Problem Identification through Teaching Reflection

Teaching Issues

As I mentioned a few times (as stated in my previous entries), I am teaching the Japanese language at MTSU. One of the largest problems all Japanese instructors at MTSU face is the struggle to find the time to cover what we are supposed to cover, and what we want to complete at this level in a single semester. We only have 3 (MWF)/ 2 (TR) days a week while other big universities, such as Ohio State University (very famous for its Japanese program), have 4 / 5 days a week. The short credit hours cause us to progress slowly (some students have complained about that before) and to give up some materials that we would like to cover. As for the result of that, in my Japanese 1010 class, I found out that there are a lot of students who have not fully memorized the Hiragana yet, causing them to have difficulties to reading a textbook and my writing on a whiteboard. It is very understandable that my students cannot fully memorize the characters given in such a short period of time due to the large alphabet in the Japanese language, compared to that of English. Two semesters ago we took a month for the Hiragana and Katakana lesson, but it caused us to not have enough time to complete lesson 3, which is the last lesson containing the most difficult grammar points for Japanese 1010. This semester, we decided to have the Hiragana lesson for a week and progress to chapter 1 afterward so that we would be able to take enough time on lesson 3. What I found in my class was that the students were struggling to recognize Hiragana. It was very shocking to me, so I decided to take some time to practicing the Hiragana in class, but they were still having difficulty. Teaching the Japanese alphabet is very difficult because it is a very boring process for students to memorize. Is it better for them to be put into groups? Do they need assignments for the Hiragana? Or ultimately, do we need the time and allow them to memorize the Hiragana?

Second Language Acquisition

The sounds, accents and intonations of Japanese are very different from those of English. In order to produce the sounds, they need enough inputs. I always try to speak in Japanese as much as I can because I am the only Japanese native speaker in my class. At the same time, I try not to forget that they also need outputs. When they are introduced to new expressions, I repeat them a lot and asked them to listen first. After enough inputs, they are all ready to use the new expressions. Since I have about 30 students in my class, however, it is impossible for me to provide equal opportunities to talk with me and correct them. They are required to be aggressive while using the Japanese language during class activities. I often make a work sheet for students to interact each other. There are some tasks that allow the students to be placed in groups where peers review each persons work in turn. While I correct their intonation or/and accents, I ask all members of the group to repeat with me, so that the students who were corrected by me do not feel embarrassed. Of course, praises are followed to make them feel achieved.

Ethnographic Perspective

Teachers are required to meet the needs of their students in order to develop their language skill meaningfully. As for Japanese teachers, first of all, I need to know why they want to learn Japanese. Language and culture in Japan are interrelated. I can teach people how to ask directions, count money, and order food, for those who want to go to Japan as a tourist. If they want to learn Japanese for business, they need to know how to speak politely in Japanese. When we introduce ourselves, we do not shake hands, but bow towards each other. I have students from outside of the America, including two students from Taiwan, one from Puerto Rico, and a few Korean Americans, so I always encourage them to tell us how they react if certain situations are handled differently from the Japanese way. Their cultural heritage should not be ignored because it could be helpful to understand the language that they are studying, as well.