Curriculum Design for Young Learners of Japanese as a Heritage Language

The Relationships Between the Accuracy of Self-Evaluation, Kanji Proficiency and the Learning Environment for Adolescent Japanese Heritage Language Learners

“…Nakajima (2003) also found that JHL learners' kanji proficiency does not necessarily progress as they grow older. Findings from research conducted by Douglas (2008), reported that JHL students' reading skills are very similar to the skill levels of second language learners at university. Moreover, Douglas (2010) found that university JHL students have problems in writing and reading combination kanji words amongst kanji components, although they can read kanji within context relatively well.…”

“…Additionally, heritage language speakers have pragmatic advantages, such as gaining a qualification and better employment opportunities as well as expecting to obtain good marks on exams (Doerra & Leeb, 2009;Willoughby, 2006). Despite the recognition of its importance, difficulties in maintaining learning and acquiring age-appropriate proficiency have been reported (Douglas, 2008;Oguro & Moloney, 2012), especially as learners become older, and this may influence learning motivation. Age-appropriate proficiency in JHL education is regarded as knowledge of vocabulary, script, grammar, and the skills to use them that students learn at school in each grade based on the curriculum designed by MEXT.…”