Using karaoke videos to teach japanese vocabulary to taiwanese university students

Abstract

This paper reports the usage of Japanese karaoke films in order to enhance learning Japanese vocabulary among students in a university in Taiwan. A pretest-posttest control-group design was implemented in which the treatment students (55 girls and 48 boys) were given Japanese vocabulary lessons via listening to and watching two karaoke films, while the control group (62 girls and 47 boys) received their Japanese vocabulary lessons through only listening to the same songs (N=212, P ≤ 0.05). The treatment lasted for six consecutive regular general Japanese classes in which the last 20 minutes of the session was allocated to this experiment. The statistical independent samples T-tests used for each of the three comparisons in this study revealed a significant higher gain scores for the girls treatment group, while the boys treatment and control, as well as the general (all) students treatment and control groups did not show any significant difference. Given the ever-growing usage of karaoke in many countries such as Taiwan, the authors believe that addressing the possible and potential capabilities of such a favorable activity, particularly among the youth, can prove effective and helpful in teaching/learning Japanese and other languages.