Attitudes of Japanese Learners of English Towards English Users in ELT Textbooks

Through a combination of questionnaires, focus groups, and class interviews, this study investigated the attitudes of Japanese secondary school students towards the representations of English users and English-language communications appearing in English language textbooks. The results showed a congruence of student preferences for inner-circle (IC) (Kachru, 1985) orientations with the IC-oriented features most commonly found in English textbooks approved and used in Japanese secondary schools. They also revealed how student familiarity with textbooks influences preferences for the ways English users and English-language communications are represented in them. 本研究では、質問紙、フォーカス・グループ、クラス・インタビューを用いて、日本の中学・高校生の英語教科書の中の英語使用者と英語コミュニケーションの描写に対する態度を調査した。調査の結果、生徒の英語圏（inner-circle内心円）(Kachru, 1985) を好む傾向と、日本の中等学校で使用されている文部科学省検定英語教科書に最もよく見られる、英語圏主流を示す特徴に、一致が見られた。また、調査結果は、生徒の教科書に対する慣れや親しみが、生徒の教科書中の英語使用者と英語コミュニケーションの描写方法についての嗜好に、どのように影響を与えるかについても明らかにした。

JAPANESE APOLOGY EXPRESSIONS BY JAVANESE AND SUNDANESE SPEAKERS

This research discusses expressions of apology in Japanese by Javanese and Sundanese speakers at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. The apology differs between Japanese and Indonesian. Apologizing to the Japanese uses many reasons, the Japanese may distrust the speech partner and cause misunderstanding. In learning Japanese, Javanese-speaking learners are different from Sundanese-speaking learners because their culture also influences them. This research aims to determine the strategy of apology expression by Japanese language learners who speak Javanese and Sundanese as seen from the semantic formula and the differences between the two. This research used a descriptive method with a qualitative approach to describe the strategy of apologizing in Japanese by Javanese and Sundanese mother tongue learners using semantic formulas. Respondents were UMY students from level 2 and level 3 PBJ Study Program with 15 Javanese speaking students and 15 Sundanese speaking students. This research showed that most Japanese learners who speak Javanese and Sundanese tended to use the Speech Act Indication Expression (apology and appreciation) when expressing Japanese apologies. They used polite language ultimately when apologizing to lecturers.

Study on Acquisition of Japanese Adnominal Clauses Using Metalanguage Awareness in Indonesian Learners

The theoretical research of Japanese linguistics is diverse. However, applying such research theory to Japanese language education does not necessarily help learners’ understanding. The purpose of this research is to concretely present the problems that arise from the gap between theory and practice in Japanese language research and Japanese language education. In this study, we examine the effect of the theoretical explanation of the Japanese adnominal clause on the learners’ understanding. We selected 10 second-year university Japanese learners as research subjects. They were selected because second-year learners already learn the adnominal clause. The adnominal clause was chosen because it has a considerably simple construction to check whether the learners can comprehend the meaning from those simple constructions. Since the theoretical explanation of linguistics is difficult for learners to understand, we gave a lesson using the learners’ awareness of language called “metalanguage awareness.” By using metalanguage awareness, learners are guided to understand the meaning through the comprehension of its grammatical construction using linguistic terms both in Japanese and their native language, which is Indonesian. As a result, it was found that even though adnominal clause construction is simple, the understanding of the meaning is not that simple. The understanding of adnominal clauses depends on the understanding of more basic learning items of “particles” and “clauses”, which learners still can’t grasp. We conclude that introducing such dependency in focus on form teaching method has the advantage for the teacher to check the degree of learners’ understanding. In this study, the adnominal clause can be used to check whether learners have fully understood the concept and usage of “particles” and “clauses” in Japanese. Since both concepts are very basic, it is important to take a step back and re-explain both concepts and usage so learners can use them correctly in the future.

