Challenges and experiences to develop a Japanese language course for international medical students in Japan: Maximising acquisition of Japanese language by applying adult learning theories

Abstract

Introduction: The International University of Health and Welfare (IUHW) School of Medicine was founded in 2017 with the intention of providing medical content in English a historical first in Japan. Twenty international medical students have been accepted annually, with the majority possessing less than beginner level Japanese language proficiency at the time of enrolment. However, proficiency in Japanese, especially in the context of medicine is required for academic success and program completion. To address this, the IUHW School of Medicine has developed a course in medical Japanese with the objective of facilitating international students’ acquisition of medical Japanese and reinforcing such acquisition through various listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities. This study aims to describe the Japanese language education program for international students at the IUHW School of Medicine, with particular focus on the development of the curriculum and course content. Methods: The course is designed based on the following educational strategies and their applications: (a) Synchronisation of both medical and Japanese contents; (b) Collaborative learning; (c) Japanese output of medical content learned in English; (d) Practical output through making/giving a presentation and discussion with medical experts; (e) Detailed language feedback from language experts; (f) Reinforcing the vocabulary knowledge by writing; and (g) Building up vocabulary and expressions with relevant contents. Results: Our observations suggest that our international students have been able to continue their medical education in Japanese smoothly. Conclusion: The content-based instructional design that includes second language acquisition strategies may also be applicable to other Asian languages such as Korean and Chinese.

Understanding EFL International Students’ Academic Listening Strategies: A Literature Review

“…The findings on international students' implementation of communication strategies to overcome their communication challenges suggest that international students from various educational backgrounds have not gained adequate academic English knowledge as a result of English being treated as a foreign language and rarely used (Liu & Kinginger, 2021;Shinagawa et al, 2022). These challenges may arise from a greater need for communicative competence in academic listening as the students would be expected to engage in conversation and express themselves articulately.…”

“…The analysis and reasoning strategy components are contrastive analysis, translating, and transferring. Contrastive analysis involves phonological, lexical, and syntactic analyses to determine and connect the relations between parts of the speech content of discussions (Oxford, 1990;Shinagawa et al, 2022). This is usually implemented through cognitive processing while listening to the speech of others in context to facilitate the listener's ability to follow discussion content.…”

“…This strategy is supported by seeking practice opportunities whenever possible to become accustomed to listening to variation in speech (e.g., accents). Evaluating learning, as reported by Shinagawa et al (2022), is important in relation to the other strategies and primarily involves self-monitoring and selfevaluation. Self-monitoring is the learners' noticing how they understand others when communicating with them while keeping track of any failures in understanding others' speech.…”

“…Asking for verification is usually about learners' need to confirm the accuracy of their understanding of speech content and may include asking for corrections. (O'Malley et al, 1989;Rubin, 1975;Shinagawa et al, 2022).…”

“…Liu and Kinginger (2021) and Shinagawa et al (2022) found difficulties were encountered by students during the pre-, while-, and post-listening stages of the listening process, which hindered them when performing basic academic activities (Manjet, 2016). Besides, English academic language proficiency deficiencies may prevent students from fully comprehending and participating in English academic discourse.…”