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This is to certify that the
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USING DIGITAL STORYTELLING
FOR INTERMEDIATE JAPANESE LANGUAGE LEARNING

presented by
ASUKA NAKAGAWA

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for the

Master of degree in Telecommunication,
Arts Information Studies and Media

 

 

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USING DIGITAL STORYTELLING
FOR INTERMEDIATE JAPANESE LANGUAGE LEARNING

By

Asuka Nakagawa

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media

2004

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ABSTRACT

USING DIGITAL STORYTELLING
FOR INTERMEDIATE JAPANESE LANGUAGE LEARNING

By

Asuka Nakagawa

The project of the production thesis is an intermediate Japanese language tool using the
storytelling animation for college students who study Japanese in the United States.
The purpose of this project was to create an effective multimedia learning software with
various interactive features. With a cartoon-type animation of one of the Japanese
folklore stories, Urashima Taro, the web site provides users with a new prospective

opportunity of effective online learning.

Urashima Taro is one of the most famous and popular folklore stories in Japan. It has
been read to children in Japan for decades, and includes a lot of Japanese cultural aspects.
The web site with the storytelling animation of Urashima Taro helps Japanese learners

reinforce their language skills and makes the learning process more enjoyable.

This thesis is dedicated to my wonderful parents

Keiichi and Mikiko Nakagawa.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

l majored in business when I was an undergraduate student in a Japanese university. I
was always interested in designing when I was in college, however I had few experiences

dealing with digital media arts and technology.

I would like to say special thanks to Professor Brian Winn. He was my mentor who
helped me go through difficult times and shared memorable times with me. He is a caring
professor, who is always involved in his students’ interests, opinions, and ideas. I would
not have been able to complete my thesis project and the DMAT program without his
help. I would also like to thank Dr. Carrie Heeter, who gave me valuable advice on my

research projects.

My special gratitude also goes to friends of mine, Su Kwak, Jason Tye, Heidi Chen, Luis
Rosero, and Patti Banyas who helped me keep going and taught me never to quit. I would
not have been able to accomplish what I did in the past two years without their help

either.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... vii

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1
Background ................................................................................................................. 1
Problems ..................................................................................................................... 2
Solution ....................................................................................................................... 3
Objective ..................................................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER 2

PRE-PRODUCI‘ ION RESEARCH ................................................................................. 5
Secondary Research .................................................................................................... 5
Quantitative Research on Target Users ........................................................................ 5
Target Audience ........................................................................................................ 15
Persona Analysis ....................................................................................................... 16

CHAPTER3

CONTENT DESIGN ..................................................................................................... 20
Content for Storytelling ............................................................................................. 20
Storyboard ................................................................................................................. 23
Information design .................................................................................................... 25

CHAPTER4

PRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 30
Interface and Navigation design ................................................................................ 30
Characters and Illustrations ....................................................................................... 31
Animation ................................................................................................................. 36
Sound ........................................................................................................................ 36
Flash and Interactivity ............................................................................................... 37
Delivery .................................................................................................................... 40

CHAPTER 5

POST-PRODUCT ION RESEARCH ............................................................................. 41

Research Method ....................................................................................................... 41

User Observation ....................................................................................................... 42
Findings from User Observation ................................................................................ 44
Survey Results ........................................................................................................... 4S
Findings from Survey ................................................................................................ 52
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 54
APPENDIX A CONSENT FORM OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ....................... 56
APPENDIX B QUESTIONNAIRE FORM OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH .......... 58
APPENDIX C STORY SCRIPT IN ENGLISH ............................................................ 62
APPENDIX D CONSENT FROM OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH .......................... 65
APPENDIX E RECRUITING ADVERTISEMENT ..................................................... 67
APPENDIX F QUESTIONNAIRE FROM OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ............. 68
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 73

