Technology-Based Language Learning and Resources

[If you have any resources or ideas that you would like to see discussed or reviewed here, please send a note to atj@colorado.edu.]

Cellular Phones in Japan

by Atsushi Fukada
Director of the Center for
Technology-Enhanced Language
Learning and Instruction at Purdue University

Since I just got back from my sabbatical in Japan, I thought it might be interesting to make this installment a "report from Japan." This piece will be more cultural than technological.

Cellular phones (or ケータイ, as they are commonly called) are must-have items not only for business people, but also for housewives and students. It is not uncommon for upper-elementary school pupils to carry them nowadays. The cell phone seems to play an increasingly important role in people's social lives. Parents use the cell phone to keep track of their children's whereabouts. The first obvious question is: Why are they so popular? I'll address this question from three angles below.

Convenience. Cell phones are convenient. You can contact people readily (they are seldom away from the phone) and directly (without going through a third party). Yes, sometimes you do find yourself unable to answer a call, but the caller's number is recorded on your phone so that you can call him or her back later. Or you can activate a digital answering machine feature on the phone and take a message. Many college students living alone use their cell phones as their only phones, so they are not necessarily luxury items.

Since Japan is a relatively small country, there is no "calling area" or "roaming." You can call from any place in Japan to any other place for the same price. It is true that cell calls are generally more expensive, but it does not cost anything to receive a call in Japan. In my opinion, this is the biggest difference between Japanese cell phones and U.S. ones. U.S. people do not want to give out their cell phone numbers so readily for fear that unwanted calls will cost them money. This limits the potential usefulness of the cell phone. In Japan, people freely give out their numbers to friends and even to businesses.

Superior features. What I bought and used was a prepaid cell phone, since I did not want a long-term contract. I bought mine at a convenience store, which is the main distribution channel for prepaid cells. Ľ7,000 later (Ľ5,000 for the phone and Ľ2,000 for my first prepaid card), I was on the air. The phone was nothing fancy, but it had more features than I could use compared with a prepaid cell phone I had just bought in the U.S. for $50. Caller ID is standard on all cell phones. An answering machine feature is common. Instant messaging between same-company phones, Internet email, and web access are commonplace. In fact, many websites have pages specially tailored for small cell phone screens. A color display is also widely available. Expensive models are equipped with a digital camera. The idea is that you can take pictures with it and send them to your friends. This is commonly referred to as　写メール.

The latest technologies being talked about now are GPS (Global Positioning System) and motion video display. A GPS-capable cell phone can locate itself (say, when you are lost) or can send your current location to someone for emergency assistance, for example. An increasingly higher transmission speed is making motion video display a reality, although I personally would rather go home and watch TV.

Instant messaging and email. I wrote that voice calls are relatively expensive and that instant messaging and email are available. The latter is significantly less expensive (usually a few yen per message) than the former (Ľ50 per minute on my prepaid phone). What do economy-minded people do, then? They write messages and email, collectively called メール. Thus, you will see a lot of people with cell phones walking down the street pushing buttons with their eyes glued to the screen. (Watch out! This is a hazardous activity.) People typically use the thumb of the hand holding the phone to push buttons. Thus, the recent term （新）親指族 refers to those heavy users who are adept at cell phone operations.

As far as input efficiency is concerned, you cannot beat touch-typing on a full-size PC keyboard, but for that you need to be sitting at a computer. With a cell phone, you can be walking, riding a bus or a train while reading and writing mail. This is what convinced me to get a cell phone. Now I don't need to take a laptop every time I go back to Japan. I will just take my 2.5 ounce (about 80 grams) cell phone that fits nicely in my shirt pocket.

Student Discounts on Electronic E <-> J Dictionary

The new hand-held electronic Kenkyusha Romanized English <->Japanese Dictionary (the RM2000) is aimed at students of Japanese as a second language. The unit, manufactured by Seiko Instruments, provides over 20,000 examples and idioms. Vocabulary searches in both English and Japanese are based on the Roman alphabet, but Japanese vocabulary items include kana and kanji readings as well. Example sentences using the vocabulary words give English, Japanese phonetic versions, and kana/kanji versions. Correct pronunciation of Japanese words is indicated. The dictionary also contains the latest edition of Roget's Thesaurus. The manufacturer, in cooperation with the Japan Foundation Los Angeles Language Center, is offering a special 32% discount on the RM2000 dictionary to students of Japanese who take an on-line survey for the Foundation. The survey may be accessed at www.jflalc.org/ssv/index.html. It asks about learners' reasons for studying Japanese, amount of time spent learning Japanese, and study setting. Both self-learners and classroom learners are targeted in the survey, which takes just a few minutes to complete. After submitting their survey responses, participants will receive information on ordering the RM2000 for the discounted price of $149 (including tax and shipping).

