The enhancement of students' interests and efficiency in elementary Japanese learning as a second language through online games with special reference to their learning styles

Abstract

The introduction of online games in the implementation of Japanese language education at the elementary level is both desirable and challenging. It meets various demands from the population amongst many learners of Japanese language as a second language who are motivated mainly through playing online games but without any knowledge of Japanese language and also underlines some practical issues which involve the actual operations in Japanese classrooms, with respect to the possible outcomes realized through second language acquisition. In this paper, authors attempt to relate Fleming's model of VARK with its applications in different learning styles in elementary Japanese learning. They are illustrated with two different kinds of online games in each of the VARK strategies, namely visual, aural, read/write and kinesthetic. Above all, this article can as well be a reference for those Japanese teachers who are struggling in conducting elementary Japanese lessons in a more pleasant way as perceived by the learners. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.