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Demographic data ............................................................................................. 8
Figure 2 Use of subtitles and audio track ....................................................................... 15
Figure 3 Information structure ....................................................................................... 26
Figure 4 Screenshot ....................................................................................................... 28
Figure 5 Young Taro ..................................................................................................... 32
Figure 6 Old Taro .......................................................................................................... 32
Figure 7 Turtle .............................................................................................................. 33
Figure 8 Princess ........................................................................................................... 34
Figure 9 Three kids ....................................................................................................... 35
Figure 10 A villager ...................................................................................................... 36
Figure 11 Flash movie structure .................................................................................... 38
Figure 12 Listening ....................................................................................................... 47
Figure 13 Reading ......................................................................................................... 48
Figure 14 Speaking ....................................................................................................... 48
Figure 15 Conversational expressions / phrases ............................................................. 49
Figure 16 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 49
Figure 17 Grammar ....................................................................................................... 50
Figure 18 Kanji ............................................................................................................. 50
Figure 19 Keigo ............................................................................................................ 51
Figure 20 Knowing culture ............................................................................................ 51

vii

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Background

The number of people who learn the Japanese language is increasing in the United States.
Many universities or academic institutions offer Japanese language programs. An
increasing number of junior high and high school students are also learning Japanese as

an elective class.

There is also a growing need for alternative ways of learning Japanese. One method of
learning Japanese is online resources available through the Internet. Another way is by
watching Japanese movies, animations, TV shows and/or books. These approaches
provide great benefits not only because they offer combined ways of learning languages,
but also because learners can take their own pace, learning in their convenient time with

easy access.

The project was inspired by my own experience as a second language learner of English.
I myself have watched movies, TV shows, soap operas and cartoons to improve my
English as many foreign language Ieamers do. I especially use DVDs as a language
Ieaming tool because the rewind and pause features allow me to review the scenes which
I could not understand. However, the drawback of this approach is that one needs to look

up words in the dictionary at the same time, which can sometimes be annoying.

However, Ieaming by culture is still more entertaining and engaging than by traditional
language textbooks. This idea has generated my interest in creating a web-delivered
digital storytelling software for Ieaming Japanese. This project will feature the play and
pause functions of DVD, incorporating dictionary and language Ieaming features in the

same screen.

Problems

There are many resources for learning the Japanese language outside the regular
classrooms. As mentioned above, the primary way is online resources. They teach
Japanese characters, grammars, pronunciations, basic conversations, and reading. A lot

of these web sites share common problems.

First, there are not enough resources for the intermediate level students. Most of the
online resources out there are for the beginners. Advanced Ieamers, meanwhile, may
enjoy web sites created in the Japanese language for the native Japanese people to

improve their language proficiency.

Second, most of the web sites lack multimedia resources. They are based mainly on text,
which might make users lose their interest in Ieaming the language. There are a few web

sites that contain audio clips, but most of them have a file size problem of not considering

the download speed. Furthermore, few web sites offer long clips of conversations or

dialog.

Beside online resources, Japanese movies, TV shows, mangas, and animations can be a
fun way of Ieaming the Japanese language. However, most of them are not created for
Ieaming purposes. English speakers may find it difficult to learn from these media
products, because these products use conversational Japanese language, which may not
be suitable for intermediate Ieamers. Furthermore, Ieamers may encounter new
grammars and vocabulary, which they need to look up in the dictionary, disrupting their

experience with the media.

Solution

Based on the problems of the both online and media resources for Ieaming the Japanese
language, a website containing a storytelling animation with DVD features would
contribute to intermediate students Ieaming Japanese. It will be a listening Ieaming tool

mainly for intermediate Ieamers who don’t have many listening resources on the intemet.

Because movies, animated TV shows and mangas from Japan are very popular in the US,
animation was chosen as the vehicle to tell the story, hopefully making the Ieaming

process more enjoyable.

Objective

The objective of this project is to design an effective and enjoyable language Ieaming
tool that encourages users to reinforce their language skills by themselves. With a
cartoon-type storytelling animation related to Japanese culture, users can enjoy Ieaming

Japanese on the web site.

CHAPTER 2

Pre-Production

Secondary Research

According to the Survey Report on J apanese-Lan guage Education Abroad from the Japan
Foundation Japanese Language Institute, Urawa (1998), the number of Japanese language
Ieamers at the higher educational level in the United States is 31,159. The report also
says that the number of institutions of higher education offering Japanese language
courses in the United States is 576, and the total number of institutions is 1,522. The
report also shows the number of US. students learning Japanese increased more than

twice compared to the survey conducted in 1993.