Strategy Instruction in Japanese as a Foreign Language

Strategy instruction materials for intermediate and advanced learners of Japanese are now available as downloadable PDF files (Acrobat Reader required) at: http://carla.acad.umn.edu/lctl/japanese/strategies.html. The lessons were developed by Kumi Sato and Yukiko Hatasa at the University of Iowa. The project was funded by the Less Commonly Taught Project at the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota. The materials are designed to promote learner autonomy. Because Japanese is linguistically distant from English, classroom instructions tend to focus on linguistic and cultural items. There is very little room to teach other facets of language learning that affect the development of efficient information processing skills and efficient learning styles, and students are often expected to acquire unfamiliar materials such as kanji and vocabulary outside of the classroom. The instructional modules are organized in terms of skills and knowledge and are independent of textbooks. They are designed so that strategies can be systematically incorporated into existing curriculum. Most of the instructions are written in Japanese; depending on the level and specific textbooks used, the instructor may wish to modify vocabulary items and phrases. The reference materials cited in the modules are also available from CARLA's web site.

Part A: Raising awareness for strategy use
A.1. Brainstorming, using the Japanese and English version of SILL and vocabulary Introduction
A.2. SILL-based awareness activity
A.3. Factors affecting language learning
A.4. Good language learners
A.5. Language learning style, using ELSIE (in English and Japanese) and goal setting

Part B: Vocabulary learning strategies
B.1. Making a list of strategies
B.2. Repeating and mechanical learning strategies
B.3. Classifying and using semantic network
B.4. Using imagery, physical response and sensation
B.5. Using context to infer vocabulary
B.6. Retention strategies

Part C: Kanji (Chinese character) learning strategies
C.1. Making a list of strategies
C.2. Using component shapes of kanji
C.3. Visualizing and using mnemonics
C.4. Speeded pattern recognition
C.5. Leaning kanji through sound and in words
C.6. Analyzing morphology of kanji words
C.7. Using context

Part D: Grammar strategies
D.1. Making a list of strategies
D.2. Inferring patterns
D.3. Deductive reasoning
D.4. Contrasting and assessing similarities
D.5. Analyzing long sentences and combining phrases
D.6. Applying grammar in novel situations

Part E: Conversation strategies
E.1. Making a list of strategies
E.2. Using affective strategies
E.3. Asking for help and correction
E.4. Preplanning, assessing background knowledge, potential problems & resolutions
E.5. Monitoring and involving oneself to maintain control during conversation
E.6. Evaluating, identifying problems, and planning for future occasions

Part F: Listening strategies
F.1. Making a list of strategies
F.2. Activating schemata and organization
F.3. Preplanning, identifying potential problems and solutions
F.4. Attending information selectively
F.5. Monitoring & guessing during listening
F.6. Evaluating, identifying problems, and planning for future occasions

Part G: Reading strategies
G.1. Making a list of strategies
G.2. Activating schemata and organization
G.3. Preplanning, identifying potential problems and solutions
G.4. Monitoring, guessing, during reading
G.5. Using resources
G.6. Evaluating, identifying problems, and planning for future occasions

Online Japanese Dictionary

Sanseido Co., Ltd., Tokyo-Kobe, Japan, now provides the largest dictionary web site in Japan at www.sanseido.net. It includes 1.2 million terms from 16 dictionaries such as Daijirin, Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten, Konsaisu Nihon Chimei Jiten, and Eiwa Jiten, Futsuwa Jiten, Dokuwa Jiten, etc.

Teachers' Guide to International Collaboration on the Internet

The Teachers' Guide to International Collaboration is now published on the Website of the U.S. Department of Education at http://ed.gov/Technology/guide/international. The criteria used for project examples were: a. The project is collaborative (not simply a website with static information). b. The project is international in participation. c. The project is available for teachers and students to join now (not ones that have been completed and are no longer available). Comments and suggestions for revisions are appreciated.

Websites for Educators

The Japan Section at Washington University has created the following two websites which might be of interest for teachers using the textbook series Japanese: the Spoken Language (Jorden with Noda) and Japanese: the Written Language (Jorden and Noda). The sites are still under construction, and Masayuki Itomitsu, who created both sites, welcomes comments and suggestions from users.

