Abstract

This is the first book devoted to exploring issues of learning written Japanese, focusing on the challenges the writing system poses for the second language learner. It weaves together previous research on Japanese second language acquisition and kanji learning with original studies on self-regulation and kanji learning strategies. It provides the most comprehensive overview of the Japanese writing system and kanji learning to date; helps further our understanding of second language writing acquisition and offers new directions for research in the wider fields of language learning strategies, motivation and self-regulation. Each chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the content of the chapter for the Japanese language learner, instructor and researcher. It will appeal to researchers of the teaching and learning of Japanese as a foreign/second language, the Japanese writing system and second language acquisition, as well as to instructors and learners of Japanese who are struggling with the teaching and learning of kanji.

Heath Rose is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford, UK. His research interests include Global Englishes, second language pedagogy, language learner strategies and the teaching and learning of Japanese as a foreign language. He has published extensively in applied linguistics journals, is the co-author of a number of books on Global Englishes and the co-editor of Doing Research in Applied Linguistics (Routledge, 2017).

A timely and important contribution to the study of the acquisition of the Japanese writing system, focussing on self-regulation and motivation. This compelling volume relates key research findings on kanji acquisition in a way that will be very useful to Japanese language learners, teachers and researchers alike.

For Japanese language learners, studying kanji requires laborious and often tedious efforts, but it can also build their self-confidence and creativity for devising learning strategies. This groundbreaking book draws on Rose’s own experience as a learner, fills a research gap, and offers evidence-based insights to Japanese language learners, teachers, and researchers.