Resources for the Implementation of
Standards for Japanese Language Learning
Preschool-College

Compiled by the National Working Group on Japanese Language Competency Goals, convened by the Association of Teachers of Japanese and the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers, January, 2000, with the generous support of the United States-Japan Foundation

Chapter 4. Computer Technology for Standards Implementation

This section of the report will focus on computer, network, and video technologies and their potential for use as communication, dissemination, and publishing tools in support of standards-based education.

In the design of any communication or publishing process, computer software, hypertext material, etc., the content provider/author(s) should always ask:

--who is the consumer of the content to be communicated?

--what does the consumer need and/or expect from the content?

--is the consumer familiar with or even aware of the technology to be used as the communication medium or conduit? (i.e., is the technology in question the right tool for reaching the intended audience?)

--if the consumer is familiar with and uses the technology in question, what, if any, are the consumer's limitations or restrictions on its use? (For instance, if you want to create an electronic mailing list, does your intended audience use e-mail regularly, or will they have to go to a special effort to read it? And is it worth it to them?)

Technologies like paper-based publishing are sufficiently widespread as to be taken for granted, for the most part, and the last two considerations are not as critical in the design. But with computer-based communication and publishing systems, the consumer community may have a wide range of experience with or even access to the systems. Because of this, depending on the diversity of the community in question, a flexible or even multiple-media (paper, electronic, etc.) approach may be most effective.

Most electronic communication systems attempt to facilitate various types of face-to-face human interactions, such as meetings, conferences, etc. As such, it is important not to ignore the human social element in designing a computer-based or -facilitated communication system. Any form of group communication must take into account the existing social and work habits of the group in question. It is, of course, possible to encourage and teach new habits, but the apparent "cost" of the change must not be too high.

Cost is another important consideration. Direct equipment costs, monthly fees and the like are relatively easy to budget for and estimate. There are a number of less obvious costs, however, to computer use: development of materials may or not be more time- or cost-efficient than previous systems; user training and support is time-consuming and often expensive; maintenance and upgrading of the systems; construction and maintenance of infrastructures necessary for many of the systems.

Finally, a note of caution on this section of the report: with the ever-accelerating rate of technological change in computers and networking, it is possible that information provided here may already be obsolete by the time this is in press.

In this section we will describe a few of the most common communication and publishing systems in use today and their main features and drawbacks.

A. Electronic Mail ("e-mail")

Electronic mail, in its simplest use, is usually "intrusive" (not unlike a telephone call), in that you may not necessarily ask to receive that particular message, and (unlike the telephone) is an asynchronous form of communication (the reader does not have to be present while the writer is composing/sending the message.) It is often one-to-one communication, as well.

A special use of e-mail is the electronic mailing list. (These are frequently referred to as LISTSERV's, but in fact LISTSERV is simply a very popular mailing-list service package. A variety of such packages exists.) The basic function of an electronic mailing list is to create a single address to which interested parties send their messages; the mailing list software redistributes the message to a collection of users who have (usually) expressed interest in receiving them. Many variations of these systems exist, allowing for archiving of past messages, the creation of a "moderated" list where a single user (or group of users) decides which messages should go through to the group, and so on.

Electronic mail was designed, originally, to include only plain text, and while a variety of extensions for including non-text "attachments" to messages exist, basic text is still the most common, guaranteed medium of exchange.

Use of e-mail requires access (via network or dialup connection) to an incoming/outgoing mail server and use of some sort of mail reading/composing software.

B. Discussion Group/"Bulletin Board"

Discussion groups (often also known as "bulletin boards" or "b-boards") differ from electronic mail in that they are not usually "intrusive." A user must choose to "go to" the discussion group, using some software package to connect to a server which maintains the collections of messages in groups and then read the current selection of messages in the group the user is interested in. Messages usually continue to reside on the remote server unless the user chooses to keep a copy of something. Like e-mail, these conversations are usually asynchronous.

A long-standing and enormous collection of discussion groups is USENET or "netnews." Literally thousands of groups exist, each dedicated to a particular topic or group of topics. Participation in these groups can be open to the public or limited in distribution. Many Internet service providers create such discussion forums specifically for their own users, as well.

