Strengthening the link between secondary and tertiary Japanese programmes:
Enhancing learning communities through NCEA assessments
Dr Masayoshi Ogino
The Tertiary Teaching of Japanese in New Zealand Symposium
• To help students become familiar with the achievement standards in NCEA through the full one-day workshop
• To have students gain more interest and confidence in
their Japanese language skills with the support of a mentor and teaching assistant, and within a classroom with students from other schools
Objectives of this workshop
Overview Background
– Decrease in the number of students learning Japanese
– Learning communities for the Japanese language programme in the 21st century
– Gap between secondary schools and tertiary institutions
From concepts to practice
– Case of Canterbury Region
• NCEA workshop at the University of Canterbury
Decrease in the number of students
learning Japanese
Source: Survey on Japanese-Language Education 2009. Japan Foundation
No. of students Rate of Change
No. of Institutions Rate of Change
No. of Teachers Rate of Change
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Num
ber o
f stu
dent
s
Japanese Spanish French
The number of students that took Japanese in 2011 was 25% less than that in 2001.
Based on the data from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/schooling/july_school_roll_returns/6052
Number of students (Y9-Y13) that took Japanese, Spanish and French (2001-2011)
NCEA Japanese: Listening Standards (2004-2011)
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Num
ber o
f stu
dent
s
The number of students that sat NCEA Level 1 Listening external exam in 2011 was 35 % less than that in 2004.
Introduction of the Revised NCEA aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum
• てんきはあついです。 • ホームローム • 学校まで あるきたいですが とおくないです。 (illogical) • アパートは まちから あまり とおくじゃありません • 私は ニュージーランドに いつも あさに シャワーを あびました。 • 日本人は よるに ねる前に おふろに 入ります。 • けいたいでんわを もってきて もいいですが、、、 • あびます = to wash （Glossed Vocabulary） • 学校の日は どんなぐらいですか。（Q） • どして? （Q） • あなたは えらんだうちのいいてんを せつめいして ください（Q） • 一つの日（Q） • 何がニュージーランドからちがいますか。（Q） • メリーさんは 日本のたべものは どうとおもいますか。（Q）
Linguistic errors in the externally assessed achievement Standard NCEA Level 1 View and Respond, 2011
Learning communities for the Japanese language programme
in the 21st century
Socio-cultural approach to second language learning
Expanded learning communities
Collaborative learning
Intercultural language teaching and learning
Learner autonomy
Assessment for learning
Portfolio assessment
Can-do statements
Task based language teaching
E-learning & Social Media
JF standard for Japanese-language education
Peer- and self-assessment
Vertical & horizontal articulation
Common European Framework of Reference For Languages
Socio-cultural approach to SLA (Vygotsky: socio-cultural theory)
A process of knowledge construction
Direct transfer of knowledge (e.g., information processing approach to SLA)
Thomson (2007, p.16)
Learning in social interaction
Socio-cultural approach to SLA (Vygotsky: socio-cultural theory)
(Thomson, 2008)
Learning Communities
Learners of Japanese at
secondary schools
Learners of Japanese at primary
& intermediate schools
Standards For Foreign Language Learning in the 21st century
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
Gap between secondary schools and
tertiary institutions
GAP in the Japanese language programme
Curriculum East, Shackleford, & Spence (2007);
Haugh (1997); Shearn (2003); cited in Oshima (2012)
Assessment NCEA generation: ‘More sophisticated, practiced and
accountability-focused than the previous “bursary” generation’ (Davidson et al, n.d.)
Teaching Methodology
Tertiary Institutions Secondary schools
“Articulation is used by curriculum specialists to putting lessons and activities into a meaningful sequence that is designed to improve learners’ proficiency.” (APEC, n.d.)
Source: 當作靖彦「日本語教育グローバルネットワーク(GN) シンポジウム (1) 、 グローバル社会を創る日本語教育:アーティキュレーション(連関)を通して見た世界」 2012年8月18日(土) 名古屋大学豊田講堂ホール
Tertiary Institutions Secondary schools
NCEA Assessments
• Intensive weekend for Y11 students
• Nihon-go Contest for Year 13 students (IPC)
Nihongo Festival at the University of Auckland
Auckland Regional Secondary School Japanese Speech
Festival (Y11-13, AUT)
What can connect the two?
