehension of the language at their own pace without

having to be under a time constraint, like in class.

The Genki textbook is helpful for those who are visual learners as well. The end of each

lesson/chapter includes practice pages that can be used for working on grammar points learned in

that chapter. Sometimes these practice pages contain various pictures that correlate with what

students have learned. For example, one of the grammar points we learned this year is how to say

you want something. The way to say this in Japanese is (object)がほしい/”(object) ga hoshii,”

which roughly translates to “I want (object).” On one of these practice pages there are drawings

of different objects, such as a book, a scarf, a sweater, etc. with a ◯ or an × above them. The

directions for how to practice using this page state: “Items marked with a ◯ are what you want,

and items marked with × are what you do not want. Make sentences using ほしい” (Genki 61).

While mainly suited to those who learn better with visual cues, this also benefits other students

as well because it gives them a break from having to read text. If students are also not sure if

they are saying things correctly there are example pictures with text by them on how the

structure should be underneath the directions.

The back of the book contains kanji that students will learn and should be able to write

followed by their pronunciation and English translations. There are also short passages that Commented [MOU5]: What is this paragraph about? Is
it about kanji? Rephrase this sentence to make a
stronger claim
contain kanji for students to practice reading with questions following them. After is a glossary https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/topic-
sentences-and-signposting
students can use to look up any words they do not know how to say or do not know the meaning

of. Keita Moore, the T.A. and also the teacher for classes on Friday, said that students should be

reading the textbook for “comprehension and textual cues.” By reading the passages in the book,
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students are able to memorize the kanji they learn because it shows up again and again, while

also being able to better understand what words mean due to the constant reinforcement they are

given. Even if students do not know a kanji, and are unable to find it in the kanji lists or glossary

in the back (whether that be because they can not pronounce it, do not know the spelling in

hiragana, or do not know the English translation), they can look at the surrounding words and

figure out the overall intent/message the sentence is trying to get across. For example, part of a

sentence in a passage says “海 の 青い 色/umi no aoi iro” (292). A picture goes along with the

passage that shows a shrine in the sea (though the shrine is not important in this analysis). Let’s

say that a student forgot what the kanji “青い/aoi” means. Looking at the picture of the sea, that

student is certain that “海/umi” means “sea.” They also know that “色/iro” means “color.” In this

case the particle “の/no” shows possessiveness. Thus, the student can vaguely translate that part

as “The sea’s color.” When talking about the color of the ocean the first thought would be the

color blue. Since Japanese 4 is a second-year Japanese class, students already know how to say

colors and how to write them in hiragana. This student could then look in the glossary to see if

“青い/aoi” actually does mean “blue,” which it does. The Japanese textbook is not just a piece of

text to use to learn grammar points, it is made to help students better their understanding of

Japanese by acting as a means of reinforcement.

Another piece of advice Keita gave as to how to use the textbook is to look at the syllabus

and preview what grammar points students will learn in class the next day. Doing this is more

effective than reviewing because if you do not preview then you will have to double check if

what you are doing is right. Previewing also helps you better prepare for class so that when you

arrive in class all you are doing is memorizing more to reinforce what you have learned when

doing self-study. While the textbook is most helpful for those who are verbal and solitary

workers, it is also useful for those with other learning styles to use as well. The textbooks are
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also used when engaging in class lecture as well so it would be a waste to not take advantage of

all that it has to offer.

Class lecture is the most beneficial to those who are auditory and verbal learners. The Commented [MOU6]: transition

teacher for Japanese 4, Yamauchi, uses lecture slides when teaching Japanese. Lecture slides

contain review sentences about the topic we learned the previous day and then go on to include

new sentences about the topic that we will learn today. Sometimes these slides will be a dialogue

that incorporate many different grammar points that we have learned over the course of the past

few weeks in class, so it is important to know and memorize the ways in which sentences are

structured. In class Yamauchi does not just put the lecture slides on the projector screen and wait

for students to copy it down; students go over what all the slides say. Usually we say the

sentences together as a class and then the teacher will say it, which we will repeat. This style of

teaching helps students work on their pronunciation of words so they make less mistakes while

talking and it also helps with learning words tenses.

After students repeat what the she says, Yamauchi will then ask what the English

translation of the sentence is (usually she highlights the sentences in black so students can guess

how to say it) and students can see if they were correct or not. The same is true vice-versa as Commented [MOU7]: Instead of walking the reader
through the process of what Yamauchi does, think
about the main ideas that you’re trying to convey. What
well: she will give us a sentence in English and then ask us to translate it in Japanese, hiding the important teaching strategies does s/he use in this
class?
correct way to say that particular phrase until after we have guessed how to say it. The reason

why Yamauchi wants students to repeat sentences out loud is because she “wants to know that

students can reproduce what she is saying accurately” (Keita). When students say the sentences

together, they can hear what they are saying wrong. For example, there are long vowels in

Japanese that are not in English so while students can hear it they can not really inflect it.

