“I need to prove comprehension”

Experiences of literacy development of Swedish university

students of Japanese

Jasmine Öjbro

Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies

Master's Thesis 30 ECTS

Japanese

Master's program in Japanese studies 120 ECTS

Spring term 2016

Supervisor: Tore Nilsson

”I need to prove comprehension”Experiences of literacy development of Swedish universitystudents of Japanese

Jasmine Ojbro

AbstractThe aim of the thesis is to generate data for better understanding ofthe experiences of literacy development of students of Japanese as aforeign language. The informants consisted of students who were en-rolled in Japanese programmes at university level in Sweden. The re-search questions more specifically dealt with understanding students’perceptions and experiences of reading in Japanese as well as per-ceptions on teaching methods of Japanese language at the universitydepartments. The study also looked at expected course level profi-ciency and its relation to reading comprehension through a readingtest. The methods of document review, interviews, questionnaire andwere also used.

The results of the qualitative analysis indicate that students usetheir knowledge of grammar construction while reading to navigatetexts and make sense of content. This method is more widely em-ployed by students who have received explicit instruction. Workingactively with text seems to be beneficial for developing reading skills.There is a shared perception among students that in a formal learningsetting reading comprehension is the ability to translate idiomaticallyfrom Japanese. Many students experience difficulties with moving onfrom reading textbook material to native texts. Students also expe-rience issues with fluency and quickly recalling meaning and readingof words and kanji while reading.

A proposed improvement in programme structure for building flu-ency and bridging the gap between textbook and native material isto introduce the students to more reading material suitable to theirproficiency level, gradually moving towards more advanced material.

Keywords: Japanese language, reading comprehension, literacy, for-eign language didactics, reading processes

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”Jag maste bevisa forstaelse”Erfarenheter av litteracitetsutveckling hos svenska univer-sitetsstudenter av japanska

Jasmine Ojbro

SammanfattningStudiens syfte ar att generera mer information och forstaelse kringerfarenheter av litteracitetsuveckling hos studenter av japanska somframmande sprak. Informanter bestod av studenter som var registr-erade pa sprakprogram for japanska pa universitetsniva i Sverige. Merspecifikt berorde forskningsfragorna att fa en forstaelse for studentersuppfattningar och erfarenheter av att lasa pa japanska samt upp-fattningar kring undervisningsmetoder for japanska pa universitetensavdelningar. Studien granskade aven forvantad spraklig formaga ochhur det relaterar till lasforstaelse. Metoder som anvandes inkluderardokumentgranskning, intervjuer, enkat och lastest.

Resultaten fran den kvalitativa anlysen indikerar att studenternaanvander sina kunskaper om grammatiska konstruktioner medan delaser for att navigera text och forsta sig pa innehallet. Metodenanvands mer extensivt bland studenter som har fatt explicita instruk-tioner. Att arbeta aktivt med texter ar formanligt for utvecklandet avlaskunskaper. Bland studenterna finns det en delad uppfattning omatt lasforstaelse i en formell laromiljo innebar formagan att oversattaidiomatiskt fran japanska. Informanter upplever svarigheter med attga vidare fran lasmaterial bestaende av larobocker till material skrivetpa japanska riktat till modersmalstalare. Vidare upplever de problemmed lasflyt och att komma ihag betydelsen och lasningen av ord ochkanji medan de laser.

En foreslagen forbattring i undervisningen for att utveckla lasflytoch overbrygga hindret mellan laroboksmaterial och japanska texterar att introducera studenterna till lasmaterial anpassat efter derasniva och att sedan gradvis narma sig svarare texter.

Nyckelord: Japanska, lasforstaelse, litteracitet, sprakdidaktik, laspro-cesser

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Conventions

Japanese text has been transliterated using the modified Hepburn sys-tem. A macron is used to indicate a long vowel. Transliterated wordsare written in italics and the accompanying gloss within single quo-tation marks (‘’). When necessary for context, the word is presentedin its original Japanese orthographic form, either without or togetherwith transliteration. There is only one gloss provided even if thereare many possible translations. Words that are similar, or the same,in English and Japanese (e.g. kanji and kana) are treated as Englishwords.

Transliterated Japanese names have been spelled in accordancewith modified Hepburn, except in the case that a preferred translit-eration has been provided in context of the work. Japanese namesare written in accordance with Western standards (given name +surname).

Titles of Japanese books are presented in italics in their romanizedform with a footnote to a translation of the title the first time theyare presented.

Changes to quotes are indicated using square brackets. Unless oth-erwise stated, no other changes have been made. Japanese quotes arepresented in their original orthographic form with romanized translit-eration and an English translation. The translation is in normal scriptwithout quotation marks. Quotation in text is indicated by the useof double quotation marks and italics.

References are written in accordance with the Harvard system. Ti-tles of sources written in Japanese are presented transliterated with anEnglish translation. Titles of sources written in other languages arepresented in their original language together with an English trans-lation. In the instances where the authors have provided an Englishtitle for their work it has been used.

Italics are used for emphasis and referring to concepts. This paperfollows British English spelling conventions.

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Acknowledgments

It is with deep gratitude that I’d like to acknowledge the followingpersons, for without their support writing this thesis would have beenvery daunting indeed.

Tore Nilsson, my most excellent supervisor, for invaluable feed-back, encouragement, and support throughout the entire process.You’ve constantly provided me with motivation to strive for perfectionand quality.

Christine Ericsdotter, my mentor, for setting me up with an of-fice space and providing indispensable advice on research and thesiswriting. I hope I’ve returned all the books I borrowed.

Bjorn Forsberg, in-house mathematician, for guidance on all thingsstatistical and making sure I got fed.

Maria, Olivia, Henrik, Adam, and Joel, for break-time with manycups of coffee and a side of smiles. Who would have guessed thattaking breaks once in a while helps with the creative process?

I would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the studentswho filled out the questionnaires and participated in interviews. Mostimportantly, my deepest gratitude to the Japanese departments at thethree researched universities and their teaching staff who welcomedme with open arms.

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Contents

Introduction 1

1.1 Studying Japanese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1.1 Purpose of the study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.1.2 Research method and analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.1.3 Thesis outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.2 Central terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.3 Japanese language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.3.1 Phonology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.3.2 Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.3.3 Orthography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.3.4 The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Literature Review 12

2.1 Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.1.1 Literacy and reading comprehension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.1.2 Teaching reading and developing literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.1.3 Lower-level processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.1.4 Higher-level processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.2 Language learning in higher education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.2.1 Approaches to teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.2.2 Approaches to learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

2.3 Reading Japanese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Methodological Considerations 26

3.1 Methodological basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

3.2 Research methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

3.2.1 Document review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

3.2.2 Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

3.2.3 Reading comprehension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

3.2.4 Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3.2.5 Think-aloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3.3 Overview of universities and respondents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3.4 Research procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

3.4.1 Document review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

3.4.2 Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3.4.3 Pilot study and subsequent changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3.4.4 Interview procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

3.4.5 Pilot interview and subsequent changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

3.5 Analysis of empirical data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

3.5.1 Thematisation of sentence completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

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3.5.2 Valuing comprehension with probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

3.5.3 Systematic meaning condensation of interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

3.5.4 Analysing the reading process during the think-aloud . . . . . . . . . . . 40

3.6 Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3.6.1 Ethical aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3.6.2 Methodological consistency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Results and Analysis 43

4.1 Document review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4.1.1 Lund University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4.1.2 University of Gothenburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

4.1.3 Stockholm University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

4.2 Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

4.2.1 Course level two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

4.2.2 Course level four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

4.3 Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

4.3.1 Abe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

4.3.2 Bakhtin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

4.3.3 Crystal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

4.3.4 Dahl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

4.3.5 Ellis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

4.3.6 Fujitani . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

4.3.7 Student voices: Course level two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

4.3.8 Student voices: Course level four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Discussion 64

5.1 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

5.2 Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

5.3 Future research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

References 71

Appendix i: Questionnaire Results in Figures and Tables 77

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List of Figures

1 Probability of Answering n Questions Correctly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

2 Course Level Two - Frequency of Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

3 Course Level Two - Reasons for Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

4 Course Level Two - Reading Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

5 Course Level Two - Reasons for not Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

6 Course Level Two - Reading Comprehension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

7 Course Level Four - Frequency of Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

8 Course Level Four - Reasons for Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

9 Course Level Four - Reading Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

10 Course Level Four - Reasons for not Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

11 Course Level Four - Reading Comprehension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

List of Tables

1 Category of Vocabulary Words in the Japanese Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2 JLPT: Summary of Linguistic Competence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3 Estimated Language Knowledge for the JLPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4 Overview of Questionnaire Respondents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

5 Japanese Knowledge and Abilities: Lund University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

6 Japanese Knowledge and Abilities: University of Gothenburg . . . . . . . . . . . 45

7 Japanese Knowledge and Abilities: Stockholm University . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

8 Course Level Two - Reading During Leisure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

9 Course Level Two - Statements Regarding Study Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

10 Course Level Two - Sentence Completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

11 Course Level Two - Completion Rate of Comprehension Test . . . . . . . . . . . 82

12 Course Level Four - Reading During Leisure Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

13 Course Level Four - Statements Regarding Study Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

14 Course Level Four - Sentence Completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

15 Course Level Four - Completion Rate of Comprehension Test . . . . . . . . . . . 87

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Introduction

1.1 Studying Japanese

It seems enough to enter the word Japanese into a search engine of choice to be met with a couple

of hundred thousand hits, many of them having to do with studying the language. There is talk

of a booming interest in most things Japanese, and the language itself, thanks to the spread of

popular culture in the form of manga, anime and music. Japanese language schools are thriving

and there’s a steady increase in students interested in learning Japanese (The Japan Times).

Another option closer to home for those who can’t study in Japan is the route of studying the

language at university. Admission to Japanese courses and programmes at American and UK

universities show continued interest and popularity. Sweden is no exception and yearly statistics

for three of the universities offering Bachelor’s programmes in Japanese language studies show

steady numbers of applications from prospective students.1 Students can either study Japanese

as a single course or take part in the full programme which develops their language skills over

the course of several consecutive terms.2

A typical language course often includes instruction on skills needed for language proficiency.

Depending on approach to language learning the syllabus can be formed to train the students

in performing communicative activities (such as reading, listening, speaking, and writing) or

teaching specific elements of the language system (such as vocabulary, grammar and language

functions) (Robinson, 2009:295-296). Arguably no area is more important than another, but

there is seemingly some interest in figuring out the specifics of second language reading in

particular. Looking at current publications on the subject, the collected literature tends to focus

on second language learners of English. Occasionally books on the subject may include chapters

dealing with more non-commonly researched languages such as Chinese, Japanese or Arabic.3

Information about teaching second language reading in these lesser researched languages are

often presented as summaries of case studies to further illustrate points raised about reading

in English, or as further data on processes in general. Outside the context of reporting case

studies they seldom get attention on their own.4 Concerning second language reading in general

research deals mainly with either the specifics of the reading process and cognitive processing

(see Grabe, 2009; Strømsø, 2007; Ehri, 1999) or how cognitive functions interact to help a reader

extract meaning (see Alderson, 2000; Graesser et al., 2003). The first has to do with factual

processes taking place as one reads in order for comprehension to occur. The second deals with

literacy of readers and how reading can be instructed. Discourse on literacy focuses less on the

actual processes used for understanding, and more on what comprehension requires in regards

1Statistics available online at Universitets- och hogskoleradets antagningsstatistik (The council for universityand college admissions statistics): http://statistik.uhr.se [In Swedish]

2See the referenced documents of syllabi from Lund University, University of Gothenburg and StockholmUniversity.

3For examples see Learning to Read Across Languages: Cross-Linguistic Relationships in First- and Second-Language Literacy Development edited by Koda and Zehler (2008), Reading in a Second Language. Movingfrom theory to practice by Grabe (2009), or Reading development and the teaching of reading: a psychologicalperspective edited by Oakhill and Beard (1999).

4For an illustrative example see Koda (2009) who describes several studies looking at reading in a secondlanguage, most of them ESL.

1

to understanding the language, the text, and the context (Alderson, 2000).

Reviewing studies concerning reading in Japanese in particular they may be concerned with

the processes of learning specific aspects of processing Japanese. Dealing with learning how to

read kanji or how words are processed, decoded and understood (see Kuwabara, 2009, 2010;

Koda, 2008; Konosu et al., 1998; Mori, 2014). These types of studies seldom make suggestions

for teaching practices, and serve as illustrative examples of what constitutes processing Japanese

in its written form. Reports and case studies describing effects of various pedagogical activities

and efforts on developing areas of student reading proficiency are also common. These studies

originating from a Japanese setting tend to deal with short term studies of smaller groups, often

foreign exchange students who might only be enrolled in the language programme for a short

period of time. They also differ in nature depending on area of interest. A study may deal

with how to motivate students to study more, how to implement a successful reading course, or

how reading material is perceived by students (see Kawakami, 2014; Hitosugi and Day, 2004;

Mikami and Harada, 2011, Tabata-Sandom, 2013). Commonly these studies are written from

the perspective of teachers self-reporting on activities, often coupled with student opinions on

the matter through questionnaires or short interviews. There is however a clear lack of long

term perspectives on student development. I have been unable to find any comprehensive studies

on the longitudinal literacy development of Japanese second language learners. It is not only

of interest to know how novice students tend to study, but also how they study as they grow

more mature in their language competence. Do their approaches change? To better understand

the experiences of students while reading in Japanese, one also ought to look at the setting in

which they learn the skills needed for processing, namely the institution providing a learning

environment.

1.1.1 Purpose of the study

The aim of this thesis is to generate data to better understand long-term literacy development

of students of Japanese as a foreign language in higher education in Sweden. The objective

is therefore to map student literacy in relation to their own study efforts and perceptions of

teaching within the frame of overall course learning objectives and curriculum design. This

enables the identification of possible patterns of correlation between reading proficiency and

areas such as course design or study methods. Furthermore, by mapping reading proficiency

in relation to the expected course level proficiency the student is supposed to have acquired,

as opposed to actual individual language performance, greater knowledge of how course level

corresponds to a baseline for language proficiency is obtained. The research questions are:

1. What is the relationship between student literacy and expected course level proficiency?

2. What are students’ approaches to reading in Japanese?

3. What are students’ perceptions of overall teaching methods of Japanese language?

4. What are students’ perceptions of the experience and process of reading in Japanese?

2

1.1.2 Research method and analysis

This thesis builds upon data collected from Japanese language programmes offered at three

universities in Sweden: Lund University, University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University.

These three in particular were chosen from a multitude of academic institutions due to their

intra-comparability. All programmes focus on the Japanese language and offer language courses

culminating in a Bachelor’s degree in Japanese language studies. After completing their degrees

students have access to postgraduate studies at the same departments. At the time when the

research was carried out all three departments had scheduled instruction for course levels two

and four. By surveying both course levels the objective was to collect data that could be used

as the basis for predicting and discussing student development.

In order to answer the research questions and investigate the identified research gap from

different angles the study employed a range of methods. The approach is phenomenological

and uses interviews and surveys for data collection which yielded both quantitative and rich

qualitative data. The methodological considerations for each part of the study as well as the

research procedure and analysis are described in full in section 3.

The study itself was conducted in three steps. The first step consisted of a document review

summarising and analysing syllabi of the three departments to determine teaching approaches

and required knowledge for each course level part of the Japanese programmes. Analysis for

the first part was admittedly limited in scope as the resulting interpretation was not further

checked by representatives of the departments. Syllabi documents were taken at face-value and

summarised at the researcher’s discretion. The review thereby reflects general assumptions one

can make regarding the programme and may in fact not represent the intentions of document

writers. The aim of the review was to gain an understanding of the curriculum and its methods

in relation to how students may interpret it in order to put later data from respondents into

perspective. This information was used in developing the questionnaires and to better relate

research findings and interpret student perceptions.

The second step surveyed students from the three departments. Groups from course levels

two and four answered questionnaires about their reading and study habits as well as on their

perceptions of reading instruction. They were also asked to complete three reading comprehen-

sion tasks. The intention was to see if there were discernible patterns between schools due to

syllabi construction and instruction and if there were commonalities among proficient readers.

The collected data was both qualitative and quantitative in nature, giving some indication as to

how students study, what and why they read as well as reading strategies. Besides frequencies

of different choices analysed in SPSS, the results of the questionnaire also entailed thematising

data from sentence completion tasks and valuing the results of the comprehension tasks. The

results of the questionnaire gave insight to some of the research questions.

The third step of the study consisted of six semi-structured qualitative interviews with

one respondent from each course level at the three departments. During the interviews the

subjects were asked to complete a reading task and to speak about a range of topics including

their perception of current teaching methods and difficulties with reading Japanese text. Some

questions were used to clarify data from the first two parts of the study. The summarised

3

interviews are presented in section 4.3 together with a combined narrative that represents the

two course levels (levels two and four) as a whole. The results of the interviews and reading

tasks gave further insight into some of the research questions.

Pilot studies for the survey and interviews were conducted with a small selection of students

enrolled in the final term of the Bachelor’s programme. Their involvement helped shape the

final survey and interview process but the results were not analysed or part of the final presented

data.

1.1.3 Thesis outline

The first section consists of two halves. First, the information already presented which provides

an overview of the research gap, purpose of the study and its research question as well as chosen

method for gathering and analysing data. This is followed by an introduction of central terms

and how they are used throughout the paper as well as the theoretical assumptions that they

are composed of. A general guide to the Japanese language is also provided alongside related

concepts which are of importance later in the literature review and the section on methodological

considerations.

The following section deals with literature review and aims to guide the reader through the

relevant previous research. Starting with literacy and reading comprehension the section moves

on to explain the reading process in general and provides some examples relating to Japanese.

The theme of language learning in higher education is then presented. The theme takes a

step back from Japanese in particular and presents different theoretical perspectives of how

syllabus design and approaches to teaching affect students and learning outcomes. Research

and theories presented within the subjects of literacy and language learning in higher education

make a reappearance in the discussion of research results. The final section is dedicated to the

theme of reading Japanese; collecting studies and research on processing Japanese language and

practices for teaching reading.

Following the literature review is a presentation of the methodological considerations ob-

served when designing the study. It goes into detail about the research procedure and methods

used for collecting and analysing data. There is also some discussion of ethical aspects and

methodological consistency. The section titled Results and Analysis presents the research find-

ings. The three parts of the study are presented under their respective categories with related

tables and figures collected in Appendix i. The last section consists of a discussion of the

results. The results are discussed holistically in relation to theory and previous empirical re-

search, attempting to see the wider implications of the research findings. This part also deals

with limitations of the study and makes suggestions for future research.

1.2 Central terms

The term L1 refers to the first language acquired by a speaker. The term for languages acquired

after the native language is L2, referring to both second and foreign language, a distinction based

on environmental circumstances. Second language (SL) most often refers to a language learned

as a speaker is living in an environment where the target language is widely used. Foreign

4

language (FL) on the other hand is when a language learner is acquiring the language in an

environment outside of the target language, often in an instructional setting. Second language

is used as an umbrella term for both second and foreign language. Target language (TL) refers

to the language a person is studying in the hopes of attaining.

The two terms acquisition and learning are often used to distinguish between two related

concepts of gaining language ability. Acquisition is a highly automated process where language

aspects are absorbed incidentally. This type of implicit knowledge builds upon competence

associated with internalised procedures and knowing how. Learning on the other hand is often

associated with a conscious process of learning about the language itself (Paradis, 2004:7-10;

Ligtbown and Spada, 1999: 177). While some of the reviewed literature makes a distinction

between the two terms, I use the terms interchangeably later on.

Process, production, performance, proficiency, and competence

When discussing language it is vital to distinguish language process from language production

(Alderson, 2000:3-6). Process deals with the interaction between a speaker and the language,

the mental processing that takes place when registering and interpreting language. Production

on the other hand is the concrete language output, i.e. what a speaker says. To complicate

things further, process may be used to refer to a chain of events of either mental processing or

language production. Used when speaking of literacy development the process of reading could

then refer to either (1) the mental processing of interpreting language and the written word, or

(2) the act of reading and what transpires when one develops literacy e.g. gradually reading

more difficult texts. There are several key concepts related to processing and production. The

terminology in question labels aspects within the spectrum of language proficiency, but there is

no consensus on definitions. Regarding definitions the thesis uses the following:

Performance is the same as output and is directly related to language production and the

actual usage of a language (Lightbown and Spada, 1999:178). Performance does not take input

or comprehension into consideration, although it is assumed that performance requires some

form of comprehension of what is being produced.

Proficiency is complex to define. Scholarly discourse is divided but typically includes accu-

rate language comprehension and production alongside fluency in a number of communicative

situations (Del Vecchio and Guerrero, 1995). Language proficiency tests for example focus on

determining ‘how much of the L2 a learner has mastered ’(Crystal, 2010:397). Proficiency can

therefore be defined as the extent of L2 knowledge.

Competence is the mental knowledge a speaker possesses of a language (Paradis, 2004:7-10)

and an underlying feature of language processing. Consisting of explicit and implicit knowledge

of the language it is the result of both learning and acquisition. They work interchangeably

to provide the speaker with various information; where the implicit knowledge is insufficient

explicit knowledge can fill in the gaps, and vice versa (Paradis, 2004: 10-12). Competence can be

further divided into smaller components for distinguishing between related abilities. Linguistic

competence for example includes knowledge of linguistic structures, syntax and pronunciation

(Whong, 2011:70).

5

Factors in language learning

Research on language acquisition often mentions factors that may have an impact on ultimate

language attainment. Factors such as motivation, aptitude, attitudes, and exposure to the

language play an important role. The following paragraphs deal with factors affecting language

acquisition.

Aptitude is an innate skill for processing and acquiring language structure. As presented

by Lightbown and Spada (1999:53-54) it entails rapid learning of language features thanks to

abilities in identifying and memorising language features. Aptitude entails several types of

abilities, differing between persons. It is part of the individual make-up of inherent skills upon

which further language learning and acquisition build. Aptitude can be measured, but it is

a rather lengthy procedure which serves as poor prediction of ultimate language attainment

(Lightbown and Spada, 1999:54).

Motivation plays a key role, either as the grounds for engaging in language studies or pro-

viding reasons to propel them forward. However, research has yet to identify the exact role

of motivation within the broader frame of language learning; it is unclear whether motivation

leads to successful learning or if successful learning produces motivation (Lightbown and Spada,

1999:56). However, studies mapping the role of motivation on language attainment have identi-

fied several types of motivation that stimulate the learner in developing her L2 (Biggs, 2003:61;

Kumaravadivelu, 2006:40-41; Entwistle, 2009:20). A few studies presented in section 2.3 mention

setting up reading programmes for Japanese language students that have an effect on student

motivation to continue reading.

The factor of motivation in itself is rather complex and is affected by other factors such as

environment, affective reasons and individual circumstances. However, two highly cited types

of motivation that are important to mention as part of the broader concept are intrinsic and

extrinsic motivation. The first type derives from an interest in what is being learned, acting as

incentive to continue developing, while extrinsic motivation depends on external factors such as

obligatory school work (Entwistle, 2009:20).