Speech Contest (Y13) Canterbury Network of
Teachers of Japanese & CPIT
Decrease in the number of learners
An approach to improve the current situation
Expanding learning communities
Gap in the Japanese language programme between secondary schools and tertiary institutions
Features of this workshop Creating a learning community between secondary schools • Students interact with students from other schools through
activities to improve their Japanese skills and performance in NCEA
• Learners become • each other’s learning resources • users of Japanese
Features of this workshop Creating a learning community between secondary schools and the university • Organised with the support of Canterbury network of
Japanese teachers
• Involvement of UC students as teaching assistants and one-day mentors for secondary school students
• A full one-day EOTC during a weekday
• Open to three year levels (Y11-Y13)
• A Canterbury-based guest speaker who has knowledge of
Japan and Japanese lifestyles
• National Language Advisor
• Free of charge
• Supported by the Sasakawa Fellowship Fund
Features of this workshop
NCEA Japanese workshop at UC （7 June 2012)
182 secondary
school students (Y11-13)
UC students taking Japanese
Secondary school teachers
UC teaching staff
National Language Advisor
7 June 2012
Practical and achievable as a positive first step to strengthen the links
between secondary schools and university
Secondary
Tertiary
Intermediate
Primary
Tertiary
Tertiary
Tertiary
Tertiary
Stronger link & continuity of Japanese language learning among different educational levels
Horizontal Articulation Ve
rtic
al A
rtic
ulat
ion
Source: Survey on Japanese-Language Education 2009. Japan Foundation
Japanese Global Articulation Project (J-GAP) of the Global Network of Japanese
Language Education
Australian Japanese Language Speech Contest
• No entry of students from the NZ tertiary sector • Need to have a process to select representatives
from NZ tertiary institutions • Another lack of opportunities for high achieving
students – e.g., NCEA Scholarships
• native speakers of Japanese eligible • students choose not to challenge it because they have to
compete with native speakers of Japanese • teachers do not encourage them to go for it because they
know the difficulty of getting a language scholarship.
For the development of the Japanese language education in New Zealand
• What do we need to do now? • Identification of issues
– Short-term goals
– Long-term goals
• Do we need to have a shared vision in the Japanese programmes across NZ tertiary institutions? – Japanese Global Articulation Project?
– Australian Japanese Language Speech Contest?
– Issues in the NCEA examinations? • NCEA Scholarships?
• Reliability and validity of the NCEA examination papers?
Thank you
Masayoshi Ogino PhD School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics College of Arts, University of Canterbury Tel: +64 3 364 2987 ext 3698 http://www.lacl.canterbury.ac.nz/people/ogino.shtml
References A Joint Australia-Japan Working Group for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education and People-to-People Exchange. (2010). Strengthening Japanese language learning in support of the Australia-Japan business and academic relationship: Prepared for the sixth Australia-Japan Conference. APEC (n.d.). Articulation of Language Proficiency Programs. Retrieved from http://hrd.apec.org/index.php/Articulation_of_Language_Proficiency_Programs East, M., Shackleford, N., & Spence, G. (2007). Promoting a multilingual future for Aotearoa/New zealand: Initiatives for change from 1989 to 2003. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 17(1), 11-28. Fukai, M., Nazikian, F., & Sato, S. (2008). Incorporating sociocultural approaches into assessment: Web-based peer learning and portfolio projects. Japanese Language and Literature, 42(2), 389-411. Haugh, M. (1997). The teaching of Japanese in New Zealand: a national profile. Auckland: Institute of Language Teaching and Learning.
References Davidson, S.,Anderson, H., Rees, M., McKenzie, L., Johnston, P. M. Fletcher, R. B., & Meyer, L. H. (n.d.). An investigation of assessment policy and practice in New Zealand higher education institutions. Retrieved from http://www.victoria.ac.nz/education/pdf/davidson-investigation-assessment.pdf#search='an+investigation+of+assessment+policy+and+practice+in+New+Zealand+higher’ Oshima, R. (2011). An investigation into the reasons of discontinuance of Japanese amongst first year tertiary students who have studied Japanese to Year 13 at secondary school (Doctoral dissertation, AUT University). Shearn, S. (2003). Attitudes to foreign language learning in New Zealand Schools (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington. Thomson, C. K. (2007) “Chiiki shakai ni hirogaru gakushuu kyoudoutai:Oosutoraria no daigaku no nihongo kyouiku no baai [Expanding learning communities beyond classrooms: A case of Australian university Japanese language programs]” Nihongo Kyooiku, Journal of Japanese Language Teaching, Tokyo Japan, 133: 15-21 Thomson, C. K. (2008). A classroom without walls: The future of Japanese language education in Australia. Japanese Studies, 28 (3) 317-327.
