User:Cruxay/JP1000

Elementary Modern Standard Japanese JP1000

This Curriculum Critique Project was completed for the CTL3003H: Planning & Organization in the Second Language Curriculum Class of the OISE M.Ed Program in Second Language Education. The professor to whom this assignment is intended for is Dr. Enrica Piccardo and has been submitted by Andrew S. The curriculum to be reviewed is 'AP/JP1000 6.0 Elementary Modern Standard Japanese' created by Professor Norio Ota. It was my first time working with this medium, and I found it rather challenging. Please enjoy this wiki page format review.

Summary

 * Creator: Professor Norio Ota
 * Use & Context: Comprehensive beginners Japanese class conducted at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Providing those with minimal/no knowledge of Japanese basic components of the language, culture and society.
 * Prerequisites: None. No prior knowledge of Japanese required.
 * Main objective: “to learn Japanese in the context of cross-cultural communication”
 * The target audience is typically 1st or 2nd year university students around 18 to 20 years of age. A majority of these students will be taking the course as an extra curricular. Whereas a small percentage will be taking it as a degree credit requirement.
 * Description: “Basics of spoken Japanese, with strong emphasis on immediate practical usefulness in everyday situations, and on the relationship between facets of language and those of social phenomena. Writing is introduced after some competence in spoken Japanese is acquired: the two Kana syllabaries, approximately 120 Kanji 'Sino-Japanese characters' and elementary reading are introduced. Video files are available on the web for listening comprehension and for orientation to the culture, society, and people. Computer programs are used as tools to enhance students' further acquisition of the language. The course is structured to be self-contained at this level. Partially, it is also designed for general educational purposes. Therefore, the course accommodates as well students who may not continue to study Japanese at higher levels in the future.”
 * Format: Course length is over two terms (a full year course)
 * 10 lectures per term (1 hour each 1x weekly)
 * 20 tutorials per term (1.5 hours each 2x weekly)

Evaluation break down:
 * Tests = 50%
 * Oral assignments (presentations) = 25%
 * Quizzes = 15%
 * Class attendance and participation = 10%

Required Texts:
 * Everything available online
 * Computer programs also available
 * [PC] Power Japanese, Learn Japanese Now, Kanji Moments 1 & 2, Kanji Guess, Japanese Verbs, Kanji: JP1000 Office 2000; [MAC] Learn to Speak Japanese.

Purpose, agenda and ideology
The purpose of the course is clearly displayed in the course outline. Prerequisites are listed and desired study habits are outlined. As well, the consideration that there will be students who do not pursue continued studies (ie. 2nd year Japanese) is also accounted for in the designing of this curriculum. The overarching ideology is focused on 'cross-cultural communication', meaning that there is an understanding that students are not expected to perform at a level comparable to that of a native speaker. The curriculum avoids focusing on a native-like goal and focuses on the L2 learner as becoming a multi-competent language user. For a foreign language as distinctive and unique as Japanese, it is natural for students to become overwhelmed with the degree of difficulty such a language poses. An extra emphasis on cross-cultural competence is an eloquent addition to the course’s ideology.

The pace and nature of the course is described as semi-intensive, moving at a fast pace. The course is broken down into one 1-hour lecture a week, and two 1.5-hour tutorials covering the grammatical components of the lecture as well as extra focus on communicative competence. The amount to be covered from week to week is rather intensive and there isn’t too much focus on any part of the language at one point or another. In one week, a lesson on Japanese language from a linguistic perspective is covered, as well as several grammar points, a vocabulary list growing in length each week, communication exercises, and reading/writing exercises. For only 4 hours a week, this is quite a lot of material to cover. The semi-intensive nature moving at a fast pace is a fitting description for this curriculum.

Goals, objectives, content and sequencing
The goal of JP1000 is to have the student able to use Japanese in a variety of daily conversational settings, while being able to read and write basic Japanese. Although the curriculum claims to focus largely on building students communicative competence so that they are able to function at a conversational level by the completion of the course, the marking scheme does not reflect this very well. 65% of the grading scheme of the curriculum is based on written work, where only 35% is based on communication and participation. Students cannot be expected to master all other aspects of the Japanese language before using it in conversation, which is what this kind of marking scheme implies. If communication is truly the objective of the course, much more emphasis should be placed on it in the grading scale. As the students being the primary stakeholders at this level of education (as it is an elective for a large amount of the students), it should be assumed that more emphasis would be on the wants of the students for each year. However, the curriculum seems largely premeditated without much flexibility for change. It appears that the curriculum design is based solely on necessity rather than assessing the lacks or wants of new students.

