Dissemination of

Language Resources of
Japanese
NRCAL Workshop
July 18, 2016
Setsue Shibata, Ph.D.
California State University, Fullerton
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Agenda:

1. Project 1 -- placement test for

Japanese
2. Project 2 supplemental reading
materials for Advanced Japanese
classes
3. Japanese language learning tools
on Web
4. Share ideas to maximize
students learning experience
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I. Placement test
1) What are the objectives?
2) Who takes the test?
3) Who is responsible for administering
the test?
4) What does the test need to include?
5) How does the test determine
students current level of proficiency
of Japanese?
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1) What are the objectives?

The purpose of this test is to find the
students current proficiency of Japanese to
determine which Japanese course best fits.
The test should be:
easy to administer (location, test-taking
time, etc.)
the result is available immediately

2) Who takes the test?

Students who have previously studied
Japanese and want to continue
Japanese at CSUF.
Which class should I register?
JAPN 102?
JAPN 203?

Students who:

took Japanese at HS (without an AP test)

transfer students
self-studied
are the returning students
are the heritage speakers
lived in Japan

 Japanese language credit at

CSUF:
AP Japanese:
score of 3: exempt the first semester
Score of 4: exempt of the second
semester
Score of 5: exempt of the third
semester
Score of 6: exempt of the fourth
semester
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3) Who is responsible for

administering the test?
Adviser or coordinator of Japanese
(pencil & paper)
Self-administered (web-based)

4) What does the test should

include?
Grammar and vocabulary in a fill-in-theblank format
Reading comprehension in a multiplechoice format

JAPN 101

JAPN 102

JAPN 203

JAPN 204

Genki 1-6

Genki 7-12

Genki 13-17

Genki 18-23

Grammar Verbs
Adjectives
Long & short
forms
Tense 1

Te-form
Masho form
Frequency
Tense 2

Potential
Ba-form
Volitional
Qualify
nouns

Honorific
Passive
Causative
Causativepassive

Reading

Hiragana
Katakana (50%)

Katakana
(100%)
Kanji (50150)

Kanji (150250)

Kanji (250+)

Example
s of the
tasks

Introducing
yourself
greetings
Family
Daily activities
Describe a
person/thing/plac
e
Talking about
past events

Experience
Inviting
people
Giving and
receiving a
gift
Talking
about future
Making a
travel plan

Stating
your
problem
Talking
about your
experience
If-conditions
Metaphor
Making a10
request

Giving an
advise
Express your
opinion with
a reason
Be able to
use honorific
languages

Vocabula
ry

5) How does the test result determine

the students proficiency?
Based on the test score; however, followup test might be administered if necessary
(to detect the students weakness, etc.).
Criteria:

Less than 7: Recommend to repeat JAPN 101

8-21: JAPN 101
22-36: JAPN 102
37-50: JAPN 203
51+: JAPN 204
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 Two important issues to consider

when we develop a test:
Reliability
Validity

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II. Project 2 Developing

reading materials for Advanced
Japanese

1) Need and the objectives

2) Who use the materials?
3) What each material needs to include?
4) How reading comprehension questions
should be developed?
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1) Needs and objectives of

developing reading materials
Needs:
Insufficient number of textbooks for
Adv. level
Grammar-oriented, not authentic
Outdated (e.g., cultural & business
information)
Not appropriate for the class (e.g.,
difficulty level, length, type of
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Objectives:
Reading to improve Japanese (e.g.,
expanding vocabulary and idioms,
appropriate usage of grammar)
Reading for content information
Reading for cultural knowledge and
awareness
Reading to promote critical thinking

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2) Who uses the materials?

Students who completed at least four
semesters of Japanese
ACTFL guideline:
http://www01.sil.org/lingualinks/LANGUAGELEARNING/OtherR
esources/ACTFLProficiencyGuidelines/ACTFLGuideli
nesReading.htm

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3) What do the materials include?

) Two main instructional
objectives in reading (Serlight &
Thompson, 2013):

1. To enable students to deal effectively with

a wide range of text-types
(e.g., newspapers and magazine articles,
reports, technical texts, essays
biographies, short stories)
2. To enable students to develop skills which
facilitate reading comprehension
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 How the materials are selected?

Conducted a survey of
student interest
Developed individual
units by theme
Select materials appropriate for each theme
Consider difficulty level and length for the
class
Will try out in the classroom and make a
revision
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 Feeling of satisfaction of challenges

achieved:
1) Achievable challenges
Not too difficult but achievable
Incremental challenges (sequential
activities)
Immediate feedback

2) Personal relevance
Practical, meaningful, interesting
Authentic context
Authentic materials
Authentic tasks
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Example:
Chapter 3: Business Culture and Society
in Japan
Text type: consumer report

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Chapter 3:
Purpose: To train students to make quick
and judicious use of consumer reports
Objectives:
1. Be able to understand and locate
specific facts
2. Be able to evaluate reports with
respect to certain criteria (e.g., manner
of presentation, usefulness of
information given, fairness)
3. Be able to compare with other products
and make a wise decision
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Tasks:
Stage one: Pre-reading
(Objective 1):
1) Review vocabulary and grammar
2) Learn new vocabulary and expressions
3) Pre-reading activities:
) What is a consumer report?
) Why and when would you read a
consumer report?
) What does a consumer report contain?
) What criteria do you think will be used
in the report?
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I.

