At JLCTUFS, we are planning, promoting, and implementing various projects related to Japanese Language Education study. The results are applied not only to educational practices at the center, but also other educational institutions including those in foreign countries. We have also published and released much of the research on the market. In this way, we are making efforts to contribute to Japanese language education all over the world. On this page, we will introduce some of the projects that were carried out in the 2009 fiscal year.
The group for the ‘Development of the General Teaching Materials for Beginners’ established at the center has been developing Japanese language textbooks for students studying at the beginners’ level for the purpose of acquiring academic Japanese skills at educational institutions such as universities since 2003. Since the fall term of 2008, we have been using this textbook to teach students in beginners’ classes in the ‘All-University Program’ at the center. At the end of March 2010, its trial version was completed.
Considering the usage in Japanese educational programs in a 15 week-unit based on university term systems, we structured the program with 2 books, containing 26 sections in total. The first book (Section 1 to 13) covers the first half of the beginner level, and the second book (Section 14 to 26) covers the second half. Listening, reading and Kanji (Chinese characters) practice corresponding to each section have been included at the end of each book. The contents are designed to train the students and help them to acquire and develop general Japanese skills.
In this project, we created a database of compositions written by students studying Japanese in the ‘All-University Japanese Program’ at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (JLPTUFS). We accumulated the data in a digitized format, along with basic writing information. In the ‘All-University Japanese Program’, students from countries all over the world with various backgrounds speaking various languages as their native language are studying at many different levels. We intend to utilize their data for the benefit of Japanese language education and the study of Japanese language education.
We set the 2008 fiscal year as the preparatory period, and we spent 2 years actually collected the compositions from 2009 to 2010. In total, we were able to gather about 1,500 composition items, over all the trimester-periods of the 2 years.
In the ‘JLPTUFS Composition Corpus’ (CD), 3 files of ‘File of information list’ (Excel format), ‘File of Compositions’ Text’, and ‘PDF Files of Composition’ are stored. The respective text files and PDF files have been linked from the composition number in the file of the information list. A sample is shown in the image below:
This project was adopted in ‘the Modern Educational Needs Implementation Support Program’ in the 2005-2007 fiscal years, and also in ‘the University’s Educational Promotion Program with Enhanced Quality’ in the 2008-2010 fiscal years, by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Science. We publicised the e-learning systems over the Internet, using the latest web technology free of charge. (The person in charge of this project is Professor Koji Shibano, at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.) (http://jplang.tufs.ac.jp)
The material for JPLANG i a digitized version of the textbooks ‘Japanese for Beginners Class’ and ‘Japanese for Intermediate Level Class’ for e-learning, equivalent to 300 hours of study in the beginner’s and intermediate level classes respectively. With study management functions, one PC connected to the Internet provides students with technology that is equal, if not superior to a language laboratory class room. With the beginner level class, there are grammar explanations in 10 languages and over 20,000 voice files.
With the development of digitization for e-learning, we have revised large parts of ‘Japanese for Beginners’, and published its teacher reference book, ‘Japanese, Teaching with Direct Methods’. The set of Japanese teaching materials including the textbook, additional material, reference book and e-learning technology is suitable for students learning Japanese, including those seeking entry to Japanese universities (faculties) and those majoring in Japanese language at overseas universities.
This project digitizes the compositions written in the process of education in the form of a database, by students of the ‘1 Year Course’ at the Japanese Language Center for International Students, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (JLC). The purpose is to streamline the resources for the teachers at JLC to use in their own research and also in the improvement in education in general. Owing to this program, we are able to track the process for acquiring Japanese language skills over the year, and contribute the results of that study to the student’s education.