As mentioned above, this project targets college students with the Internet access. “The
Internet Goes to College” by Pew Internet & American Life Project (2002) indicates 86%
of college students have gone online, and 85% of college students have their own
computer. Besides, according to the survey “Home Computer and Internet Use in the
United States: August 2000” (2000), by the United States Census Bureau, 57.7 % of
people from 18 to 24 years old have home computer access, and 41.5% use the Internet at

home.

Quantitative Research on Target Users

Objectives
The purpose of this survey is to discover what Ieaming materials the target audience uses
to supplement and enhance their Ieaming of Japanese and to generate ideas on how to

create more effective Ieaming materials for this target audience.

The survey was conducted by asking participants to fill out questionnaires which

included the following five categories:

' Demographic Information - The first category on the survey asked participants
their age, gender, and native language.

0 Japanese Learning - The second category asked the participants their reason for
studying Japanese, where they have difficulties in Ieaming Japanese and how they
study Japanese.

0 Learning Preferences - The third category asked the participants questions related
to their use of the Internet or CD-ROMs in their Ieaming of Japanese. The survey
asked whether they use the Internet or CD-ROMs to study Japanese and why. The
survey also asked the participant’s interest and reasons in the use of lntemet and
CD-ROMs in learning Japanese.

' Story Preferences - The fourth category of the survey asked the participants what
types of stories and entertainment they would like to watch or read.

' Web Site Desires — Lastly, the fifth category asked the participants what types of
Ieaming materials they would like me to create and what types of features should

be included in the Ieaming materials.

Procedure

First of all, I contacted Ms. Yoshimi Sakakibara, a Japanese instructor at Michigan State
University. I was allowed to recruit subjects to take a survey on each of the 200 and 300
level courses the instructor taught. The survey took place in a classroom of one of the
Japanese Program classes at the Department of Linguistics and Languages at Michigan

State University.

Findings

Demographic Information

A total of 42 students completed surveys. Two thirds of the respondents were male.
Slightly more than half (55%) were from the 300 level Japanese course, and the

remainder were from the 200 level Japanese course.

 

35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%

5.00%

 

0.00%

300 Male 300 Female 200 Male 200 Female

 

 

 

Figure 1 Demographic data

The average age of all participants was 21.4 years old. About one fifth (21%) of the

Japanese language students in the survey were not native speakers of English.

The contents and features of this project will be designed to target a young adult male

audience whose native language is English.

Japanese Learning

Half of the participants in the study have been to Japan before. Students in the 300 level
course were more likely to have been to Japan (60%) than students in the 200 level

course. We can assume that those who have been to Japan before are somewhat familiar

with Japanese customs and culture. The content of the story should not just be basic

information of Japan.

For the question “what reason motivated you to want to learn Japanese?,” 64% of the
students’ primary motivation was to learn Japanese was Language. They were either
interested in Japanese language in particular or just wanted the challenge of Ieaming a

second language.

Forty percent answered “culture” as the reason for becoming interested in Ieaming
Japanese, 17% answered “”family/ relatives/ friends”, and 12% answered “work.” The
second most popular answer, “culture” can be assumed to include interest in Japanese
history, anime, comics, and the country of Japan. The results of the survey suggests that

the contents of the project should be related to Japanese culture.

The answers to the question “what is the biggest challenge you have in trying to learn
Japanese?” indicate what areas of Japanese language need to be addressed in the

program. Forty-five percent mention Kanjil as the biggest challenge, 17% mentioned

grammar, 17% mentioned listening, and 14% mentioned Keigoz.

In addition to creating a software that help students improve grammar and listening, I

decided to create a software that also focuses on Kanji and Kei go Ieaming. Kei go was

 

A Japanese character based on borrowed or modified Chinese characters

2 . .
Polite expressron of Japanese language

mentioned by a small minority of respondents, but it is technologically and aesthetically
easy to include both Kanji and Kei go in the same manner. I intentionally used as many
Kanji as possible in the story and put phonetic comment and reading aides on each Kanji
character to help students read or understand them better. As for Kei go, I tried to put

many Kei go words frequently used among native speakers of Japanese.

