Kanji instruction at a Japanese supplementary school in the U.S.

Abstract

Japanese supplementary schools used to consist mostly of students who temporarily live abroad and return to Japan within a few years. However, with globalization, more and more students who permanently live in foreign countries have enrolled in such schools to study Japanese as a heritage language. Due to the diversification of these students' backgrounds, Japanese supplementary schools all around the world face difficulties implementing traditional methods of teaching. One area that has proved particularly challenging involves the instruction of kanji. The present study investigates Japanese supplementary school teachers' beliefs and pedagogical practices in kanji instruction. Through this examination, this study aims to identify the challenges Japanese supplementary school teachers are currently experiencing in relation to kanji instruction and suggest methods to address these challenges. The overall structure of this study is as follows: Chapter 2 examines the previous literature on Japanese supplementary schools, kanji instruction, and teachers' beliefs. In Chapter 3, the research questions are stated, and the methods, instruments, and procedure of the research are described in detail. The participants' beliefs about kanji instruction are identified in Chapter 4 and their instructional strategies are investigated in Chapter 5. Finally, pedagogical and research implications are discussed in Chapter 6.