Japan Picture Gallery, www.artsci.wustl.edu/~japanese/japanpicturegallery

An Update on Japanese E-mail: POP and IMAP

It has been a while since my colleague Kazumi Hatasa and I published a web document called "A Guide to Japanese E-mail" (http://www.sla.purdue.edu/fll/ JapanProj/Je-mail/). This is a quick update on the topic.

I think most people are familiar and comfortable with the notions of "server" and "client." In the case of e-mail, your e-mail server receives mail and stores it for you. When you want to read your mail, you fire up an e-mail client program (e.g., Eudora-J, Netscape Mail, and Outlook Express) to download mail from the server. Once the mail is downloaded, it is stored exclusively on your computer in a file. As long as your computer is properly Japanized and a Japanese-capable email client program is installed, you should have no problem reading and writing e-mail in Japanese. We recommended this setup in the web document because this way, we can bypass most, if not all, potential Japanese-language related problems with the server computer. (Most server computers running in the U.S. institutions don't support Japanese.)

Up until recently the only way for the client to communicate with the server was POP (Post Office Protocol) (a protocol refers to a set of conventions regarding how data are transmitted). But now many servers offer IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) as well (or sometimes IMAP only). Both protocols are used in the client-server situation and therefore are very useful to us in doing Japanese e-mail. Let me discuss each one below.

POP is the more straightforward of the two. With POP, you download mail messages in their entirety onto your computer. Any subsequent reading of the messages takes place off-line. (That is why you can disconnect from the server after you download your mail.) Once successfully downloaded, the messages are erased on the server (unless you choose to accumulate them on the server, an option that I don't recommend). The straightforwardness is also a drawback for some people. Suppose you read mail both at work and at home. If you download mail at work, the same messages cannot be read at home unless you carry them on a floppy disk or something. (This is why some people still cling to server-based mail programs like elm, pine, and mailx.)

IMAP, on the other hand, gives you the best of both worlds, so to speak. With IMAP, when you connect to the server, it typically gives you a list of folders you have. You then select a folder, say, INBOX. This will prompt the server to give you a message list with message titles, sender, transmission date, etc. Once you select a message to read, your computer asks the server to send over the message body in real time for you to read. If you then choose another message, it gets transmitted, etc. With IMAP, mail messages remain on the server unless you specifically delete them. Therefore, messages read at work can be read again at home or anywhere else. At the same time, IMAP gives you the same advantage that POP users enjoy: i.e., it is the client computer that does all the interfacing work, which means that if you have the right kind of client software and a Japanese environment, Japanese e-mail can be handled with ease.

At the present time, both Netscape Mail and Outlook Express-J support IMAP and Japanese e-mail. (Both are free downloads for educators. For Outlook Express, be sure to download a Japanese-language version.) Eudora-J is POP-only.

If you have questions or comments regarding this article, please direct them to me at afukada@purdue.edu. Depending on the level of reader interest, I'm prepared to revisit the topic of Japanese e-mail in subsequent newsletters.

Create Your Own Customized Kanji Lesson Using the Web

The JP NET Project at MIT, in collaboration with Saeko Komori of Chubu University, has created an extensive Web-based program for teachers of Japanese to create their own kanji lessons, sequenced according to your own curriculum: web.mit.edu/jpnet/kanji-project. This site is a curriculum-independent repository of kanji study materials, allowing teachers to build their own Web documents (on their own, or using templates provided by JP NET) and linking in, as desired, to multi-media materials. The on-line collection of data consists of digital movies showing each character being painted with a brush; scanned still images of each character painted by hand; stroke count, on- and kun-yomi for each character; and sample compound words with accompanying sounds for each compound word. This site is free. The site's creators would, however, appreciate users' letting them know that they are accessing and using it. Contact Anne LaVin: lavin@mit.edu. The project is sponsored by Canon, the Nippon Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education.

Japanese Language Support on the Computer

The lack of proper Japanese language support on the computer has been a major headache for many of us. Add-on software such as the Japanese Language Kit has helped, but the cost is often prohibitive to making it widely available to students in labs. Now, this situation is rapidly changing. As many of you know, MacOS 9 came out a little while ago with all the language kits embedded within the operating system. This means that you no longer have to spend extra money to buy the Japanese Language Kit; you just need to install it from the system CD-ROM. When the labs upgrade to MacOS 9, just tell the administrators to install Japanese. Then your students will be able to use Japanese freely. No more extra cost. No more hassle. Here's the URL for Apple's official MacOS 9 web page: http://www.apple.com/macos/. (If you browse this site, you will see the word "MacOS X." Yes, that's the next generation OS, coming soon.)