Learning Preferences

The intemet is a much more common tool for language Ieaming than CD-ROM among
these Japanese language students. Among all participants, 41% of students use the
lntemet (38%) and/or CD-ROM (10%) to study Japanese. Fifty-nine percent do not
currently use either technology to study Japanese. Thus, the proposed project would need
to initiate a new behavior among student users, of turning to interactive technology

experiences to learn Japanese.

Among those who use the lntemet and/or CD-ROM to study Japanese, they answered

question about the satisfaction of the use for the following purpose, by using a scale from
= strongly satisfied to 5 = strongly dissatisfied. They were asked to leave it blank if

they don’t use on the purpose of each items. The average score for each item is reported,

followed by the number of respondents who answered, in parentheses.

' 2.1 (16) To know more about Japanese culture or trends
' 2.2 (15) To learn vocabulary

0 2.2 (15) To use dictionary or translation tool

10

0 2.3 (14) To learn Kanji (third Japanese alphabet from China)

0 2.4 (10) To improve conversational expressions/phrases

0 2.5 (11) To improve listening skill

° 2.5 (16) To improve reading skill

' 2.9 (11) To learn grammar

' 3.0 (9) To learn Hiragana and Katakana (syllabic Japanese alphabets)
0 3.2 (12) To improve writing skill

0 3.3 (9) To improve speaking skill

Students did NOT turn to interactive media to improve their speaking or writing skills,
nor to learn grammar, Hirangan or Katakana. They did use technology to learn
vocabulary, as a translation tool, to learn Kanji, and to improve conversational, listening,

and reading skills.

As for the question asking about the difficulty with finding online resources appropriate
to their language ability level for the same purposes described above, by using a scale

from 1 = very easy to 5 = very hard, the percentage of the respondents is 81.0 to 81.3.

According to those results, it can be interpreted that not many students who use the
lntemet are satisfied with the quality and quantity of online materials for Japanese
language Ieaming . They have a hard time finding materials appropriate to their ability,

although they are interested in using online materials.

11

Listening and Kanji are the categories which many students choose as the biggest
challenge to learn Japanese Ieaming. 1t indicated that they were interested in using online
materials to improve the areas which they had difficulty with Ieaming. As I mentioned

above, those are the ones which the program focuses on.

As for the item, “To learn vocabulary,” I expected to have this area which should be a
part of the contents. Furthermore, the result of the score 1.8 of the item “’To improve
conversational phrases” shows that the story used in the software should include

conversation between more than 2 people.

Stog Preferences

There was a question about the types of stories which students would like to use for
Ieaming or entertainment purposes, among the following list, using a scale from 1 = like

very much to 5 = do not live at all.

0 (male average: 1.57 female average: 1.64) Comedy

' (male average: 2.15 female average: 2.07) Love story

0 (male average: 2.15 female average: 2.36) Folklore/Mythologies/Traditional
Stories

' (male average: 2.25 female average: 2.50) College campus life

° (male average: 2.37 female average: 2.36) History

° (male average: 2.46 female average: 3.00) Science Fiction

0 (male average: 2.59 female average: 2.79) Mystery

12

0 (male average: 3.07 female average: 3.50) Non-Fiction

' (male average: 3.11 female average: 3.50) Horror

The result of this question shows that male and female had very different content
preferences. However, the type of story with the highest score is comedy among both of
male (1.57) and female (1.64). Folklores has the second highest score (2.22) among male
subjects, and the third highest score (2.36) among female. On the other hand, love story
scored the second heighest (2.07) among female subjects, while it only scored the seventh

highest score (2.79) among male subjects

These results made me decide the content of the story would be one of Japanese folklore

stories which can include comedy elements.

Website Desires
As for the question “If there was a web site with animated Japanese stories, what features
would be desirable to help you improve your Japanese, using a scale where 1 = very

desirable to 5 = not at all desirable?” The average score for each item is reported.

0 1.6 Animation supplemented with Japanese audio dialog
0 1.7 Vocabulary explanation of words used in dialog

0 1.9 Grammar explanation of dialog

0 2.0 Script of entire story in Japanese text

° 2.1 Animation supplemented with Japanese subtitles

I3

0 2.1 Furigana with Kanji (phonetic comment and reading aid)
0 2.2 Animation supplemented with English subtitles
' 2.7 Script of entire story in English text

0 3.8 Animation supplemented with English audio dialog

The respondents were distinctly NOT interested in “Animation supplemented with
English audio dialog,” which had an average score of 3.8. Having the script of an entire

story in English text was also unpopular (2.7) although not to the same extent.

