This presentation reports the process and rationale of curriculum development with CALL (computer assisted language learning) materials for advanced Japanese language learners in the UC system. In particular, the curriculum focus on enhancing reading and writing abilities for learners whose oral proficiency is rather high, such as Japanese heritage language (JHL) learners.
Prior to the curriculum development, the survey was distributed to 88 professors at Universities in the US, which listed advanced Japanese courses in their catalog, in order to identify the problems and needs of advanced Japanese learners in higher education. The data obtained from the survey were statistically analyzed. The results of the survey revealed that the advanced language learners still have difficulty with writing various genre of writing, such as academic paper and business letter. In addition, the learners also have trouble with reading text written by different styles; newspaper, novels, scripts for movies, and so on. The questionnaire was administered to advanced Japanese learners in a UC college, in order to verify the results of the previous survey for instructors. The results of the questionnaire from the students support the the survey results; the learners perceived the most challenging areas for them are writing paper with the formal style and reading literature.
The results of the survey, students feed back and the current SLA theories, were referred to the process of curriculum development. Three language instructors, who have had extensive experience with teaching advanced Japanese language learners have discussed and concluded that the development of CALL materials is crucial to satisfy the needs of advanced language learners whose language proficiency levels differ widely among and within themselves.
In the presentation, I would like to discuss the SLA theories used for the rationale of this project and to demonstrate some CALL modules which have been developed.