1.3 Japanese language

This section serves as a general introduction to the specifics of the Japanese language system.

The information presented here serves as the basis for understanding research presented in

the literature review. The connection between the three areas of phonology, vocabulary and

orthography are later discussed within the subjects of reading comprehension and literacy. The

Japanese Language Proficiency test is explained since it serves as basis for the questionnaire,

more specifically the choosing of texts for the reading comprehension.

1.3.1 Phonology

Japanese phonemes consists of 5 vowels (a, i, u, e, o) and 16 consonant-sounds (Taylor and

Taylor, 1995: 283), there are even more if you count different realisations and dialects (Tsu-

jimura, 2007). The five vowels are phonemes and mora in their own right, and combined with

6

consonants they form the bulk of Japanese sound inventory. Consonants are always within a

CV-pairing5, with the exception of a nasal /n/, and there are no consonant clusters.

The Japanese language make us of rythmic units known as mora, which is a unit somewhere

between a segment and a syllable. An example provided by Tsujimura (2007:58) uses the word

London as an example. The English speaker would divide it into two syllables, Lon.don, while

the Japanese speaker hears four, Lo.n.do.n. The notion of mora is important for grasping the

structure of the language in terms of phonemic inventory and written representation.

1.3.2 Vocabulary

As presented by Taylor and Taylor (1995:284) the Japanese vocabulary consists of words from

four different origins: Japanese native, Sino-Japanese words (historical borrowings from Chi-

nese), foreign loan words (for example: Portuguese, Dutch and English origin), and hybrid words

(stems of Sino-Japanese or foreign loans with Japanese endings). A distinction between these

types is necessary since they are usually written with different kind of scripts. Sino-Japanese

words for example are almost exclusively written in kanji while hybrid words commonly use a

combination of kanji and kana. An overview is presented in table 1.

Sino-Japanese words trace their origins back to the importation of kanji script from China to

Japan (Lindberg-Wada et al., 2006). While Japanese native morphemes are inclined to be multi-

syllabic in their construction, Sino-Japanese morphemes on the other hand are monosyllabic. For

example the Japanese native one-morpheme word hana ‘flower’, has a two-syllabic structure,

while the Sino-Japanese one-morpheme word is monosyllabic, ka ‘flower’(Taylor and Taylor,

1995). The relationship and history between Sino-Japanese and Japanese native words can also

be seen in the word usage within certain categories. Native words tend to be used in both

oral and written communication for everyday activities such as verbs and nouns while Sino-

Japanese words are frequently used for abstract concepts, institutions or scholarly disciplines

(Taylor and Taylor, 1995: 286). Furthermore, as Sino-Japanese words are derived from their

Chinese counterpart and imported together with kanji script they are most often written with

the corresponding kanji.

Foreign loan words are newer introductions to the Japanese vocabulary than those of Chinese

origin and they have oftentimes changed form or meaning drastically (Taylor and Taylor, 1995).

Loan words are usually represented in writing using katakana, as they have been adapted to fit

the Japanese phonology. An example being the Portuguese word carta becoming karuta ‘playing

card’. Several loan words may appear similar but have changed meaning, such as the English

example stove becoming sutobu with the new meaning ‘electric heater’.

1.3.3 Orthography

Japanese employs kanji, a complex orthographic system of units representing semantic meaning

and morphemes, and the two syllabic scripts hiragana and katakana, usually referred to as kana.

Although making use of the Roman alphabet on occasion as well as Arabic numerals, these two

5C represents consonant and V stands for vowel.

7

Table 1: Category of Vocabulary Words in the Japanese Language

Category Example Japanese TypeNative kawa (‘river’) 川 KanjiSino-Japanese gakka (‘department’) 学科 KanjiForeign terebi (‘television’) テレビ KatakanaHybrid ai-suru (‘to love’) 愛する Kanji-hiragana

Example words, translations and scripts for the four category types of Japanese vocabulary words.Examples from Taylor and Taylor (1995:284).

systems will not be covered extensively in this section as readers are supposedly somewhat

familiar with them.

The kana systems are connected to the previously mentioned Japanese moraeic structure of

language and correspond to moraeic utterances of the V/CV-structure. Hiragana is a rounder,

seemingly softer, script whose form derived from the kanji-system and is used extensively for

native words and as grammatical markers in kanji-kana combinations. For example, a verb stem

may be represented by a kanji while the suffix of the verb ending is written in hiragana, known as

okurigana6. Katakana on the other hand has a more angular visual representation extensively

used for foreign words such as personal names, place names, loan words and onomatopoeia.

Hiragana and katakana both consist of identical V/CV-structures, but with distinct orthographic

representation, where each script consists of 46 syllabograms (Lindberg-Wada et al., 2006).

In kana, a couple of syllabograms share an identical visual representation (within the hira-

gana/katakana scripts) with the addition of diacritic mark (two dots or a circular shape) that

indicates adding sound to a consonant. Examples include は ha turning into the voiced plosive

ば ba with the addition of two dots, and the voiceless plosive ぱ pa forming with the added

circle. Further writing conventions include combining the CV-structure where the mora ends

in an i, with a visually smaller y-mora (ya, yu, ye) to create a diphthong-like pronunciation.

Furthermore, both kana make use of a smaller version of the つ/ツ tsu character before the

following mora for indicating that the following consonant in the CV-structure ought to have a

more marked pronunciation (Taylor and Taylor, 1995:283; Lindberg-Wada et al., 2006).

Kanji were initially brought to Japan in the 4th century AD, and firstly used in accordance

with Chinese writing conventions (Taylor and Taylor, 1995:295; Lindberg-Wada et al., 2006).

The writing did not perfectly match Japanese words and in the beginning they were used as

phonemic representation oftentimes regardless of their semantic meaning. Over time kanji were

adapted in order to fit Japanese language conventions better, with clearer connections between

both phonemic and semantic representation. Today, kanji have been changed, simplified, and

new ones have been invented to create a functioning orthography (Lindberg-Wada et al., 2006:).

Kanji are often simply referred to as a logographic script, meaning that a sign represents a word.

This does not hold entirely true as only a handful of signs are pictograms, representing concrete

objects. The bulk of the kanji system is a potpourri of several types of signs combining semantic

6Okurigana are suffixes of kana following a stem written in kanji. Okurigana is only used for kun’yomi wordsof Japanese origin, not for on’yomi words of Chinese origin. Example: 見る ‘see’where 見 is the stem and thekana る is the okurigana.

8

meaning and phonological representation in several ways. Apart from pictograms or ideograms,

kanji have developed through a variety of ways: linking semantic meaning of pictograms to

create a signifier for a related term (月, ‘moon’, and 日, ‘sun’, combine to form 明, ‘bright’),

compounds consisting of varying constellations of radical (indication of meaning) and phonetic

(pronunciation) elements (休, ‘rest’consisting of 人, ‘man’, and 木, ‘tree’), and attaching native

morphemes to a character of similar meaning or sound (Lindberg-Wada et al, 2006:14-15). The

number of kanji used in Japanese are in the thousands, and not all of them are part of compulsory

education. The so-called Joyo kanji is a list of the 2,136 kanji taught in Japanese schools up to

secondary school-level, serving as a baseline for literacy (MEXT, Joyokanji-hyo).

As mentioned above, kanji is not a strictly logographic script as signs represent mora rather

than solely carrying semantic meaning. Furthermore, they can have several meanings depend-

ing on usage e.g. when combined with other kanji to form compound words, as well as several

pronunciations. Some morphemes associated with kanji trace their origins back to the impor-

tation of the script itself, where they retain a Japanese approximate pronunciation of Chinese

words. Readings of Sino-Japanese kanji are called on’yomi ‘sound based reading’. Another

possible reading of kanji is the kun’yomi ‘meaning based reading’, representing the morphemes

of Japanese native words (Lindberg-Wada et al., 2006). Single kanji, often written in combi-

nation with okuriana for adjectives or verbs, tend to be read with kun’yomi while two kanji or

longer compound words tend to be read using the Sino-Japanese on’yomi (Taylor and Taylor,

1995:301). As there oftentimes are several associated on’yomi readings of a kanji, compound

words may be realised in one of several ways depending on the combination of on’yomi and

kun’yomi. For example, the word 生物 can be read with two on’yomi to form the word seibutsu

‘living thing’, or two kun’yomi to form namamono ‘raw food’.

1.3.4 The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test

The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (日本語能力試験, Nihongo Noryoku Shiken) commonly

abbreviated as JLPT, is a standardised test for non-native speakers of Japanese. Evaluating

language proficiency within reading and listening abilities as well as general language knowledge,

the test is divided into five levels. Each of the levels corresponds to an expected level of language

command in terms of vocabulary, grammar and kanji. The basic level is called N5 and the most

advanced N1, and the five tiers measure proficiency in Japanese through listening and reading

tests. The JLPT has great importance when applying for work or a visa, as those who hold

a certificate of clearing N2 or N1 may be privy to speedier visa expedition, entitlement to a

raise, or employment. Therefore, JLPT can be seen as the yardstick for what foreign speakers

of Japanese are expected to master, and it is a tool for comparison of linguistic competence.

In the case of reading, the JLPT can be seen as a standardised measure for level of reading

proficiency.

Concerning reading proficiency of the JLPT, each tier of the five levels has a set of linguistic

competence abilities necessary to pass the test for that level. The abilites are in turn expressed

as the ability to understand and properly interpret certain real-life material such as newspaper

articles, textbooks and prose. Summarised in table 2, the basic and elementary levels measure

9

Table 2: JLPT: Summary of Linguistic Competence

Level Summary of Linguistic CompetenceJLPT One is able to read and understand...N5 - Typical expressions and sentences

- Hiragana, katakana, and basic kanjiN4 - Passages on familiar topics

- Basic vocabulary and kanjiN3 - Specific contents concerning everyday topics

- Summary information- Newspaper headlines- Slightly difficult writings in everyday situations- When aided by alternative phrases

N2 - A variety of topics- Articles and commentaries in newspapers/magazines- Comprehend main content- Intent of the writers and follow narratives

N1 - Complex topics- Newspaper editorials and critiques- Structure and content of texts- Intent of the writers and follow narratives comprehensively

A summary of the linguistic competence necessary to be considered proficient at the five levelsof the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT, N1-N5: Nintei no meyasu).

Japanese proficiency corresponding to a basic understanding of texts on the word and sentence

levels. They involve understanding texts and conversations dealing with familiar everyday topics.

The intermediate level entails an ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations with

slight more complexity than the previous two tiers. For the upper-intermediate and advanced

levels a speaker is expected to comprehend a great deal of written and spoken material in a

variety of topics. They require heightened literacy in terms of interpreting underlying meaning

and essential points. Advanced levels require a deeper understanding of texts in a broad social

context. Further guidance as to sub-skills necessary for passing the tests is available through

official preparatory books. They present the kanji, vocabulary and grammar knowledge covered

in each level that may be on the test. Table 3 shows an overview of the estimated number of

kanji and vocabulary required for each level of the JLPT as well as recent data on the hours of

study students usually spend in order to reach proficiency within that tier.

The current division of the five-tier JLPT was first introduced in 2010. Previously the test

consisted of only four levels. The current N3 was added to the structure in order to bridge a

considerable gap between the (then) levels of 3 and 2. In other words as the N3 was added

in 2010, with the linguistic competence needed for the other four tiers largely unchanged, the

two lower tiers (3 and 4) were renamed into N4 and N5 respectively (JLPT, Kyushiken to no

hikaku.).

10

Table 3: Estimated Language Knowledge for the JLPT

Level JLPT-level Kanji Vocabulary Hours of studyBasic N5 100 800 325-600 hoursElementary N4 300 1,500 575-1000 hoursIntermediate N3 650 3,750 950-1700 hoursUpper-intermediate N2 1,000 6,000 1600-2800 hoursAdvanced N1 2,000 10,000 3000-4800 hours

An approximate estimation of the amount of kanji and vocabulary knowledge needed for each levelof the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. The estimated hours of study is based on study hourcomparison data of students from a dissimilar orthographic background (The Japanese LanguageEducation Center, JLPT Study Hour Comparison Data 2010-2015).

11

Literature Review

2.1 Literacy

This section looks at the term literacy, further defining it in relation to reading proficiency and

presenting theories on the development of literacy as well as the mental processing of reading.

Starting with theories related to the nature of reading in a first language, it also deals with the

general framework of second language reading, comprehension and the measurement of reading

proficiency.

2.1.1 Literacy and reading comprehension

Literacy is a broad term that may encompass several aspects of written and oral communica-

tion. Scholarly discourse highlights understanding; literacy is seen as a move beyond merely

decoding individual letters and entails using cognitive reasoning to put the meaning of words

into context or infer implicit information in order to understand the text as a whole (Alderson,

2000:9; Graesser et al., 1997:178). In other words literacy is the summation of cognitive and

linguistics skills yielding a reader capable of comprehending the written word on several cog-

nitive levels. Looking further at the two word comprehension and literacy, comprehension is

a requisite for literacy. Comprehension equals understanding to some extent through different

mental processes. Literacy takes a step further and puts comprehension into a broader social

perspective.

Regarding the term comprehension Grabe (2009:22) explains that reading comprehension is

a process involving higher and lower level processing. These are both linguistic and cognitive

in nature and combined help a reader understand. Lower-level processes need to be somewhat

automatic, the more smoothly they operate without conscious thought (in connection with other

factors) the more likely comprehension will occur. These processes, or component abilities are

basically language-processing skills and include word recognition, vocabulary knowledge, using

grammatical information and building meaning from the collected information of word meaning

and grammatical information (Grabe, 2009:36; Strømsø, 2007:55-57). Each component ability is

in turn made out of cognitive processes. For example decoding is a vital part of word recognition

where readers use their understanding of a language’s phonology and orthography to identify

individual letters, translate them to word-sounds and comprehend individual words (Ehri, 1999).

It is when looking at higher-level processes as a concept that scholarly discourse diverges and

alternate terms between reading comprehension and literacy. To be more precise, scholars agree

that lower-level processes are the foundation for literacy and comprehension. Readers gain read-

ing proficiency through better implementation of the lower-level processes (see Alderson, 2000

and Graesser et al., 2003) as it helps them grasp the very fabric of a text. The divergent terms

comprehension and literacy speak of the actual understanding of the textual meaning when

higher-level processes are involved. There is still ongoing debate as to what exact cognitive

processes are involved in this step and what model can be used to describe the entire compre-

hension process. The basic point of agreement seems to be that higher-order comprehension

involves processes that bind linguistic information from lower-level processes together with the

12

readers understanding of context and discourse. This can involve anything from having back-

ground knowledge of situations described in the text which aids understanding its main points

to inferencing information from textual cues. Especially literacy focuses on how successfully a

reader can navigate and understand a text using these higher-level comprehension processes and

frequently speak of levels of understanding. Stuart et al. (2009:56) summarises literacy as such:

It follows that in every act of reading, once word meanings are activated in the

language system, semantic and syntactic processes (combined with the reader’s rel-

evant real-world background knowledge) allow the reader to start to determine the

literal meaning of the sentences and to build a mental representation of the situation

described in the text.

Alderson, from an example by Bransford, explains that even simple sentences require language

processing to make inferences in order to understand: ”The floor was dirty because Sally used

the mop” gives the inferenced meaning ”the mop was dirty” (Alderson, 2000:8). A literal in-

terpretation misses this statement. It has been suggested that during higher-level processing

readers construct a mental representation of a text on multiple levels (Graesser et al., 2003:10).

Certainly, several components contribute to overall comprehension. As previously mentioned

some of these are background knowledge and the ability to make inferences. Payne (2009:119-

120) takes a further step and claims that depending on reading context readers comprehend to

different extents. This reasoning looks at literacy as something domain-specific, where readers

can become more proficient at comprehending certain types of material. For example frequently

reading newspapers equips readers with component abilities specifically needed for that genre.

More familiarity with related vocabulary or an understanding of sentence structure and narra-

tion of articles might lead to more fluency and being able to grasp content more quickly. This

is higher-level processing at work. Thusly, literacy is highly context dependent. A difference

in comprehension between text types often stems from a lack of conceptual understanding of

genre or previous knowledge against which the text is interpreted (Strømsø, 2007: 68). It is

not entirely difficult to envisage that a skillful reader may be more proficient at comprehending

certain types of text through extensive exposure and practice.

A model for building mental representations during reading, as proposed by Graesser, consists

of five levels of understanding: (1) the surface code which is the grammar and wording of

sentences, (2) textbase that is the explicit meaning of the text as well as small inferences necessary

for coherence, (3) situation model which is the content of what the text is talking about, (4)

communication level of the ideas communicated through the text, and lastly, (5) the structural

components of the specific text genre (Graesser et al., 1997:167; Graesser et al., 2003:10-11).

The first two components roughly translate to lower-level processing while the other three are

of higher-level cognitive processing. Graesser further states that in order to become a proficient

reader, reaching comprehension and having deep understanding of a text, one should have some

mastery of each component.

As I see it, the discussion on processing relates to what components are necessary for com-

prehension. Literacy’s levels of understanding relates to how well these components interact

in order for the reader to make successful inferences and interpretations on which comprehen-

13

sion is based. Using the previous example of the dirty mop, higher-level processing results in

inferencing this meaning while literacy is the continued success of inferencing such statements

throughout the entire text. Not having deep levels of understanding and lacking in literacy does

not mean that high-level processing is absent. It merely indicates that there are gaps in the

cognitive data used for these processes in comprehending.

There are three prevalent views on how higher-level and lower-level processing interact while

reading. One of the earliest frameworks is the idea of a bottom-up approach meaning that a

reader reads a text by serial decoding starting with the smallest elements: seeing the ortho-

graphic elements, decoding them into speech-sounds, understanding the words they represent

and from this infer meaning (Alderson, 2000). The approach looks at the processing of reading

as individual skills activated in sequential order where the whole is understood through the

summation of the parts (Stanovich and Stanovich, 1999:24). This model has influenced edu-

cational efforts to focus reading instruction on individual components. The skills are taught

through direct explicit instruction and make frequent use of rote learning (Rassool, 2009:9-10).

The reading process and literacy development is seen as a serial schema where one tier of skills

builds upon another. In other words, as reading is the summation of many parts one must

build upon all of the parts individually in order to progress as a reader. This framework of

explanation has been criticised for not fully addressing the influence of higher-level processes of

mental representations and extracting the meaning of texts (Rassool, 2009:11).

The top-down approach on the other hand is an opposite model to the bottom-up approach.

It advocates that the process and production entail making sense of texts mainly by relying on

prior knowledge (Rassool, 2009; Alderson, 2000). The decoding process of graphemes7 to sounds

to meaning is only employed when the reader comes across unfamiliar elements not predicted

by their internal schema. Texts are understood from whole to parts, and the approach heavily

emphasises the connection between reading process and context needed for a more complex

understanding of literacy in a social perspective. However, critics have noted that there is a lack

of studies supporting concrete evidence for this line of process-production (Rassool, 2009:9-11).

A third emergent frameworks look at literacy as a parallel process where decoding and cogni-

tive processing take place simultaneously, feeding into each other and making the reader adjust

her understanding of the text as reading progresses (Alderson, 2000:15-18; Farrall, 2012:17-26;

Grabe, 2009:55). It can be seen as a merger between the top-down and bottom-up approaches,

acknowledging that a beginner reader becomes more skilled as their language competence grows

while giving recognition to the importance of higher-level processing abilities which goes on at

the same time.

2.1.2 Teaching reading and developing literacy

Much of the reading and literacy discourse focuses on emerging readers in a first language

and the perspective of how children first acquire abilities pertient to reading such as mastering

the decoding process or learning new vocabulary. The point of interest is pedagogical (how

do we teach this? ) rather than cognitive (what happens while reading? ) and deals with the

7Graphemes are the minimal units of a writing system, in this case individual letters representing sound

14

process of developing abilities. The general idea is that mental processing as well goes through

development; growing more sophisticated and evolving as the child gains cognitive maturity,

expands their prior knowledge and masters decoding. The ultimate goal is autonomous reading

through effective activation of higher and lower level processing. While a novice reader is

building a repertoire of appropriate strategies, knowledge schemas, automated skills and gains

reading confidence, it is crucial to provide ample support and guidance (Blachowicz and Ogle,

2008:30-31).

Looking at handbooks on teaching reading comprehension and how to guide L1-children in

developing reading skills and literacy, the first steps focus on lower-level processing and laying the

foundation for decoding and word recognition. Children are subsequently led through suitable

reading material allowing them to practice their low-level processing skills and gain fluency. As

the processes become more automated instruction moves on to cover component abilities that are

part of high-level processing. Instruction clarifies how texts are constructed, how genres differ

from each other, and available strategies for building main-idea comprehension (Blachowicz and

Ogle, 2008:275; Paris et al., 1983:297). With these steps teachers gradually equip pupils with

the proper tools for handling text by themselves.

Tools of high-level processing refer to ways for a reader to manage a text. The previous

example of instruction on text genre is in way a tool for the reader to better understand the

context of the text being read. This is part of a reader’s prior knowledge. As mentioned in

previous sections, prior knowledge entails an understanding for both the text itself as well as

the backdrop to which it relates. One type of knowledge is therefore bound to real world facts

and experiences, which for example renders the reader capable of discerning possible outcomes

of actions or purpose of statements. The other type of knowledge is gained from a mixture of

explicit instruction and implicit acquisition concerning things such as textual structure, genres,

and narration. Some knowledge domains, for example distinguishing characteristics of a science

text versus a history textbook, are oftentimes for L1 emergent readers embedded in the curricu-

lum of other subjects (Alvermann and Marshall, 2013:120). One line of reasoning states that

while novice readers do gain reading fluency and strategies from isolated instruction, reading

texts in their proper context is in itself instructional (Alvermann and Marshall, 2013:121). To

put it plainly, children are not fully formed readers who go on to study other school subject;

while studying a subject they also understand that genre better and gain literacy within that

subject.

Besides orientation of explicit information that can be used for interpreting context and

later inference, instruction often includes strategies for reading and approaching texts. There

is a plethora of examples including skimming texts to gain overview of its contents, rereading

poorly understood passages, relating paragraphs and statements through (visual) mapping or

discussion, and taking notes for remembering content (Paris et al. 1983; Blachowicz and Ogle,

2008:30,122,184; Pearsson and Gallagher, 1983:325-332). These reading strategies provide the

child with solid examples of how to understand a text and gain comprehension in instances when

the meaning is not explicitly stated or easily discernible. In line with pedagogical approaches

the strategies are part of a milieu for practicing reading where the process of reading progresses

15

towards an automatic skill and where declarative knowledge provides orientation. The success

of strategies for comprehension relies on understanding when and why they are used; in this case

which strategy is best suited for a particular goal (Paris et al., 1983:303). Should one reread or

skim? Pearsson and Gallagher (1983:328-331) further show that instruction of strategies needs

to include this type of conditional knowledge. If pupils do not understand the metacognitive

aspects they will likely not use the reading strategies.

