Gifted and Talented in Japanese

How to sustain their motivation

Junko BracefieldHOD Languages

St. Matthew’s Collegiate School

“Please Sensei, can I have some more?”

Are we feeding them enough?

Questions

• Why G & T now?• How do we identify G & T in Japanese?• What are their characteristics?• What are their needs?• What can teachers do?• What do Japanese G & T students say

about their success?

Ministry of Education Beliefs

NAG(January 2005)

From Term 1, 2005 it will be mandatory for all

state and state-integrate schools to demonstrate

how they are meeting the needs of their gifted and

talented learners, as they are currently required

to do for students who are not achieving, who are at

risk of not achieving, and who have special needs.

Responsibility as a Teacher

More Important Reasonsfor Japanese Education

• Better success rate in NCEA Exams

• Motivate students to continue into senior level

• Positive influence on other students

• Become role models for other potential Japanese G & T students

Defining Giftedness and Talent

Gifted and talented students have;

- exceptional abilities,

- certain learning characteristics that give them the potential to achieve outstanding performance (MoE, 2002)

How do we identify G & T students?

General characteristics of G & T

• Quick to master new concepts• Applies concepts/skills to different contexts.• Willing to take risks, guess & hypothesise• Keen to direct & plan own learning• Passionate interest• High output when enthused

(From Meuli 2005)

8 Creative Behaviours in Language SkillsAdapted from Williams Model

Cognitive Skills Receptive Skills Productive Skills

1. Fluency - Follows a flow of thought

- Comes up with lots of ideas- Substitutes an English word/phrase or creates language rather than stopping the flow of communication- Able to demonstrate good accent and pronunciation

2. Flexibility - Approaches things in different way

- Thinks of different ways

3. Originality - Creates the unusual- Produces new, unique or clever ideas

4. Elaboration -Adds interesting details- Stretches or expands on things

5. Risk-Taking - Uses language and context clues to make intelligent guesses in understanding

- Experiments with the language- Willing to take risks, guesses hypothesises- Willing to express ideas

8 Creative Behaviours in Language SkillsAdapted from Williams Model

Affective Skills

6. Curiosity - Shows initiative to explore language and culture- Curious, keen to know more

7. Complexity - Feels challenged to do things in difficult or intricate ways- Appreciates details and looks for connections, relationships, and patterns

8. Imagination - Builds mental pictures

What are their needs?

• Their ability to be understood, accepted and valued.

• Their ability to be nurtured.• To be challenged at their own level.• To interact with other G & T students

(From Meuli 2004)

What can Japanese Teachers do to cater for their needs?

Create a G & T friendly classroom

• Positive teacher attitudes toward G & T students.

• Explore ways to assign work.• Offer material which extends, not merely

reinforces.• Encourage risk taking • De-emphasize grades and other extrinsic

rewards (Kennedy, 2003)

Understanding why they study Japanese

The Four Most Frequently Cited Reasons for Studying Japanese at Y11

(McLauchlan, 2006)

1. L2 study is important (35.7%)2. Interested in the country (19.1%)3. For a job (17.7%)4. For travel (11.2%)

Understanding their difficulties

Most Frequently Cited Difficulties in Learning Japanese

(McLauchlan 2006)

1. Vocabulary (42.9%)

2. Grammar (38.1%)

3. Kanji (11.5%)

“Vocabulary Teaching and Learning in Japanese.

How can we help?” (Bracefield, 2004)

• Which words to choose

• How to present, practise and revise

• How memory works• Avoid “Learning Burden” (Nation, 2004)

“… Many more kanji need to be taught and that furigana might be one strategy to overcome the problem. It will lead to students’ gaining more exposure to kanji,and thereby feeling more familiar with it.”

“Harnessing furigana to improve Japanese learner’s

ability to read kanji”

Leigh Kirwan (2005)

Is furigana the answer?