The content and sequencing of the course follows a traditionally linear pattern. Although previously instructed content is revisited and built upon in the following weeks communicative segments (such as premeditated dialogues to be carried out in tutorials), the pace at which new material is introduced is too fast, not leaving enough time for the learners to fully grasp the content of the prior week. By the time the following week has come, students are already expected to have reviewed a new list of vocabulary, which grows in number as the weeks proceed. Also, rather than starting with high frequency words, the course begins with more survival oriented vocabularies which are expected to be mastered, despite the lack of these words presence in the reading material and lectures. Certainly, this style of content and sequencing would cause dire problems to those missing class due to unavoidable reasons, as well as students with different learning styles. To combat this flaw in the curriculum’s design, students are advised to not miss any classes and come well prepared for each lesson. “Students who have missed class three consecutive times without any reasonable explanation to the instructor, and those whose absence is frequent may receive a warning, and if attendance does not improve immediately, further action may be taken by the course director”. Certainly, missing several classes in a linear design would create severe problems, not only for the student, but for the instructor and other students as well. In a class with a focus on communicative competence such as this, the student would be left far behind the other students, and the instructor would have to sacrifice keeping on task with the current students to try and fill the gap with the student who has missed class.

Lessons, materials & resources
JP1000 is meant to be a completely interactive course, and as such all the materials are made accessible online. There are several highly beneficial points to designing the curriculum to be online. For starters, if need be, content and materials are easily modifiable by administrators. Lectures are recorded and put up on the website for students to access in the event they miss class or wish to review certain points. As well, the course materials are available anywhere as long as there is internet access, meaning less excuses from students claiming they missed the material or were unable to find certain resources. In addition to all the course material, there are also resource links on culture and society in Japan to further educate students week by week. No other materials and resources beyond what is available on the website are noted in the syllabus.

Ability to Promote Learner Autonomy & Motivation
Being such a demanding course with high expectations of its students even at an introductory level, clear guidelines are set in the course outline as to motivation and learner autonomy. The guidelines begin by stating that the ways in which any two learners approach language learner in never the same, and there is no one way to study a language. This acknowledges students rationalities in that they are “not ‘simply’ language learners, but individuals, each of whom have their own psychocognitive make up, personal history, life goals, etc”. It also explicitly states that all learners have their own learning style and learning strategies, and encourages students to find ways in which they can comprehend the material in a way which is meaningful to them as soon as possible. “Styles are not good or bad, but rather matters of fit between teacher and learner or learner and material”, thus making it crucial that students become autonomous of their learning styles so that teachers can better accommodate them. The outline proceeds to give multiple examples of how learners can study:

Similarly, on the same page there are links to extra-curricular activities on and off-campus which students can utilize to build their knowledge of the language. As well as future opportunities for those who wish to continue studying Japanese, allowing students to see the benefits of pursuing studies in Japanese. These kinds of opportunities include summer internships, study abroad programs, MBA studies, translation work, and so on. These methods help allow the student to find a sense of agency, intrinsic interest, perceived value, and mastery which encourage them to challenge the course material and go beyond the classroom in obtaining knowledge.
 * Good preparation and review are very important. Always read the explanation of the Lecture Notes and do the self-study materials in order to familiarize yourself with the dialogues, important grammatical items, and new vocabulary before you go to the class.
 * Try to use what you have learned in the class and elsewhere in your own way. Repeating the utterances presented on the web alone is not sufficient. Think of situations where you can say what you want to say and how the other party may respond to you.
 * In recitation and drills always be aware of what you are saying with what purpose. Automatic recitation without knowing what you are saying is good only for pronunciation practice.
 * Do not try to review everything at once. You do not have time to go back to review all the lessons covered. A steady accumulation of the knowledge and use of the language is the only way to proceed further in language study. You cannot cram everything overnight for the test either.
 * Make use of weekends for review. When you review, focus on the items difficult to understand, and make sure you understand all the important items involved in the lesson every week. It is helpful to change your review method to avoid boredom. If you should miss a class, make sure you get all the information by watching the video-streamed lectures and tutorials.
 * Study with your friends. Oral performance will benefit greatly from practising with your friends or other Japanese students on campus. Viewing Japanese TV programs, movies and video files is helpful for listening comprehension and understanding of socio-cultural aspects of Japan..

Teacher-friendliness and ability to encourage teaching effectiveness
The format of the curriculum, in providing both lectures and tutorials is highly beneficial, especially as this is a language course. While lectures cover the various grammatical structures, as well as amusing cultural stories, the tutorials provide an in-depth coverage of the lecture points as well as an aspect of communicative competence. Meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development are in relative well balance, with the exception of fluency development, as students at this level aren’t really given more time to speak freely on topics they are familiar with (although it is encouraged).