Animation supplemented with Japanese audio dialog and vocabulary explanation of

words in the dialog were highly desired.

Furthermore, in the question about the use of language subtitles and language audio of
DVD for Japanese language learning, 34% of the students answered to use Japanese
subtitle. 65% answered to use English subtitle. 69% asnswered to use Japanaese audio.

6% answered to use English audio.
Those results suggest NOT having English audio or audio language selection. Due to the

result of the study above, I have chosen to use Japanese audio to tell the story. I decided

not to create the system that allows users to select audio languages.

14

 

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70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%

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Japanese English English audio Japanese audio
subtitles subtitles track track

 

 

 

Figure 2 Use of subtitles and audio track

Target Audience

The primary audience for this project is college students in America who study Japanese.
They are all native speakers of English with their Japanese language at the intermediate
level. Their age may vary from 19 to 24. The secondary audience is also college
students who study Japanese. Their Japanese language level is at the intermediate level as
well. However, the secondary audiences are not native speakers of English. Their age

may also vary from 19 to 23.

Both audience groups are involved with Ieaming Japanese online and are also interested

in Japanese media productions such as movies, TV shows, animations, and comics.

Regarding the criteria of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test3, a Japanese

intermediate learner is the one who “has mastered grammar to a relatively high level,
knows around 1,000 Kanji and 6,000 words, and has the ability to converse, read, and
write about matters of a general nature. This level is normally reached after studying

Japanese for around 600 hours and after completion of an intermediate course.”

Persona Analysis

Primary Persona

Dan

Dan is a 22 year old college student, a senior, majoring in Japanese. He goes to a 4 year
college in New York city. He lives in a dorm that has a high-speed intemet access. His
family is originally from Iowa. He has studied Japanese for the past 2 years. Currently,
he is enrolled in a 300 level Japanese language course. He understands how to read
Japanese well, however he still struggles with understanding spoken Japanese. He also

has a hard time memorizing the Japanese Kanji.

Dan became interested in Japanese when he was in high school. He watched Japanese
animations such as Cowboy bebop, Ghost in the Shell, and Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball

was his favorite TV anime among them. He frequently watched Dragon Ball on TV in

 

3 The Japanese Language Proficiency Test conducted by Association of International Education, Japan, is

one of official tests to measure the ability of Japanese language for people whose mother language is not
Japanese. This test is broadly known among Japanese teachers and learners. Many textbooks of Japanese
are published based on the content and criteria of this test.

16

which characters all spoke English and came to wish he could watch the original version
of Dragon Ball aired in Japanese. His interest in Dragon Ball became his motivation to
study Japanese. His ultimate goal in life is to work for a Japanese animation production

company.

He likes to study Japanese and takes some Japanese courses in college. However, he
doesn’t like the Japanese classes in school. Japanese is taught mainly by using textbooks
in the classroom. He thinks that it is quite boring to study Japanese only by looking at
textbooks. Thus, when he studies Japanese on his own, he often plays Japanese animation

DVDs and use online resources, which he thinks is great fun.

Among the lntemet resources, he especially uses online quizzes to test his vocabulary and
Kanji. He uses online quizzes because he thinks taking quizzes online is just like playing
games and feels he can memorize a lot of Kanji effectively. However, there are only a
few materials which he can enjoy and improve his listening skill with. Most of the
listening resources he has found are created to help beginners improve their listening
skills and are not difficult enough to improve his listening. He wants to use more

challenging and interesting online materials to improve his listening skills.

He uses DVDs of Japanese animes. Currently there are many kinds of Japanese anime
DVDs sold in the US which he can find easily. His favorite genres are comedy and
adventure. He enjoys watching a lot of animes, so it encourages him to learn Japanese.