On the PC side, Microsoft is about to release Windows 2000, which promises to support multiple languages, including Japanese. The use of Global IME is restricted to certain Microsoft applications, but Windows 2000 supposedly allows the user to use Japanese in any application program, including non-Microsoft ones. The rumor is that there are quite a few software compatibility issues with Windows 2000, meaning that your favorite application program may not run under it without an update. We will know more about it when we actually get our hands on it. You can read about the multilingual feature of Windows 2000 at this URL: http://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/ int_pr_install_languages.htm?id=75.

by Atsushi Fukada
Director of the Center for
Technology-Enhanced Language
Learning and Instruction at Purdue University

[The following column is a new addition to the ATJ Newsletter and will appear in each issue. If you have any resources or ideas that you would like to see discussed or reviewed here, please send a note to stephen.miller@colorado.edu.]

I have been asked by the ATJ to serve as a regular reviewer of technology-based instruction. First, however, let me introduce myself briefly. I am an Associate Professor of Japanese and Director of the Center for Technology-Enhanced Language Learning and Instruction at Purdue University. Through this column I hope to bring you useful information about technology as it relates to Japanese studies and the teaching of Japanese.

For this installment, I would like to review a software package called kanaCLASSIC, available from University Technology International, Inc., owned by the University of Calgary. Here's the basic product information.

kanaCLASSIC: An Electronic Guide to Learning Classical Japanese kana Writing, by X. Jie Yang, Sadako Ohki, and Sonja Arntzen (1998). ISBN 0-231-11604-7. US$49.95. PC only.

The basic function of this software is to teach hentaigana, which very few people can do, especially outside Japan. For this type of skill, therefore, it makes good sense to create a distance-education resource such as this. The program has four sections: Introduction, Basic Knowledge, Reading Practices, and Entertainment. The Introduction provides the user with a short lecture on the history of kana and other background information, which I found to be well written and informative. The Basic Knowledge section presents the user with one syllable at a time with its corresponding hentaigana variations. (For instance, for the syllable "i" there are five hentaigana variations.) When the user clicks on a hentaigana variation, a video clip of someone writing it plays on the screen. Also, at the same time, graphic animation takes place right next to the video replay area, showing the correct stroke order and shape. I found these two features overlapping in fuction and therefore redundant. Also, it is very confusing and distracting to have the two displays occurring simultaneously (at different speeds). Having said that, both video and graphics are beautifully done and look authentic to my novice eyes. Another problem I found in this section is with the example feature. When the user selects a hentaigana variation, this feature allows him or her to look at examples of it occurring in original documents. The trouble is that the program is designed to search one document at a time, and if it doesn't find an example in one document, it stops to report that. This becomes very annoying if an example isn't found until several documents later. Certainly it should be possible for the program to keep searching until it finds an example.

The Reading Practice section is very interesting and is certainly the highlight of the program. It allows the user to practice reading scanned images of original picture scrolls and other types of documents written in hentaigana (and kanji). It contains 5 categories with 25 documents in total. They can be grouped by genre or by difficulty with a flip of a switch. There are four different views the user can select: original document image, kana, original character (jibo), and modern reading (kana and kanji). When the user attempts to read in the original document view, which is the view for reading practice, s/he has the option of moving the mouse on a manuscript to pop up a three-line help display (kana, original character, and modern reading). I found this interface easy to use and very useful. One problem I have with the section is with the feature to select a hentaigana and access the Basic Knowledge screen to see the writing process. Unless I missed it, once I jumped to the Basic Knowledge screen, there was no way to get back to the manuscript I was reading.

The Entertainment section is for fun only. In a large blank drawing area, you can "drag and drop" hentaigana to create your own "literary work." I said it's for fun only because it is not intended to be a serious hentaigana word processing program. No editing is possible: once a hentaigana is placed, it cannot be moved or erased. You can, however, save the drawing area as a graphic image and print it out from another program.

Except for a tri-fold jacket with screen shots accompanied by minimum operating information, no instructional manual per se is found in the CD-ROM package. It took me, an experienced computer user and instructional software developer, a few minutes to figure out how to operate the program completely. So a little more user-friendliness is probably necessary. Also, there are no instructions for hard drive installation. The program operates slowly when displaying video and graphics off the CD-ROM.

Overall, the package is one of a kind, as far as I know, and is a very useful distance learning tool. The problems discussed above are rather minor and somewhat technical. The software deserves a high mark for its design and implementation. For an evaluation of the particular instructional approach adopted, we have to wait for a field expert's review.

by Atsushi Fukada
Director of the Center for
Technology-Enhanced Language
Learning and Instruction at Purdue University

Mail ATJ: atj@colorado.edu.

Phone: (303) 492-5487 Fax: (303) 492-5856