Kimberley Rothville
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College and University A Post-Graded Reader Wasteland? Issues, Tools, and Solutions for Japanese more
Sat, Sep 6, 11:25-12:10 Asia/Tokyo
L2 English learners have been blessed with a wealth of research and resources to address various issues in reading comprehension and fluency development, but the same level of attention has not been paid to the issue of “laddering up” to independent reading in other languages. For Japanese, there is the additional barrier of kanji on top of the potential barriers to reading texts written for L1 speakers such as vocabulary, grammar and cultural knowledge. This presentation will discuss these issues as well as introducing some of the available tools and potential solutions that can assist learners to reach independent reading, such as the use of Aozora Bunko and the JLEX lexical analyser. In particular, it will focus on fostering learner reading outside of the classroom, given that the large volumes of text required to achieve independent reading are best done outside of class hours, with some in-class support.
College and University Implementing ER in a Tertiary Japanese Programme: A Case Study From NZ more
Sat, Sep 6, 15:10-15:55 Asia/Tokyo
Research is lacking regarding implementing ER activities across an entire Japanese degree programme, including the feasibility of including ER from the students’ first semester of language study. This presentation will discuss how ER is being incorporated into six Japanese language courses, including from the first semester course, and what can be learnt from this trial. Major considerations included whether reading would be required or voluntary, what materials to use and how they would be provided to students, how much students would be expected to read, how to collect data, and how to determine whether they were indeed reading. We are collecting data regarding learner perceptions of attitude and language improvements resulting from doing ER, suggestions of the amount of reading that can be expected of students, as well as data regarding the pace at which they can increase their reading levels when engaged in ER over several years.