In summary, the role of the teacher in developing student literacy is to provide ample op-

portunity for pupils to (1) practice basic component abilities and skills, (2) gain explicit and

implicit knowledge for building comprehension and (3) present templates for reading strategies.

While the explanations above hold true in the case of L1 readers there is more uncertainty

regarding L2 learners and particularity adults. Since they are likely equipped with the basics of

literacy and have some metalinguistic awareness the general idea is that some form of transfer-

ence occurs. Koda (2008) discusses L2 reading from this perspective and mentions that many

scholars generally agree that transference may aid L2 readers to more quickly master the written

word compared to emergent L1 readers. It is important to note that they speak of acquiring the

basic processes and that L2 speakers for example are more aware that mapping need to occur,

but that there is a secondary challenge of not having a complete language (the L2 studied) onto

which word meanings can be instantly mapped. Higher-level processing can in some ways benefit

from previous knowledge of reading strategies or text genre since they don’t have to be taught

from the beginning. The challenges for L1 and L2 readers are therefore somewhat different.

Koda also explains that L2 learners are progressively sensitised to the particular metalinguistic

awareness needed for the target language, and as an example looks at studies of L2 learners of

Chinese and Japanese who came to be more closely aware of semantic information in kanji which

can be used to interpret their meaning after initially relying on rote-memorisation (2008:84-85).

There is still arguably a need for some instructional guidance as to the particularities of reading

in a target language. For starters for a vastly different orthography like the Japanese, lower-level

processing needs to be instructed and trained.

2.1.3 Lower-level processing

Lower-level processing entails a fluent working of cognitive processing of linguistic knowledge.

Several component abilities and skills belong to this category, and here I will focus on two

aspects. The first deals more closely with word recognition and decoding while the other looks

at the role of grammar and so-called semantic propositions.

A key component of reading is identifying words; being able to read the word and understand

its meaning. The following quote from Grabe (2009:23) illustrates the core of word recognition:

In order for fluent word recognition to occur, a reader must recognize the word

forms on the page very rapidly, activate links between the graphic form and phono-

logical information, activate appropriate semantic and syntactic resources, recoqnize

morphological affixation in more complex word forms, and access her or his mental

lexicon.

16

In order to recognise words a reader has to first reach linguistic awareness about phonology and

orthography. Phonological awareness means paying attention to speech sounds and understand-

ing language structure; how syllables are used to make up words, rhymes and what phonemic

combinations are possible within a language (Ehri, 1999; Stuart et al., 1999).

Phonological awareness plays a vital role in the mapping of language sounds to the written

representation of it and evolves in stages. Stuart et al. (1999) present various longitudinal

studies assessing reading development of children with high and low phonological awareness.

High awareness leads to a quicker mastering of word recognition and overall easier literacy

development when compared to those with low phonological awareness.

In mastering the orthography of a language, and making sense of variations in spelling

and syllabic combinations, Ehri (1999) identifies four distinct developmental stages that an

English native speaker goes through when learning to read in their L1. During the first stage a

reader, usually a small child, might be able to read single words by identifying them based on a

distinctive visual clue. During the second stage the actual mapping between sound (phonology)

and letter (orthographic form) occurs. The reader understands that letters represent sounds but

still lack a complete inventory of all graphemes and phonology. Based on context the reader can

guess the meaning of some words. In the third stage the reader fully grasps the orthography

and reads with better fluency. By this stage the reader also understands irregular spellings and

how to decode them; for example silent letters (/k/ in ‘knave’) or hard and soft pronunciations

of consonants. They can read unfamiliar words, albeit not understanding them. In the fourth

and final phase even greater reading flow is gained as the reader decodes words by grouping

syllables or identifies spelling patterns in the likes of -auto, -ish and -tion.

Phonemic mapping for Japanese speakers entails dealing with two types of writing systems.

Firstly mapping phononolgy to the syllabic scripts hiragana and katakana and secondly mapping

phonology and meaning to the logographic script kanji. The kana-systems are fairly straight

forward with a set number of graphemes used to express the Japanese phonological inventory

which are then combined in different structures to form words. Kanji is far more complex as it

represents a whole word and a successful mapping means understanding its orthographic form,

and semantic meaning(s) when used in different contexts as well as possible phonemic readings

it may have as a single word or part of a compound word (Perfetti and Dunlap, 2008:29; Mori,

2014:414). A unique quirk of logographic scripts is that since the entire orthographic form in

itself represents a meaning, a reader does not have to know the exact pronunciation of that word

in order to comprehend its meaning and what it represents (Konosu et al., 1998). Ideally a text

could be comprehended in full by navigating it by kanji, but as Kuwabara (2009;2010) shows in

two separate studies word comprehension relies on more than grasping a single kanji. When she

tested how L2-readers understand a compound word8 she drew the conclusion that even if the

meaning and reading of individual kanji are known to them, readers struggle with understand-

ing kanji as the appear in compound words. To illustrate, she presents the example of one test

subject who guessed the meaning of the word 少女 (shojo, ‘girl’) consisting of the sign for 少

8A compound word is written using two kanji as in the example 学科 gakka ‘department’. They consist oftwo or more kanji where each individual kanji may carry several phonological readings and semantic meaningson its own. The meaning and pronunciation depends on usage and what other kanji are part of the same word.

17

‘few’and女 ‘woman’respectively; incorrectly interpreting the meaning of the unfamiliar word as

meaning ‘few women’(Kuwabara, 2010:3). In the other study she also concluded that interpret-

ing kanji compounds rose in difficulty if the connection between the kanji used were not clear

(Kuwabara, 2009). Furthermore, the readers were more likely to make correct interpretations

of a compound word using only semantic information of one of the kanji, rather than semantic

information of the same kanji as it appears in other word formations. Furthermore, a study

by Chiu (2012) which looked at processing kanji homophones in Japanese native speakers and

foreign learners of Japanese showed that both an understanding of phonology and orthography

serves a role for readers from an alphabetic background when choosing the correct kanji word.

These studies indicate that in order to read and understand kanji one must have a grasp of their

individual meaning(s) and reading(s), the exact pronunciation of compound words as well as

know the word itself.

While reading, the first step of word recognition and decoding the written form is followed

by so-called syntactic parsing which basically means readers use words and sentence structures

to draw out information about meaning (Grabe, 2009:29-30). This key element of lower-level

processing is a fundamental grasp of grammar and how it signals semantic information. Based

on grammatical cues of what holds a text together in the form of morphology, tenses, articles,

prepositions etc. a reader gains insight into how the content is to be interpreted.

For Japanese vocabulary in particular grammar cues have an impact on understanding vo-

cabulary. From an example, Kuwabara (2010:8) illustrates how the particle を o is used to

indicate that the accompanying word is a location, while な na shows that the preceding word

is an adjective.

While decoding individual words and grouping structures based on grammatical information,

the meaning of these units as a whole is extracted. They are formed simultaneously and are the

basic requisite for comprehension (Grabe, 2009:31-32).

2.1.4 Higher-level processing

Defining the exact aspects of higher-level processing is much trickier than setting the parameters

for lower-level. The exact nature of what constitutes higher level-processing is unclear, but it

can basically be seen as interpreting information and getting a sense of what a text is about

by relating parts of the text to itself and our own knowledge. It is within teaching higher-

level processing that information about concepts, discourse structure for different types of text,

strategies for understanding and the purpose of reading in different situations is presented

(Grabe, 2009; Pearsson and Gallagher, 1983; Blachowicz and Ogle, 2008).

The entire decoding process thereby involves word recognition, phonological and ortho-

graphic mapping, making sense of grammar and syntactic information to give the reader an

idea of the semantic meaning of phrase units. This information is then related to metacognitive

knowledge and interconnected with statements of the same text to make sense of the entire

meaning.

Grabe (2009:36-38) argues that while teaching lower-level processes for L2 readers needs to

include an introduction to grammar, it should not be the sole focus. Grooming readers for

18

automatic word recognition can be done by practicing fluency through extensive reading and

building vocabularies in general. He continues with arguing that an introduction to grammar is

quite necessary in order for basic comprehension, but that instruction should not be too detailed

and comprehensive. Advanced grammar such as uncommon sentence structures and variations

on set expressions should instead be taught as needed when they appear during other language

activities. Introducing beginner readers to graded readers9 will help to slowly build experience

before moving on to reading extensively. Through these types of reading activities the reader will

be exposed to grammar that can be explained during class time. It is also through the practice

of reading that skills of higher-level processing are cemented. Instruction provides introduction,

but the skills and strategies must be used repeatedly for a reader to be able to use them with

some fluency.

As I will discuss in a forthcoming section (see section 2.3) many teachers in Japanese language

programmes advocate and make frequent use of graded readers and extensive and intensive

reading programmes to raise overall reading fluency, comprehension and in some cases language

proficiency.

2.2 Language learning in higher education

Further examining the subject of teaching, foreign language learning in higher education usually

focuses on developing necessary language competence and proficiency. Three clear stakeholders

can be identified within this context, (1) the institution providing the instruction, (2) the teacher

directing pedagogical activities, and (3) the learner herself participating in language learning

activities. In turn each of these are influenced by personal beliefs about, approaches to, and

methods for language learning (Kumaravadivelu, 2006).

Starting with the institution, university departments make use of curricula and syllabi to

shape programme construction and course content. The curriculum provides a framework for

the structure and organisation of a language programme. The syllabus provides the basis for

orienting students and teachers in the aims and objectives of the specific courses. It serves as a

record for course content and assessment as well as direction for classroom work. Occasionally

syllabi contain information on which units the course consists of. A syllabus may also include

specification of textbooks, reading instructions, and a general indication of what material will

be covered. Neither document provides set rules for classroom behavior, and should rather be

considered tools for facilitating assessment and pedagogy (Kumaravadivelu, 2006:76; Luke et

al., 2013:20).

The curriculum guides the progression of students through the programme via learning

objectives that aim to develop the learner’s control of the language (Nation and Mcalister,

2010). The learning objectives are often stipulated in relation to the progression a student is

supposed to make while they develop language proficiency. The two classifications for syllabus

design are analytic and synthetic (Kumaravadivelu, 2006:79; Robinson, 2009:295-296). The

syllabus design has an impact on teaching methods and exercises in the classroom as well as

9A type of book written for specific levels of language proficiency. The grammatical complexity and numberof vocabulary featured in the texts differ according to the level.

19

choice of textbooks, examination, and grading.

The synthetic syllabus assumes a linear structure of learning where language is divided,

presented, and studied in smaller units. This type of syllabus is often coupled with teaching

approaches and methods centered around language or learners.

The analytic syllabus on the other hand stems from a holistic viewpoint; the learner is pre-

sented with larger components of language input designed to bring attention to communicative

features. It is then up to the learner to identify and analyse the smaller constituents of the

larger input. An analytical approach syllabus tends to employ learning-centered methods.

Depending on approach to syllabus design the sequencing of instructional units differ. Ap-

proaches are mainly seen within the course framework and practices of teaching methods. With

that being said, it can be difficult based solely on curriculum and syllabi documents to deter-

mine classroom implementation and see what approach they adhere to, but there are hints in

the course objectives, goals and units of the course level. Looking at what units are present, and

based on explanations of their content, the general approach to syllabus design can be deduced.

2.2.1 Approaches to teaching

There are undoubtedly a wide range of approaches to teaching in a L2-instructional environment.

Instructors make use of an array of theoretical models, methods and tools when teaching in

accordance with the framework set by the curriculum and syllabus as well as their own beliefs

about productive language learning. These methods can be broadly classified as being language,

learner or learning-centered approaches. The following passages chronicles each approach and

its distinctive features as well as provides examples of how the approaches translate to classroom

teachings.

Language-centered

Related to a synthetic approach of syllabus design, language-centered methods involve the use

of form-based input and grammar presented in a linear sequence. Students are presented with

the material, practice it independently and are then considered equipped to produce the desired

form (Kumaravadivelu, 2006; Whong, 2011). The approach rests on the belief that a learner

needs to have accurate language command before the same structures can be produced (Whong,

2011:32). Form-based input focuses on the structure of language where grammar is broken into

components and analysed. A more recent view sees form-based input as a process where language

structure is a system to be understood as general principles of isolated linguistic items rather

than rote memorisation of certain forms. This type of instruction entails putting the teacher in

the center and allows for organising instructions for large groups of students relatively efficiently

(Kumaravadivelu, 2006:109).

Activities such as the audiolingual method emphasise accurate language production over

the actual content of an utterance (Tornberg, 2000:35). Students rehearse structure through so

called drill-exercises where language patterns are manipulated by changing units to others of

similar characteristics, e.g. swapping one adjective with another. Thusly, language is taught

and learned in a rather disconnected manner, as patterns are presented out of context from

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actual language use (Tornberg, 2000; Whong, 2011). The basic procedure of language-centered

methods and its pedagogical approaches rests on presentation, practice, and production of the

target language to learn its linguistic properties (Whong, 2011; Kumaravadivelu, 2006). Critique

of such methods include the idea that language proficiency means being able to restructure

output and use it properly in varied situations and not just repeat set expressions or forms

(Entwistle, 2009:13). Exercises should therefore not rely on regurgitating information and rote

learning but on providing varied practice.

Learner-centered

The underlying pedagogical idea is to provide opportunities for the learner to not only acquire

grammatically correct language, but also master communicatively appropriate expressions in

a range of situations. While the function of a language system is to express meaning, the

units of a language also carry functions of meaning (Kumaravadivelu, 2006:118). The view

of the student is that of an active participant seen as capable of interpreting, expressing and

negotiating meaning. The input is based on both form and meaning; a mixture which weighs

the importance of drawing attention to form as well as provide contextual input.

The syllabus is product-oriented with form- and meaning-based input which sequences both

grammatical items as well as functional categories of language in relation to situationally bound

(often verbal) expressions. Approaches of the communicative, functional or notional approach

within learner-centered methods connect specific language functions to its situational context.

It provides the basis for classwork and exercises focusing on communicate purposes such as

requests and apologies (Whong, 2011:125; Kumaravadivelu, 2006:121).

Activities in the classroom provide ample opportunity for both input and output of language

thanks to interactional activites. As with language-centered methods the core of classroom

procedures rests on presentation, practice, and production (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). The shift

from a teacher-centered learning environment to a learner-centered often entails an increase

in target language communication. Group exercises and discussions allow students to practice

form and function as well as provide them with the opportunity to clarify meaning of the input

by using communicative strategies (Whong, 2011:125). This practice in negotiated meaning

between interlocutors and producing output is seen as beneficial to overall language learning as

students are able to ensure their own comprehension (Lightbown and Spada, 1999:124).

Learning-centered

Shifting focus from linguistic properties of language to the learning process of SLA10, learning-

centered methods are numerous as they draw direct inspiration from theories within second

language research. Although there is no governing theory, approaches draw heavy influence

from the concept of learning language in relation to its usage (Kumaravadivelu, 2006:136). A

basic belief is that input should be based on meaning, that language development rests on

comprehension rather than production, and that development is a parallel and cyclical process.

The view is that once comprehension is achieved, fluent production will emerge gradually, and

10Second Language Acquisition

21

there is little need for pressing output (Kumaravadivelu, 2006:137). Holistic in nature, there is a

perceived distinction between acquisition and learning, the basic assumption being that the first

is to be preferred. The recommendation is salient input for acquisition rather than spending

unnecessary time explaining grammatical features. This can be connected to the statements of

Grabe (2009) who proposed learning grammar from examples in text rather than exhaustive

instruction.

The syllabus is often analytic and processed-based, focusing on communicative activities

and learning specific tasks. Materials are used to provide context to exercises, and the teacher’s

role in the classroom is to provide constant input for students (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). While

acknowledging the creation of interlocutors capable of fluent output, critique of learning-centered

methods include its failure to equip speakers with grammatical knowledge enough for accurate

output (Kumaravadivelu, 2006:156; Lightbown and Spada, 1999:134).

2.2.2 Approaches to learning

Much has been written on the topic of students’ approaches to learning and the effects on learning

outcomes through techniques, motivation, efforts, organisation, and structuring. This section

will narrow the focus considerably and look only at approaches to learning as largely dependent

on the processing of information. Processing can be considered deep or surface leveled, where

an approach of either type has great impact on learning outcomes (Entwistle, 2009:33; Marton

and Saljo, 2005:45).

Here we see a similar structure to literacy where there is talk of levels of understanding de-

pending on the successful implementation of higher-level processing skills such as intertextuality

and background knowledge. Deep and surface processing within the learning perspective also

focuses on comprehending various aspects. In an article chronicling experiences with learning

Marton and Saljo distinguish between the two approaches by describing how students’ relate to

information; either at surface level where information is taken at face-value, or deep level where

understanding is achieved by identifying underlying meaning and connecting related pieces of

information (Marton and Saljo, 2005:43):

The main difference we found in the process of learning concerned whether the

students focused on the text in itself or on what the text was about; the author’s

intention, the main point, the conclusion to be drawn. Their focal point of attention

was on the pages in the first case and beyond them in the second.

The theories of approaching learning on a deep or surface level do not relate specific study

techniques employed for each approach. They were identified as part of efforts for understanding

aspects of higher education in a broader sense; a setting where students are expected to read

vast amounts of material and gain knowledge from lectures and seminars.

Entwistle (2009:48) carries on the same line of argument and mentions further defining

features of the two approaches. Surface approach is heavily linked to a reliance on memorisation,

rote learning and atomistic studying. The student focuses on individual parts rather than the

whole, and may study a breadth of material on the same topic that to her seems unrelated. The

22

deep approach on the other hand entails relating ideas to each other for a holistic understanding,

where the same material might be understood as having an underlying structure of shared ideas

or values. Depth is preferred over breadth. Biggs (2003:14) largely agrees with Entwistle’s line

of reasoning, but points out that memorisation is not always an indication of surface learning

as it can be used for acquiring vocabulary or memorising lines for a play. He goes on with

explaining that memorisation is a surface approach of learning only when deeper meaning can

be achieved of the material, and memorised facts are presented in a way to give the illusion of

having achieved deep understanding.

Additionally, both Entwistle (2009) and Biggs (2003) argue that the learning environment

itself and experiences of the teaching methods affect students in their approach to studying. The

environment pertains to both the institutional prerequisits of curriculum, syllabus and admin-

istration as well as the relationship between students and teacher. The way teachers structure

units of the syllabus as well as communicate regarding course content fosters students’ self image

and provides them with a model of what is expected of them academically (Biggs, 2003:64-67).

For example, if a teacher emphasises translations of text as means of understanding it but is dis-

missive of student questions regarding alternative phrasing, and fails to provide proper guidance

in how to translate, students may respond with high levels of anxiety and feelings of inferiority

due to very narrow definitions of what constitutes a proper answer. Research suggests that

this type of anxiety ultimately leads to students making less of an effort and relying on surface

approaches to learning (Biggs, 2003:72). In an alternate version of the mentioned scenario, in a

climate where the teacher were more willing to discuss issues and tactics while accepting variant

translations, students may become more motivated to continue learning and study the material

effectively. Furthermore, Entwistle (2009:117) identifies that the structure of teaching units,

both the way in which the syllabus is constructed and how teachers practically implement their

sessions, influence student study approach. For example, a combination of a purely synthetic

syllabus which divides units into separate entities and a teaching approach of presenting lan-

guage functions isolated, students may be more inclined to approach the learning material in a

similar manner.

These perspectives on student learning oftentimes look at subject specific studying and how

someone might study history or learn more about government policies. They lack examples of

how surface and deep approaches can be applied to studying languages. Although no definite

language learning examples are present within this discourse, looking at research related to

how students describe learning various skills needed for Japanese language comprehension some

common elements can be found. Simple rote learning is a way for students of Japanese to

memorise kanji orthography where additional methods such as mnemonics can be used as a

complementary tool for remembering meaning or reading. A study by Mori and Shimzu (2007)

shows that students of Japanese frequently use metacognitive abilities to determine appropriate

methods for learning kanji, changing tools when necessary. In other words, in this case cognitive

reasoning could be an indication of a deep approach to studying, alongside the actual method

employed.

As scholarly discourse on this particular union between the two subjects of studying Japanese

23

language and approaches to learning within higher education is rather sparse I cannot make any

statements as to the exact elements of deep/surface studying of Japanese language. What can be

assumed in light of previous information is that students are likely studying in a manner similar

to how information is presented during class. Language studies could be seen as studying the

areas needed for lower and higher-level processing, be it through memorisation or rote learning

of kanji or by making use of known words and expressions during activities. For arguments sake

let us classify reading during or in preparation for Japanese class as an act of studying. Having

the quote from Marton and Saljo (2005:43) in mind just looking at the text itself, the linguistic

elements and their meaning, would be surface studying. It is the automatic process of reading

for reading’s sake, perhaps to gain fluency. Deeper studying would mean engaging with the

text and using the language as a tool for understanding the underlying meaning and structures;

what the text is about. Here one could argue that higher-level processing comes into play in

a more active manner as it is through the interpretation of textual meaning that readers gains

understanding.

2.3 Reading Japanese

Unfortunately discourse on L2-reading in Japanese is quite sparse. Besides looking at how

students of Japanese as a foreign language learn how to read kanji, there is limited information

on cognitive processes. I’ve been unable to find studies or theoretical frameworks looking at

Japanese in particular and if there are any special cognitive components necessary for higher-

level processing. It would be interesting to see if there are possible differences when it comes to

how texts are organised and how organisation affects learning. There might be some answers in

literary studies, but from the perspective of language didactics and language processing I have

not found suitable literature.

The field is however ripe with studies on how to develop reading fluency and comprehension

of L2-readers through various pedagogical activities by focusing on automating lower-level pro-

cesses. For example Mikami and Harada (2011) introduced graded readers as part of language

studies for Japanese learners at a European university. Although they found no conclusive

evidence that the students learned more vocabulary from the task they had a lot of positive

response from participating students who perceived that they had an easier time learning new

words, that the books helped them break into reading in Japanese and that it was a good way

for them to use their Japanese knowledge.

Graded readers is a tool commonly used for English as a foreign language. The material

can be described as text written for specific levels of proficiency in mind with regulated use of

grammar and vocabulary (Tabata-Sandom, 2013). Harada et al. (2009) and (Tabata-Sandom,

2013) describe that more publishing companies are releasing Japanese graded readers, which

are often adapted versions from more complex stories. The span of the works range from being

around 2,000 to over 10,000 words in length and make frequent use of key words and synonyms

to build the texts. The idea is that a reader is exposed to text where they know the majority of

words that appear, and that they will acquire more vocabulary through incidental learning. In

a study looking at how JFL-learners respond to graded readers Tabata-Sandom (2013) indicates

24

that graded readers can help novice readers in developing fluency, noting that it serves as

introduction to reading and that readers are less likely to be intimidated by language that is

too difficult to comprehend.