One of the useful features of the DVDs is the option of the subtitles. He uses the

17

Japanese subtitle with the Japanese audio track, so that he can catch the spoken Japanese.
However, there are some disadvantages of using DVD. Most of the Japanese animes use
advanced Japanese language so it’s really hard for him to understand the content the first
time he watches. He often needs to look up words in the dictionary. Few animes are

appropriate to his Japanese level. He thinks watching animes is not the best way to learn

Japanese for his current level.

Secondary persona

Michael

Michael is a 20 year old college student in Chicago. He is a sophomore with his major in

Sociology. He has been studying Japanese for a year and a half year.

He was born in China and lived there until he waslS years old. Before entering high
school, his family moved to Chicago. He went to a public high school and became good

at English.

Currently, he lives with his roommate, Atsushi, at an apartment near his college. Atsushi
is an international student from Japan and likes to teach the Japanese culture to Michael.
As Michael heard more about Japanese culture from Atsushi, he gradually became
interested in Ieaming the Japanese language. He began to take a 100 level Japanese

course when he was a freshman. Currently he is taking a 200 level class.

18

One of his interests in the Japanese culture is Japanese folklore stories. Reading folklore
is very interesting because some of them are very similar to Chinese ones. Furthermore,
Japanese folklore tells much about the Japanese traditional culture. So when he studies
on his own, he uses some web sites to introduce Japanese folklore. He found one good
web site about Japanese folklore used for an American audience. It has Japanese text as
well as English text, so that he can easily compare Japanese and English words.
However, the web site does not have many graphical images. He often gets bored using

the web site.

19

CHAPTER3

Content Design

Content for Storytelling

According to a survey of pre—production research conducted in Japanese classes, comedy
was selected as their most favorite genre of story and folklores as their second favorite.
About 2/3 of the students who participated in the survey were male. Inspired by those
results, I chose a story which carries the essence of both comedy and folklore and whose

main character is male: Urashima Taro, one of the famous and popular folklores in Japan.

According to the survey result, 10 students answered the interest in Japanese culture as a
reason to motivate them to learn Japanese. This reason has the highest number except
answers related language itself, which has 27 students. Urashima Taro features Japanese
cultures in many respects. Traditional clothing and atmosphere of the old times in Japan
are well described in Urashima Taro. The words used in Urashima Taro are also
important indications of the Japanese spoken languages used in today. Many words have

still been used for generations.

The original story of Urashima Taro goes back to the 8th century. Urashima Taro is
described in several Japanese history books as “Nihonshoki” or “T angofudoki” written in
the 8th century or “Mizukagami” in the 9th century. There is a reference book called,

“Urashimamyoujinengisho” in Urashima shrine in Kyoto, Japan that addresses the story

20

of Urashima Taro. “Urashimamyoujinengisho” talks about Urashima Taro as a person
who existed in a real life. In the year 478, Urashima Taro catches a turtle while he is
fishing. The turtle he captured transformed herself into a princess. He is asked to go to
Hourai-Mountain with her, which differs from the Dragon Palace described in Urashima
Taro. In Chinese legend, Hourai-Mountain is located in the sea, where a hermit lives.
This mountain is said to make people ageless and immortal. He goes to the Mountain

and marries to the princess. He comes back home in the year 825.

In “Otogizoushi” written in the Edo period, the book describes that Urashima Taro goes
to the Dragon Palace and he receives a box from the princess who lives there. After he
opens the box, Taro becomes a crane and goes back to Hourai-Mountain. Taro and the

princess are buried and celebrated as the god of a married couple.

Textbooks officially published by the Japanese government and used in elementary
schools from 1910 to 1949, describe the story of Urashima Taro as the story told
generally today. Urashima Taro is a kind man who saves a turtle from children and the
turtle takes Taro to the Dragon Palace in exchange for Taro’s favor. He comes back to
his village with the box he was given by the princess. He then realizes that three hundred
years have passed, which is the same narrative as Urashima Taro described generally

today.

The basic narrative of Urashima Taro is described the same today in all regions of Japan.

However, there are subtle differences in how the story is told, which indicates the

21

uniqueness of each district in Japan. Today there are three different endings of Urashima
Taro. One ending is used in textbooks published from 1910 to 1949 where the story ends
as Taro opens the box and turns into an old man. Another version of the story also
describes Taro becoming an old man as he opens the box. However, the story ends with
Taro’s death after becoming an old man. The third version of the story is the same ending
described in “Otogizoushi” where Taro changes into a crane and goes back to Hourai-

Mountain where he becomes a god.

