Important Information for Teachers
The Target Level
of the Learners
These materials have been
designed for intermediate to advanced learners (intermediate low to advanced
low according to ACTFL oral proficiency guidelines). For example, it is suitable for learners of
Japanese in a foreign language setting who have completed at least 300 hours of
instruction covering the first 20 chapters of the textbook Genki (Banno, Ohno, Sakane, Shinagawa, & Tokashiki, 2001). The materials also cater directly to the
communicative needs of the college-age learners in a second language setting.
The Intersection between Language and Culture
In language learning there
are crucial areas of intersection between language and culture where the
two are
intricately intertwined. For example, in order to break into a conversation
between two natives of Japanese, learners need to identify and mobilize those
language structures that are appropriate for signaling a desire to break in.
It is also necessary for them to know if it is culturally acceptable to break
into
the conversation of those two people and if so, when and how. Are certain
discourse conventions used when attempting to join a conversation?
Do gender,
status, rank, and other factors make a difference?
These web-based exercises
focus on speech acts in
Japanese to enhance the strategies students might use for learning speech acts
in Japanese. We perform speech acts when we offer an apology, a request, an
invitation, a compliment, a refusal, and the like. A speech act is an utterance
that serves some function in communication. It might contain just one word, as
in "Sorry!" to perform an apology, or several words or sentences:
"I’m sorry I forgot your birthday. It just slipped my mind." Speech
acts include real-life interactions and require not only knowledge of the
language, but also knowledge about how to use that language appropriately in a
given situation within that culture (more
information about speech acts).
Speech
acts are often difficult to perform in a foreign language because they are so
closely tied to the culture. An utterance that works in English may not convey
the same meaning when translated into the second language. When performing
speech acts in Japanese, your first and most important concern as speaker is to
consider: “Who is the addressee?” You must consider the hearer’s age, social
position, and the level of familiarity between you and the hearer. The role
that you and your interlocutor play (e.g., student vs. teacher) and the
“status” difference that comes with the role (e.g., relatively “lower” status
for a student, relatively “higher” status for a teacher) will condition what
you say. The level of familiarity or acquaintance, that is, whether you are
close or just getting acquainted, also plays a role in choosing the appropriate
level of politeness. In Japanese, we also need to choose language forms that
express respect and humbleness, especially through the use of keigo (honorific language). Within each
speech act to be studied in these materials, these considerations will be
highlighted through the use of a green font. In addition, there are speech-act specific
strategies, highlighted in red or blue fonts. These
strategies are intended to alert learners as to
cultural norms, the way the discourse flows, and the role played by various
linguistic features.
The Variety of
Japanese
These
materials focus on “standard Japanese,” not on the dialect of Japanese spoken
in the western part of Japan or any other regional dialects.
The Notion of
What “Correct” Means with regard to Sociolinguistic Behavior
The
truth is that in dealing with language in a social context, there is always
variation, even among natives – given their personality, their level of
education, their cultural background, and so forth. For this reason, many times
there is no one best way to say something. Rather, there are preferred
approaches. It is our intention to feature those preferred approaches.
The Empirical
Nature of These Materials and Authenticity of Linguistic Samples
Because
there is variation even among native speakers in the way they speak, and
because much of our language use is unconscious or automatic, appropriate use
of language or appropriate speech norms must be taught research-based. The linguistic samples and exercises in these
materials are largely based on past research findings. However, due to the very nature of speaker
variability (e.g., personality, age, gender, level of education, and cultural
background), the samples and answer keys may not always match what you would
say and how you would say it in Japanese.
Also,
for learners to become able to use Japanese communicatively, sample dialogues
were recorded at natural speed with very little grammatical and lexical
modification (e.g., simplification). It
is
our
intention to provide to learners authentic language and language use as it is
actually used by native speakers. It is recommended that with these materials
instructors encourage learners to focus on the appropriate use of Japanese, not
grammatical accuracy or analysis of linguistic form. Learners can begin to develop a tolerance of
ambiguity while focusing on the main idea and appropriate use of Japanese,
rather than worrying about understanding every single word used in samples.
Degree of
Nativeness
Should
learners be expected to deliver a speech act the way a native does? In many cases,
learners’ delivery will be accepted even if they violate certain rules. If
people recognize that a learner is a non-native speaker, they will be less
likely to take offense at unsuccessful attempts to deliver a speech act. In
some cases, the native speaker may have to make allowance for the fact that while
the speech act is acceptable, it still is not stylistically
appropriate. In other cases, a learner’s utterance may be accepted but
would still be inappropriate. In
still
other
cases, it
may
not
be acceptable
at
all. These materials are intended to
provide learners as to why native speakers perform speech acts in certain
ways and
what they are likely to consider appropriate in terms of speech acts addressed
to them. Instructors should leave it up
to
learners to decide just how much they wish to conform to a native-like standard
in their speech act behavior.
The Interactive
Nature of Speech Acts
One
of the truly attractive features of speech act work is that it involves
language in context. Sometimes in language class, there is a tendency to study
and to learn language out of context or at least in a non-interactive way. In
the case of speech acts, in order for you to apologize or thank, there has to
be someone else who is being apologized to or thanked. And this person’s
response is not necessarily predictable. It is not necessarily clear just where
the interaction will lead. So in order for learners to fine-tune their ability
to perform speech acts, they need partners. We would suggest that learners be
encouraged to try out the strategies that they learn through these materials
in real life situations. Hopefully, our resources will help your students
to achieve their communicative
aims by reducing to some degree instances of communication failure through inappropriately
executed speech acts.
Structure and
Content of These Curricular Materials
Our self-accessed web-based
modules include an introductory
awareness-raising unit and five
speech act modular units (apologies, compliments/responses to compliments,
refusals, requests, and thanks).
The introductory unit presents eight realistic situations learners of
Japanese are likely to encounter in Japan.
The unit attempts to trigger learners’ noticing of important pragmatic
features and invoke their interest in pragmatic norms and cultural mores (more information about the introductory unit).
Components of each of the
five speech act units (Quick Guide to a Sample Unit):
1. Description of the situation with contextual
factors (e.g., age, status, level of acquaintance, intensity of the act) and
successful L2 sample interactions
2. Pragmatic awareness-raising tasks and explicit
feedback on L2 pragmatic norms
3. Language-focused (sociolinguistic/pragmalinguistic)
exercises, and grammatical and lexical information
4. Practice in producing output
5. Self-evaluation and feedback
6. Sociocultural information
7. Annotated bibliography for the speech act
More
Information about the Components of the Speech Act Units
Recommendations
for Japanese teachers in incorporating these materials into the curriculum
If you are
an instructor considering using these materials in your Japanese courses, there
are multiple ways to do so. The units are
intended for learners’ self-access, so they can be assigned as homework in
addition to your regular curriculum.
However, our research study has shown that students may prefer
to get some practice or get some questions answered in class.
If you would like access to responses students send to us in doing the exercises, or need some ideas as to how you can follow up these materials in your class, please contact Noriko Ishihara.
Useful Sample
Worksheets and Questionnaire
Sample Reflective Journal Tasks
for Learners
Sample Learner Questionnaire/Evaluation of the Materials
Frequently Asked Questions from Students
Back to Speech Act Strategies Index Page