Japanese Language Learning Awareness and Strategies: A Study on Malaysian Academia
Hong-Seng Gan1,2*
1 Malaysia Alumni of Sakura Science Association, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, Kampung Datuk Keramat, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2 Department of Data Science, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16100 UMK City Campus, Pengkalan Chepa, Kelantan, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 15 February 2023 | Published: 1 March 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ijares.2023.5.1.3
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Abstract: Learning of foreign language has been emphasized in the national Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015 – 2025. Numerous foreign language classes have been offered in Malaysian public universities to drive the initiative. Japanese language has emerged as the most popular foreign language among Malaysian learners due to supportive national policies, frequent interactions between both countries, and positive social perception. Intriguingly, most Malaysian learners have demonstrated basic level of Japanese language. According to our survey, only 1% demonstrated advanced level of writing proficiency, 2.9% demonstrate advanced level of reading proficiency, and 3.8% demonstrated medical and advanced level of speaking proficiency. However, it is unsure whether the lack of awareness or absence of effective learning strategies have contributed to the stalemate. In this study, the level of awareness and learning strategies have been performed on Malaysian academia. The results showed that Malaysian academia lack a consciousness on the available of Japanese language learning resources (2.7238±1.1468). Besides, it is found out digital learning strategy has emerged as the best learning option (p ≤ 0.05) compared to other conventional learning strategies. Based on the results, future studies should investigate the contemporary foreign language learning strategies in the digitalization age.
Keywords: Japanese Language, Awareness, Learning Strategies, Malaysian Academia ___________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
The success of Look East Policy introduced by former prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir in the 1980s have brought immerse Japanese cultural influence on Malaysian society. Given that the Malaysian government has sent out large number of students to study in Japan, Japanese language has emerged as one of the most popular foreign languages learned by Malaysians.
Besides, the interest to learn Japanese as foreign language is attributed to several other factors such as influence from anime and pop culture (Jaohari & Kuraesin, 2021), active exchange programs to Japan (Gan, 2021), positive perception toward Japan (Hou-Keat, Nurul Husna, &
Norasrani, 2017), and self-interest (Pailin, 2017).
The architecture of Japanese language composes of hiragana, katakana and kanji, which is distinctly different from Malay and English language. While the number of interested Japanese language learners are large, mastery of the language is difficult. In fact, it is noteworthy that
most are basic level learners. Therefore, awareness on the importance on Japanese language, the available learning resources and effective learning strategy are often vital to ensure dedicated long-term learning. Intuitively, long term learning aims to promote deep mastery of the foreign language as the medium of communication (Cohen & Macaro, 2007). This is very helpful to sustain and further develop a robust long-term collaborative tie with Japan. To date, there is a lack of quantitative study which has concentrated on this research gap.
2. Literature Review
Foreign language learning is regarded as part of cultural understanding. Hence, teaching and learning of Japanese language always requires a good level of awareness of the Japanese culture. Even though the association between awareness on cultural understandings and language learning is well-recognized, there is a scarcity on relevant studies to investigate this issue. Intuitively, the limitation might be due to the reason that the study would be country specific. For example, a relevant study conducted in Iran has indicated that the Iranian foreign language teachers were not familiar of the foreign culture. As a result, their teachings were not able to convert into practical values and could potentially create misunderstanding of the native speakers’ message (Soureshjani & Hashemi, 2013).
In Malaysia, there are ample learning resources related to Japanese language. A notable resource comes from the Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur (JFKL) which offers Japanese language classes and learning materials to the Malaysian public. Furthermore, Malaysian public universities have been offering Japanese learning classes to their students. Among the successful initiatives can be taken from the establishment of Japanese Culture Centre as a result of collaboration between Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (KUFS) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Despite the initiatives, the level of awareness on the available learning resources among Malaysian public remains unexplored and lead to the waste of these useful learning resources.
Another important element is the effective foreign language learning strategy. The study of foreign language learning strategies has been an active research topic since 1980s. Learning strategy is defined as behavior, steps and methods that language learners implement to conduct language learning (Rubin, 1987). Conventional paradigm of language learning strategies can be categorized into direct and indirect approach. Direct approach uses mental process to directly influence the target language. Example of direct approach includes memory and cognitive method. Indirect approach provides support and manage the learning effort without directly involves the target language. Indirect approach comprise of affective and social method (Zakaria, Aziz, & Ramayah, 2017).
Cognitive strategy refers to the method that enable learners to comprehend and practice the new language. Meanwhile, memory strategy involves methods that let the learners to remember the language information more effectively. On the other hand, affective strategy employs methods that help to gain control and regulate personal emotions, attitude, and values. Social strategy involves the engagement of learners with other people in the learning process. The use of learning strategies are adopted from the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), which is a useful instrument to examine foreign language learners’ strategy utilization (Oxford
& Nyikos, 1989). However, these strategies have been developed a long time ago and necessary update is needed to construct the strategy in the digitalization era.
3. Methodology
3.1 Research Questions
The study aims to investigate the following research questions:
a) What is the level of awareness on the available Japanese language learning resources among Malaysian academia?
b) Which is the best applicable Japanese language learning strategy in the highly digitalized post COVID-19 era?
