Development of and Pilot Studies on Effectiveness of Tasks for Vocabulary Acquisition

开发了一个面向日语初学者的WEB-BT词汇习得系统。该系统名为Kaguyahime，可以用日语和英语操作，具有以下特点：(1)它的目标是习得日语词汇。(2)促进自主学习。(3)促进协作学习。(4)从学习者那里获得的数据将用于词汇习得的研究。今年系统中增加了声音文件。然而，由于2007年是该项目的最后一年，主要任务是测试和评价该系统。大分大学的一些国际学生对此进行了测试，澳大利亚大学的日语教师也得到了反馈。总的来说，老师和学生对该系统的反应是积极的，普遍认为该系统对初学者来说很有趣和有用。然而，最初，一些技术问题浮出水面。其中一个问题，例如日本信件的腐败，通过获得良好的技术建议而得到解决。其他偶尔遇到的困难包括学生在试图将图片与词汇含义联系起来的过程中对图片的正确识别。这个问题通过为每一幅画提供一个英语含义来解决。大分大学的远程学习者现在可以使用该系统。在该项目的研究方面，将需要更多的大量数据来测试该系统，并必须就学习者如何使用该系统获得词汇进行更多的研究。在日本和海外的会议上发表了六篇关于该项目和词汇学习的论文，并在2006年和2007年发表了六篇论文。

A Web-BT System for Acquisition of Vocabulary for Japanese beginners has been developed. It can operate both in Japanese and English, The System, called "Kaguyahime", has the following features: (1) it is targeted for the acquisition of Japanese vocabulary. (2) It promotes autonomous learning. (3) It promotes collaborative learning. (4) Data derived from the learners will be used in the research of vocabulary acquisition.Sound files have been added to the System this year. However, as 2007 is the final year of the Project, the main task was to test and evaluate the System. It was tested by some international students at Oita University and feedback was obtained by Japanese language teachers at Australian Universities. On the whole, teachers and students had positive reactions to the System; it was generally thought that the System was interesting and useful for beginners. However, initially, some technical problems came to the surface. One of the problems, for instance, the corruption of Japanese letters, was solved by the obtaining of good technical advice. Other occasional difficulties involved the correct identification of the picture chosen by students in their attempt to associate the picture with the vocabulary meaning. This problem was solved by providing a meaning in English to each picture. The System is now available to distance-learners of Oita University.On research side of the Project, more substantial data will be needed to test the system and additional studies must be conducted on how learners can acquire vocabulary using the System. Six Papers on this Project and vocabulary learning were delivered at Conferences in Japan and overseas and six papers were published in 2006 and 2007.