In the story of Urashima Taro told today, Taro turns into an old man regardless of doing a
favor for the turtle, which may lead some readers to feel pity for him. However, the
original story does not indicate that Taro saves a turtle from children. The story describes
that a turtle becomes a princess and invites Taro to go to the Dragon Palace. The princess
also asks Taro to marry her as well. The story told today seems to be created so it coveys
more meaning. I use an ending which I modified from “Otogizoushi” to make it easier

for users to understand the story.

To make the content understandable for Japanese Ieamers at the intermediate level, I
modified the story of Urashima Taro by deliberately using vocabularies and grammar
which can be recognized and understood by the intermediate level students. The
instructor of Japanese program at Michigan State University, Yoshimi Skakibara, advised

on the Japanese language in the script. After the Japanese script was completed, I

translated it into English4.

 

4 Refer to APPENDEX C STORY SCRIPT IN ENGLISH

22

Storyboard

Chapter 1: Saving the Turtle

This chapter introduces the main character, Urashima Taro and how he meets a turtle,
who is another important character of the story. Urashima Taro lives by the sea and
makes his living by fishing. When he is walking on the beach one day, he finds some
local kids tormenting a turtle. He tells the kids to stop tormenting the turtle and let him
go. The kids insist that it is okay for them to torment the turtle and do not stop bullying
the turtle. Taro tells the kids that he will give away all the fish he has caught in exchange
for letting the turtle go. Thanks to Taro, the turtle was let free. Before going back to the

sea, the Turtle thanked Taro and tells him that he will never forget his kindness.

Chapter 2: Returning the Favor

Several days pass after the incident. The turtle that Taro saved from the kids comes to
see Taro when he is fishing on a boat. The turtle tells Taro that he came back to see him
to repay his favor. The turtle tells Taro that he will take him to the Dragon Palace where
the turtle lives. Taro doesn’t believe such a palace exists under the water, however out of

his curiosity; Taro decides to go to the Dragon Palace with the turtle.

Chapter 3: Dragon Palace
Taro goes under the water with the turtle to go to the Dragon Palace. At the bottom of the

sea, Taro finds a beautiful castle which the turtle calls the “Dragon Palace”. A beautiful

23

princess welcomes him at the entrance. The princess thanks Taro for helping the turtle
and provides Taro with plenty of delicious seafood. He enjoys the palace and stays there
for awhile. As he spends time with the princess at the palace, he gradually falls in love

with her, and she does as well. They later get married and start to live happily together.

Chapter 4: Farewell

Three years pass. Taro comes to miss home as time goes by. He decides to go home and
tells the princess his intentions. The princess asks him not to go back to his home above
the sea and tell him to live with her forever. Yet, Taro insists that he will go home, and
the princess eventually agrees to let him go back. The princess gives Taro a box and says
it will allow him to go back to where he came from. She also tells him not to open the
box no matter what happens.

Taro takes the box and begins his journey home with the turtle.

Chapter 5: Returning Home

When Taro returns, to his former village, he realizes that things have changed drastically.
He can not find his house so he asks a villager if he knows where his house is. Taro
introduces himself and explains to the villager where he used to live, yet the villager
doesn’t know where his house is. However, the villager tells Taro that he has heard of a

rumor about a man named Taro disappearing from the village three hundred years ago.

Chapter 6: Opening the Box

24

Taro is very shocked to find out time went by 100 hundred times faster above the sea
than under the sea. After thinking about what he should do now, he remembers about the
box the princess gave him. Although Taro remembers the princess’s warning, he still

opens the box and white smoke comes out of the box.

Chapter 7: Transformation

The smoke turns him into an old man. Taro realizes that time flows much slower under
the water than above the water and that the smoke changed him to his true age. When
Taro is crying out of despair, the turtle appears in front of him. The turtle turns herself
into the princess and tells Taro that he has saved her before so now it is her turn to do a
favor for him. The princess then turns back into the turtle again while Taro himself
changes into a turtle. The princess who now is the turtle suggests to Taro that they should
live together under the water. Taro goes back to the sea with the turtle at the end. Taro

and the turtle (princess) live happily ever after.