3.1 Questionnaire Structure
The questionnaire consisted of 4 sections i.e. (1) Demographics of respondents, (2) Awareness on continuous learning of Japanese language, (3) Learning strategies and (4) Conclusion. The survey consisted of 24 questions. Demographic information of respondents such as the education degree, field of study, name of exchange program and gender were requested. All respondents have given their consents to the use of information for this project use.
The awareness on continuous Japanese language learning was divided into two sections. The first section concentrated on the public awareness of the importance of Japanese language and the second section concentrated on the public awareness on the available Japanese language learning resources. A total of 6 questions was constructed. The learning strategies were categorized into affective, cognitive, social, digital and memory strategies to represent different learning techniques. There were 10 questions in this section.
3.2 Details of Respondents
A total of 105 respondents were recruited. The questionnaires were distributed among the Malaysian academia with the assistance from the Malaysian Alumni of Sakura Science Association (MASSA) volunteers. The respondents were made up of researchers, postgraduate students, undergraduate students and private employees who had previously joined Japan exchange programs such as JST Sakura Science Exchange, JSPS Ronpaku, and Japan Student Service Organization (JASSO). The respondents’ age ranged from 24 until 51 years old, where 60% were females and 40% were males. Meanwhile, majority of the respondents have PhD degree (46.7%), followed by the Master degree holders (29.5%) and Bachelor degree holders (23.8%).
3.3 Study Methodology
The questionnaire adopted a 5-points Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Descriptive statistics used averaged weights and standard deviations to interpret the level of awareness and the applicability of different Japanese language learning strategies among Malaysian academia. The findings were demonstrated in the following section.
4. Result and Discussion
Table 1 demonstrates the descriptive analyses on the level of awareness on continuous Japanese language learning among Malaysian academia. Based on the results, Malaysian academia has a strong awareness on the importance of learning the Japanese language (4.33±0.89). The awareness could be due to the employment advantages. Figure 1 illustrates the survey outcomes based on 105 respondents. For instance, an average 53.3% of the respondents have strongly agreed that learning Japanese language represents an important medium of communication to boost bilateral culture understanding. This implies a high level of awareness on the need of
the respondents were strongly acknowledged of the existing learning resources during their Japanese language learning journey.
The finding is consistent with the disappointing mean of 2.72±1.15 as shown in Table 1 (A2).
There are several famous learning resources, notably the Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur (JFKL) which provides substantial Japanese classes and cultural activities to the Malaysian public. In addition, there are Japan clubs in public universities to promote the cultural learning (Japanese language is considered as part of cultural learning). Given the rich resources, there is an urgent need to promote these learning resources to the public and strengthen the continuous mastery of the language.
Table 1: Descriptive analysis on the level of awareness about the importance of Japanese language (A1) and existing learning resources (A2) among Malaysian academia
Awareness n Means SD
A1: Importance of Japanese language 315 4.3302 0.8917
A2: Available Japanese language learning materials
315 2.7238 1.1468
(a) (b) (c)
(d) (e) (f)
Figure 1: Distribution of the level of awareness on the importance of Japanese language learning based on question (a) - (c), and distribution of the level of awareness on the available learning resources based on
question (d) – (f).
Table 2 demonstrates the descriptive analyses on the applicability of different Japanese language learning strategies among Malaysian academia. Based on the results, social, cognitive, affective and memory learning strategies have been found to be statistically insignificant in relation to the interest of learning Japanese language (p ≥ 0.05). Intuitively, these strategies are regarded as traditional foreign language learning approaches developed a long time ago and adopted until now. The findings are rather surprising and suggested a reshuffle is needed to revise ongoing learning strategies to ensure future learning continues to be effective.
In recognition of the rising importance of digital technology, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak, digital learning strategy has been added into the survey. Digital learning strategy has been proven to be statistically significant (p = 0.041). Again, the result has strengthened our suggestions. As such, digitalization has been accelerated by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Social media and online learning via digital technologies have swiftly become the new norm with transformative effect. Nonetheless, this is a new area of study and much is still underexplored, especially for mastering a foreign language. As a result, further studies should be conducted to investigate the use of digital tools in strengthening continuous Japanese language learning among Malaysian academia.
Table 2: Ordinal logistic regression analysis on the different Japanese language learning strategies among Malaysian academia.
Variable Wald df p-value Odds’ Ratio
Intercept 1 3.958 1 0.021 -
Intercept 2 4.144 1 0.016 -
Social 2.174 1 0.090 1.41
Affective 1.063 1 0.303 1.28
Cognitive 0.894 1 0.344 0.79
Memory 0.966 1 0.326 1.29
Digital 1.917 1 0.041 1.39
5. Conclusion
This is the first quantitative study that investigate the level of awareness on learning Japanese language and use of digital learning strategies among Malaysian academia. The research questions have been validated based on analysis results. Retrospectively, Malaysian academia has enjoyed a robust collaborative tie with the Japanese. The bilateral exchange has flourished cultural mutual understanding and knowledge transfer. Japanese language, for instance, is an effective medium of communication. Hence, there is an urgent need to increase the awareness of Malaysian academia on continuous Japanese language learning by using existing learning resources and digital technologies.
Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the financial support provided by the Toshiba International Foundation (TIFO) in supporting this project, and the voluntarily help provided by the Malaysia Alumni of Sakura Science Association (MASSA) during the conduct of survey.
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