A study by Hitosugi and Day (2004) used children’s literature as a substitute for graded

readers and found greater fluency and overall better reading ability. Similar results were found by

Kawakami (2014) who incorporated graded readers as part of an extensive reading programme.

The results showed heightened motivation and more willingness of students to read. Many

reported that they gained greater fluency and relied less on translating from Japanese to their

native language in order to comprehend. Takase (2007) looked at using graded readers in

combination with reading during class and reading at home as ways to make students practice

reading extensively. Students who had scheduled time for reading were more likely to continue

reading activities even when they were no longer on the schedule, than their mates who were

told to read on their own time. Unfortunately no measurements were made on how well students

read by the end of the study, but the general conclusion was that students need to be trained

in how to form reading habits. Although the case study focuses on Japanese English learners,

the conclusions are reasonably extrapolated to the reverse case as well.

As suggested by Kumada and Suzuki (2015) it seems as though many university level courses

or language schools feel the need to have specific classes for reading. This is especially true in the

case were you have many students of different nationalities and Japanese language backgrounds.

A successful reading programme is often crucial in order to prepare these students for taking

Japanese university classes and being able to digest information. Studies looking at extensive

reading such as Kirchhoff (2013), Kumada and Suzuki (2015) and Fukumoto (2004) suggest

that reading programmes which focus on reading a lot of information and practicing strategies

like skimming and finding key words are a good way to make students better prepared for

reading different types of text. Kumada and Suzuki (2015) also propose frequently working

with the texts that are read in order to engage students and make them more confident with

communicating about what they’ve read.

A common element for the previously mentioned studies is the fact that reading is treated as

a separate subject from other instruction. The case studies often chronicle educational efforts

and different methods for making students more competent at reading rather than how to

build separate sub-skills such as kanji or grammar. While they acknowledge that students’

overall language proficiency affects comprehension, they often work within a scenario of making

students comprehend at a level that matches their proficiency.

25

Methodological Considerations

The methodological basis for this paper is of a postpositivistic perspective with a phenomenologi-

cal approach. The methods employed are interviewing and surveying, garnering both qualitative

and quantitative data for insight into the phenomenon of emergent reading comprehension of

Swedish JFL-students. This section deals more closely with the methodological design of the

study; explaining choice of methods and tools, the research design and procedure, as well as

analysis of data.

3.1 Methodological basis

During the first steps of the research process I identified themes I was interested in exploring.

I looked at research related to Japanese language and literacy and identified a research gap

where there have been little study on developing literacies of JFL students. Positioning this

knowledge gap against my own experiences as a university student of Japanese language I

thought it would be interesting to look at more perspectives.11 It is difficult to determine

which came first, approach or question formulation, but the end result is a focus on experiences

related to studying reading within a Japanese language programme. This focus on experience

and phenomena in an observable setting looks more at the subjective truths of participants

rather than objective facts. In other words, the approach is phenomenological. O’Leary phrases

it quite nicely as ”Phenomenology: Study of phenomena as the present themselves in direct

experience” (O’Leary, 2004:122). Regarding entitling this research postpositivistic, I believe

that my background, knowledge and values as a researcher may affect the way I interpret

results. Therefore I’ve aimed to make the methodological considerations and research process

as transparent as possible.

3.2 Research methods

Approaching the research questions from a phenomenological perspective, and in order to prop-

erly represent the studied phenomenon, I strived to find several gateways to look at the circum-

stances of developing reading comprehension and literacy. A starting point was the individual,

personal narrations of experiences relating to the research questions. Taking a step from the part

and seeing the whole, I saw it as desirable to gain a generalisable representation of the studied

group. In other words, mixed methods could provide salient data from different angles and help

ensure that gathered data is likely to answer the research questions (O’Leary, 2009:129).

For individual data, interview was chosen, while survey was decided as a suitable method

for looking at a number of areas pertaining to understanding the phenomenon overall. The

survey deals with the educational programmes and the students. Document review for the first,

and questionnaires for the second. The document review is qualitative in nature and simply

surveyed the syllabi of all Japanese programmes discussed within the study to put later research

results into perspective. Questionnaire was seen as a preferable tool for surveying many students

11My first year of Japanese language studies were through online courses as Dalarna University before I enteredthe third term of the Japanese programme at Stockholm University where I also completed my Bachelor’s degree.

26

at once about their general experiences. Interviews focused instead on personal perceptions in

matters of Japanese studies and reading. These informal semi-structured interviews also used a

so called think-aloud task which allowed some insight into the thought process of interviewees

when reading.

3.2.1 Document review

The type of documents reviewed as part of the paper are syllabi of the Japanese programme’s at

Lund University, the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University. Review is used here

rather than the more common term document analysis, as it does not correspond entirely to this

method (O’Leary, 2004:177-180). The review consists mainly of noting course units and learning

objectives and does not entail analysing underlying structures, writers intent or implementation.

3.2.2 Questionnaire

The questionnaire was presented to respondents in their presumed L1 Swedish, with the excep-

tion of Japanese text, and was divided into three parts. The first two parts of the questionnaire

were identical for all respondents. The third part, reading comprehension texts, differed be-

tween course levels. The first part dealt with reading habits; establishing whether or not the

respondent reads in Japanese, how often they engage in reading, choice of material and reasons

for reading/not reading. Questions regarding the type of material and reasons, provided several

answers for the respondents to choose from (more than answer was acceptable) and they were

given the option to provide an alternative answer in short text.

The second part concerned study habits and perceptions. The respondent faced eleven

statements about how they study and perceive their education. The questions were in part

based on preceding tried-and-tested questionnaires developed within the ETL-project12 focusing

on approaches to learning, perceptions of teaching environment and a proposed connection

between the two. A few questions from the questionnaires (see referenced material) were chosen,

translated to Swedish and slightly adapted to be more clearly applicable to Japanese studies

e.g. mentioning kanji and vocabulary. In this Likert scale the respondent marked how strongly

they agreed with the statement on a scale of 4 (strongly agree) to 1 (does not agree at all), with

one option for unsure.

Next followed three sentence completion tasks targeting (1) how the respondent goes about

studying Japanese, (2) what the respondent finds difficult with reading in Japanese, and (3)

thoughts on their experience of Japanese reading instruction. The sentence completion tasks

were included in order to access some qualitative data in preparation for interviews, and deemed

a superior approach to gain insight to attitudes and perceptions compared to selected responses

as they tend to restrict choices. As explained by Oppenheim (2000:216) these type of qualitative

data can in turn be quantified by coding and classifying the data in the same manner as with

an open-ended question. The main difference being that the answer has been steered in a

12Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments in Undergraduate Courses. For reference material see Entwistleet al. (2002), the ETL-project measurement instruments ASSIST (Approaches and Study Skills Inventory forStudents) and the ETLQ (Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire).

27

certain direction by the preceding (incomplete) sentence. See more on how this type of data

was analysed in section 3.5.1.

The final part of the questionnaire, focusing on reading comprehension, consisted of three

texts in Japanese accompanied by multiple-choice questions. The questions explored features

of the texts and were also written in Japanese. The final part of the questionnaire directly

relates to one of the research questions: what is the relationship between student literacy and

course level proficiency?. Together with data from the second part, concerning study habits and

perceptions, the aim was to garner data and see if there were certain profiles or patterns; study

profile of proficient readers versus less successful ones, development between course level etc. As

presented and discussed in section 4.2, these analyses fell through due to low completion rates

of the reading comprehension part of the questionnaire.

3.2.3 Reading comprehension

As one objective of the reading comprehension of the questionnaire was to test the supposed

relationship between expected course level proficiency and literacy, texts were chosen in accor-

dance to the students’ baseline of Japanese proficiency. This baseline of course level proficiency

was determined on the grounds of the document review of the department syllabi of the Japanese

programmes. They provided concrete skills and measurements of the type of texts students’ are

allegedly equipped to handle by the end of each term (se section 4.1).

Regarding the selection process of texts the course level requirement, or skills and abilities,

were matched to a corresponding tier of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (for an explana-

tion, see section 1.3.4). Although comparable, the course requirements and learning objectives

are admittedly not completely equivalent; neither between universities nor the JLPT. However,

in order to use level specific reading material when testing the respondents reading comprehen-

sion, the JLPT levels was determined to be a useful tool for setting a common standard. Text

content, kanji and word usage as well as text type differ vastly between the five tiers, and tried-

and-tested beginner, intermediate and advanced text can quite easily be found in JLPT-related

material. In this instance the texts and questions were taken from JLPT preparatory mate-

rial for reading comprehension of the Nihongo charenji (Yamabe et al., 2010)13 and Nihongo

somatome-series (Sasaki and Matsumoto, 2010a, 2010b)14. In regards to choosing texts it was

done at the discretion of the researcher. Focus was paid to length and avoiding too culture spe-

cific examples and instead choosing subjects the respondents would likely be somewhat familiar

with.

The books were chosen due to availability and their somewhat outdated status, having

been released roughly 6 years before the study. The titles were also not part of recommended

preparatory material on the official JLPT-website. Personal copies were readily available to the

researcher, while choosing another series for the survey would have required a longer process of

13Full title: Nihongo noryoku shiken taisaku. Nihongo charenji N4. Bunpo to yomu renshu. (Preparation forthe Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Nihongo Challenge N4 Grammar and Reading Practice.)

14Full title: Nihongo noryoku shiken taisaku. Nihongo somatome N3 dokkai. (Preparation for the JapaneseLanguage Proficiency Test. Japanese Summary N3 Reading Comprehension.) and Nihongo noryoku shikentaisaku. Nihongo somatome N2 dokkai. (Preparation for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. JapaneseSummary N2 Reading Comprehension.)

28

singling out and acquiring appropriate titles as this type of preparatory material is usually not

easily available on the Swedish market. Using slightly older material also increased the possibility

that the respondents had not encountered these particular texts and exercises previously, either

as part of their assigned material or in the form of preparation for JLPT or self study.

For students attending the second course level of the Japanese programme they were assumed

to have knowledge and abilities corresponding to JLPT-N4 at the end of the term and were

therefore tested with JLPT-N4 reading material. Fourth course level students would at the

end of the term be at JLPT-N2. As the survey was conducted a little before half way through

the term, and since only one syllabus specifically referenced N2-level, texts for course level four

students were mainly material from N3-level. Although efforts were made to keep the texts

relevant for all groups, it is possible that some students were at a disadvantage due to skewed

selection. For example newspaper articles is specifically mentioned in the syllabi for students

at the University of Gothenburg for students having completed course level three, but is absent

for the other two departments.

The three texts chosen for the second course level were (1) a short text about Valentine’s

Day in Japan and Brazil, (2) a conversation between three people about influenza, and (3) a

short text about experiencing Japanese hot springs. The first text was accompanied by one

multiple-choice question, the second text by three, and the final by two. All questions had four

possible answers, and these texts were also in Japanese. All three texts were from the textbook

Nihongo charenji (Yamabe et al., 2010)15.

The three texts chosen for the fourth course level were (1) a short story from the perspective

of a girl whose mother had an estranged daughter from a previous marriage, (2) an opinion-

piece of an older woman complaining about young girls applying makeup on the train, and (3)

a newspaper clipping about a fatal hit-and-run. Each text was accompanied by two multiple-

choice questions in Japanese with four possible answers each. The first two texts were from the

Nihongo somatome level N3 book for reading comprehension (Sasaki and Matsumoto, 2010a)16,

and the final text was of the same series level N2 (Sasaki and Matsumoto, 2010b)17.

Section 3.5.2 deals with the analysis of comprehension and goes into further detail on how

reading proficiency was valued in the comprehension test.

3.2.4 Interviews

When looking at different directions to go with the interview both in terms of how they would

bee conducted and how the data ought to be interpeted, I took heed to the emphasis Kvale puts

on interviews as ”a conversation with structure and purpose” (Kvale, 1996:6). The objective is

to derive interpretations from research subjects’ personal experiences rather than measurable or

factual data (Warren, 2001:83). Using the method of qualitative interviewing, I chose the route

of semi-structured interviews to allow greater freedom in the conversation between reasearcher

and subject.

15Text: (1) page 204, (2) pages 214-215, (3) pages 212-213.16Text: (1) page 83, (2) page 97.17Text (3) found at page 83.

29

In preparation for the interviews a guide was constructed, consisting of a basic outline of

topics to be covered alongside questions to either be asked outright if they did not emerge natu-

rally in the conversation, or as possible follow-up questions. The course of the interview started

with a round of think-aloud (more closely described in section 3.2.5) coupled with reflections on

the exercise before moving on. The two main topics of conversation were studying and reading

in Japanese. They included questions such as difficulties with reading, experiences in class, tech-

niques for understanding content, and what they feel is currently lacking in teacher instruction.

The subjects offered details about their background, initial interest in Japanese and how they

came to study the subject.

3.2.5 Think-aloud

Think-aloud is a method where a person reads a text and at the same reflects on their thoughts

(Katalin, 2000). Used as research method the subject reports about their progress and thoughts

on the text to an investigator (Rankin, 1988:119). The aim is to get a more direct view of

mental processes, rather than the subject’s self reported after construction or introspection.

Rankin (1988) proposes a four step model for conducting a think-aloud exercise as part of

data collection: (1) explain the exercise and purpose, (2) demonstrate verbalisation of thought

process with a short sample text, (3) allow the subject to complete a supervised trial of a sample

text as warm up before (4) the subject is presented with a text where the verbalisations are

recorded, transcibed and analysed.

In this instance all four stages of Rankin’s model were realised, and the textual passages

used were taken from Japanese novels, albeit much shorter than customary when think-aloud is

the sole research method.

Texts for the think-aloud

In total five passages of text were used for the think-aloud. The example sentence used to

illustrate how the think-aloud process works was the same for all interviews. The other two

texts differed between course levels. Unlike the texts chosen for the reading comprehension in

the questionnaires, they were not taken from JLPT preparatory material. The instruction text

and the two texts used for course level two were taken from the children’s novel Boku to ojiichan

to maho no to18 by Hinowa Kozuki. The two texts used for the think-aloud tasks of course level

four were snippets from Kotaro Isaka’s novel Goruden Suranba19. I chose these snippets of

text since I found the source material to be adequately suited for the purpose. The course

level two snippets featured basic kanji and grammar which to some extent has been covered

during the first two terms of Japanese language studies. Regarding the texts for course level

four they feature more kanji, metaphorical expressions and some expressions or words which

require active association of real world knowledge. Since I did not wish to value how well the

readers preformed a translation or discussed the content I thought it’d be more valuable to use

native material of an approximate level of which they could read.

18Me, grandad and the magic tower.19Golden Slumber

30

The example sentence used for explaining the think-aloud is found at page 32 in Kozukis

Boku to ojiichan to maho no to. During explanation I paid particular attention to the form

にも nimo ‘also’and how I reasoned to figure out the meaning of an unknown word, 苦労 kuro

‘difficulty’, and how I figured there was a connection between 住んでた sundeta ‘lived’and あの

あたり ano atari ‘at that place’. The example sentence is as followed:

お父さんが住んでた頃は、あのあたり本当に何にもなくて森ばっかりで、学校へ

行くにも買い物に行くにも苦労したもんだ。

Otosan ga sundeta koro wa, ano atari honto ni nan’ni mo nakute mori bakkari de,

gakko e iku ni mo kaimono ni iku ni mo kuro shita mon da.

Back when dad was living there, there was really nothing but forest around those

parts. It was difficult to go to school and even going shopping.

The first text for course level two was taken from page 64 in Boku to ojiichan to maho no

to, and is peppered heftily with kanji. Somewhat confusing out of context, the subject of the

sentence speaks of himself in the third person referring to himself as ”dad”. This means that the

wording お父さんのお父さん otosan no otosan can be literally translated as ‘dad’s dad’ while

the translation in accordance with the subject ought to be ‘my dad’. Correctly interpreting the

speaker as the first ’dad’ without the proper knowledge from preceding text is partly a matter

of knowing that Japanese parents will sometimes use their parent role title while speaking in

the third person instead of using a personal pronoun. The sentence also includes grammatical

markers indicating subject, modes of transportation and direction (が ga,で de,へ e) and forms

indicating informal tone (あるんだよ arun da yo ‘there is’).

車で三十分ほど北へ行ったらところに、お父さんのお父さんが住んでいた家があ

るんだよ。

Kuruma de sanjuppun hodo kita e ittara tokoro ni, otosan no otosan ga sundeita ie

ga arun da yo.

If you go about thirty minutes north by car, there’s the house that [my] dad lived

in.

The second text for the interview of respondents from course level two was taken from page 134

in Boku to ojiichan to maho no to. This passage includes a relation between the subject/topic

of the sentence (mom) and her belief of having caused her son’s injury. The word ケガ kega

‘injury’ is unconventionally written with katakana instead of hiragana, likely a stylistic choice

of the author.

お母さんは、俺の足のケガを自分のせいだと思い込んでいるんだ。けど、そんな

ことないよ。

Okasan wa, ore no ashi no kega o jibun no sei da to omoikondeirun da. Kedo, sonna

koto nai yo.

Mom is under the impression that the wound on my leg was her fault. However,

that’s not true.

31

As for course level four, after the introduction to the think-aloud task they had a practice run

where they could try out the technique using a sentence from page 160 in Goruden Suranba. It

features more kanji and compound words overall compared to the example sentence. There are

no grammatical markers in the first sentence indicating subject while the second sentence draws

the focus to the two police men.

車を飛び出し、ドアを閉め、背後を振り返る。制服姿の警察官が二人立ってい

た。

Kuruma o tobidashi, doa o shime, haigo o furikaeru. Seifuku sugata no keisatsukan

ga futari tatteita.

[He] jumped out of the car, shut the door, and looked behind. There stood the shape

of two police men in uniform.

The second text for course level four, from the same title (Goruden Suranba), was taken from

page 145. It featured several kanji and flowery language of metaphorical nature (音楽に乗っ

て ongaku ni notte ‘ride the music’). Furthermore, it draws upon shared cultural experience of

the addictive slot-machine game Pachinko. This key word can be used to interpret the meaning

of 玉を弾いてたら tama o hiitetara ‘play ball’ and 借金 shakkin ‘debt’. The subject of the

sentence (カミさん kamisan ‘wife’) refers to the speaker’s wife, but it can easily be interpreted

as being a persons first name.

カミさんが大のパチンコ好きで、中毒なんだよ中毒。子供を 連れて毎日、店に

通って、あの音楽に乗って、玉を弾いてたら、いつの間にか借金作ってた。

Kamisan ga dai no pachinko suki de, chudoku nan da yo chudoku. Kodomo o tsurete

mainichi, mise ni kayotte, ano ongaku ni notte, tama o hiitetara, itsu no manika

shakkin tsukutteta.

[My] wife had a huge love of Pachinko, it’s a poisonous addiction. Everyday [she]

would take [our] child along, walk through the store, get into the music, and play

some ball. Before we knew it, [she] had built up a debt.

3.3 Overview of universities and respondents

The three language programmes researched as part of this study are Lund University, University

of Gothenburg and Stockholm University. They were chosen since they offer similar Japanese

programmes centering around language studies. After a few terms the students write a Bachelor’s

thesis, making them eligible for obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Japanese language studies. All

three universities also offer access to postgraduate studies at the same department.

Document review entailed obtaining syllabi from all course levels of the three departments’

Japanese programmes.

The questionnaire was held during the spring term of 2016 when all three departments offered

Japanese language courses for course levels two and four. The groups differed greatly in size

between levels and universities in both the number of registered students and the number of

respondents who participated in the survey. Table 4 summarises the number of questionnaire

32

Table 4: Overview of Questionnaire Respondents

Lund Gothenburg Stockholm TotalCourse level two 24 (25) 14 (17) 57 (57) 95 (99)Course level four 12 (13) 2 (2) 20 (20) 34 (35)

Respondents from each student group across departments. The total number of questionnaireshanded out is indicated in brackets.

responses as well as the total number of students who were present at the time of the survey.

For course level two, four persons declined to participate with only one abstaining from level

four.

Interviews were held five weeks after the last round of questionnaires, spread out over a

period of three weeks. Subjects were volunteers who provided their contact details at the end

of the questionnaire filled out in the previous step. One person from each student group, six

in total, were randomly chosen using a number randomiser. The pool of volunteers consisted

largely of men with one group having no female volunteers at all. The majority of the subjects

who provided their contact information got four or more answers correct in the reading com-

prehension part of the questionnaire, and almost no subjects who did not complete the reading

tasks volunteered for interviews. Out of the initial six contacted individuals five agreed to be

interviewed. Three persons from the final group (university and course level) declined further

participating in an interview, and the fourth person in line who was contacted agreed to par-

ticipate. In the end two women, three men and one person identifying as gender neutral were

interviewed. I’ve chosen to keep the gender of the respondents in accordance with their pronoun

of choice when presenting the data in section 4.3.

3.4 Research procedure

Research was conducted in three steps. As a first step a document review of syllabi for the

Japanese programme was conducted. Simultaneously a questionnaire was developed for survey-

ing students at the chosen departments. Before deploying the questionnaire on a larger scale a

pilot study was conducted to test several aspects of the content. After the completion of the

survey stage, interviews were conducted. Again a pilot interview was held to test interview

procedure and structure.

3.4.1 Document review

All syllabi pertaining to each course level of the three universities’ Japanese language pror-

grammes were collected. Syllabi of Stockholm University and Lund University were available

online. As for the University of Gothenburg the documents were posted online, but technical

issues with access prompted me to reach out to a department student counsellor who, in ac-

cordance with the principle of public access to official records, provided them separately. The

syllabi were summarised to provide a general orientation of the course content and modules, the

programmes’ layout and course objectives. Based on the summary and supporting data within

33

the documents, an analysis of supposed teaching approaches was conducted.

3.4.2 Questionnaire

The questionnaires were held on-site in the classroom, either at the start or end of a lesson

with compulsory attendance. Times for surveys were cleared and organised in consultation

with the teacher in charge. Students were informed that participation was voluntary and the

purpose of the study and usage of questionnaire data. They were instructed to fill in their

contact information if they were willing to be contacted at a later date for a follow up interview,

and that they at that time could decline to participate. Furthermore, the students were also

informed that the results would be treated and presented anonymously, or in the case of offering

their contact information, treated confidentially by the researcher.

Questionnaires were handed out at Stockholm University during the last week of February,

Lund University one week later, and the University of Gothenburg half way through March.

Surveys for both course levels at Lund and Gothenburg were on the same day, while surveys for

the two groups at Stockholm University were conducted with a three day gap.

3.4.3 Pilot study and subsequent changes

In preparation for surveying the universities, a pilot study of the questionnaire was conducted one

week before the first survey. The pilot group consisted of students who at the time were Bachelor

students at Stockholm University. As with later occasions, the questionnaire was distributed

at the end of a lesson with compulsory attendance. Cleared beforehand with the teacher, a

few minutes were given at the start of the lesson to inform about voluntary participation in

responding to the questionnaire. The reading comprehension text was the same as intended for

term four students and was given out in two versions: One featuring furigana20 and one without.

