AP Japanese Language and Culture: An Update

The first AP Japanese Language and Culture Exam was administered on May 10, 200--an historic date for our field. It represented the culmination of several years of work by a task force of secondary and college teachers, who developed the AP Course guidelines and the exam specifications for the College Board, and the AP Japanese Development Committee, likewise composed of both secondary and college teachers, which is charged with developing the exam itself.

Of the 1430 students who took the 2007 exam, 598 were categorized as Standard Group students (those who do not hear or speak Japanese at home and have not spent one month or more studying or living in a country where Japanese is spoken). Scoring of the AP exam is based on the comparison of the scores of these AP students to the scores of college students who took the exam as part of the College Comparability Study. All students who earn a 5 on the AP exam have scored slightly higher than the average score of college students earning an A in the equivalent college course; students who earn a 4 on the AP exam scored slightly higher than the average score of college students earning a B in the equivalent college course; etc. Thus, colleges and universities should feel confident of the abilities of students who enter their programs with AP "passing grades" of 3, 4, or 5.

In this first year of the Japanese exam, over 50% of the Standard Group of students earned a grade of 3 or higher, while approximately 70% of the Non-Standard Group (those who do hear or speak Japanese at home or have spent a month or more studying or living in Japan) earned a 3 or higher.

The distribution of scores for the Standard Group was comparable to that of most other AP subjects (although the percentage of 4s and 2s is slightly lower than might be expected):

The distribution of scores for the Non-Standard Group was as follows:

The exams are scored each year by a group of AP Readers hired by Educational Testing Service; again both secondary and college teachers participate. Their recommendations to students and teachers about how to improve student performance on the exam in the future are summarized in the 2007 Exam information on AP Central (http://APCentral.CollegeBoard.com). Teachers are encouraged to review those recommendations as well as the sample responses posted there.

The 2007 AP Readers found the experience to be challenging (Japanese was the first AP subject to use online scoring, which presented its own issues), but professionally very rewarding. Please consider applying to be a Reader in future years. It is an enormous service to the field, as well as a terrific learning experience. The application is online: click "Professional Development" on the APCentral home page. I look forward to working with you to continue to strengthen Japanese language and culture education in the U.S.

Laurel Rasplica Rodd, Chief Reader

Language and Culture SIG News

ATJ's Language Culture SIG will meet on Friday, April 4, 2008, from 7:00-9:00 p.m., in Atlanta in conjunction with the annual ATJ Seminar and the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies. The main topic for an informal discussion will be "Strategies of Cultural Education." Three presentations will be featured: Masako A. Dorrill, Dillard University, "Toward an Assessment of Cultural Understanding in the First Two Years of Japanese Language Instruction"; Hitoshi Horiuchi, Brown University, "Conflict Resolution and Teaching Culture in U.S. College Japanese Language Programs"; and Ichiro Noguchi, Carthage College, "On Perspectives, Practices and Products: How to Explain the Japanese Culture with Three P's. " The SIG welcomes anyone who is interested in cultural education for informal discussion of the issues discussed by the three presenters.

Nominations for Board and President-Elect Positions

The Nominating Committee of the ATJ Board will propose a slate of candidates for election to the positions of President-Elect and three Board members of ATJ, to serve three-year terms from spring 2008 to spring 2011. If you would like to suggest candidates for these positions, please send their names, email addresses, and brief profiles to the ATJ office (atj@colorado.edu) or to the chair of the Nominating Committee, Janet Ikeda (ikedaj@wlu.edu).

ATJ Endowment Receives Gifts

In recent months ATJ's Endowment Fund has received several special contributions. In addition to a contribution in memory of Hiroshi Miyaji from Yoko McClain and several lifetime memberships (the bulk of which are invested in the Endowment), ATJ received a bequest of $5,000 from a former member, Sumako Kimizuka, who died in 2006 and had remembered the organization in her will. The officers and Board are most grateful for these contributions, which have brought the Endowment Fund to a total of almost $20,000. Please consider a contribution to the Endowment when you renew your membership for 2008. These funds are placed in an interest-bearing account and will be reserved for the future benefit of the Association and continuation of its activities on behalf of the profession.

New Special Interest Group: Japanese for Specific Purposes

A new Special Interest Group with a focus on Japanese for Specific Purposes (JSP) has been created. JSP can be broadly interpreted; it is a Japanese language course integrated with any specialized area, such as business, science, politics, international relations, and so on. The goal of this group is to support teachers of JSP by fostering a network among teachers and offering academic activities to share and learn about various issues relating to teaching JSP. The activities will include (but are not limited to) creating a homepage on the ATJ website (including members mailing lists, information, and announcements) and offering a session on JSP at the ATJ seminar. Anyone who is teaching and/or interested in teaching JSP is welcome. If you are interested in joining the SIG, please contact Tomoko Takami at the University of Pennsylvania (ttakami@sas.upenn.edu).

Special Issue of Japanese Language and Literature: Japanese Pedagogy

Editors: Seiichi Makino and Mutsuko Endo Hudson. This special issue of Japanese Language and Literature will highlight various approaches to Japanese pedagogy. We welcome manuscripts that are research-based as well as those which are reports of applications of SLA theories and pedagogical frameworks in the classroom. Publication is scheduled for Fall 2008. The topics include, but are not restricted to, the teaching of language skills (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, writing, culture and an integration thereof), grammar, pragmatics/discourse, pronunciation, kanji and other scripts, computer-enhanced language teaching, teaching with films or songs, and incorporating literature in a language class. A manuscript submitted for consideration should be no more than 25 double-spaced pages using a 12-point font throughout. It must be written in English, though sample materials may be written in Japanese. Please also submit a short abstract or summary (maximum 250 words). Style and format should follow the Chicago Manual of Style, with all notes at the end of the manuscript. Send copy by email attachment to atj@colorado.edu or four hard copies by January 10, 2008 to: Association of Teachers of Japanese, 279 UCB, Humanities 240, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0279.

Japanese Language and Literature Issue 41:1 Replacement Copies

A few members have reported that their copies of the most recent issue of ATJ's journal Japanese Language and Literature (April 2007; 41:1) had a group of pages in reverse order. In these copies, the order of pages 47 through 62 is reversed: the page after 46 is 63, then 62, and so on until page 47, which is followed by page 64. All the pages are there, but not in the correct order. Only a small number of copies appear to be affected by this mistake in binding at the printing plant. If your copy is one of those that is misprinted, please let the office know (atj@colorado.edu), and we will send you a replacement copy.

ATJ Membership Renewal

You should by now have received a membership renewal letter and form. Remember that you can now renew online: www.aatj.org/membership.html. Please consider taking out a 5- or 10-year membership this time: it saves money and means that you will not have to remember to renew next year. It also sends the message that you support your profession!