The Perceptual Ability to Identify Japanese Language Accent Patterns by Indonesian Learners

Research on the acquisition of suprasegmental sounds in Japanese has been carried out both in terms of production and perception. The conducted research shows that there are difficulties in acquiring Japanese sounds. This study focused on the perception of Japanese accents, with the aim of describing the learner’s ability to identify Japanese accent patterns. The data sources of this research are Japanese learners at beginner level. Data were collected using a test instrument, through a hearing test, in the form of a set of words which selected based on the category of words and patterns of Japanese accents to be measured by listening and recording techniques. The results showed that based on the results of the hearing test, of the 17 participants who completed the test reached the highest score 47.14 (S01), and the lowest score of 15.41 (S14), with an overall average score of 29.16 and Standard Deviation (SD) 7.9018. These scores represent the participants’ ability to identify Japanese accent patterns is in the very low category. The results indicate that the learners have difficulty identifying Japanese accent patterns. In fact, the vocabulary in research instrument was the basic vocabulary that had been learned by them. It can be concluded that the acquisition of vocabulary is not in line with the suprasegmental elements attached to these words. The results of this research need to be continued by applying listening exercises of Japanese accent.

Effects of repeating after stimuli sounds during computer assisted HVPT on Japanese learners’ perception and production of English fricatives

This study investigated the effects of using an online High Variability Phonetic Training (HVPT) program for university students whose first language is Japanese and who studied English as a foreign language. The target sounds were English fricatives, which many of the participants felt were challenging to distinguish and articulate. The training was conducted for five weeks; each week consisted of three HVPT sessions. The training process consisted of an initial explanation of how to articulate the sounds followed by a video that showed the physical articulative movements. The participants listened to stimuli sounds, produced the sounds after each stimulus, and completed an identification task. Based on pre and posttests, the perception performance of the participants improved significantly through the HVPT training. Regarding production, a positive effect was found for one phoneme, while no difference was found for the other. Questionnaire results were generally positive but indicated the need for explicit instruction for some of the fricatives that exhibited relatively lower successful production and perception rates.

Verbal aspect in the acquisition of Latvian as a foreign language

The article addresses verbal aspect in the acquisition of Latvian as a foreign language. Latvian textbooks both in Latvian and in other languages, as well as Japanese learners’ writings are analysed to explore this topic. The main issue is the use of verbs expressing the aspectual opposition perfective / imperfective, as well as the opposition inchoative / stative, and other Aktionsart prefixed verbs. Verbal aspect in Latvian is an implicit category. It is one of the few categories described in Latvian grammars but less frequently addressed in the textbooks of Latvian as a foreign language. The analysis shows that in the initial stage learners may use mostly imperfective non-prefixed verbs when denoting habitual situations in the present tense. The necessity of perfective prefixed verbs arises in the preterit, when learners describe a concrete, single situation that has taken place in the past. Without knowing the notion of aspectual opposition and corresponding perfective prefixed verbs, learners often use imperfective verbs. A similar situation is observed for the inchoative prefixed verbs, which learners replace with the imperfective stative verbs that they have already acquired. The use of other Aktionsart prefixed verbs seems difficult for learners and requires a higher, “native-like” level of proficiency.

Japanese English Learners’ Perceptions of Filipino Teachers’ Online English Lessons: Implications for Global Englishes Research

Situated in the domain of Global Englishes research, this study explores a question of how far the issue of the English model for Japanese learners is complicated by the hierarchical coexistence of regular English courses taught by Anglophone English teachers and extracurricular online English lessons taught by non-Anglophone instructors. A questionnaire survey was administered to 100 Japanese English learners aged 18–34 who have taken such lessons. This study provides both hopeful and challenging suggestions for Global Englishes research and practice, that is, Japanese English learners’ favourable perceptions of Filipino teachers’ affordable and flexible lessons that, they believe, would not interfere with their subsequent or concurrent study of ‘real’ English taught by native Anglophone teachers. This study indicates future directions of research and practice regarding the legitimate positioning of in-class or online English classes taught by Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other non-native English-speaking teachers in East Asian English classrooms that remain bound by native English norms.