Auditory learners are able to benefit from this style of teaching because they can hear how to

pronounce words, which assists in reinforcing their language skills. While it is important to be
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able to speak eloquently, being able to listen and understand what someone is saying is also

crucial. When Yamauchi talks and asks students questions in Japanese, it familiarizes students

with the pace native Japanese speakers converse in. It is unrealistic to think that native speakers

will always accommodate for those who are not fluent in the language so this forces students to

focus more on understanding what Yamauchi is saying, which helps train their ears. Verbal

learners gain the most from this style of class lecture. Repetition gives the mouth muscle

memory, which helps students remember how to accurately pronounce words.

The way we learn kanji in this class is best suited for visual learners and auditory Commented [MOU8]: transition

learners. Yamauchi shows the kanji on the projector screen and then shows pictures of what the

kanji look like to help students remember how to write them. Sometimes, instead of pictures,

mnemonic devices will be used instead. Keita usually teaches students how to write kanji by

making use of the whiteboard. Kanji is difficult to remember because of how many strokes it

takes to write a character so what he will do is call another student to the board to follow how to

write the characters step-by-step. Whenever we draw each of the strokes we also count in

Japanese how many strokes it takes to finish that particular kanji. This makes it easy to

remember the specific way that kanji is written and also helps students remember how to count

in Japanese. While one of the reasons Keita teaches kanji this way is because “that is how [he]

was instructed to do it,” another reason is “to take into account the different type of learners

students are” (Keita). Kinesthetic learners are physically moving, going up to the board and

repeating each stroke after the teacher, visual learners can see the order each stroke is written,

and auditory learners can count each stroke and relate that to the order the kanji is written in.

The accompanying homework after these kanji classes is practicing writing the kanji over

again and writing words using those kanji characters when given the English translation and

hiragana of those words. This is a good way to memorize the way to write these characters and
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also memorize different vocabulary words for tests and for use in the real world. In Japan many

signs will use kanji instead of just writing out words in hiragana so it is necessary to be

knowledgeable about different ways a word can be written and also know what a word means.

Similar to the kanji homework, the homework assignments for Japanese 4 are all based

on what we have learned in class that day so in order to do the homework you need to have

knowledge about how to correctly use the grammar learned in a sentence. To go more in depth,

one must know how to structure sentences correctly and what specific order words must be said

in.

The type of homework assignments given are mainly taken from the workbook that

accompanies the textbook we learn grammar from. These pages consist of answering questions

in Japanese using the grammar points learned that day. There will also be times when homework

assignments will consist of listening handouts also based on the grammar points learned that day.

These listening assignments are helpful in recognizing the language. Since students are listening

to the same sentence structure over and over, they then become familiarized with hearing

specific words and sentences and are likely to memorize it better. The reason why this type of

homework is assigned is because it acts as reinforcement; “it is a built-in review mechanism so

students do not have to come up with their own examples” (Keita). According to Keita, the

reason why homework assignments are given is Japanese is because “these assignments help

students practice the language. It’s easier to write things than to say things out loud because

writing is slower, which gives students time to think about what they want to say. It also helps

[him] know that they understand grammar. Writing sentences also helps build up students

speaking skills little by little.”

Japanese 4 places emphasis on the reproduction of language so students can produce their

own sentences. It gives students a way to structure sentences, showing students one way to say
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something to get their meaning out. While some basic concepts to know are grammar and syntax,

it does not hurt to employ a “Plus One” approach when studying the language. Instead of just

reproducing basic sentences, students should try to add extra information to them so they can

come up with their own way of writing and speaking. While students should know all the

mechanical parts of learning Japanese, it is also imperative to take the language at face value and

see the way it rules above grammar (Keita). For example, students should have cultural

awareness about Japan and know that it is a polite country so they should know to speak

formally. This means that students need to learn how to write sentences using a formal structure

so as not to offend anyone. It is alright to be informal when talking to close friends, however,

similar to how it is in the United States. Japanese 4 is all about making students more

knowledgeable about these concepts so one will not make a mistake when talking to a native

speaker. This class and its materials are to prepare students to be able to speak fluently and write

confidently in future scenarios.

Learning differs from person to person, which is why there is not really one piece of text

that is the most useful in Japanese 4. It is a combination of different learning styles (auditory,

visual, kinesthetic, etc.) and students need to use each to see what works best for them. Speaking

is really helpful for everyone though, as one must be able to converse and get their point across

to others, which is why class lecture is important for students to attend. The textbook is

convenient for learning sentence structure, but it is also different from how people speak in real

life so it can only do so much. Homework assignments are more reinforcement for both of these

materials and positively impact students listening skills. All of these texts function as

reinforcement for students as they come to memorize more and more grammar points learned in

class. Not only will this facilitate students writing skills by leading them to construct complex

sentences, but it will also develop their speaking skills as well.

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Works Cited

Banno, Eri. Genki 2: an Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese: Textbook. The Japan Times,

2011.

Moore, Keita. Personal interview. 2 November 2018.