Although seemingly no issues with teachers’ ability to make such a curriculum effective and to produce a friendly and encouraging outlook, one potential issue does come to mind. That is of teachers PPK (personal practical knowledge). The current teaching staff for JP1000 consists of solely Japanese professors, of which all their L1s are Japanese. Although areas such as pronunciation and fluency are beneficial for such professors, the lack of learning Japanese as a second language could hinder the experience for students. Instructors that have learned Japanese as a L2 can attach personally relevant, situational, and emotional bonds to the curriculum which might help foster greater interest in the students. With the current circumstances, and the marking scheme focusing so heavily on written work, L1 Japanese Professors may favour the efforts of students with backgrounds similar to Japanese (such as L1 Chinese students, as Japanese adopts much of its writing from Chinese), as harder working or better students than those with no linguistic advantages.

Abilitiy to adapt to learner needs and the teaching/learner context where this curriculum is delivered
In respect to the flexibility and ability to change in this curriculum, it appears very minimal. The format of the lessons are made so that whatever is transmitted via the lecture is to be followed up in tutorials, without much space for variance. Testing is the same across all groups, so if there are issues in specific tutorials it would not affect the outcome of the overall class. As someone who has taken this course in the past, from a practical perspective: it emits a very “keep up with the flow of the course or be drowned” mentality that many students end up being unable to cope with. The reoccurring issue with this class is the high number of drop outs each year due to the very demanding curriculum. As I have mentioned earlier, a vast majority of students taking this course will be doing so as a elective credit. As such, motivation to master the language or place importance of the studies of this course over all others will be uncommon in most cases. The curriculum is demanding, but I believe it does give fair warning of this in the curriculum guidelines. However, steps could be taken to give a more fair environment analysis of the course so that the value for all those taking it is substantially increased.

Suggestions & Conclusion
I have visited many areas of improvement for JP1000 over the course of this assignment. Although I value the course (especially personally, as I was once a student of this course), there are very crucial elements upon which improvement should be a priority in revising this curriculum. Although the goals of the curriculum are very clear, there are many inconsistencies in its construction that cause it to be a less comprehensive curriculum than it can be.

The first and potentially most obvious suggestion I have for this curriculum is to lessen the amount of material required of the students, and to focus on more high frequency vocabularies. As the course is covered over a full year (two semesters), there is ample time for students to master a small number of high-frequency items, coupled with the appropriate amount of grammar, and be able to use these to effectively communicate with peers and the professor. As well, there needs to be a review of items that are beneficial if learned together, as to avoid interference effects. There are plenty of instances in the curriculum in which opposites, homonyms, and synonyms are bunched together, which is proven to make the acquisition of these items more difficult. If revisited, the curriculum would certainly be able to help students retain much more of what they learn, as opposed to flying by piles of vocabulary hoping that the students can keep up.

Another major pitfall of this curriculum is despite its goals of communicative competence, 65% of evaluation of students relies on standardized testing. Weekly quizzes on vocabulary and writing allotting 15%, and 4 major tests consisting of 50% is enough to make any student “study to the test” and lose out on valuable fluency building progress in fear of a plummeting GPA. As a first year elective, there should be a more “fun” focus on communication and survival/competence vocabularies, as well as encouraging students to pursue 2nd and 3rd year studies in Japanese by enticing them with (cross-)cultural aspects of Japan. Most students taking JP1000 will be in their first and second years of university, without much idea as to what they wish to do with their futures. An elective course is generally taken as a means for them to relax and enjoy university, and not to study relentlessly in fear of high-stakes tests.

A final suggestion would be to alter the sequence of the curriculum from linear to a spiral model. If communicative competence is really to be the outcome of the curriculum, it would be important to revisit items not only once, but several times throughout the year in order to build fluency and allow students time to master these items by becoming familiar with them. It also solves issues of extremely strict attendance policies, by allowing those who miss an item once to still have the opportunity to learn it in class some time later. A focus on the most important and fundamental aspects of the Japanese language should be the focus in reconsidering the content in this respect.

JP1000 is a very comprehensive and impressive curriculum, and speaks to the years of language education experience of its creator, Professor Norio Ota, as well as other instructors who have helped supplement the curriculum as it has grown over the years. If the recommended changes for revision mentioned in this assignment are considered, I believe the enjoyment of all students taking the course, as well as lowering of dropout rates and the retention of students into 2nd and 3rd year Japanese studies will be highly possible.