After completion of the questionnaire participants identified a repetition of the same question

(wrongfully replacing and excluding another) which was corrected in later versions used for

the actual survey. The incorrect question was omitted during analysis as students either chose

not to answer it or provided the same answer to both the original and duplicate. Subsequent

changes were clarification of questions and focus, oral prompts of time limit, use of furigana,

and reduction of the number of reading comprehension texts. The results are not part of the

final analysis.

Clarification

While respondents were answering the questionnaire I was present and overlooking their progress.

Partly in response to inquiries of how to interpret certain questions it was deemed necessary

to clarify their intention and focus. Furthermore, during observation several students devoted

considerable time to the first two parts of the questionnaire, leaving little time for reading com-

prehension. Therefore, during hand-out of subsequent sessions students were informed of the

proper interpretation of certain words21 and that the two first parts should only take them a

20Smaller print in kana next to, or above/under a kanji providing pronunciation. Example:とうきょう

東京21In particular the Swedish word lasa which could be interpreted as meaning both ‘read’ and ‘study’.

34

few minutes; rather than spending too much time on these questions one should focus on the

reading comprehension.

Reduction

The pilot version of the questionnaire featured four reading comprehension tasks. As with the

final version of the questionnaire, each text was accompanied by two multiple choice questions,

each with four possible responses. The first three texts were as described in section 3.2.3, with

the addition of a fourth text. The piece concerned the physics of going in a roller coaster,

arguing pros and cons of riding up front or in the back, taken from the N2-level book (Sasaki

and Matsumoto, 2010b:103).

The final text and its multiple choice questions were removed in order to reduce reading

time and increase the likelihood that students would be able to read through the texts without

rushing. As explained in further detail in section 3.5.2, the probability of questionnaire respon-

dents by chance correctly guessing the right answer on all questions, with four possible answers

per question, was extremely low. A cut off point, where one could value a certain amount or

more correct answers as being the result of proficient comprehension rather than pure luck, was

at four correct answers for eight questions in total. When considering whether to reduce the

amount of texts overall, I had to consider how it would affect the probability of students’ merely

guessing the correct answer. When reducing the range of questions by two, the probability did

not change significantly. In other words, four was still the cut off point for which one with some

degree of certainty could say that the respondent understood and chose the right answer. The

extra two questions (number seven and eight that were part of the fourth comprehension task)

did not show further proficiency than could be determined by six questions in total.

Furigana

Out of 15 students responding to the questionnaire, 7 received the version with reading com-

prehension tasks including furigana, and 8 without. Most students with furigana finished close

to the 15 minute mark, while a substantial amount of stragglers read the other version. With

both the time perspective and possible impact on understanding, an independent sample t-test

analysis was carried out to compare the two groups with the null hypothesis being that there

is no difference between the two groups. The result of the t-test (t(13) = -0,1, p = 0,8) shows

a high P value which indicates that it is likely that the null hypothesis holds true. In other

words, there was no statistical significance in responses between both groups. Therefore, later

questionnaires all featured furigana to facilitate time management and assure proper focus on

content rather than spending too much time making sense of kanji readings.

Time limit

An initial estimate of questionnaire completion time was set to 15 minutes and based on my own

timing when responding as well as three other self-reports22 confirming a completion time of

22These self-reports were provided by previous classmates and students having completed the Bachelor’s pro-gramme at Stockholm University. Their input and comments was used in the development process of the

35

under 15 minutes. However, most students did not complete the survey within the allotted time.

About half of the group were finished after 20 minutes, most at 30 and a cut off point was set

at 35 minutes, interrupting the final two respondents. In an effort to improve time management

oral prompts informing respondents ten and five minutes before the 15 minutes had passed was

used during later surveys. With the addition of clarification, furigana and reduction of text the

questionnaire was overall streamlined which further contributed to reducing time necessary for

completion.

3.4.4 Interview procedure

Respondents were randomly chosen from the pool of volunteers who had provided their con-

tact information during the survey. One student from each group, six persons in total, were

interviewed. In order to facilitate availability and manage scheduling for respondents and inter-

viewer, the interviews were conducted online using Adobe Connect. The sessions were recorded

and transcribed in full by the interviewer. The main language spoken during the sessions was

Swedish with occurrences of Japanese and English during tasks and conversation.

The qualitative interviews consisted of a think-aloud task and informal conversation. Firstly,

the respondent was informed of what to expect from the interview as well as how the data would

be recorded, transcribed, analysed and used. Secondly, the think-aloud task was introduced.

After a brief explanation the interviewee was shown a sample text and read the passage out loud

accompanied by thoughts about processing and possible meanings. The same textual passage

was used for all respondents, and the utterances kept fairly uniform during all introductions.

Then the respondent was asked to mimic the action while processing another sample text.

Any confusion regarding the think-aloud task procedure was cleared up at this stage before

proceeding with the actual exercise. After the completion of the exercise, once the respondent

either signaled that he/she could not think of anything further or that he/she stopped speaking

for a while, they were asked about the passages they had read for further comments. Then

the main bulk of the interview transpired. The interview was kept informal, with emphasis

on conversation. The respondents naturally took on a more explanatory role when following

train of thoughts or answering questions. The conversation was in part steered by questions

narrowing the focus, and centered around the experience of reading in Japanese and perceptions

of reading and language instruction.

The transcription yielded a word for word rendition of the interviews, complete with inter-

viewer interjections and questions. However, as the analysis did not focus on minuscule details

such as turn taking or pronunciation, the transcribed speech was noted in accordance with

standard spelling of the written language. Grammar was not further adjusted, and kept in the

manner spoken during the interviews.

Analysis set out to explore and identify themes from within the respondent narrative. Data

from each interview was handled and analysed separately. As presented in their summarised

forms, during analysis the output was organised according to themes expressed during the

interviews.

questionnaire before the pilot as recommended by Gillham (2000:35) in his guide to piloting questions.

36

3.4.5 Pilot interview and subsequent changes

In preparation for interviews with respondents from the questionnaire groups, a pilot interview

was conducted to try out intended questions, flow and overall process. The subject was chosen

from the pool of volunteers from the pilot study on the basis of availability to be interviewed

on short notice. The interview was conducted in person, mostly using Swedish language with

occasional Japanese words and utterances. The interview was recorded for evaluation of the

method, but not transcribed and further analysed.

After the completion of the interview it was necessary to change the material used for the

think-aloud task as well as clarify instructions. As the interview was qualitative in nature,

answers to most questions emerged naturally during conversation. Coupled with a little prodding

from the researcher, usually in the form of follow-up questions for clarification, very few questions

had to be asked outright.

The general setup of the qualitative interview was kept, along with the list of possible follow

up questions. The role of the interviewer as contributing interlocutor during the conversation

was scaled back as it at times seemed to interfere with the respondent from elaborating further

and instead steered the conversation in another direction.

3.5 Analysis of empirical data

As previously mentioned the document review is a simple summary of the information from the

syllabi of all three universities. Regarding the questionnaires all data was put into the statistical

analysis software SPSS. Frequencies and mean values of answers for the first and second part

of the survey in particular were calculated using features in the software. The method for

thematising sentence completion and valuing the reading comprehension are chronicled in the

following sections. Interviews were recorded and then transcribed before analysed. Further

details of these analyses are also found in a following section.

3.5.1 Thematisation of sentence completion

As with all other data from the survey the written completed sentences from the second part of

the questionnaire were stored in SPSS. For analysis these texts were then printed out by course

level as collected under their respective sentence to be completed. The data for each sentence

and course level was then analysed. The choice to not look at each individual group of the three

universities is based on an underlying assumption of similarly shared experiences for students

of all three schools. It seemed that there was a bigger risk wrongly grouping outlying comments

and loosing themes, while grouping them all together instead meant easier identification of

shared perceptions from all three groups. In other words, the idea here is that a single comment

from one school runs the risk of being misidentified, while with data from all schools thematised

these comments emerge as part of their true theme.

The analysis itself was done in the spirit of quantitative content analysis as described by

O’Leary (2009:260-263). This method is usually prescribed to an entire analysis as a whole,

where frequent comparisons between various details garner salient data. Therefore it is impor-

37

tant to note that the current analysis was restricted to only include the sentence completion.

Regarding results, each identified theme is exemplified by a sentence either directly translated

and cropped together from actual comments or written by me based on key words. This the-

matisation of content is summative in nature as the length of answers varied from a single word

to two or three sentences, whereby shorter answers were interpreted in light of the longer con-

tributions. For example, a very scaled down answer to the sentence When I read in Japanese

I find it difficult to... was simply kanji. As several others mentioned the very same in their

completions but included words such as how to read or remember the meaning of this one-word

sentence was interpreted as involving the same type of difficulties. Furthermore, after the initial

analysis themes that shared commonalities were merged together to better express their shared

elements. A perfect example is the previously mentioned difficulties with the theme kanji which

was also expressed for words in general. The common elements were for example remembering

the meaning of and understanding each where there seemed to be a lack of clear distinction

between kanji as orthographic form, kanji as words and words in general written in kanji or

kana. These themes thusly became vocabulary.

3.5.2 Valuing comprehension with probability

The main trouble with the comprehension tasks was how to value the results. What would be

considered proficient? Standardised and multiple choice tests as method have been questioned

in their suitability to determine proficiency as a respondent may get the correct answer by pure

chance. However, in face of a large data set using standardised parameters seemed a preferable

option for the analysis of collected data. For analysing and valuing the result, I chose to value

proficiency based on the probability that the respondent chose the correct answer to questions

due to comprehension rather than by chance.

Had I asked the students to read one text and answer either option A or B to a question to

check their comprehension, the answer would give me little indication of whether they actually

understood the answer. Had there been four options for them to choose between and they

answered correctly I could have slightly more confidence that the result was due to their pro-

ficiency. In the same manner the amount of questions (together with several options) increase

the likelihood that the amount of correct answers is representative enough to indicate true skill

rather than luck.

The first iteration of the questionnaire used in the pilot study featured eight multiple choice

questions with four options each. Figure 1 shows the probability of each outcome being the

result of chance. For example, had a respondent checked all answers for the eight questions

and received only two correct answers the probability that they would get the same amount

of correct answers just by guessing each answer is about 35%. For each correct answer the

probability that the result could be achieved by chance goes down. At four correct answers one

can say with 91,5% certainty that the results have not been the result of guesswork.23

The final version of the questionnaire used for surveying the students featured three texts

with a total of six questions. Looking at the same cut off point as for the pilot study, the

23Meaning that the probability of getting four correct answers out of eight when guessing is 8,5%.

38

Correct 6 8

0 17.8 10.01 35.6 26.72 29.7 31.13 13.2 20.84 3.3 8.75 0.4 2.36 0.0 0.47 - 0.08 - 0.0

Figure 1: Probability of Answering n Questions CorrectlyThe probability that a given amount of correct answers is due to chance when one out of fourpossible answers to each question is correct. A lower percentage indicates a higher probabilitythat the results are not due to guessing. Lines connecting points are shown to guide the eye.Referenced numbers from graph presented on the side, all numbers in percent.

probability of correctly guessing four answers in a set of six questions is 96,7.%24 As seen in

figure 1 there is a very slight difference between the probability of correctly guessing six questions

out of six and six questions out of eight. In this side by side comparison the sixth and eight

questions can be seen as redundant as they offer no new data to change the assumptions from

the results of the sixth question.

It is important to note that this in no way indicates the probability that respondents who got

a certain amount of correct answers did so by guessing. These numbers reflect the probability of

guessing correctly in the scenario that a respondent chose all of his or her answers by guessing.

In other words, there is no way to tell if respondents have guessed all, some or none of their

answers. These numbers merely show that it is very unlikely that respondents with four or

more correct answers would get those numbers in a scenario where they’d guessed them. In

turn it can be seen as an indication that these respondents likely are proficient at reading and

comprehended the texts.

3.5.3 Systematic meaning condensation of interviews

Interviews were done in the manner of semi-structured qualitative interviews. The objective of

the interview was to engage the subject in conversation with minimal interruption and with fol-

low up questions allowing more opportunity for them to express their full opinion and thoughts

without feeling constricted. The analysis focused on meaning which involves a great deal of in-

terpretation by coding and condensing statements made during the interview (Kvale, 2007:105).

The method employed for this analysis is referred to as systematic meaning condensation and

is a type of conventional content analysis where codes are derived directly from the data. The

process, as described by Malterud (2012:796-801) and Kvale (2007:106) based on earlier theory

24Meaning that the probability of getting four correct answers out of six when guessing is 3,3%.

39

involves four steps. (1) All individual interviews are read through to give the researcher an

overall impression, (2) themes are identified in each interview and sorted into specific codes,

(3) codes are condensed into meaning by collecting statements from all interviews identified in

the earlier stage and boiling them down into meaningful representative units, (4) the units are

elaborated upon with descriptions and a coherent narrative binding them together into a whole.

The key words for each step of the process (with a starting point) can be condensed as such:

chaos Ý themes Ý codes Ý meaning Ý descriptions.

When presenting the results of the analysis I have chosen to firstly present each summarised

interview individually. This is to get a sense of the different themes the respondents raised

during the conversation which is not always seen in the final condensed version representing the

group. In the combined summary, presented as student voices, some example sentences are also

provided to further illustrate the codes explained in the narrative. Concerning the narrative of

course level two students material from all six interviews were used since level four students also

included statements of their first terms at university. Narrative of course level four students on

the other hand is based entirely on interviewed respondents from that group.

3.5.4 Analysing the reading process during the think-aloud

Regarding interpreting data from a think-aloud Katalin (2000) mentions that while it is grateful

material for qualitative analysis it is challenging to interpret. Further expanding on this topic

with difficulties of thematisation and identifying processes or strategies, Rankin (1988:129) ad-

vises that one should use an already existing list for categories while analysing. Several options

are mentioned but both authors also acknowledge the fact that the researcher most likely will

have to further develop the tool in order for it to fit the current research better.

The think-alouds were short in nature and I don’t consider them to be the main focus of this

study. Their purpose is to provide further examples of the reading process and to see possible

parallels between techniques and strategies mentioned during the interviews or in themes in

the questionnaire. Therefore, similarly to the analysis process of the interviews and sentence

completions, they were summarised and thematised. This was done in relation to my perceptions

of prevalent strategies and techniques observed in the general collected data. Therefore it is

highly probable that the analysis misses out on interpreting the meaning of smaller details such

as pauses, searching for words or struggling with certain categories of kanji.

During the interviews as respondents were instructed on the think-aloud they were told that

the first text served as practice with only the second intended to be used for analysis. This

helped them relax while reading the first text and they were less hesitant to ask questions about

the process of the think-aloud as they were reading. The statements and comments from both

texts are however included in the final analysis. In some instances the process for the two texts

was quite different for the same subject and the including both provides more points of analysis.

Furthermore, as the analysis does not assign value to the subjects’ performances during reading,

practice or actual reading does not differ.

40

3.6 Evaluation

3.6.1 Ethical aspects

The four ethical principles of good research practice as presented by the Swedish Research Coun-

cil consist of the requirement of information, consent, confidentiality and use (Vetenskapsradet,

2002).

In regards to the questionnaire students were informed orally and partly in writing of what

the data would be used for, that it was voluntary to participate, and how the data would

be treated and presented. As some data from the questionnaire can be sensitive in nature,

with regards to expressed opinions of respondents as well as results from the reading test, it

is important to consider the ethical aspects of collecting, managing, and presenting such data.

By anonymising data and presenting results within a group no one is singled out and made

easily identifiable. Special consideration was taken as to the collected material from Lund

University course level four. With only two respondents (see section 3.3) the results form the

questionnaire are arguably impossible to keep completely anonymous when presented. Therefore

a conscious choice was made to group the results from all respondents of course level four across

the three universities rather than omitting the data points entirely. An unfortunate side effect

is the lessened possibility to trace behaviors across groups, for example identify possible reading

habits and see how patterns in choice of reading materials develop between course levels and

vary between universities. All things considering it was deemed more preferable to have all three

schools represented in the statistics.

Concerning interviews respondents were once again informed of the previously mentioned

aspects as well as on how data in this particular instance would be handled and presented. They

were offered the opportunity to read through a summary of their interview and leave comments

before data analysis, and to provide input to ensure the exclusion of identifiable features and

ensure correct interpretation of their statements. Each interviewee is only identified so far as to

which course level they adhere to and not which university they attend. This is done in order

to further minimise identifiability of the respondent, and to put focus on the shared experience

of studying and reading in Japanese rather than compare the value of educations.

3.6.2 Methodological consistency

The methods used for collecting data have yielded data results which help explain the phenom-

ena I set out to explore. As described by O’Leary (2004:59-61) a requirement for conducting

good research is operating within the scope of methodological consistency. It’s within this frame

that discussions about terms such as validity, dependability and reliability function as quality

control of the research itself. Validity is used in relation to the assumption that what is being

studied can be measured and that the results of the research meet the requirements of scientific

research method. Its an encompassing term for the relation between what is being studied,

what is reported and the steps taken in between with methodological design (the tools that

have been used to collect data). Dependability is described as quality assurance through sys-

tematic and consistent ways of gathering and handling data. Reliability values the tools used

41

for measurement of whether they will generate the same results on a repeat measure.

As each step of the process is described with transparency and reproducibility in mind my

opinion is that a reproduction of this study using the same tools would yield a similar result.

Naturally the results could differ were another group sampled, be it from a dissimilar setting or

the same setting but in a few years time. Although this study aims to capture the perceptions

and experiences in a generalisable manner it is indeed very connected to the mileu of the sample

group. The pilot studies were conducted in order to test the instruments used for collecting

data, and I have constantly striven for consistency while analysing the data set.

There were issues with not retrieving a full data set for the reading comprehension and

representation of respondents for the interviews. Most interview subjects performed at a level

classified as proficient in the reading comprehension task and few who did not complete it chose

to not submit their names for further interviewing.

Although the focus of the study is from the point of view of students it could have benefited

from additional perspectives on teaching methods. The current study lacks the perspective

of teachers in this matter and the potential knowledge that could be gained by comparing

experiences and perceptions.

42

Results and Analysis

4.1 Document review

This section firstly presents the document review of the syllabi and curriculum of the Japanese

language programme at Lund University, University of Gothenburg, and Stockholm University.

The analysis of supposed approaches to teaching based on these documents is also presented.

No further analysis has been carried out for the comparison between instructional material of

the schools. However, it is worthy to note that common ground for all three programmes is

the use of the educational book series Genki during the first two terms. From the third term

onward the reading lists differ.

4.1.1 Lund University

The students have three terms of language studies worth a total of 90 ECTS credits. Each of the

three consecutive language courses consist of 30 ECTS credits and are of increasing difficulty

dealing with aspects of spoken and written Japanese. The fourth and final term consists of a

15 ECTS credit Bachelor’s thesis combined with 15 ECTS scores worth of language studies,

tallying the total to 105 ECTS credits of Japanese language studies. Another 60 ECTS credits

are studied outside the boundaries of the Japanese language and may consist of courses of the

student’s choosing. The intended progression is that of a student starting the programme in the

autumn and completing the Bachelor’s thesis after the first term of their third year of university

studies.

The syllabi of Lund University presents two areas that students are to become proficient

with: knowledge and understanding of the Japanese language and skills and abilities. The first

category pertains to explicit knowledge of Japanese language structure; understanding and being

able to explain the writing system, sociolinguistic differences, and grammatical features. Moving

from basic to deep understanding, the explicit knowledge ties into the skills and abilities the

student is expected to acquire. By the end of the fourth term the student is expected to be

equipped with skills to pass N2 of the JLPT. The explicit knowledge and abilities stated in the

syllabi are summarised and presented in table 5. Throughout the programme students read

Japanese texts; starting with basic textbook passages they move on to novels, non-fiction and

general science texts. Each of the first two terms consists of two text courses and term three

introduces a dedicated course in linguistics which in the fourth term turns into a course for

producing a Bachelor’s thesis.

The units covered within the courses of Japanese language studies focusing on said skills and

abilites, are not specifically divided into separate modules. Within the frame of a module various

units of Japanese language are covered and not overtly split during examinations. Although the

documents prove little insight into actual teaching practices, with less focus on specific modules

it is likely that areas of language competence are not taught isolated from each other. In other

words, it is highly possible that the syllabi are indications of an analytic approach to language

teaching.

43

Table 5: Japanese Knowledge and Abilities: Lund University

Term Skills and AbilitiesOne is able to understand...

1- Hiragana and katakana- 175 kanji- Basic text, provide translation

2- 400 kanji- Everyday and formal situations- Advanced textbooks

3- Idiomatic expressions- Meaning using contextual cues- Translate various texts

4- JLPT level N2- Translate and discuss novels- Basic general science texts

A summary of the syllabi of the Bachelor’s programme in Japanese at Lund University. Con-sisting of three and a half terms of language studies corresponding to 105 ECTS credits. Thefourth and final term is split between language studies and thesis writing.

4.1.2 University of Gothenburg

After an initial term of beginners Japanese, students at the University of Gothenburg can

continue their language studies with three continuation courses. The fifth and final term is

divided between a 15 ECTS score language course and a 15 ECTS score Bachelor’s thesis. The

student is then required to take an additional term worth of courses of their choosing in order

to receive their Bachelor’s degree in Japanese studies. The programme consists of 135 ECTS

scores worth of Japanese language studies. The courses can be taken both autumn and spring

term, thusly the student is able to commence their language studies at any term of their choice.

A possible progression would be that a student starts the programme in the spring or autumn

term of the first year and finishes after the end of autumn or spring in their third year.

The modules presented within the syllabi focus on areas of Japanese languages studies. For

example, the first term has individual courses and examinations for hiragana, the writing system

(covering katakana and kanji), practical language proficiency and the study of textual structure.

This pattern continues on for the entire programme where later terms add courses for practicing

reading proficiency using authentic texts of prose, non-fiction, and newspaper articles with

intensive or extensive reading approaches. Looking at the modules themselves, firstly grammar

and the writing system are studied alongside language structure through textual studies. In the

second term reading comprehension is introduced and in term 4 it develops to include translation.

The final term sees the addition of both extensive and intensive reading. The course learning

objectives for each course level are summarised in table 6.

Here, the syllabi are highly synthetic and most modules have a clear line of progression. The

Japanese language is studied and examined based on strict criteria and division from seemingly

adjacent subjects; in term three students have two separate modules in reading comprehen-

44

Table 6: Japanese Knowledge and Abilities: University of Gothenburg

Term Skills and AbilitiesOne is able to understand...

