Presentations by JTAT Member

ACTFL 2007 Annual Convention at San Antonio, Nov 16-18, 2007

"Increasing Student Motivation through Video Projects"

Yuko Prefume, Baylor University
Peggy Hardt, University of North Texas

Session: Sunday, November 18
               8:00 – 9:15 a.m.
               Rm. 205, Convention Center

Students’ motivation is one of the key factors in second language learning, but it seems to be a constant struggle to keep students motivated.  The presenters of this session are two professors from two separate universities who set out to make Japanese language instruction more meaningful and engaging.  They developed two different video projects in their intermediate-level Japanese classes.  The video projects correspond to the curriculums for each university but maintain a similar approach and objectives.  They will share details of the video projects and discuss the effectiveness of the projects in terms of students’ motivation and achievement. 

関西弁自主学習サイト 
 <http://llarc.mit.edu/kansai>

A WEB BASED MATERIAL FOR SELF-STUDYING THE KANSAI DIALECT
 
新宮育枝 Ikue Shingu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
畑中淳子 Junko Hatanaka, The University of Texas at Austin,
 
This project involves the creation of a web-based, self-guided, study
program on the Kansai dialect (Kansai-ben), a powerful regional dialect
spoken by over 20 million people in the Kansai area of Japan, where Osaka
and Kyoto are located. The project's targeted audience is English speakers
with intermediate proficiency or above in Japanese. This project aims to
assist students who wish to communicate with local Kansai people at work or
in daily life. It will also help students learn to appreciate diversity in
Japan through the understanding of the Kansai culture and local identity of
Kansai people. The website helps users gain basic knowledge of the structure
and intonation patterns of the Kansai dialect, and build up basic aural and
oral communication skills with Kansai native speakers. This website contains
not only descriptive texts but also audio resources for the sentences and
drills, and video clips from interviews with local people for the purpose of
comprehension exercises. The approach taken to the particular dialect in
this project can be applied to other under-represented dialects and cultures
everywhere.