1. 1 Online Test System for Japanese Particles Soysuda NA RANONG Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Humanities, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand

2. 2 Introduction Japanese Language Centre, JF, Bangkok (2008)  Japanese courses : 89 of a total of 112 higher education institutes  Thai students learning Japanese has risen to 71,083 persons

3. 3 Introduction Na Ranong, S. (2003) “wa”, “ga”, “ni”, “de”, “o”. and “no”  Thai students majoring in Japanese, even those studying at the intermediate level or at the advanced level, have trouble concerning with the usage of the six Japanese particles: “wa”, “ga”, “ni”, “de”, “o”. and “no”

4. 4 Introduction National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (2003)  Thai Japanese-language teachers recognized the necessity of the computer  More than 80% of a total of 111 subjects lack the ability to create homepages or websites themselves

5. 5 Introduction  There is still much to be done in order to achieve progress in this area and to help solving the Japanese particle-learning problems online test system for Japanese particles  The development of online test system for Japanese particles is considered necessary for the benefit of Thai students

6. 6 system online test lessons To construct a system for students to learn Japanese particles ( focused on “wa”, “ga”, “ni”, “de”, “o” and “no”) through a self-access online test and review lessons provided in the website by themselves any time and anywhere they want Objective

7. 7 Research question and Hypothesis Japanese particles How can (advanced level) Thai students improve their ability of using Japanese particles? Hypothesis: An online test system can help solving the problems

8. 8 Participants fourth-year Six senior students ◘ target group: the fourth-year students majoring in Japanese. Six senior students were selected to participate in this research

9. 9 Procedures Two parts: system ◘ Constructing the system by applying the NetBeans IDE 6.8 program and the My SQL Server 5.1 program text contents 48 questions ◘ Creating the text contents of the website: pre-test, post-test, exercises and lessons :(8 questions for each particle, 48 questions for both pre-test and post-test, the score is 48)

10. 10 Procedures Log in register ◘ Log in using a code provided by the system first and then register on line by filling their profiles with personal data Do the pre-test ◘ Do the pre-test within the time limit Review ◘ Review the lessons and the exercises Do the post-test ◘ Do the post-test of which difficulty was on a par with that of the pre-test

11. 11 Results Components of the website The website is composed of registration, exercises, lessons, a pre-test, a post-test and the results of the tests.

12. 12 Results Components of the website Faculty of Humanities KU 今日は : 14/1/2011KU Japanese Particles Online Testing By Dr. Soysuda Na Ranong. An application program for analyzing the effectiveness of Japanese Grammar Study 助詞の問題 このテストは主に「は、が、に、で、を、の」という、６つの日本語の助詞を中心に作られてい ます。 Pre test も Post test もそれぞれ 48 問あります。 Pre test を終えたら、自分で勉強し、それから Post test をやるようにして下さい。時間は 15 分ずつです。頑張ってくださいね。 Department of Foreign Language : Japanese Section Username : Password : Figure 1: Rregistration part at the first page of the website

13. 13 Results สถานะ แบบทดสอบก่อน การเรียน : ไม่อนุญาต สถานะ แบบทดสอบหลัง การเรียน : ไม่อนุญาต WELCOME Soysuda : ADMINISTRATOR / INSTRUCTOR คำแนะนำการใช้งานในระบบ コントロールバー หน้าหลัก รายชื่อนิสิต แบบฝึกหัด บทเรียน Pre-Test Post-Test Comparative Status WELCOME Soysuda : ADMINISTRATOR / INSTRUCTOR

14. 14 Results an experiment of system by 27 students taking “Reading and Oral Reports” course in the fiscal year 2009 by using local host url: http://158.108.54.90:8080/WebApplication1/http://158.108.54.90:8080/WebApplication1/

