JAPN-3047: Topics in Kanji Learning 

Course Description: This course is designed to improve pre-advanced Japanese language students’ kanji learning abilities as well as their knowledge of kanji words. Through various kanji learning activities and the reading of selected texts on the Japanese writing system, students will obtain a better understanding of the nature of kanji and cultivate positive attitudes toward and perceptions about kanji. Discussion topics include different types of orthographies (i.e., phonography and logography), the linguistic as well as social functions of kanji, the advantages and disadvantages of kanji in terms of information processing and cultural heritage, the multidimensionality of kanji knowledge, the compositional structure of kanji words, and the role of phonemic and morphological awareness in kanji learning, and effective kanji learning strategies including morphological analysis, context-based strategies, association strategies, repeated practice, and metacognitive strategies. The course provides ample opportunity to assess individual students’ own kanji knowledge, reflect upon their own kanji learning strategies, work on various types of exercises that are intended to expand and enrich different aspects of their kanji knowledge (e.g., meaning, sound(s), visual representations, compositional structures, and usage), monitor their own progress, gather and share information from authentic printed materials, and express their own thoughts and opinions about kanji both orally and in writing. By the end of the course, students are expected to acquire a good command of approximately 750 kanji characters including 500 basic kanji characters taught in the first two years of Japanese language instruction at Georgetown University. Rigorous participation in class activities, various written and/or oral assignments, frequent quizzes and tests, library/internet research, and term project will be required. This course satisfies one semester of the College’s social science general education requirements and/or the upper elective requirement for Japanese majors. Prerequisite: At least one upper elective course (i.e., 300 level) Japanese language course.