ymori, Asian Languages and Cultures | 2018-2019
For the pilot study, we plan to utilize immersive video technology in 1st and 3rd-year Japanese classes.
ASIANLAN 125/126 “1st Year Japanese” 5 cr (50 min × 5 days)
This course is designed for students with little or no understanding of Japanese. The course focuses on developing students’ proficiency in all four language skills (speaking, listening, writing, and reading) while simultaneously familiarizing them with aspects of both traditional and modern Japanese culture that are necessary to build language competency. Students will become able to handle daily conversations, and read and write simple passages in hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
ASIANLAN 123/124 “1st Year Japanese through Anime and Manga” 5 cr (50 min × 3 days)
This course covers the same grammar/vocabulary as ASIANLAN125/126 but meets three times a week. This course takes a flipped-classroom approach.
ASIANLAN 335/226: 4 cr (80 min× 3 days )
This course focuses on further cultivating an intermediate level of linguistic, pragmatic, and socio-cultural language competence. Students will work on various projects and discussions to continue to improve proficiency in all four language skills. Students will be able to to use intermediate/advanced-level vocabulary, expressions, and grammar in both speaking and writing.
Here are two specific classroom exercises that immersive video technology can enrich.
Vocabulary & Grammar Structure Acquisition: Usually, when learning new expressions and grammar structures, students are given grammar pattern tasks that are often rigid and follow a set formula. However, immersive video technology can change these activities into immersive experiences. For example, when students learn adjectives at the beginning of 1st year Japanese, instead of showing images or videos and having students describe Shibuya (Ex. Shibuya is very busy.), 360° video technology will enable students to go to the middle of the Shibuya Scramble Crossing and experience what being in Shibuya is like. We expect that this will stimulate students’ willingness to communicate and positively affect their grammar/vocabulary learning.
Cross-Cultural Competence: After students learn about Japanese speech styles from the textbook, we will let students put themselves in Japanese college students’ shoes to engage in real conversations that take place in different settings. They will see if there are any discrepancies between what the textbook taught and what they experienced, and think critically about what factors may cause these discrepancies (Ex. gender, talking to native or non-native speakers of Japanese). Then students will compare the Japanese speech style system with their own country’s speech styles.