• Kanji is subliminally processed to some extent• Students gaining more exposure to kanji,

feeling more familiar with it• Learners develop familiality with certain kanji

combinations to attain automaticity• Creating a positive feeling about kanji• Encourages students and teachers to go

beyond prescribed kanji (Kirwan 2006)

Present more Kanji in Y11

• All Level 1 kanji • All Level 2 and 3 kanji with furiganaEg:　えき　　　　駅からまっすぐ行って、二つ目のかどを右　　　　　　　　　　　こうにまがります。つぎの交さてんを　左にまがって　　　　こうえん　　　しょ下さい。公園は、と書かんの前にあります。

Help to increase intrinsic motivation

Classroom activities should;• Be life relevant• Be teenager friendly• Have a variety to suit learning styles• Enable students to make a connection between the curriculum and their interests and life experiences

Giving Effective Feedback• Prompt feedback• Positive feedback• Requests for clarification (Ellis)• Indirect feedback (From Bitchener, 2006)

eg: coding, underlining, ? , commenting S - Spelling WW - Wrong Word T - Tense WO - Word Order ! - Need for conferencing

“Boosting achievement with messages that motivate”

(Dweck 2008)

The most motivated and resilient students are not the ones who think they have a lot of fixed or innate intelligence. Instead, the most motivated and resilient are the ones who believe that abilities can be developed through their effort and learning.

THE FIXED MINDSET MESSAGES

Praising the student’s ability and intelligence will not help G & T students because;

• many talented students lack confidence in themselves.

• many gifted students simply stop working when school becomes more difficult.

• setbacks indicate a lack of ability …and that lack of ability is permanent.

THE GROWTH MINDSET MESSAGES

Praise the students for their;

• Effort

• Strategies

• Focus

• Persistence in the face of difficulty

• Willingness to take on challenges

Teachers as Role Models

• The teacher as learner - “Teachers who think they have nothing to learn will convey this attitude to their students”

• Share language learning experiences with your students

• Be a reflective teacher• Be conscious of your own language ability• Nuro-scientific approach• Research-based approach

What are G & T students saying about their success?

Questions asked

• Why are you studying Japanese?• What helped you to succeed in NCEA Level1/2?• What is the most difficult thing about studying

Japanese?• How do you manage this difficulty?• Do you think rewards from the teacher or

parents help you to achieve highly?

Students interviewed• 4 Excellences or more in NCEA Level 1• 3 Excellences or more in NCEA Level 2 (NZALT Certificate of Excellence)

4 students Onslow College 4 students Queen Margaret College 3 students St. Matthew’s Collegiate School2 students Wairarapa College

Total 13 students

Why are you studying Japanese?

• Interested in the culture, language, people• Learning languages is important• Different from any other languages• The Japanese class is fun • Easier than French• Have special connections

What helped you to achieve highly in NCEA Level 1/2?

• Self motivation

• Interesting and fun lessons

• Good teacher and good programme

• Hard work and keeping at it

• Learned and revised vocabulary and kanji hard

What is the most difficult thing about studying Japanese?

• Kanji• The different forms of language use (eg;

plain/masu/te form, polite/casual form, men’s/women’s way of speaking)

• Learning vocabulary• Word order• Different forms of writing (hiragana,

katakana, kanji) • Pronunciation

How do you manage this difficulty?

• Practise vocabulary and kanji• Revise in class and by myself• Just keep at it• Create my own strategies to learn

kanji/vocabulary, eg; songs, pictures,rhymes

• Asks for help from the teacher/others

Do rewards help you to achieve highly?

• No. Mostly self motivated

• Yes, to some extent

• Complements and encouragement rather than material rewards

• No. I want to please my parents and the teacher because they help me a lot

• I don’t get any rewards.

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Hidemi Fuke (Queen Margaret College), Harumi Hasegawa(Onslow College) and their students for their help in surveying the students and valuable feedback.

References

Bicherer, J. (2006) Improving accuracies in L2 writing.New Zealand Language Teacher, Vol 32Dweck, C. S. (2008) The secret to Raising Smart Kids. Scientific American Mind,Kennedy, D. M. (2003) Plain talk about creating a gifted-friendly classroomKirwan, L. (2006) Harnessing furigana to improve Japanese Learners’ ability to read kanji. Babel, Vol 40McLauchlan, A. (2006) Second language (L2) learning in New Zealand Schools: A preliminary report into the reasons for studying and for discontinuing New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics, Vol 12Meuli, A. (2004) Victoria University College of Education