Use of such groups requires the particular software for participation in the specific type of forum and access, via network or modem, to the server maintaining the group messages. The content of the communication is, like e-mail, usually plain text.

C. "Chat" Rooms/IRC

Taking the non-intrusive form of a discussion group (the user must choose to "attend" to communicate in the forum at all) and making it synchronous results in the various varieties of on-line "chat" tools. Many internet service providers have created a wide variety of these tools, often only for their own subscribers. Systems such as "Internet Relay Chat," or "IRC," also exist which allow users, regardless of the type of their internet service, to connect and create chat "channels." These systems often have no persistence over time (no records of the conversations exist afterwards) and generally require use of a particular "chat" package. The content is usually plain text.

D. World Wide Web

The World Wide Web, or "Web" for short, may well be the first truly platform-independent multi-media publishing system. It allows anyone with access to a networked "server" machine to publish media-rich hypertext documents, traversed by "links" from document to document.

Use of the Web requires a network connection (via direct hookup, dialup to an ISP, etc.) and a Web "browser," a software package which interprets Web documents for display on the computer screen. Production of Web materials requires other software, as well as, potentially, the production skills of graphic artists, audio and video artists, and software designers.

In addition to the basic use of the Web most people are familiar with, the underlying structure of the Web allows users to do something not immediately obvious: a user can make a request of a (suitably configured) Web server to run a piece of software and send back the results to be displayed on the user's browser. (Any time you interact with a "search engine" or similarly functioning site, for instance, you are making a request of the server to look through some collection of data and send it back to you in a way your browser can interpret.) The important feature of this is that a remote user has the ability to request the server (which could be, say, a powerful supercomputer) to execute any software package that it is capable of running and report back the results. This can be a query of a database, some complex calculation, etc., and, regardless of the type of computer the user is using, the results can be received and displayed. This is an incredibly powerful development in networked computing, but it takes substantial support to develop applications for such a use.

E. Video and Video Conferencing

Use of video and video conferencing systems, though not as "new" as the emerging computer-based tools described above, should not be overlooked in this context. For asynchronous, one-to-many communication, video is extremely effective. Video conferencing equipment and systems are routinely used in many business situations and are therefore becoming more widely available, often with competing service providers in a given area. For "distance education" use, as well, such systems may provide the only way for physically widely-distributed consumers to have access to a limited information resource.

These Web sites, of potential interest to Japanese language instructors, were last checked in December 1999. By the time this is distributed, it is possible that some of the information will be out of date, and we apologize for any difficulties.

A. Web Sites Related to Standard-Based Japanese Language Education

• Standards for Japanese Language Learning. http://www.colorado.edu/eall d/atj/Standards/stand1.html . Standards for Japanese Language Learning developed by K-16 Japanese language educators.
• Center for Applied Japanese Language Studies (CAJLS) (formerly the Oregon University System Japanese Language Project). http://babel.uoregon.edu/CAJLS/index.ht ml. Contains information on the Oregon Japanese curriculum, benchmarks, and assessment.

B. Generic State Foreign Language Standards-Related Web Sites

• American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). http://www.actfl.org. Contains a general description of the National Standards in Foreign Language Education. Also includes foreign language standards in various states.
• Putnum Valley Central Schools: Developing Educational Standards and Curriculum Frameworks for Foreign Language/ESL. http://putwest.boces.org/StSu/Flang.html. Includes a comprehensive list of links to national organizations and State Education Departments that provide information on curriculum and educational standards.
• Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL). http://www.mcrel.org. Includes guidelines, research, and resources for developing and implementing the educational standards and benchmarks.