1

- Hiragana and katakana- 280 kanji- Basic expressions- Everyday speech- Texts adapted for beginners- Translate short text

2- 450 kanji- Simple texts

3- 640 kanji- Newspaper articles, prose

4 - 750 kanji

5- Diverse topics- Prose and novels- Non-fiction and science texts

A summary of the syllabi of the Bachelor’s programme in Japanese at the University of Gothen-burg. Consisting of four and a half terms of language studies corresponding to 135 ECTS credits.The fifth and final term is split between language studies and thesis writing.

sion. Again, the syllabi do not show prevalent teaching methods or how teaching sessions are

conducted, but they indicate a preference of a synthetic approach to teaching and studying.

Similarly to the syllabi of Lund University, students are expected to have mastered certain skills

and abilities as well as gained knowledge and understanding not explicitly connected to a specific

module.

4.1.3 Stockholm University

The progression of courses is for five consecutive terms with a sixth and final term dedicated

to the Bachelor’s thesis with modules in methodology and writing. With the exception of the

30 ECTS credit first term, the courses each term consist of 22,5 ECTS scores; prompting the

student to combine a course of his or her choice for four terms with preordained language studies

to be admitted to the Bachelor’s course. The programme corresponds to 120 ECTS credits worth

of Japanese language studies. The progession of the programme is for a student to start in the

autumn term and finish at the end of the spring term in year three.

The first four terms of language studies include the modules of orthography, grammar and

practical situational Japanese (a mixture of oral and written communicative skills). The third

term introduces reading comprehension which in the fifth term evolves into separate modules

for intensive and extensive reading. Skills and abilities for each term stated in the syllabi are

summarised in table 7. The arrangement of modules and the general syllabi indicate a synthetic

approach to language teaching. It is worth noting that modules dealing with language skills

(reading, speaking, writing) are separated from explicit knowledge and understanding of the

language structure (grammar, language structure and analysis). The syllabi make no obvious

45

Table 7: Japanese Knowledge and Abilities: Stockholm University

Term Skills and AbilitiesOne is able to understand...

1- Hiragana and katakana- 205 kanji

2- 425 kanji- Texts used in everyday situations

3- 655 kanji- Intermediate text and prose

4- 870 kanji- Translate intermediate texts

5- Prose and literature- Non-fiction and science texts

A summary of the syllabi of the Bachelor’s programme in Japanese at Stockholm University.Consisting of five terms of language studies corresponding to 120 ECTS credits. A sixth termis split between thesis writing and courses on scientific method.

distinction between skills and abilities and knowledge and understanding, but do present distinct

learning goals for each module.

4.2 Questionnaire

The following section presents the results of the questionnaire. Each part of the questionnaire

is introduced separately before discussed the results as a whole. The analysis makes use of a

multitude of figures and tables, and in order to interfere as little as possible with the readability

of the text they have been collected in appendix i.

Since the three parts of the questionnaire each dealt with different areas, missing answers

to some questions did not automatically remove that respondent’s data from the complete data

set. The number of students who filled out the first two parts of the survey are represented in

the final data set. The third section, consisting of Japanese texts and multiple choice questions

about their content, was included in the questionnaire in order to look at the proficiency level

of the survey respondents. The ambition was to get comparable measurement using the same

material no matter school, and see if the reading comprehension of students’ correspond to their

expected course level proficiency (based on course information from the programmes’ syllabi).

The results would then be compared between schools and course levels, as well as with students’

study habits to see if there were any discernible patterns. However, completion rates of the

reading comprehension were in general low. Consequently, there was not enough data for a

reliable comparison to make assertive general statements about the proficiency of the groups

as a whole. These numbers, completion rates and results of completed surveys, are presented

under the following sections of questionnaire results of course level two and four respectively.

46

4.2.1 Course level two

Part one: Reading habits

Starting with the first part of the questionnaire, the inquiries were related to whether the

respondent reads material in Japanese or not. Table 8 summarises the answers from the three

groups in course level two, showing that 71 respondents reportedly read in Japanese while 24

individuals do not. The frequency of reading varies between schools, but a general pattern

shows that the students tend to read daily or once a week (see figure 2). Looking at why they

engage in reading as seen in figure 3, most answered that they do it for their own pleasure. As

respondents were allowed to check more than one option, two other reasons also emerged: to

improve overall Japanese language proficiency, and to practice reading in Japanese. It seems

as though reading as leisure is regarded an activity for ones own sake, it is also partly done in

context of overall language studies.

In regards to preferred choice of reading material, some interesting fact emerged. Firstly as

shown in figure 4, the second and third most commonly chosen options were manga and news

and articles, with manga having more than twice the amount of reader that articles. Novels,

light novels25 and factual texts were not very popular in comparison, with graded readers being

among the least chosen material. Some respondents even took it upon themselves to express

their unfamiliarity by leaving a question mark next to this option or the a comment along the

lines of what is this?. Secondly, the most chosen option for reading material was other, with

numbers just surpassing that of manga. Clarification of what respondents referred to showed a

emphasis on alternative media. As opposed to print based material seen in the questionnaire

list26 games, social media and even auditory based looking up musical lyrics seemed to play

a big role in their consumption of material for reading. This indicates that students regard

reading as an activity not solely reserved for literary purposes, but also a tool for every day

usage in many situations.

Although the final question for reading habits was aimed mainly at those who do not engage

in leisure reading on a regular basis, many who do read also chose to provide their input

(probably as an indication to why they do not read more often). The main hindrance seems to

be a difficulty in finding reading material suitable for their reading level, as well as a lack of

time (see figure 5).

Part two: Study habits and perceptions

As previously mentioned the main purpose of including statements regarding study habits in the

was to cross compare the results of reading comprehension with study habits to determine if there

were any common patterns among proficient readers or schools. As the following section more

closely relates, low response rates excludes the possibility of making any reliable conclusions in

25A type of novel aimed at the young adult demographic in the middle and high school age span with a lengthcomparable to an English novella. They usually contain illustrations and popular titles are frequently adaptedinto anime and manga.

26Admittedly, some material may very well be consumed online through journals or as downloaded e-books,but they are most likely regarded as print media.

47

this regard. Table 9 in appendix i shows the frequency of respondent level of agreement across

all three schools as well as the mean value.

What can be said with some certainty is that most students see all programme courses as

related and there is a strong sense that they share a common thread. Study time is mainly

devoted to material covered in class but respondents seem more interested in learning Japanese

language than just passing the courses themselves, and some thought is dedicated to try to

understand the purpose of class exercises and homework. Repetition is used to some extent

for learning new material. Course level two students seem to rely more on dictionaries and

explanations of unfamiliar kanji, vocabulary or grammar to make sense of reading material.

Guessing the meaning of unfamiliar features is not a widely employed strategy. They navigate

a text on a sentence by sentence level but pay equal attention to making sense of the text as a

whole.

Taking a look at the sentence completion the respondent filled out, most provided an ob-

servation or comment in relation to the sentence. In table 10 a full overview of the sentences,

example answers and identified theme.

The opening sentence was To learn how to read in Japanese I usually... and was accompanied

with explanations of strategies. First of all, some students did not have a specific way of

practicing reading. Some explicitly stated a holistic view that reading, writing, listening and

expressing oneself orally are all connected and thusly practicing one equates better learning

overall. However, most did not provide any wording that indicated them having the same

perception of holistic learning, and instead seemed fuzzy about reading specific learning and

simply stated what they usually do for practice and how Japanese is used in everyday situations.

Those who did mention reading itself as a learning activity spoke of relying heavily on provided

textbook material and seeking out alternative simpler texts for gradually learning by doing. Two

strategies for learning emerged from these respondents which dealt with actions while reading to

understand and learn long term, and actions before reading in preparation for better dealing with

reading material. While reading respondents consult dictionaries or course book explanations

of words, kanji and grammar that they come across while reading in order to understand better.

Learning beforehand consists of building a foundation of relevant kanji, vocabulary and grammar

knowledge needed for better understanding the reading material. Words or grammar that are

checked while reading to facilitate understanding is then often part of future repetitions and

exercises to be memorised. The texts are manipulated in further ways by writing summaries or

translations, either as part of general language learning activities or to better comprehend and

memorise words and grammar.

The second sentence began with When I read in Japanese I find it difficult to... and the

themes that emerged touched upon grammar and vocabulary. Grammar overarchingly thema-

tises troubles understanding long sentences due to a difference in sentence structure, nuance

and actual meaning as well as identifying where one word ends and another begins. Vocabulary

entails a perceived personal lack of knowing enough vocabulary to understand a text. The theme

also touches upon troubles with remembering the meaning and reading of individual kanji and

compound words.

48

The third sentence When we have lessons about Japanese reading I think that... returned

polarised responses. One group experienced difficulties with the reading related instruction in

general, and many did not pinpoint why they struggled. Some seem to have anxiety in class

due to being slow and inexperienced at reading, where a lot of unfamiliar kanji and vocabulary

would hamper them further. These comments usually included a word or two about a lack

of a specific reading unit during class time, where most reading in class consists of verbatim

repeating back translations of texts during discussion. The other perspective of respondents was

positive in nature. Having texts suitable for their level and other learning benefits from reading

during lessons were mentioned. Several saw benefits with discussing texts with their peers or

comparing with the teacher’s explanations to gain a better understanding of what they’d read.

Those who felt positive about learning benefits but that some aspect were too easy asked for

more reading material, or at least being guided to suitable literature to practice more with, and

delving further into understanding the texts on different levels.

Part three: Reading comprehension

Looking at the results of reading comprehension for course level two students, a majority of

respondents did not answer all questions. As seen in table 11, only 47% of course level two

students completed the survey in full, corresponding to 45 individuals. However, there are some

differences in completion rates between groups. While only about 20% of students at Lund

and Gothenburg made it all the way through27, 67% of respondents from Stockolm University

completed the reading task. Without further follow-up it is impossible to determine for certain

where the cause of the difference lies, but a few possible explanations comes to mind. Firstly, it

may be due to a fault in the questionnaire design; too little time, or using texts which require

a proficiency level students have yet to reach. Secondly, it may depend on groups sizes or the

individuals part of the surveyed groups; an unproportionate amount of persons with another L1

than Swedish, learning difficulties, or simply a larger amount of people who increase sample size

may affect outcomes. Thirdly, it may be due to inexperience of respondents; unfamiliarity with

questionnaires in general may lead to longer times when completing it. However, as students’

were instructed on what areas to focus on when filling in the questionnaire, a fourth explanation

is also probable; there is a difference in reading speeds between students’ of the three groups.

It may be a direct a result of received instruction, transference from L1, or due to more or less

experience with reading in Japanese. Although not part of any official observation, when I spoke

with some of the students after they completed the survey several mentioned that they felt a

lack of time for the reading part specifically.

Taking a closer look at the respondents who completed all questions 27 of them scored at

four correct answers or more, seen in figure 6. This equates to 60% of respondents who would

be considered able to comprehend the texts at their course level. The pattern between all

three schools look quite similar. The aggregated frequency indicates a fairly even distribution

between the number of correct answers, with the majority passing the cut off point for proficient.

Compared to the entire group of surveyed students, bunching together the cases of those who

2716% for Lund University and 21% for the University of Gothenburg

49

cannot be justifiably determined proficient based on current data and those who failed to provide

a complete set of answers, these 27 individuals only make up 28% of the larger population. Since

it is highly questionable that the missing values of non-responses is due to a lack of proficiency

and comprehension, these numbers should not be considered reliably representable. If however

it were the case that the missing values can be related to overall comprehension it is reasonable

to question if the majority of students in fact meet course standards.

4.2.2 Course level four

Part one: Reading habits

The first part of the questionnaire pertaining to respondents’ reading habits, were answered by

a total of 34 individuals. As seen in table 12, 29 of the students read in their leisure time, while

5 do not.28 As with the preceding course level, it is most common to read once a week or daily

(see figure 7). Looking at reasons for reading, a similar pattern seen in course level two emerges.

Most read for pleasure, many of them also to improve Japanese language proficiency and to

practice reading. As opposed to course level two students, who did not read much in order to

find information, students at course level four engage in the information finding activities to a

greater extent (see figure 8 for more detail).

As for reading material figure 9 shows that manga is a popular category. Many also read

news and articles, and the difference between the amount of persons who consume each does

not differ as much as for course level two. The same categories mentioned under other for the

lower level is once again represented, albeit to a smaller extent. Once again, graded readers are

not part of the standard set of reading material, and respondents instead engage more in novels

and short stories and factual texts. Although entirely possible that students in the fourth level

course have undergone changes to their choice in reading material, one possible interpretation

of these numbers is that they indicate a preference for material; once established it will not

significantly change.

Once again, the final question of why the respondent does not engage in reading activities, it

was intended for persons who answered no to the initial question. All respondents for the final

question had checked that they do not read in Japanse during leisure time. All quoted lack of

time, and most also chose the option stating that it is difficult to find material suited for their

level (see figure 10).

Part two: Study habits and perceptions

Similarly to the results for course level two the current data set does not allow general statements

regarding comparison of proficiency of readers. As seen in table 13 in appendix i, neither is

enough data available from each school in order discuss longitudinal changes between groups

from the same university. Nonetheless, enough data is available in the form of mean data from

each course level in order to discuss linear development.

28Note that all responses from the three groups have been added together and analysed as one. See section3.6.1 for more information.

50

The general results for course level four show no real significant changes in study habits

or perceptions of self in a university course setting. Just as previously students see a clear

connection between programme courses and they do not shy away from using dictionaries or

reference material to seek out explanations or meaning of unknown vocabulary, grammatical

expressions or kanji. They spend somewhat less time on the purpose of class work and exercises

or relating new and old knowledge than their juniors, but study more material than needed

to just pass the course in equal extent. When reading there has been a slight shift in favor

of understanding the overall meaning of texts compared to fully comprehending each sentence.

There is a bit more agreement indicating that they spend a lot of time memorising what they

have to learn, and modest decline for agreement about guessing the meaning of unfamiliar

language structures and words while reading. Whether this is due to greater mastery of the

language itself or an increased tendency to consult a dictionary is unclear.

Continuing with the sentence completion of course level four some themes also seen with

junior groups exist. Table 14 provides a full overview of these themes, the example completion

and the sentences.

For the first sentence (To learn how to read in Japanese I usually...) the two study strategies

of checking and memorising information are once again present. However, as the texts themselves

seem to have grown more complex level four students also make use of rereading the sentences

and entire text to make sense of the content. It is once again coupled with checking unfamiliar

words and grammatical expressions which are then added to the repertoire of materials to

be learned. Reading is an activity in itself and often a tool for communicating with others

or partaking in information. Some effort is put into choosing reading material. Finding a

suitable way to read increasingly more difficult texts or trying to read varying types of literature

in general. Rereading is a new addition to checking comprehension. Understanding is not

reliant on a single word or grammatical expression but rather understanding the sum of many

parts. Statements from which this theme was derived seem to indicate that students firstly read

something, try to comprehend it and understand it before checking words they are unfamiliar

with. They then reread the sentence to readjust their earlier impression.

Regarding the second sentence all completed comments drew upon the theme of reading

flow. When I read in Japanese I find it difficult to... was often coupled with a yearning to

read with greater automaticity and not needing to stop frequently to find out the reading and

meaning of words and kanji. Comprehending the general meaning of a text as a whole is more

widely mentioned, and longer sentences are tricky to decode and put into relation to each other

rather than because the respondent gets stuck when trying to figure out the word order. It is

interesting to note that vocabulary and grammar still pose somewhat of a problem but that the

focus has shifted slightly. For the senior students the dominating perception seems to be that

grammar and vocabulary are components of reading flow; that flow is achieved by simultaneously

comprehending grammar and kanji and not by looking at each aspect on its own. Sometimes

when they don’t understand a lot of the language aspects in the text it is frustrating to not be

ble to keep up with the pace of the group.

Once again the sentence When we have lessons about Japanese reading I think that... drew

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contradictory statements. Those who looked at the lessons positively mentioned learning benefits

much like those of level two students. Class time and discussion is seen as a resource for new

input and better understanding the material and subject of reading. Those who instead had

more negative perceptions of instructions mentioned that the current approach gave too little

time for teacher explanations and reading material too far above their current proficiency level.

One or two mentioned that they felt more comfortable with spending their own time doing

translation exercises rather than dedicating a lot of class time for this type of work. Both

groups mentioned a need for preparation before classes. Not overtly seen as either positive or

negative, this neutral observation merely illustrates that students need to prepare in order to

fully participate and get the most out of class instruction.

Part three: Reading comprehension

Regarding the results of reading comprehension for course level four respondents, 50% completed

all three texts. As seen in table 15, the completion rates are presented as a collected number

for course level four. Without delving further into details of each university, which are not to

be presented in full in order to keep respondents’ anonymity, the same basic line of reasoning

for possible explanations of completion rates for course level two apply. Another possible expla-

nation also comes to mind having to with slanted representation of text. The formal learning

objectives (skills and abilities) of each university diverge somewhat from the third term onward.

It is likely that the respondent have varying degrees of experience with the texts chosen, and

that it could have affected the outcome as some groups were at a disadvantage. Here as well

I spoke to some respondents after they had completed the survey who commented on feeling

pressed for time.

Looking at the 17 individuals who responded to the full survey four of them got four or

more correct answers (see figure 11). This corresponds to about 24% of the total amount of

respondents, and about 12% of the entire population (when those who did not complete the

survey in full are included). Again, there simply is not enough data to make any general

assumptions, but in both cases it is a low number.

Admittingly as with level two students the respondents who did not complete the survey may

have gotten four correct answers or more had they not felt pressed for time. But as the course

requirements for level four students includes a wider range of different type of texts one could

assume this also entails some familiarity with reading in general. Meaning one could expect

them to read with ease and some speed and fluency.

4.3 Interviews

The presentation of interviews are structured according to their course level. Each respondent is

presented with a summary of the information obtained during the interview session, followed by

an analysis of the think-aloud. At the end of each section, when all six respondents have been

presented, I offer a meaning condensed explanation of reading in Japanese based on perspectives

of the interviewees. Quotes presented in this section are also based on actual statement, but not

taken directly from any specific interview. To facilitate readability of the interviews all subjects

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have been assigned a code name used throughout the presentation to refer to each subject in

connection to presenting the relevant data.

Course level two

4.3.1 Abe

Abe did not study Japanese before entering university and applied to the Japanese programme

in order to study something they were interested in. University studies so far have lived up to

expectations and Abe describes the curriculum as mainly focused on grammar and kanji. During

lessons there is an emphasis on repetition. Usually the teacher just goes though material from

the course book. During grammar lessons the students often do exercises in pairs where they

practice the given forms. It is also during grammar that they work with texts, with material is

taken from the course book.

Abe explains that when it comes to reading students prepare translations of the chosen text

before lessons and given some time and the during class to sit in groups and compare their

translations and discuss them. On previous occasions Abe feels that it was somewhat pointless

as the texts were too simple for meaningful conversation and that many peers were uninterested

in delving into extensive discussion. Currently the focus has shifted from translating the entire

texts to summarising them as preparation for class time. Overall Abe is pleased with the

material read in class and expresses approval of the course book which covers many examples of

literary styles. Abe says that it has not always been fun to read them but that whenever they

get through a text you feel a great sense of achievement when understanding.

Besides reading and preparing smaller texts before lessons Abe perceives that there is little

motivation to study outside of class as teacher instructions mostly repeat the exact information

from the course material and often class time is dedicated to doing exercises. However Abe sees

repetition as positive and further mentions that when a teacher explains the course material

using a different set of examples or put it into perspective using their own words one understands

it better.

Abe doesn’t currently read much in Japanese. Recently there’s been some effort to start

reading manga but Abe experiences that it goes rather slowly due to a lot of kanji and a vastly

different type of written Japanese compared to course book material. Abe notes a tendency in

manga to mirror everyday spoken Japanese where particles and other grammatical markers are

often left out.

When explaining how they usually go about understanding written material Abe says the

difficulty of the text determines reading approach. Regarding simple sentences and structures

where they know the vocabulary Abe doesn’t pay a lot of attention since it’s quite easy to grasp

the meaning. For long and complicated sentences on the other hand (that feature several clauses

or particles) Abe needs to divide it into smaller components and translate them individually

before interpreting them as a whole. Abe feels little need to provide idiomatic translations when

reading on one’s own but sees it as a necessity during class or exam to show comprehension. Abe

also mentions that a main hindrance while reading is grammatical expressions which have no

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clear equivalent in Swedish. It is partly more difficult to conceptualise without a clear Swedish

counterpart, and it poses real difficulty in the situations where one has to provide translations.

Reading process

For the first text Abe comes across several unknown kanji. During the task Abe reads the

first sentence out loud and pauses slightly at the unknown word 俺 ore ‘me’, before skipping it

and finishing reading the sentence. Abe contemplates various aspects of the second part of the

sentence and what the meaning of some words are, knowing the first and recognises the second

kanji in the word 思い込む omoikomu ‘be under the impression’. Subsequently some time is

spent at trying to figure out how to translate the word by thinking about the meaning of the

second kanji and how it might affect the first. At this time Abe goes back into the text, having

remembered seeing 俺 previously, and correctly guesses its pronunciaton and meaning. This

is followed by a translation for the second half of the first sentence as ‘someone’s mother has

injured someone’s leg’, leaving out the second sentence. For the second text Abe simply reads

the entire sentence unhindered and provides a quick translation summarising its content.

The way Abe deals with both texts indicates different ways of handling what is perceived as

simple and more intricate sentences. Abe comments that while the translations provided in both

cases is good enough for this situation, one would for class or exam put more effort into puzzling

together a more idiomatic translation. In each instance we also see examples of how Abe uses

translation and summary as a tool for understanding. The first text in particular is illustrative

of this point where parts of the sentence is translated in order to be better understood, and in

the end a summary of its main points is given.

4.3.2 Bakhtin

Bakhtin started her Japanese language studies during upper secondary school before moving on

to university level. She expresses that she had a small head start as most of the early material

had already been covered during her previous courses.

In regards to university lessons she explains that they mostly deal with grammar and kanji.

The very first term was quite overwhelming with many units running parallel, but none dedicated

to reading. Early on they received instructions on Swedish grammar in relation to Japanese,

something Bakhtin considers helpful. Based on her description without any outright instructions

on doing so, she understands a text by identifying its grammatical components. For example

particles that show topic, object or adverbial help her to gain an overall understanding. She

usually scans a text and looks for familiar kanji, seeing them both establishes a sense of theme

of the text (based on what type of words occur) and helps her divide the strings of hiragana

between okurigana and purely grammatical expressions.

During lessons they don’t discuss texts in depth, and most talk of content necessitate trans-

lations as they are quite short and there usually is a need to name something specific. The

difference in sentence structure between Swedish and Japanese hinders her in rapidly delivering

a translation. However, she does not consider translations necessary for full comprehension.

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She loves books and to read. She mainly reads in her L1 and actively searches for suitable

Japanese material to engage in. However, it is proving difficult as there is a trade off between

grammar and vocabulary - limited vocabulary means childishly simple grammar and literature

aimed at children, while grammar at her current level is often coupled with material requiring a

much larger vocabulary and mastering of kanji. She mainly reads manga, simple news online and

social media and frequently makes use of digital tools and dictionaries. She mentions that she’s

expanded her vocabulary through reading and that a lot of repetition of the same words have

helped her acquire them. She considers furigana helpful for being reminded of kanji readings of

newly acquired words and that it can be a help in figuring out meaning.