II. Stage Two: Reading the text

(Objective 2)
Read the report and find the answers to
each question (reading comprehension
questions)
Sample questions:
Describe the product (e.g., name of
the bland, use, sales points, price)
What points of comparison (criteria)
are used?
What technical tests were used to
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III. Stage Three: After reading

(Objective 3)
Sample questions:
Did the report provide enough facts?
Is the criteria of comparison appropriate?
Is the report completely objective or is
there any bias?
Do you recommend this product to your
friends? Why or why not?
If you were a reporter, what else do you
add to this report?
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Well-designed reading comp.

questions help students interact
with the text to create or
construct meaning and become
interactive readers.
Six types of reading comp. and
five forms of questions (Serlight &
Thompson, 2013).
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Grid for developing and evaluating

reading comprehension (Serlight &
Forms
of Qs

Thompson, 2013)
Types of Reading Comp.
Literal reorga
comp. nizatio
n

inferen
ce

predictio evalu
n
ation

Yes/No
Alterna
tive
True/Fa
lse
Multipl
e
Choice
5W1H
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Person
al
respon
se

Appendix A:
Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in
Macedonia and died in 1997. After
having lived in Macedonia for
eighteen years, she moved to Ireland
and then to India, where she lived for
the rest of her life. She founded
Missionaries of Charity, a Roman
Catholic religious congregation.
They run hospices and homes for
people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy, etc.
..
She was a recipient of numerous
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1. Types of Reading Comprehension

1) Literal comprehension
An understand of the straightforward
meaning of the text.
Which year was Mother Teresa born?

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2) Reorganization
Students use information from the text
and combine them for additional
understanding.
How old was Mather Teresa when she
died?

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3) Inference
Students combine their literal
understanding of the text with their
own knowledge and intuitions.
Does the author know about Mather
Teresas life?

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4) Prediction
While-reading prediction: Students
read the a paragraph and can predict
what will happen next.
Post-reading prediction: Students
predict what will happen after
reading the story.
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5) Evaluation
Requires the students to give a global
or comprehensive judgment about
some aspect of the text.
How will the information in this article
be useful to you?

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6) Personal responses
Students to respond with their
feelings/opinions for the text and
the subject.
What does Humanitarianism mean to
you?

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2. Forms of questions:
1) Yes/No questions
50% of chance of guessing the correct
answer.
May be to follow up with other forms of
questions.

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2) Alternative questions
Two or more Yes/No questions
connected with OR.

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3) True/False
50% chance of guessing the correct
answer.
Can be used for all six types of
questions; follow-up tasks are
sometimes necessary.

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4) Wh-questions
Often used to help students to go
beyond a literal understanding of
the text.

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5. Multiple-choice questions
Most effective with literal
comprehension.

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Tips:
Questions are used to help students
interact with the text. We are
interested in teaching reading
comprehension, not memory
skills.
Avoid tricky questions. Ask
about important aspect of the text in
a straightforward, unambiguous
fashion.
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Activity time!

Task 1: Please read Appendix B.

Task 2: Identify of types of
comprehension and forms of
question for each question
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III. Japanese Language tools on

web
www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks
1) On-line dictionaries
2) Kanji, Kana help
3) On-line Japanese tutoring
4) Reference materials
5) Sharing materials

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1) Free on-line dictionaries

Bi-directional English-Japanese
dictionary:
http://dict.pspinc.com/
http://www.freedict.com;onldict/jap.h
tml
http://www.cjk.org/cjk/samples/bizte
rm.htm
http://language.tiu.ac.jp/index_e.html
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2) Kanji/kana help

http://gahoh.marinebat.com/
http://kanjialive.com/
http://www.zompist.com/flash.html
http://realkana.com/

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3) On-line Japanese tutoring

http://www.jgram.org/
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/pro
jects/genki/hira_main.html
http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese
/
http://
www.apricotweb.com/bbschat/joycha_
e.htm
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4) Reference materials
Picture books:
http://www.e-hon.jp/demo2/index1.ht
m
Japanese Literature:
http://www.genji.co.jp/engindex.htm
Origami:
https://origamiusa.org/
Japan Guide:
http://www.gojapango.com/
http://www.tjf.or.jp/shogakusei/index_
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5) Sharing materials for

Japanese teachers:
https://minnanokyozai.jp/kyozai/ho
me/ja/render.do;jsessionid=D9859BA
BBA8240E19E4852C00D021173

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