C. Generally Useful Web Sites: Japanese-Specific

1. Teaching Materials and Information

• The Japan Forum. http://www.tjf.or.jp/eng/indexe/indexe.htm . Includes cultural information and K-12 instructional resources such as lesson plans for understanding culture. Also contains Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Japanese Curriculum Guide.
• JP NET: Japanese Language and Culture Network. http://www-japan.mit.edu. A site created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Includes cultural information such as kimono, holidays, and events available both in Japanese and English. Also linked to the MIT Japanese language courses site that includes hiragana, katakana, and kanji exercises with brush-stroke images and sounds.
• Purdue Japanese Projects. http://www.sla.purdue.edu/fll/JapanProj. This Purdue University site contains freeware for Japanese learning tools such as hiragana/katakana/kanji/vocabulary exercises, Japanese counter exercises, world geography, etc. Auto Gloss/J allows you to make vocabulary lists with English translations from any Japanese text. Also contains Electronic Picture Bank and royalty-free photo gallery for Japanese language instruction. Articles on using technology for teaching Japanese are available as well.
• Teaching Materials Archive: Oregon University System Japanese Language Project. http://babel.uoregon.edu/CAJLS/materials/mate _list.html . Contains a number of lesson plans for Levels 1 through 6. Also contains a collection of clip art.
• The Japan Foundation & Language Center in Los Angeles Faculty Site. http://www.jflalcfaculty.org. Contains information on grant programs and workshops for teachers. The newsletter, The Breeze, is also available on-line.
• Kids Web Japan. http://jin.jcic.or.jp/kidsweb/index.html. Contains a variety of information on culture, language, education, games, and links for children.
• Kid's Window. http://www.jwindow.net/KIDS. Includes stories, a picture dictionary, restaurant, and kana reading exercises with audio files. It also includes origami instructions.
• Gakken Science Kids. http://kids.gakken.co.jp/index.html. Includes science-related Q&A with a search engine and a database of various science-related institutions and facilities in Japan. Also includes links to science-related sites and activities.
• Asahi Gakusei Shinbun Page. http://www.asahi.com/paper/edu/ pupil/gakuse i.html. Includes articles published in students' newspapers in Japan. In Japanese.
• Panasonic Hi-Ho Internet Hosokyoku. http://town.hi-ho.ne.jp/streamcast/index.h tm. Contains Nihon Nandemo Mukashibanashi with audio-visual files. In Japanese.

2. On-Line Dictionary

• Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server. http://www.dgs.monash.edu.au/~j wb/wwwjdi c.html.

3. News and Media

Asahi Shinbun. http://www.asahi.com. In Japanese.

Yomiuri Shinbun. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp. In Japanese.

Mainichi Shinbun. http://www.mainichi.co.jp. In Japanese.

Yomiuri News Stream. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/stream. An internet TV version of daily news with audio and still images. Updated five times on weekdays, twice on Saturdays and Sundays. In Japanese.

MBS (Mainichi Broadcast System) Radio Program. http://www.mbs.co.jp/radio/news/ra_ne ws.sht. An internet version of radio news broadcasts. Available from Monday to Friday and updated five times a day. In Japanese.

4. Japan-Related Links

Irasshai: Welcome to Japanese. http://www.peachstar.gatech.edu/irasshai. A site for a Japanese language and culture distance learning course produced by Georgia Public Broadcasting. "Launch Pad" includes a number of links to sites on Japanese culture and society (i.e., architecture, arts, business, culinary treats, pop culture, traditions, environment, education, geography, geology, government, history, language, life in Japan, media, meteorology, music, pets, recreation, science & technology, sports, and travel information).

Association of Teachers of Japanese http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj. Contains links to Japan-related topics including a large number of mailing lists.

Center for Applied Japanese Language Studies (CAJLS) (formerly the Oregon University System Japanese Language Project). http://babel.uoregon.edu/CAJLS/index.ht ml. Contains links to web sites on K-12 Japanese language education and culture for teachers and students.

J Guide: Stanford Guide to Japan Information Resources. http://fuji.stanford.edu/jguide. Contains information on culture, business, science, technology, history, geography, language, government, etc. (mostly in English).

Larry Stockton's Japan Links. http://www.lafayette.edu/~stockt oj/home/jap anl.html. Contains links to government, culture, language education, media, etc.

Keiko Schneider's Bookmarks. http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookma rks/. Contains links to Japanese language learning tools (for teachers and students), publishers, Japanese culture, Japanese programs and organizations, and computing in Japanese.

D. Generally Useful Web Sites: Non-Japanese-Specific

California Foreign Language Project: California Language Teachers Association Summer Seminar 1998. http://members.aol.com/maestro1 2/web/tech9 8.html. Contains foreign language links and resources for teachers. There is a collection of web-based lessons created for various languages.

