BATJ Journal No.2 July 2001: Abstracts

Language and Culture Course for JET Programme Participants
How Can Short Intensive Courses Help? , Mikiko Inoue and Luli Ishikawa

A three-day intensive Japanese language and culture course was held in June 2000, in order to help thirty two JET Programme participants, who were complete beginners in Japanese, prepare for living in Japan. They will be working as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in local primary and secondary schools.

In what way does a short intensive course benefit complete beginners? What can they be expected to achieve? The purpose of this paper is to report our own observations and to provide some answers to these questions with reference to course design and the analysis of our data.

An obvious limitation of a short intensive course is the lack of time available and consequently a carefully considered prioritisation of the material is essential, if the course is to meet its objectives. The development of Conceptual awareness, Creative use of basic language skills and Confidence in active language usage were the three key approaches (C3 Approach) to the course design.

Data was gathered through informal observation of students, distribution of questionnaires and from interviews. The study has clearly demonstrated that even a short three-day course can enable active and creative language use and successful communication at a survival level in a variety of everyday situations. Comprehensive understanding of basic language usage was also achieved. As a result, a significant boost in the learners' confidence was observed.

The results show that the course also had a positive role in promoting self-study.

CMC and Cross-Cultural Communication, Suzuko Anai

This paper describes the Cross Cultural Distance Learning (CCDL) project, Essex-Waseda Programme, the exchanges carried out by the first cohort of students, i.e. MA students studying Contemporary Japan at the University of Essex, Department of Sociology with Japanese students at the Department of Education at the Waseda university. The two groups communicated through a CUSeeMe video-conferencing system on task-based exchange in order to deepen cross cultural understanding and to assist with their second language learning. It emerged that this kind of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) activity enhances learners' L2 learning experience.

It was observed that the learners appreciated the opportunity of authentic communication, concentrating on meaning while paying attention to form. The learners generally had positive attitudes towards CMC.

Teaching Elementary Writing Skills:From Writing Kana/Kanji Scripts to Composition Writing, Miwako Kashiwagi

This paper reports on the one-year curriculum for elementary writing which has been developed at SOAS. Since the communicative approach was first introduced, there has been an emphasis on oral communication tasks, that is, meaningful oral activities based on discourse patterns, from introductory level. On the other hand, written activities at introductory level have rarely gone beyond teaching scripts or writing simple sentences to consolidate knowledge of the language. Meaningful written activities based on discourse patterns such as letter writing and composition writing are generally not introduced until higher elementary or lower intermediate levels. However, I believe that the early introduction of written activities is essential to develop well-balanced language ability and encourage students to enjoy writing. Even at an elementary level, with careful planning and a systematic introduction, it is possible to stimulate students' writing skills. This curriculum is designed to attain the following three aims; 1) to provide an opportunity to use written language for communication, 2) to develop students' writing skills and knowledge of the written language to express their own ideas using appropriate styles and discourse patterns, and 3) to encourage students to cultivate writing strategies to make optimum use of their limited competence. In this paper, I shall discuss the weekly syllabus, dictionary use and effective strategies for written activities that lessen the burden on students.