A Study on Two-way Distance Learning System of Japanese Language

2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 11680307
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese language education
• Research Institution: TOHOKU UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: SAITA Izumi Tohoku University, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Professor, 大学院・文学研究科, 教授 (20186919)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): OGAWARA Yoshiro The National Language Research Institute, Center for Teaching of Japanese as a second language, Research Fellow, 日本語教育センター・第一研究室, 研究員 (70302065) ; SUZUKI Atsuko Tohoku University, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Professor, 大学院・文学研究科, 教授 (50265518) ; KAWAZOE Yoshiyuki Tohoku University, Institute for Materials Research, Professor, 金属材料研究所, 教授 (30091672) ; INOGUCHI Yasushi Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Center for Information Science, Assistant lecturer, 情報科学センター, 助手 (90293406) ; KAMIYAMA Hiroshi Aomori Public College, School of Management and Economics, Lecturer, 経営経済学部, 講師 (00224684)
• Project Period (FY): 1999 – 2000
• Keywords: Japanese Language Teaching / distance education / video database / pronunciation database / cross-cultural communication / non-verbal information / two-way path / aizuchi (back-channeling)

Research Abstract

The purpose of the research is to develop a Two-way Multimedia Japanese Language Learning System which helps the Japanese learners who especially are in distance or off-class situations to be better communicators in the cross-cultural situations.
The system is to enhance learners' socio-linguistic skills of Japanese, by putting special focus on the "aizuchi" (back-channeling behavior in conversation) and the "cut-in" behavior on others' conversation using authentic video clips on the web.
The frequent back-channelings are one of the characteristics of the Japanese conversational behaviors. Besides, there might be very few Japanese learners who notice the importance of the aizuchi just by observing native speakers' behaviors. Thus the aizuchi is a indispensable factor to learn and the key to a better Japanese communication.
As for the basic data for the construction of the video database, a small-scale research on the perceptional evaluation on the video and audio quality has been conducted. Judging from its result and considering the convenience for the Macintosh users, rather large populations in the overseas Japanese Language Teaching environment, the video-clips are put in the mpeg 1 form on the web now.
This web-based system contains authentic video clips with brief explanation on the featured socio-linguistic behaviors and the transcriptions of the conversations, all of which are available on demand. Although some more finishing works are still needed, the learner will also be able to access the modified version of the clips, whenever one wants to study the conversation in slower speech rate and clearer pronunciation. Tasks and practices for getting the skills will be prepared on the screen as well. Users' evaluation has not been obtained either, the system will be of good help for the learners who are distant from the authentic and socio-linguistic information on Japanese language and its users.