College Students' Responses to Kanakun and Kantaro

Abstract

Japanese language learners typically have to acquire three different sets of orthographic characters: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Learning these three different character sets at the same time is often a burden to many learners. The Kanakun and Kantaro programs, featuring Japanese language games, were developed to facilitate learners' acquisition of Japanese characters and vocabulary items. A survey conducted in first-, second-, and third-year Japanese courses at Illinois Wesleyan University in 1997-98 examined learners' evaluation of the programs. The results of this evaluation indicate that the programs facilitated students' acquisition of Japanese characters and served to motivate them to continue their acquisition of Japanese.