15. 15 Results of an experiment of system ลำดับที่รหัสนิสิตชื่อนามสกุล waganionode total 151112530 สุพิชดาอนุรักษ์กมลกุล 88787846.0 251112522sorayasathitnimankan78477538.0 350111921amiungaram88556537.0 451112480wipadasakornsatit66467433.0 551112506 ศิรารัตน์เรียงทอง 75456431.0 651112415NiraneeSakchaisitkun66456431.0 751112399NopawanRatanamart84546330.0 851112324KaewtaNilsodsai76436430.0 951112332JutamasSennan64447429.0 1051112373NatnapinThamsuthon64456429.0 1151112365NatthachaPoyoo55427528.0 1251112431pimchanokchoosin46446428.0 1351112548ApinatKempechara65248328.0 1451112464RattanaPhakdeephasook55356327.0 1551112340chanakantuntrakul54616527.0 1651112498SasitornSeesangaum46526427.0 1751112357ChutimonDumrak45344626.0 1851112555 อาจารินสังขปรีชา 54425525.0 1951112407NantiyaKachachai63327425.0 2051112472RungtipSrirattanametin46137324.0 2151112514supachoketermpiyakul35435323.0 2251112423PanjaneeMirchandani43236422.0 2350112531NathineeSomvadee65206221.0 2451112456 รัตติบุญประกอบ 34216117.0 average 5.55.23.83.76.24.028.4

16. 16 Results of the pre-test Table 1: results of the pre –test of the target group ID Score (48) IDStudent 4811180148111801 : 39 IDStudent 4811182748111827: 36 IDStudent 4811193448111934: 36 IDStudent 4811194248111942: 38 IDStudent 4811195948111959: 27 IDStudent 4811273448112734: 30 average34.33

17. 17 Results of the post-test Table 2: results of the post–test of the target group ID Score (48) IDStudent 4811180148111801 : 43 IDStudent 4811182748111827: 39 IDStudent 4811193448111934: 39 IDStudent 4811194248111942: 36 IDStudent 4811195948111959: 31 IDStudent 4811273448112734: 34 average 37

18. 18 Results Table 3: comparative results of the pre-test and the post-test IDPre-test Post -test IDStudent 4811180148111801 : 39: 43 IDStudent 4811182748111827: 36: 39 IDStudent 4811193448111934: 36: 39 IDStudent 4811194248111942: 38: 36 IDStudent 4811195948111959: 27: 31 IDStudent 4811273448112734: 30: 34 average 34.33 37

19. 19 Discussion a self study through online test system is very useful.  As for the results of the tests as expected the post-test average score of 37 is higher than that of the pre-test of 34.33. Although the increase is not high, it proves that a self study through online test system is very useful.

20. 20 Discussion beneficial repeat  The format of the website, consisted of various components, is beneficial to the users because they can do the study any time and anywhere they wish out of class. They can repeat all the parts, except the tests, several times or choose only the parts they are interested in for more practice.

21. 21 Discussion not always in the same order  Unlike the exercises or the tests in a textbook which cannot be changed because they are in sequence, the questions for the exercises and the tests in this online system are not always in the same order. Since the order is randomly set by the system every time the users access to the website.

22. 22 Discussion vocabulary and expressions.  The proficiency of using Japanese particles was related to other aspects such as the scope of vocabulary and expressions. Since Japanese particles follow part of speech such as the modified noun, pronoun, adjective, if the student does not know the context and the correlation of the sentence they cannot use particles correctly.

23. 23 Conclusion the post-test average score which is higher than that of the pre-test The online test system, which focuses on six Japanese particles: : “wa”, “ga”, “ni”, “de”, “o” and “no”, has shown that it is beneficial and it can help support Japanese learning. The results of the post-test average score which is higher than that of the pre-test indicates that the online test system, consisting of various components, can solve the problem of using particles.

24. 24 Suggestion Therefore, it can be applied to solve problems of teaching or learning Japanese in other grammatical subjects and it can also be developed to use with other foreign language learning.

25. 25 Kanittapongrat, S. (2003) Internet and foreign language education: a case study of German. Journal of Humanities, 4(1), pp.83-93. (in Thai) National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) (2003). Nihongo kyooiku no gakushuu kankyoo to gakushuu shudan ni kansuru choosa kenkyuu. Tai (Bankoku) ankeeto choosa shuukei kekka hookokusho. (in Japanese) Naranong, S (2003). A study on grammatical errors in elementary and intermediate Japanese composition writing of Thai students: Problems in using particles.Proceedings of the 41th Kasetsart University Annual Conference,448-455. (in Thai) References

26. 26 Acknowledgement Kasetsart University Research and Development Institute (KURDI)

27. 27 Thank you Online Test System for Japanese Particles