Constructing the Croatian resources for e-learning of Japanese Sara Librenjak, Kristina Kocijan Department of Information and Communication Studies Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Zagreb Forli, 24.10.2015. Constructing the Croatian resources for e-learning of Japanese

Outline Introduction Resources for learning of Japanese writing system The role and challenges of e-learning in Japanese The need for Croatian materials Resources for learning of Japanese writing system Kana e-learning and mnemotechnics Kanji systematization and memorization Resources for learning the vocabulary and grammar Future plans

Introduction Language learning – oral and written reception and production VOCABULARY LISTENING SPEAKING READING GRAMMAR WRITING

In case of Japanese… Need to learn different scripts just to access the resources and study materials The vocabulary issues Similar to no IE language Difficult to memorize The grammar issues „Yoda” word order Omission of elements due to context Absence of case, gender, number and person Unpredictable collocations Difficult to acquire main language skills due to issues in the subskills

Why digital resources? Dictionaries – Corpora Teaching materials for speed and clarity Corpora for teachers, reserchers and ambitious students Teaching materials More memorable and interesting classes But what about resources for improved learning and memorizing? Tools exist implementation questionable and individual-based

Croatian – Japanese as a language pair Need for the resources in our native language Tradition of studying Japanese through English No Croatian textbook or grammar book Limited dictionaries Why needed? For the non-English speakers Better understanding and memorization in native language Croatian identity in the Japanese and Asian context

Our aim To build better matterials for an average Croatian student in order to Better memorize Japanese Forget less Have more fun studying Have long term success in studying Japanese To test the materials in two semester study Get the feedback, improve the materials Spread the word with teachers of Japanese Use the materials as and aid in many classrooms in Croatia

What are we making? A project supported by European Union European Structural Funds, 07/2015-10/2016 Resources for the acquisition of Japanese writing Resources for memorizing the vocabulary Resources for better understanding the grammar in context Employment of spaced repetition system in classroom

Resources for learning kana Kana considered relatively easy by most students Reported issues: similar characters Resource roles: Make kana acquisition more fun Facilitate memorisiation using mnemotechnics Give Croatian identity to learning kana

Anki – a tool for memorizing

Resources for learning kanji Kanji considered one of the most difficult parts of learning Japanese Reported issues: forgetting the kanji lack of systematization don’t know how to study correctly Resource roles: Utilize SRS in order to enchance limits of memory Divide kanji in logical units (components rather then radicals) Explain with etymological stories Create sentences with associative mnemotechnic Provide context while learning

Resources for learning vocabulary Under-recognized issue in the success of learning Japanese Hypothesis: better memorization of vocabulary units leads to development of intuition to memorize and guess the meaning of more complex parts od Japanese Divided by pre-made levels Gamification element

Resources for context supported grammar learning A collection of sentences containg typical grammar for the level Controlled vocabulary (connected with vocabulary part) Testing the meaning, usage and word order Multiple choice, ordering, writing type tests Made in the same environment as the vocabulary part Currently A1 and A2 levels covered

Plans for the testing phase N = 30 – complete beginners N = 20 – A2/B1 level N = 10 – B2 and above Regulary check the usage frequency of the materials Testing the students’ knowledge in various aread before, during and after the usage Collecting users feedback and implementing it Provide quantitative and qualitative results of the usage until 06/2016 Preliminary results: Very positive 

Utilized software Anki Memrise Quizlet Project name online Memazija www.ankisrs.net Memrise www.memrise.com Quizlet www.quizlet.com Project name online Memazija Links available online on Facebook, Memrise and Quizlet

Thank you for your attention! Any questions?