After a few bouts with native text she states that the course book material is unrepresentative

and builds up false expectation of what reading native material entails. Bakhtin explains that

kanji are more frequent in authentic text and that the course book texts refrain from even using

kanji they are supposed to have learned. Furthermore she highlights the fact that reading has

been a part of the general grammar lessons and that the same should be done for reading and

kanji. She’d like to see the kanji covered in class appear more in the text they read so that one

could see actual examples of how they are used in writing.

Reading process

Bakhtin reads the first two words and with the topic particleは ha she identifies mother as being

the subject of the sentence. She continues with reading the sentence out loud, slightly pausing at

思い込む omoikomu ‘be under the impression’, before skipping it and finishes the sentence. She

discusses aspects of the sentence and identifies relations between words based on grammatical

markers. Bakhtin also tries to understand the second kanji in 思い込む and recognises that it

in some way affects the first word as a whole. She provides no translation for the sentence in

full, but based on comments during reading she seems to have grasped its essence. She further

comments on grammatical markers that indicate that the sentence is explanatory in nature.

Bakhtin read the entire second text in full before going through each word and its meaning,

meanwhile adjusting her translation of the sentence overall. Again she comments on grammatical

features that is not visible when translating into Swedish, in this case the informal tonality.

Some the elements from her own description of what she does as she reads is evident. Both

in identifying grammatical markers for navigation and identifying and explaining expressions in

Japanese grammar.

4.3.3 Crystal

Crystal studied Japanese on his own for a few years before applying to the Japanese programme.

His study material consisted almost exclusively of kanji learning books and he prides himself on

robust kanji knowledge. He felt little challenge in studying this particular unit as he entered

university and has lately spent study time focusing more on grammar. He personally considers

the main goal of language studies to reach a high communicative level and that language learning

never means complete acquisition that passes for native.

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Crystal describes the course content so far as focused on Japanese kanji and grammar with

reading as part of other course units. He expresses a dislike for the course book texts which in

his opinion are written in a simplified Japanese directed towards English speakers. He’d like

more authentic reading material in the courses.

He identifies, in his view, two problems with the current course design. There is a perceived

culturally grounded difference in teaching methods and a difference in how to value the impor-

tance of translations. Regarding the first he recalls incidents where the teachers point of view

of what matter during lectures and exercises is firmly rooted in formalities while he’d prefer a

dialogue based on actual achievements. The first pays more heed to deadlines and usage of set

phrases for task completion while the second urges for feedback on actual language production,

no matter if it fits the mould or not. Regarding translations in general Crystal sees little use

for them in the classroom. He states that translating texts idiomatically and with great care to

nuance or detail is suitable for those wishing to pursue a career as translators, but for educa-

tional purposes the emphasis ought to be on discussing the text itself. He thinks that students

who start to translate as a tool for understanding soon become over reliant on it, and will have

great difficulty in ever achieving the ability to directly understand Japanese.

He reads as part of other activities where Japanese is mainly used communicatively in social

media. He occasionally reads books in Japanese but is not fond of reading for extended periods

of time. Crystal feels that furigana hinders understanding and long term learning and explains

that he automatically reads the furigana rather than the kanji, even if he knows the word.

Therefore he’d prefer if furigana was used exclusively for uncommon words or kanji with variant

spelling. Crystal describes reading without furigana as a fun challenge and that he easily can

look up unfamiliar words on his dictionary on his phone if needed.

Based on his own descriptions Crystal seems to navigate a text by kanji. He identifies key

words and tries to figure out their meaning and interprets unknown kanji from context, with the

aid of a dictionary or by guessing. Guessing is mainly reserved for kanji compound word where

one of the kanji are familiar to him. He mentions no other specific techniques for interpreting a

text and cannot recall having received any explicit instruction on this subject.

Reading process

Crystal reads through the first sentence in its entirety. He identifies mother as the topic of

conversations and then goes on with providing a translation for the first couple of words. He

rereads the second part of the sentence to see how it relates to what he just translated, and

discusses the nature of the grammatical markers in connection to the verb. He explains what

his impression of the verb is in connection to the sentence. He does not translate the sentence

in full, but based on comments as he read it through, he seems to comprehend it.

For the second sentence Crystal reads the first half up until the comma indicating a break

between two clauses, and translates it. He reads the second half and does the same. Once again,

he does not repeat the translation in full.

These two texts do not particularly illustrate what Crystal describes he does while navigating

a text. It is possibly because he is thinking of a typical scenario where the difficulty level of

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the text is much higher, a text featuring more kanji or unknown grammar, than what he came

across during the example. The two grammatical features mentioned in these instances are

mother being topic and the verb ending of 思い込む. Besides these examples he does not seem

reliant on identifying grammatical features for comprehension.

Course level four

4.3.4 Dahl

Early on Dahl had an interest in anime which led him to study Japanese in upper secondary

school as a part time course, where he learned kana and very basic grammar. After graduation

Dahl entered the Japanese programme where he during his studies has gained a greater interest

in the Japanese language.

Concerning studying at university level, much of the instructions have consisted of repetition,

to mimic set phrases, repeat grammatical expressions, and copy kanji over and over. Dahl

expressed that an early obstacle was grammar, which he during the course of his studies has

gradually acquired. In relation to reading he experiences a value in knowing grammar and

being able to find and correctly identify grammatical expressions that indicate how sentences

are interconnected. He explains that it means less effort and focus on navigating text and instead

paying more attention to unknown kanji or key words that are necessary in order to understand

the meaning as a whole.

The second hindrance during his studies has been kanji. In the beginning Dahl found them

very difficult to grasp, especially thrown into the mix with other aspects of Japanese language

treated as equally important by instructors. After a few terms he feels more at ease and the kanji

of early studies are firmly rooted in his memory, posing no obstacle during reading. Exercise

and plenty of exposure seems a likely explanation.

During the first terms of his Japanese studies reading was not a separate unit. Texts from

the general course book were used in connection to teaching grammar points, and Dahl describes

a best case scenario involving reading where students checked comprehension with standardised

questions. More recent terms has seen reading become an independent module, with heavy em-

phasis on translation. Students prepare their own translations and spend class time comparing,

discussing and receiving feedback on their separate translations.

In the context of schooling, Dahl sees translations as a necessity to show comprehension, with

translations as a benchmark for how well the content has been understood. He also states that

it is important to be able to translate idiomatically, with the proper nuancing intact, and that

reading with speed is secondary. He admits that while reading he tends to get stuck on passages

when he is unable to achieved an adequate translation based understanding. He describes his

process when reading as first trying to identify set grammatical expressions before looking for key

words and their meaning. Compound kanji words, unknown kanji in general and long strings of

hiragana which contain unfamiliar grammatical expressions are the most obstructive for smooth

reading and comprehension. He highlights that he feels a need to translate it to Swedish in

order to grasp it properly.

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Outside of class Dahl seldom reads in Japanese. It is used for study purposes or when he

looks up or stumbles across things online which happens to be written i Japanese. When reading

during leisure, he expresses the view that there is little need to prove comprehension; the sense

of achievement in understanding is enough.

Reading process

Dahl reads the first sentence of the first text out loud, slightly hesitating on the proper reading

of a kanji. He continues reading and pauses again on a kanji that he cannot remember the

reading of, providing an explanation of its meaning instead, and translates the first sentence. He

continues reading the second sentence in the same manner, guessing the meaning of compound

words he doesn’t know the reading of or skipping them completely. He provides a tentative

translation. He tries to interpret the meaning of the second sentence in relation to the first, and

takes a guess about the context of the text.

For the second text he pauses frequently during the first sentence to translates portions

of what he reads. The second sentence is read in full with some hesitancy as to reading of

compound words. He deliberates on possible meaning of these kanji and how to interpret them

before discussing translations for various parts of the text including the first sentence.

It seems as if translating is a way for Dahl to work through the text, similarly to what

he himself described. He doesn’t overtly point to any grammatical features that he uses for

orientation and focus is seemingly on words. His perception seems to be that understanding the

words means understanding the sentence as you can derive an interpretation more easily from

them.

4.3.5 Ellis

Early on Ellis developed a keen interest in all things Asian and soon found the Japanese music

scene. Enticed by the auditive qualities of the Japanese language she also became interested in

the country’s culture and applied to the Japanese programme at university.

As she herself describes it, the first term had a focus on just learning the language, with

most class time spent on instruction of grammar, vocabulary and expressions. The units were

often instructed and examined separately. Early on the students received an introduction to

Swedish grammar which served as a point of reference for new Japanese grammatical expressions.

Ellis found the most basic grammar quite easy to master and she learned it mainly through

repetition. However, later grammatical expressions have proven a bit more tricky as cultural

aspects of Japanese society affects everything from verb forms to the stems themselves based on

things such as perceived hierarchy between speakers. Kanji is a manageable recurring challenge

throughout her studies, and unknown kanji compound words or stems can cause some trouble

during reading since they can keep her from fully comprehending.

During the first terms she did not have reading as a separate unit during her Japanese

language instruction. She read texts from the general course book which was mainly used for

lessons on grammar and vocabulary. Later terms saw the introduction of reading as a separate

unit, where the teacher would present new grammatical features or explain words that appeared

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in the text. Ellis explains that the instructions they received on how to navigate a text, especially

longer ones than had thus far been seen in the course literature, one should find the bones of the

text. By identifying grammatical markers indicating things such as topic, subject and object,

one can more easily pinpoint the common thread. She also comments that although the goal

is to read fluently, this type of thinking is helpful for understanding Japanese passages as they

have sentence structure remarkably different from Swedish, often leading to confusion.

The lesson plan for reading has also included translation as a tool for extracting the un-

derlying meaning of texts. Student pre-read chosen texts or passages and prepare translations.

They are then compared and discussed during class, with emphasis on relating the Japanese

grammatical expressions to Swedish equivalents. Personally she feels little need to translate

text in order to achieve comprehension, but sees it as natural that translations serve as proof

of having comprehended in an educational milieu. Ellis states that she’d like to see grammar

merged into the teaching of reading, where texts would be used to exemplify new grammar

points or to highlight vocabulary.

When reading she experiences some difficulty in moving past kanji words if she’s unfamiliar

with their pronunciation. Sometimes making guesses about their meaning results in incorrect

assumptions on their interpretation. She considers furigana a helpful tool which makes reading

smoother by guiding pronunciation and eliminating hang-ups and facilitates looking up words

in a dictionary. A challenge is metaphors and words which carry double meanings depending

on usage.

Initially Ellis read mostly texts from the course books. Early on her interest in Japanese

music led her to artist fans pages, blogs and social media, where digital tools such as Rikaikun29

has been an aid. Firstly she was nervous about taking the step from learning material and

breaking into real Japanese literature, but after a bout in Japan she has started to read native

material. Mainly manga, but also some novels per recommendation.

Reading process

As Ellis is reading the first text out loud she pauses on occasion on unfamiliar kanji words. After

reading through it once she goes back and rereads words and translates them, culminating in a

comment of what she thinks the text as a whole is about. In other words she does not translate

the text in full but rather explains her perception of its general meaning based on identified key

words and translated kanji. She comments that the grammar itself was quite simple and straight

forward and that it was the sheer amount of kanji and unknown words that proved difficult.

For the second text she divides it into two parts. Firstly she reads the sentence in full

and then explains aspects of words and what they mean. She reads the second sentence in a

similar manner with slight pause on words which she recognises but is unable to pronounce. Her

comments indicate that she tries to figure out their meaning in the sentence before moving on

to the next word. After reading it through once she reads phrases and explains their meaning,

or as in the case of unfamiliar words what she thinks they might be regarding. With some

29A web browser extension which provides tools such as dictionary look up of highlighted words, pronunciationexamples and information on kanji.

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probing on one such word she comes close to guessing the meaning of the compound word when

discussing the individual kanji, their connotations and the context of the text in general. She

pauses several times to ponder the expression音楽に乗って ongaku ni notte, understanding the

literal translation as ‘ride the music’but expresses uncertainty to what it might mean.

Ellis does not seem to be reliant on translating something in full in order to comprehend.

It seems as if she can navigate her way by partly understanding and interpreting the rest. She

rereads textual passages after first having identified and thought through trickier words, and

she seems to renegotiate her understanding of the text as she does so.

4.3.6 Fujitani

Fujitani was first introduced to Japanese through the digital medium visual novels, a type of

interactive digital game border lining on book with pictures, sound effects and text. He studied

Japanese on his own using visual novels where he used digital tools to find words and kanji he

did not know, and after a while he started memorising many of them. He has visited Japan on

numerous occasions and studied both at language schools and at university through an exchange.

At the start of the Japanese programme after he entered a Swedish university, he mentions a

lot of focus on grammar and kanji, with reading from the general course book making numerous

appearances during class time. The current lesson plan gives more time to reading, with special

focus on translation. Personally he likes to translate and enjoys discussing possible ways to

interpret nuance and express it idiomatic in his L1, but mentions that its not a shared favorite

among all classmates. He states that objectively speaking its not necessary to spend a lot of

class time on translations and discussing every aspect, and that a lot of time is wasted on finding

suitable phrasings. A possible variation on the current lesson plan would be to read longer texts

and discuss them in depth rather than focusing too much on details. Besides from translating,

Fujitani does not explicitly mention that any other techniques have been introduced during class

for understanding or navigating texts.

Comparing the current lessons in reading to his experiences in Japan, the focus in the latter

case was on reading as an activity and being able to show comprehension by discussing content.

Discussions were held in Japanese which was a great challenge for Fujitani, but he hints that

it may be a good step towards further development. To show comprehension by being able to

explain rephrase rather than regurgitate the same information but in Swedish.

When he first started reading visual novels they served as his first language studies, and

Fujitani frequently used a dictionary to find the meaning of unknown words and expressions.

Currently, he feels quite at ease with most kanji and if he comes across new words he tries to

guess their meaning based on context. He expresses that the difficulties he experiences while

reading or things that hampers comprehension usually has to do with terminologies or words

related to Japanese specific cultural phenomenons. Fujitani reads frequently in Japanese during

leisure, mostly aforementioned visual novels but also regular novels. Before discovering visual

novels he had little interest in reading and seldom read in Swedish or English.

After reading the summarised interview Fujitani wanted to add that although he cannot

recall any particular techniques or tools for interpreting Japanese text, they have discussed

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elements of different types of text. For example newspaper articles tend to omit particles and

copula and older Japanese works use punctuation more frequently than contemporary works.

Reading process

Fujitani reads the first sentence of the text and explains the meaning of each section, reads

the second sentence and translates what is written. For the second text he similarly reads the

sentence in its entirety before explaining aspects of it. This time he quotes wordings to explain

how a feature indicates a degree of informality or how it relates to another concept. He highlights

音楽に乗って ongaku ni notte as a metaphor he’s not sure how to interpret besides from its

literal translation ‘ride the music’. Overall Fujitani confidently reads and explains both texts

and does not seem to have any hesitancy in regards to comprehending their overall meaning.

Although he speaks fondly of translating as an activity, as seen here it seems as if it is

context bound and that there’s not always a need for him to spend time creating an adaption

incorporating all aspects of the text in idiomatic Swedish.

4.3.7 Student voices: Course level two

Looking at the experience of studying at university most describe a focus on learning the lan-

guage itself. Introductions of new concepts and frequently repeating kanji and grammar leaves

little room for actual language production. Vocabulary is treated as a part of general kana and

kanji education, speaking as a way to repeat memorised language expressions and reading as

part of grammar instruction.

Turning the attention to reading as an activity, up until and including course level two

students have limited experience outside of class time. Reading is usually a part of grammar

lessons where texts from the general course book is used. However, there are diverging narratives

describing the role of these texts. Some explain that reading, albeit a small segment as part of

a more encompassing unit, entails preparing and working with the texts. They mention reading

through and translating texts before class and that some portion of class time is dedicated to

discussing these translations and checking one’s own comprehension by comparing translations.

Summaries have also been used as a tool for preparing beforehand for more intricate texts.

By comparison the second narrative does not mention any explicit preparation for reading

during class. Reading is either part of one’s own studies or done during lesson time. When they

read in class, either texts from the course book or as part of exercises, the students’ often need

to translate sentences on the fly in order to discuss their meaning.

There seems to be a lack of clear instructions from the teachers as to techniques or strategies

that can be used, but many have implicitly picked up some tools for aiding comprehension. When

students reflect on how they themselves usually understand a text the common explanation is

that they break it into smaller components to understand better.

”Japanese has a completely different sentence structure. You sort of need to start at

the end to understand the beginning and how its connected.”

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Depending on their strengths this is either done by finding words and kanji they recognise, or

grammatical markers to help them navigate the text and clarify the relation between words.

During the interviews it becomes clear that level two students use tools such as translation,

summarising, rereading, guessing the content by key words and understanding the text with the

help of grammar.

”I usually look for particles that show what the word does. If you see ‘ha’ then you

understand that its the topic and that ‘de’ points to some form of transportation.”

None feel that comprehension equates being able to perfectly render an idiomatic translation,

and most opt for explaining the essence of something that they need to understand when they

do it privately. However they all feel a strong need to preform well with translation when they

need to show comprehension in a school setting. The prevalent perception seems to be that the

university environment, in contrary to students’ beliefs, comprehension equals translation. The

students describes it along the lines of:

”I need to prove comprehension, but for me the sense of achievement when I under-

stand is enough.”

The course book texts are generally seen as positive with their wide range of subjects, length

and their gradual increase in difficulty. There are some questions as to their suitability in

preparing the students for reading Japanese native material. Those who have read other texts

comment that the course book makes them ill prepared for colloquial Japanese or texts with

high frequencies of kanji.

”It gives you a false sense of what it’ll be like to read real texts where there are a lot

more kanji. I’ve also noticed that in manga they tend to drop particles and express

themselves more like in a spoken conversation than the type of conversation texts

we’ve read so far.”

Furthermore, most experience trouble with finding suitable reading material besides the course

book.

”I don’t know where to start! I’ve tried reading childrens’ books, but the grammar is

too easy. When I’ve tried reading manga and I sort of get the grammar, there are

just too many words and kanji I don’t know. It’s frustrating because it takes a lot of

time to look them all up and I lose the urge to continue trying.”

Students use their Japanese skills to read in a range of situations such as communicating with

friends, following blogs or reading news in simple Japanese, but have difficulty in finding liter-

ature such as novels and books. The leap from simplified course book text to native material

seems to cause irritation and a sense of resignation when the grammar is clear but the vocabulary

is lacking or kanji prove too difficult for smooth reading. For those who wish to read more as a

way to build their vocabulary and practice Japanese it is a great source of frustration. When

talking about reading in general they describe a great feeling to be able to read and understand

texts; especially when comparing to what level they were at previously.

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4.3.8 Student voices: Course level four

As the students move through the Japanese programme and make their way to the fourth

level course reading becomes its own unit with lessons dedicated enirerly to texts. As students

explain how they go about reading and understanding the meaning of said texts, the same type

of techniques as course level two reemerge. As they are working more actively with text explicit

instruction on how to navigate them are introduced. Commonly ”follow the grammar and find

the particles” is a mantra for quickly discerning the general topic, subject and relation between

clauses. Students also seem to reread information to a greater extent. Often they read through

the text once to get a sense of the content and then reread it more closely. They also reread

parts of the text when necessary to reinterpret what they’ve already read through after new

information or ways to interpret what they’ve read emerges.

Again, kanji and grammar seem to pose the most problems. As they are more confident

with the basics they can read with greater fluidity but still struggle with course level specific,

or higher, content.

”I used to have to look up almost every kanji i came across, and I had problems in

the beginning to learn them all. Now I feel that I can read without having to pause

as often. When there’s a new word I usually guess the meaning before searching for

it on my phone.”

But they seem to have greater confidence in being able to read a text and comprehend its main

points without grasping every single detail. The attitude seems to be that for oneself it is enough

to know the core substance of the text and understand some finer points of its grammar rather

than translating it perfectly.

The students all mention that reading in class entails translating, and that considerable time

is spent on looking at possible interpretations and ways to transform sentences into comprehen-

sible and idiomatic Swedish without losing the nuance.

”We usually spend a lot of time discussing the details of each possible translation:

Nuance, tonality, ways to express it idiomatically.”

It seems as if they during class never go beyond discussing translations and moving on to looking

at the texts themselves. The translations differ in a way from level two students since the

material is more complex and are therefore more demanding and often not as straight forward

in their wording or choice of tonality.

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Discussion

Literacy in itself is complex, and especially if researching the added dynamics of Japanese

language, second language learners, and development. There are many possible angles from

which to study the phenomenon, and previous research has shown some possible routes such as

looking at lower-level processing (Kuwabara, 2009, 2010; Mori, 2014) or how learners can be

guided and pedagogical activities implemented (Kumada and Suzuki, 2015; Mikami and Harada,

2011). This study deals with perceptions and experiences of Japanese language students and

their subjective realities. The discussion below of possible explanations for answers to the

research questions and other points of interest thereby does not necessarily reflect objective

truths.

Perceptions of overall teaching methods

To answer the research question What are students’ perceptions of overall teaching methods of

Japanese language? we first need to ponder the syllabi and possible interpretations of expe-

riences during class. The interviews seem to contradict parts of the analysis of the document

review which indicated that two of the programmes make use of a synthetic approach to language

teaching while one is analytic in nature. All respondents described the language programmes as

presenting information in separate course units, for example instruction on the writing system

is held separate from grammar instruction for both course levels two and four. Although not

explicitly mentioned by the students, it is probable that they are also tested on the units as

separate subjects. In summary these actions indicate that the programmes center around atom-

istic presentation of language aspects. As described by Kumaravadivelu (2006) and Robinson

(2009) this entails teaching methods in which aspects of the language are broken into smaller

components and taught separately. The idea being that knowledge builds upon itself, needing

a progression where one component is studied at a time before something new is introduced.

This set-up is often associated with the synthetic syllabus.

Based on the interviews and data gathered during the surveying of students I focused on

questions regarding reading lessons. The resulting descriptions show that reading is either

instructed as a separate course unit or as part of another subject depending on course level.

Furthermore, there are several course units running parallel covering different subjects and

areas of language study, for example kanji/kana being taught separately from grammar. There

were some incidental comments during the interviews indicating that teachers, who conduct

instruction mainly within one of these separate subject units, use different methods. Since no

specific explanation of all subject course units was provided, or asked for, it is unclear in what

way methods differ between classes and if it has to do with teaching approach or the subject

itself. Widely reported are perceptions of grammar class for course level two students and

reading sessions for course level four students.

Level two students explained that reading is part of the course unit covering grammar.

