Japanese kana alphabet retention through handwritten reflection cards
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Ruth Vanbaelen
Abstract
This study outlines how handwritten reflection cards lead to the retention of the Japanese kana alphabets. Handwriting is said to help improve retention of the Japanese alphabets. Currently, in-person classes provide most of the materials and assignments via the university’s Learning Management System (LMS), and students have the choice to complete assignments digitally or handwritten. In the fall term of 2023, a group of beginner-level international students of a 30-period course produced assignments digitally. Handwriting was limited to in-class activities, and students lacked practice and fluency in both reading and writing skills. From the latter half of the course, 5-min reflection cards about each class were implemented. Students were allowed to write in English, Japanese (Japanese script or romaji), or a mixture of both. The author provided feedback, encouragement and suggestions regarding the content and the chosen script. This study indicates that students moved from relying on English to using a mixture of English and kana alphabets with gradually more Japanese than English. The analysis focuses on the switch from English to the target language alphabets, in-sentence switching styles and the relation to test scores. The gathered evidence suggests that regular real-life target language output can promote kana retention and fluency.
Funding source: JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research C
Award Identifier / Grant number: 20K00695
Acknowledgments
This research was partially supported by JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research C 20K00695 “Integrating foreign workers through Japanese language skills”.
References
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Integration, collaboration, friendship as core messages for younger generations
- Research Articles
- Research practice and culture in European universities’ Language Centres. Results of a survey in CercleS member institutions
- Language practices in the work communities of Finnish Language Centres
- Fostering transparency: a critical introduction of generative AI in students’ assignments
- Expert versus novice academic writing: a Multi-Dimensional analysis of professional and learner texts in different disciplines
- Raising language awareness to foster self-efficacy in pre-professional writers of English as a Foreign Language: a case study of Czech students of Electrical Engineering and Informatics
- Does an autonomising scheme contribute to changing university students’ representations of language learning?
- Investigating the relationship between self-regulated learning and language proficiency among EFL students in Vietnam
- Students’ perspectives on Facebook and Instagram ELT opportunities: a comparative study
- Designing a scenario-based learning framework for a university-level Arabic language course
- Washback effects of the Portuguese CAPLE exams from Chinese university students and teachers’ perspectives: a mixed-methods study
- Students’ perception of the impact of (meta)linguistic knowledge on learning German
- Language policy in Higher Education of Georgia
- Activity Reports
- Intercomprehension and collaborative learning to interact in a plurilingual academic environment
- Teaching presentation skills through popular science: an opportunity for a collaborative and transversal approach to ESP teaching
- Japanese kana alphabet retention through handwritten reflection cards
- Decolonising the curriculum in Japanese language education in the UK and Europe