The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota. http://carla.acad.umn.edu. CARLA is one of the seven National Language Resource Centers (NLRC) funded by the U.S. Department of Education for improving foreign language education. In addition to NLRC-funded projects, CARLA supports a number of programs for research, professional development, and dissemination of information. Recent postings to LCTL-T (a discussion list on Less-Commonly-Taught-Languages) are archived and available from this site. An electronic newsletter, CARLA Update, is available by sending a subscription request to carla@tc.umn.edu.

The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL). http://www.cal.org. Contains many foreign language resources. As a private, nonprofit organization, CAL compiles information on language and culture and supports research and teacher training in second language education.

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators--Regions of the World & World Languages. http://discoveryschool.c om/schrock guide/world/worldrw.html. Contains links to sites on second language teaching and learning.

A Communications Technology Module for the Foreign Language Methods Course by Jean W. Leloup, SUNY Cortland. www.cortland.edu/flteach/methods/main.html. This module has been created to inform foreign language methods instructors about how to integrate technology in their methods class. It is useful for classroom teachers as well. The document addresses National Standards and includes 1) Getting acquainted with the tools, 2) Learning the basics, 3) Targeting pedagogy, and 4) Designing lesson plans.

Iowa State University, College of Education. www.educ.iastate.edu. This site has links to the Center for Technology in Learning and Teaching, the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center, the National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL), and the Research Institute for Studies in Education.

The Association of Teachers of Japanese Web site at http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/ atj/Japan_info/lists.html has a comprehensive list of listservs on Japanese and foreign language teaching and learning. This site offers general instructions on how to subscribe to a listserv and a brief description of each listserv. The listservs listed include: Gakusei Lists, JAPAN TEACH, Japanese Teachers and Instructional Technology (JTIT-L), KIDLINK Lists, NIHONGO, FLTEACH, Less-Commonly-Taught-Languages (LCTL-T: The alternate address for subscription request is lctl@umn.edu), SenseiOnline, and Mailing List for K-12 Teachers of Japanese (Core-ne in NikoNiko Net).

In addition to the ones listed in the above ATJ Web site, see the following listservs:

A. Japanese-Specific Listservs

KOTOBAX2. Subscription address: listSTAR@humnet.ucla.edu. This is an information clearinghouse for parents and educators of bilingual children of Japanese and other languages. Questions about language resource materials, language use in the family, schooling, raising children bilingually, etc. are welcome.

Japanese-as-a-Second Language Acquisition Researchers (JSLAR) Subscription address: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kan agy/subfor m.html. This is a listserv for those who are interested in topics on acquisition of Japanese as a second language.

B. Listervs Related to Foreign Language Teaching in General

Language Learning and Technology International (LLTI) Subscription address: listserv@dartmouth.edu. This list serves as a distribution point for information on language learning and technology, language lab technology, computer-supported language learning, interactive video, interactive audio, language workstations, international standards, conversions, compatibilities, and more, with an international perspective. LLTI considers itself a forum and a databank. Subscribers are able to post notes and queries as well as to search databases on specific topics.

The Intercultural E-mail Classroom Connections K-12 (IECC) Subscription address: iecc-request@stolaf.edu. This list provides information for foreign language teachers who are seeking partner classrooms for international and cross-cultural electronic mail exchanges. In addition, see IECC-HE (for teachers seeking classroom partnerships in higher education), IECC-PROJECTS (for any kind of e-mail project announcements), IECC-DISCUSSION (for those wishing to embark on pen pal projects or to incorporate electronic resources into the curriculum).

Language Testing Research and Practice (LTEST-L) Subscription address: listserv@psuvm.psu.edu . This is an open forum for discussion on issues pertaining to language testing, theory, and research.

The Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO) Journal Order form available at http://calico.org/publications.html.

Muyskens, Judith A., ed. New Ways of Learning and Teaching: Focus on Technology and Foreign Language Education. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle, 1997.

Warschauer, Mark, ed. Virtual Connections: Online Activities & Projects for Networking Language Learners (Technical Report #8). Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1995.

Warschauer, Mark, ed. Telecollaboration in Foreign Language Learning: Proceedings of the Hawaii Symposium (Technical Report #12). Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1996.

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