There are seemingly two patterns for how classwork involving reading is structured, as seen

in the narration in section 4.3.7. It may be said that for the first pattern students feel that

64

grammar entails instruction of grammatical patterns only, with reading making an occasional

appearance during class to illustrate points in the exercises. Descriptions further suggest that

students don’t work with the text during class other than explaining or quickly translating what

is stated. The second supposed pattern comes from narrations of engaging actively with texts

in preparation for class. Grammar is the main focus of instruction, but reading has a presence

where translations are discussed as part of making sense of the text. The classes featuring more

group work and interaction between students seem to have positive response, seen for example

in the questionnaire responses. The replies indicate that this has to do with an increase in

opportunity to reflect on language use. Presenting information from the course book is an

inevitable part of instruction, but it is more preferably experienced when it’s not just repeated

content. Some comments stated that this information needs to be explained in a slightly different

manner to provide more opportunity for the student to understand the information; be it from

an instructor or input from another student.

Level four students assert that reading is a separate course unit. Based on their descriptions

class work consists almost entirely of working with the texts. Most scenarios seem to involve

translation as a key element. It is clear that students are expected to prepare before class, and

in the case of perceived translation heavy instruction, bring their own translation of the chosen

reading to work with during class. As the interviewed informants spoke of their experiences

during these sessions, I did not perceive any allusion to class work involving the content of

the reading. Conceivably, students talk about what they have read, at least in relation to

understanding how things should be interpreted and translated, but from the interviews I caught

no information indicating that there is thorough discussion going on besides best-practice of

translation. Students’ descriptions imply that everyone gets so wrapped up into the specifics

of translating nuance into idiomatic L1 that there is sometimes little time to finish the entire

text. Reading instruction appears to involve little talk of areas one might expect from a setting

aimed at developing literacy, namely narration, genre, tonality, underlying meaning and so on.

However, students’ explanations do indicate that some attention is paid to certain aspects of

reading. For example Fujitani mentioned as comment to his summarised interview that the

teacher has spoken about some differences in text, like newspaper articles omitting particles.

These descriptions suggest that language functions are taught in a linear sequence. Provid-

ing translations is arguably a form of language output, albeit not in the target language itself.

In this scenario comprehension is not an internal process as the production of a translation

puts pressure on producing a comprehension which can be checked by seeing how expressions

of the target language have been interpreted. This is the antithesis of learning-centered ap-

proaches to teaching (see section 2.2.1 and Kumaravadivelu, 2006), suggesting either learner

och language-centered approaches. Learner-center approaches focus on connecting language

functions to situational context, in turn shaping exercises to explore communicative features

such as requests (Whong, 2012:125). Language-centered methods usually involve presenting

grammar in a linear sequence, which is to be practices by the learner before it can be produced

(Kumaravadivelu, 2006).

All things considered, how students describe a scenario of atomistic stuyding, the way lessons

65

seem to have been conducted and programme structure, the students’ perception seems to be

that teaching methods are overwhelmingly language-centered.

Approaches, perceptions and experiences of reading in Japanese

Regarding students’ approaches to reading in Japanese, their experiences can be divided into two

topics of discussion (1) learning how to read, and (2) the activity of reading and the processes

of making sense of text.

Within the scope of this study the questionnaire provided the first set of self descriptions

on how students learn how to read. Based on comments four themes of how students practice

reading were identified. It seems as if the students generally approach the subject by practicing

aspects of reading. The comments indicate that while students read they check unfamiliar

words, and before they read they repeat and try to memorise kanji, grammar and vocabulary

that might be featured in a text. Some mentioned engaging directly with texts by rereading the

course book material or other types of literature they can get a hold of. It also seems as if some

regard reading ability as connected to overall language comprehension and proficiency as they

mentioned general language learning in preparation for reading. It can also indicate that some

do not have a method for practicing reading specifically and make due with general practice.

Except for general language practice, the same themes can be seen among level four students.

They have seemingly similar activities for continued development of reading skills. This could

indicate that mature readers share many similarities with novice ones in regards to what needs

to be practiced in order to comprehend. This model of explanation could mean that as texts

grow more advanced, students perceive them as becoming progressively linguistically demanding

resulting in a need for continuous language studies of the same basic areas as previously. This

possible explanation does not however include perceptions on what could be needed of higher

cognitive functions in order to comprehend texts, for example that one would have to become

more familiar with styles of narration or stylistic expressions.

Reading in itself is also seen as exercise for developing reading skills, where the prevalent

perception among students is that you start with simple text and move on to more difficult as

you learn. However, it appears as if the students have difficulties with breaking into Japanese

literature. Particularly during interviews, but also shown in the frequency reports of the ques-

tionnaire, there were mentions of having difficulty with finding material in general and material

suitable for reading level in particular. This is seen across both groups, with level two students in

the questionnaire expressing more concern with finding level-appropriate texts. From comments

in sections 4.3.7 and 4.3.8 (student voices) one can gather than this entails a feeling of finding

text either too challenging with lots of unknown vocabulary slowing reading down as the reader

has to pause frequently look words up in the dictionary, or being too easy with vocabulary at

a manageable level but texts aimed at children. As the survey indicated that few are familiar

with graded readers, they could be a possible point of entry for starting to read for these stu-

dents. As studies by Mikami and Harada (2011), Kawakami (2014) and Tabata-Sandom (2013)

illustrate, graded readers can be of help to ensure that students start reading, keep reading, all

the meanwhile continuously working their way towards more challenging texts.

66

Concerning the activity of reading, namely the processing, we see indications of strategies

used for comprehension. When it comes to lower-level processing student’s seem to be aware

of metacognitive ways to think about text structure to more easily manage reading material.

Narrations differ slightly about the introduction of this type of strategy. There are indications

that some students naturally grasp the fabric of linguistic functions in line with syntactic parsing

as described by Grabe (2009). In the interviews we see the example of Bakhtin who uses this

knowledge to navigate text after instruction from a teacher about general grammatical patterns.

As seen in Ellis’ narration she speaks of explicit instruction on how to deconstruct sentences

and find grammatical expressions and particles. Looking further at other strategies that can

be used while reading to better comprehend content, level two students mention translating

and finding the meaning of unknown words. Based on interviews we have indications that

translations are in part treated as ways of understanding a text, the sentiment perceivably

being that you understand something by translating it. The interviewed subject identified as

Abe also mentioned that level two students have been asked to write summaries as part of

working with text. Course level four students employ similar strategies for reading texts, and

further makes use of rereading poorly understood passages, also identified in literature as a

comprehension strategy (Blachowicz and Ogle, 2008; Pearsson and Gallagher, 1983).

Kanji in particular was a topic repeated on several occasions during all interviews. It was

mentioned in the terms of being challenging, and most expressed a feeling of being hindered

while reading by not remembering meaning or phonology. The same difficulty is also identified

though the questionnaire, where level two and four students alike imply problems with reading

flow. In a way, students are constantly introduced to new kanji in their Japanese studies,30

but the question is if repetition exercises and memorising is enough to properly prepare them

for reading. Even if they possess the lexical and semantic knowledge, this expressed difficulty

with reading flow and remembering phonology/meaning could indicate a need for students to

practice automating their lower-level processing skills further. As suggested by Kirchoff (2013),

Fukumoto (2004) and Kumada and Suzuki (2015) reading fluency could be practiced through

an extensive reading programme, where materials such as graded readers or children’s books

could be used (Hitosugi and Day, 2004; Kawakami, 2014).

This section has attempted to provide possible explanations to the research questions What

are students’ approaches to reading in Japanese? and What are students’ perceptions of the ex-

perience and process of reading in Japanese?. As we’ve seen indications of, approaches include

learning how to read by practicing reading skills, and the process of comprehending through cog-

nitive processing. Some experiences of reading are explained in relation to reading approaches,

and there is seemingly a general sense of perceiving reading as something that needs to be

developed over time.

30See the syllabi documents in section 4.1 where most course levels have a specified amount of kanji thatstudents study during each term.

67

The relationship between student literacy and expected course level proficiency

Due to low completion rates, the reading comprehension part of the questionnaire is a poor

measurement of whether the students in fact are proficient or not at reading. As mentioned

in section 4.2 there is no conclusive evidence of why so few completed all of the reading tasks.

As suggested, one possible explanation is that the respondents read slowly. It could be in

direct reference to expressed views of difficulties with remembering reading and meaning of

kanji, possibly indicating issues with the automaticity of lower-level processing and decoding of

words.31 Quite naturally so for someone with a limited vocabulary, level two students frequently

need to check unfamiliar words and kanji. As suggested by Grabe (2009:22) in explaining the gist

of word recognition, lower-level processing becomes increasingly automatic by being practiced.

The studies on extensive reading mentioned in the literature review of a JFL-setting also indicate

that continuous repetition through reading is beneficial for rapidly decoding kanji and making

students feel more at ease with reading them (Kawakami, 2014; Kumada and Suzuki, 2015). It is

quite possible that the underlying explanation for low completion rates is insufficient practice. Its

imaginable that the students would have difficulty in readily accessing the linguistic information

they possess, and that it would take an unnecessarily long time before all pieces fall into place

and comprehension can occur.

The document review and comments from the survey and interviews indicate that there is

great focus on translation. Students explain that they feel a need to translate in connection

to classes in order to prove comprehension. The perception seems to be that teachers and

curriculum alike establish that translation is comprehension. A second possible explanation

may therefore be an over-reliance on translation. It is possible that since students perceive that

comprehension equates translating they have come to use translation for comprehending as their

main method when reading. Thereby, if the students face trickier expressions or words they have

difficulty with translating into Swedish it might hamper their overall comprehension as they get

stuck on phrasings. Again, this is highly speculative and besides from one respondent describing

this problem when he himself reads, no other comments have alluded to this specific scenario

as explanation for being pressed for time. During interviews Crystal from course level two did

mention a personal belief that translation hinders overall language development as a learner

will try to express what is to be understood in their L1 before comprehending. Unfortunately,

none of the interviewed respondents belonged to the group of students who did not complete

the reading comprehension, and the interviewed respondents explained that they themselves feel

little need for translating in order to understand the meaning of texts. That being said, there

is no concrete support that enables one to say for certain that translation as classroom method

has affected the outcome considerably.

In answering the question What is the relationship between student literacy and expected

course level proficiency, most regrettably, there are no clear answers. Generally speaking, most

students seem to have struggled with completing comprehension tasks set at their expected level

of proficiency. The issue however is that it’s not clear if this is due to methodological problems,

a lack of Japanese language proficiency, problems with processing, or literacy. This question

31See section 2.1.3 for explanation of these terms.

68

will mostly likely only be properly explained through research investigating the specifics of these

subjects in relation to each other.

5.1 Limitations

The purpose of the study was to better understand the personal experiences of long-term literacy

development of students of Japanese as a foreign language. By going the route of understand-

ing participants’ perceptions and experiences of their own education we now have more salient

data and personal narrations of this process. However, the themes previously discussed which

have been an interpreted outcome of the study are not generalisable enough to answer for all

JFL-students alike. It is probable that the same themes would not emerge were another group,

adhering to a different syllbus construction or teaching method, surveyed. Furthermore although

the reading comprehension test was an attempt to gain more insight about the relationship be-

tween student literacy and expected course level proficiency, little conclusive information has

been gleaned. It is also important to keep in mind that only students’ perceptions and expe-

riences have been part of the study. It is quite possible that instructors view the process in

another way, they themselves experiencing this from a completely different perspective. Fur-

thermore, even though possible patterns of cause-and-effect are discussed and the interpretation

is inferred from factual statements, the research has not in fact first-hand observed them.

5.2 Implications

Keeping the scope and limitations of the study mind, there are two types of implications. First

are some general assumptions regarding the process of Japanese learners’ developing literacy.

Second are implications for the development of the reading units that are part of the formal

instruction aimed at developing students’ literacy in Japanese.

Looking at developing literacy it seems as if kanji continuously pose difficulty for the reader.

As there are many of them to learn and they are taught parallel to other course units and in pace

with expanding vocabulary and general language command, they are not mastered completely

before someone starts to read. The orthography also means that one cannot crack the decoding

of the entire language first. As seen in the previous discussion, practicing fluency by repeatedly

seeing the kanji in text can commit them to memory and facilitate faster access of meaning and

reading.

Programme specific implications are of pedagogical nature. The most central being a need

for evaluating the role of translation in assessing literacy. The current focus of translation

is mostly seen as positive by students, but there is the looming question of how this method

prepares them for reading in situations where other criteria are valued. For example, reading

with speed or discussing implications of a novel’s underlying message. The course requirement

of translating arguably influences how students interact with text, and they themselves do not

see it as necessary for comprehension. This evaluation should look into other possible aspects

that need to be covered during instruction, either parallel to or instead of translating. There is

also a need for practicing reading to a greater extent among the lower level students. They could

69

be introduced to suitably leveled text, either native material in the likes of children’s books or

graded readers. Starting with suitable levels they would have a natural progression from simple

to more challenging material. It could be either supplementary work, part of actual course

work or suggested further reading. This could aid them in developing fluency while reading and

improving overall language proficiency through input.

5.3 Future research

Suggestion for future research is to develop on the topic of what the relationship is between

student literacy and expected course level proficiency. As identified, there is a need to look

at this complex question from different angles. Trying to establish what constitutes language

proficiency, how it is assessed, if it differs depending on institution (like the JLPT or differ-

ent university departments). It would possibly also involve the question of how literacy and

comprehension are assessed by the same criteria.

In general, we still need more information on the literacy development of L2-learners of

Japanese. What exactly is needed for deeper understanding and literacy in terms of explicit

instruction about texts and reading?

70

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Syllabi Lund University

JAPC01, Japanese: Beginners Course, 30 credits, Established June 30, 2011

JAPC02, Japanese: Level 1, 30 credits, Established December 17, 2010

JAPC03, Japanese: Level 2, 30 credits, Established June 30, 2011

JAPK11, Japanese B.A. Course, 30 credits, Established January 12, 2011

Syllabi University of Gothenburg

JP1101, Japanese, Introductory Course 1, 15 credits, Revised November 19, 2014

JP1102, Japanese, Introductory Course 2, 15 credits, Revised January 17, 2014

JP1200, Japanese, Intermediate Course I, 30 credits, Revised September 7, 2015

JP1300, Japanese, Intermediate Course 2, 30 credits, Revised February 12, 2015

JP1400, Japanese, Intermediate Course 3, 30 credits, Revised November 18, 2014

JP1510, Japanese, In-depth Course I, 15 credits, Revised August 12, 2015

JP1520, Japanese, BA Degree Project, 15 credits, Revised March 9, 2012

Syllabi Stockholm University

JKA111, Japanese I, 30 credits, Revised February 25, 2015

JKA222, Japanese II, 22.5 credits, Established May 14, 2014

JKA331, Japanese III, 22.5 credits, Established March 21, 2012

JKA442, Japanese IV, 22.5 credits, Established November 14, 2012

JKA552, Japanese V, 22.5 credits, Revised February 25, 2015

JKA661, Japanese, Bachelor’s Course, 30 credits, Established December 21, 2011

76

Appendix i: Questionnaire Results in Figures and Tables

This appendix holds all the figures and tables relevant to the questionnaire results as presented

in section 4.2.

Table 8: Course Level Two - Reading During Leisure

FrequencyYes No

Lund 18 6Gothenburg 13 1Stockholm 40 17

Total 71 24

Figure 2: Course Level Two - Frequency of Reading

77

Figure 3: Course Level Two - Reasons for Reading

Figure 4: Course Level Two - Reading Material

78

Figure 5: Course Level Two - Reasons for not Reading

79

Table 9: Course Level Two - Statements Regarding Study Habits

Lund Gothenburg Stockholm All

Statement 4 3 2 1 n/a 4 3 2 1 n/a 4 3 2 1 n/a Mean

When I read a text I often look up the meaning ofwords/kanji/grammar I don’t understand

17 7 0 0 0 6 8 0 0 0 36 20 1 0 0 3,6

I often look for explanations of word/kanji/grammar outside ofcourse material

11 10 3 0 0 6 6 1 1 0 26 20 10 1 0 3,2

When I am learning something new (words/kanji/grammar) I tryto connect it to previous knowledge

8 12 1 1 2 7 6 0 0 1 24 24 6 0 3 3,1

When I read in Japanese I focus on understanding the meaningof each sentence

6 17 1 0 0 6 3 4 1 0 26 21 7 1 2 3,1

I have a hard time understanding how course content relates be-tween course units

0 1 5 13 5 0 1 2 11 0 0 1 15 34 7 1,1

When I read in Japanese I focus on understanding the generalmeaning of the text as a whole

6 15 2 0 1 7 7 0 0 0 25 16 3 2 1 3,1

I tend to study very little besides what is required to pass thecourse

1 6 10 7 0 1 0 8 5 0 7 14 17 18 1 2,0

Before I do an exercise or task I try to understand its purpose andwhat you are supposed to learn

4 9 7 3 1 4 7 1 1 1 13 19 21 3 1 2,6

When I come across unfamiliar words/kanji/grammar I usually toguess their meaning based on how they are used in the text

9 8 6 1 0 4 3 7 0 0 12 27 10 7 1 2,8

I focus on learning the information presented during class 9 13 2 0 0 9 3 1 0 1 22 31 2 0 2 3,2

I spend a lot of time memorizing and repeating what I need tolearn

9 8 3 3 1 5 5 3 1 0 13 26 12 6 0 2,8

Frequency of agreements in accordance with a Likert scale: 4 = agree, 3 = agree somewhat, 2 = disagree somewhat, 1 = disagree, n/a = do notknow. Missing values (where respondents did not provide an answer) have been omitted

80

Table 10: Course Level Two - Sentence Completion

Sentence Completion Identified theme

To learn how to read in

Japanese I usually

look up the meaning of kanji or words I don’t know or understand. Strategy while reading: Checking

practice a lot by repeating kanji and vocabulary. I also practice grammar withexercises from the course book.

Strategy before reading: Repeat/memorise

read texts in the course book. I try to read as much as I can like manga,children’s books, social media or news. I try to start with more simple textsand work my way from there.

Strategy by reading: Learn by doing

I watch anime or movies without subtitles, play games or talk in Japanese withfriends. I also write short texts.

General learning

When I read in Japanese I find

it difficult to

read text with longer sentences because of the difference in sentence structure.New and unfamiliar grammar makes it even more difficult since I can’t alwaysdetermine where one word ends and another begins.

Grammar

remember how to read kanji and what their meaning is. I feel like I lack enoughvocabulary to understand and be able to translate each word and kanji.

Vocabulary

When we have lessons about

Japanese reading I think that

it’s a good opportunity to practice and learn from the other students. You candig deeper into the text and check how well you translated/understood. Seeingit in text makes me understand grammar more easily.

Learning benefits

it’s very difficult since I’m slow at reading, especially when there are manykanji and we are expected to just know the meaning. Sometimes the texts arejust too difficult.

Difficulties

we should have more material to read of varying kind. Also, I’d like morediscussion of the nuances and idiomatic meaning.

Could we have some more?

Sentences in the sentence completion of the questionnaire accompanies by an example completion sentence and its identified theme. The examplecompletion sentences are based on respondent statements.

81

Table 11: Course Level Two - Completion Rate of Comprehension Test

Frequency Percent %Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete

Lund 4 20 16 84Gothenburg 3 11 21 79Stockholm 38 19 67 33

Total 45 50 47 53

Figure 6: Course Level Two - Reading Comprehension

Correct Lund Gothenburg Stockholm All

1 0 0 3 32 1 0 9 103 0 0 5 54 0 0 6 65 2 1 7 106 1 2 8 11

82

Table 12: Course Level Four - Reading During Leisure Time

FrequencyYes No

Total 29 5

Figure 7: Course Level Four - Frequency of Reading

Figure 8: Course Level Four - Reasons for Reading

83

Figure 9: Course Level Four - Reading Material

Figure 10: Course Level Four - Reasons for not Reading

84

Table 13: Course Level Four - Statements Regarding Study Habits

Course Level Four

Statement 4 3 2 1 n/a Mean

When I read a text I often look up the meaning of words/kanji/grammar Idon’t understand

24 8 2 0 0 3,6

I often look for explanations of word/kanji/grammar outside of course material 21 6 5 1 1 3,3

When I am learning something new (words/kanji/grammar) I try to connect itto previous knowledge

8 12 9 1 4 2,5

When I read in Japanese I focus on understanding the meaning of each sentence 8 18 7 1 0 2,9

I have a hard time understanding how course content relates between courseunits

0 4 8 19 3 1,3

When I read in Japanese I focus on understanding the general meaning of thetext as a whole

14 15 4 0 1 3,2

I tend to study very little besides what is required to pass the course 3 8 11 10 2 2,0

Before I do an exercise or task I try to understand its purpose and what youare supposed to learn

5 7 9 9 3 2,0

When I come across unfamiliar words/kanji/grammar I usually to guess theirmeaning based on how they are used in the text

5 22 1 5 1 2,7

I focus on learning the information presented during class 11 15 6 1 1 3,0

I spend a lot of time memorizing and repeating what I need to learn 14 9 9 1 1 3,0

Frequency of agreements in accordance with a Likert scale: 4 = agree, 3 = agree somewhat, 2 = disagree somewhat, 1 = disagree, n/a = do notknow. Missing values (where respondents did not provide an answer) have been omitted

85

Table 14: Course Level Four - Sentence Completion

Sentence Completion Identified theme

To learn how to read in

Japanese I usually

read different types of text like manga, news articles online or when chattingwith friends on social media.

Reading as an activity

reread what I’m reading until I get a sense of the meaning. I also check wordsI don’t know and reread to understand better.

Strategy while reading: Check and reread

focus on building my vocabulay to minimise the need to stop and consult adictionary while reading. I study material from class and new words I comeacross while reading.

Strategy before reading: Repeat/memorise

When I read in Japanese I find

it difficult to

read quickly without having to stop and look up grammar or kanji to under-stand. It’s difficult to immediately get the meaning of the text as a whole, andon occasion understand how sentences relate to each other. Sometimes thereare a lot of kanji, words or grammar I don’t understand.

Reading flow

When we have lessons about

Japanese reading I think that

it’s fun and rewarding. I like seeing others’ translations and discussing themin groups, it makes aspects of the text that I missed clearer. The lessons helpyou understand how you should think while reading in Japanese.

Learning benefits

kanji and grammar can be a bit of a problem. If the text is too difficultcompared to what we actually know it’s very confusing to look things up onyour own and sometimes there’s not enough time during class for the teacherto explain it better.

Difficulties

you really need to prepare. Read the material and translate it in peace andquiet on your own before the lesson.

Need for preparation

Sentences in the sentence completion of the questionnaire accompanies by an example completion sentence and its identified theme. The examplecompletion sentences are based on respondent statements.

86

Table 15: Course Level Four - Completion Rate of Comprehension Test

Frequency Percent %Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete

Total 17 17 50 50

Figure 11: Course Level Four - Reading Comprehension

Correct All

1 52 73 14 15 26 1

87

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