Analysis of classroom discourse between Japanese volunteers and non-native speakers of Japanese

2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 17520346
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese language education
• Research Institution: Nagoya University of Foreign Studies (2006-2007); Nagoya University (2005)
• Principal Investigator: OZAKI Akito Nagoya University of Foreign Studies, School of Foreign Languages, Department of Japanese Studies, Professor (60119659)
• Project Period (FY): 2005 – 2007
• Keywords: Japanese language teaching / Japanese language teaching in the community / Volunteer Japanese classes / Japanese language teaching volunteer / Classroom activities / Classroom discourse / Contact situations / Intercultural communication

Research Abstract

In this project, two questions were posed: (1) how do non-native speakers learn and acquire Japanese through communication with Japanese volunteers? and (2) what do Japanese volunteers learn from communication with non-native speakers?
In the first year, 1000 questionnaires were mailed to Japanese language teaching volunteers in Aichi prefecture. 475 completed forms were collected and analyzed. Some of the findings were:107 out of 475 (23%) were females in their 50s and they formed the largest group of the volunteers; approximately 10% of the respondents completed a 420-hour teacher training course and they were qualified as Japanese language teachers; teacher-fronted classroom activity was most common. Many of the volunteers regarded their activities as rewarding.182 out of 475 reported that they were happy when their non-native partners expressed gratitude for their help.123 respondents reported that they could expand their view on the world through the activities with their non-native partners. However, 270 volunteers reported that they had some problems. One common problem was the gap in Japanese language proficiency among non-native partners in their classes.
After observing a Japanese volunteer class 36 times in 2005 and 2006, 16 classes were video-recorded and 7 classes were transcribed in 2006. In the third year of the project, on the basis of the transcripts, a typical classroom procedure was described, and the teaching strategies employed by a Japanese volunteer teacher were analyzed. It was also reported how a non-Japanese partner acquired a common Japanese set-phrase. The classroom data helped us to capture a part of a process of language acquisition.