Asia Institute - Research Publications

Permanent URI for this collection

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Item
    No Preview Available
    Intercultural communication by non-native and native speakers of Japanese in text-based synchronous CMC.
    Takagi, A (ascilite, 2008)
    This study explores speech behaviour when non-native speakers of Japanese (NNSJ) and native speakers of Japanese (NSJ) exchange cultural information, specifically using text- based synchronous computer-mediated communication. This experimental study uses a scaffolding technique in which a Japanese language teacher is less present and NNSJ are left to communicate with NSJ within a restricted timeframe. This study demands their intercultural engagement, thus suggesting an outcome of intercultural relationship building. While the study examined participants’ speech behaviours – specifically, the key speech act of requesting – observed to be important for realising smooth intercultural relationships, it also highlighted attributes of available technologies useful in facilitating intercultural engagement. Since people from different cultural backgrounds have different perceptions of politeness reflected in their behaviour and language use, understanding how request strategies are used by NSJ could give NNSJ intercultural insights and skills in Japanese language and socio-cultural behaviour. CMC has been utilised in computer-assisted language learning (CALL), with students able to learn languages through a real-world context and access native speakers of the target language, beyond the classroom. CMC has been found to be an effective adopted ‘third place’ (Kramsch 1993) located at the intersection of the cultures the learner grew up with, and the cultures to which they are introduced. In the case of language use, technology allows NNSJ to record their conversations, and reflect on the language being used, thus gaining intercultural insights and skills; these could be transferable to other communication modes, whether computer-driven technology or face-to-face. It is intended that the findings of this study might shed light on the innovative enhancement of non-native Japanese speakers’ intercultural and socio-cultural competence through the use of text-based CMC.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    The development of multifunctional learning environment for reading Japanese.
    TOYODA, E ; Matsushita, T ; Halpern, J (CASTEL, 2015)
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Using video sharing for learning Japanese based on Community of Inquiry
    TOYODA, E ; Harrison, R (National University of, 2014)
    This paper reports on a collaborative project using online blended learning based on Community of Inquiry. Undergraduate students in Australia created videos, on contemporary issues in Japan, and uploaded them on YouTube, where they were commented on by postgraduate trainee teachers in Japan. The results of a data analysis using Community of Inquiry framework showed that, on one hand, the Melbourne students were mostly positive about opportunities to interact with students in Japan. On the other hand, the Kobe students, although recognizing the benefits of blended learning, were critical of the project in terms of issues related to their own feedback and over the project management. Thus, the CoI analysis, when it was conducted in separate settings, revealed that the two groups of participants in the same project perceived it very differently, and allowed us to see the issues across the project as a whole. We suggest that the CoI framework needs to be modified, if it is used to evaluate collaborative blended learning that involves more than one learning environment.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    From Borneo to Bantu: how the Malagasy third person genitive pronoun *-ni may have become a locative suffix in Swahili
    ADELAAR, K (Institute of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 2015)
  • Item
    No Preview Available
    Global Talent on the Move: Multiple Migrations of Self-Initiated Expatriates in Asia
    OISHI, N ; Petray, P ; Stephens, A (The Australian Sociological Association, 2015-11-23)
  • Item
    No Preview Available
    Teaching language as a culture: using the Japanese writing system as a target of cultural research
    WATANABE, Y (LCNAU, 2014)
    Within the context of a Language Curriculum Reform at the University of Melbourne, an attempt was made to create a curriculum that allows students at lower-intermediate level to discover culture embedded in the use of Japanese language, with special focus on the Japanese writing system. Studying Japanese challenges non-native students in many ways; coping with the increasing number of kanji is one of them and needs to be addressed appropriately, The resulting curriculum systematically focuses directly and indirectly on various aspects of the Japanese writing system as a target of learning, in addition to other learning. Students not only develop a better understanding of Japanese language and the cultural practice of writing, but they also gain strategies for learning kanji, as well as developing their literacy skills to enable them to conduct research in and on Japanese.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Daigaku ni okeru Kuia Sutadeiizu no Igi (The Significance of Queer Studies in the University)
    MAREE, CLAIRE (Kanto Regional Chapter of the Japanese Educational Research Association, 2008)