Information design

This language Ieaming software is divided into four sections: “Introduction,” “Tutorial,”

“Story” and “About Us.” These sections are designed to use the main language Ieaming

tool effectively.

25

 

 

Splash Movie

I
I I

L 1
Intro J Tutorial ] Story I l About Us 1
Language Chapter
Selections _ 1
Language Chic"
Box —— 29

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese I

Level i
Chapter

Terminology —— 6
Chapter

Characters 1

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3 lnforrnation structure

1. Introduction
The first section of this language software is “Introduction”. Introduction explains what

the story of Urashima Taro is about.

2. Tutorial

The “Tutorial” section consists of another five subsections: Language Selections,
Language Box, Japanese Level, Terminology and Characters. These subsections provide
Ieamers with information to watch the story effectively. “Language Selections” explains
the subtitle option located in the “Story” section. “Language Box” explains the use of

four categories: Overview, Vocabulary, Hints, and Script, which are located in the story

26

section as well. “Japanese Level” indicates that the software of Urashima Taro is
designed for students who are at the intermediate level of Japanese Ieamers.
“Terminology” notifies users with abbreviations of words used in the “Vocabulary” and
“Hints” under the Language Box. “Characters” introduces each character in Urashima

Taro with visual aid.

3. Story

The “Story” section is the main content of this website. All the characters, objects and
backgrounds appeared in the story are illustrated and animated by Macromedia Flash
MX. The story is divided into 7 separate chapters. The whole 7 chapters take 15 minutes
to play. This section begins with the scene selection to let users select a chapter they
want to play. Each chapter consists of an animation screen on the left side and

“Language Box” on the right side. This interface helps users watch the story effectively.

27

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28

By clicking play button, the animation starts on the screen. During the story, users can
control the animation by using the following functions; Play, Pause, Rewind, Forward,
Repeat, and Mute of audio, located under the animation screen. There are also buttons
which enable users to go to the next chapter and the previous chapter. There are three
signs of subtitles; Japanese, English, and None, which are located on the bottom of the
screen. Users can choose a subtitle language pressing either Japanese or English.
Subtitles are located at the bottom of the screen during the story, like normal TV or
movie subtitles. If they wish to watch the software without any subtitle, they may press
none. Subtitle can be re-selected even during the story. By using this feature, Ieamers

can study for their own purpose in their preferable Ieaming environment.

The Language Box consists of four separate tabs; “Overview,” “Vocabulary,” “Hints, ”
and “Script.” Each tab is designed to help users learn effectively. The story will stop
temporarily when users click any buttons to look at them. The button of play can be
clickable to start the story again. “Overview” gives a summary of a chapter and a tip of
grammar or vocabulary. “Vocabulary” features some vocabularies used in a chapter and
explain the meaning of those vocabularies. “Hints” explains grammatical tips and proper
nouns used in the story to help users understand the story. “Script” provides users with

the whole script of the each chapter in both of English and Japanese.

29

CHAPTER4

Production

Interface and Navigation design

Adobe Photoshop CS and Macromedia Flash MX was the primary interface design
software. Design principles were considered into the layout so that anyone would feel
comfortable and aesthetically pleased while watching the screen. I used both Kanji and
English to create title logos and drew some smoke in the background of the logo in
reference to the transformation in Urashima Taro. I chose blue as a main color to

emphasize the main theme of the project, the ocean.

After users enter the web site, a short splash movie starts and jumps into the Intro page
after a few seconds. Users can skip the splash movie by clicking the SKIP SPLASH
button at the right-bottom comer of the screen. This will allow anyone — either first time

visitor or returning visitor — to use the web site easily.

Even though the navigation allows users to surf the content on their own, there is a
certain flow a first-time visitor should follow: Introduction, Tutorial, Story, and About
Us. Therefore, NEXT buttons were added at the end of each section to help users explore

the software by the sequence.

30

Characters and Illustrations

I began to create the characters of the story by sketching them out on a piece of paper.
For creating the main character Taro, I sketched several different expressions of Taro and
selected the best one which can adapt to various story situations and looks friendly to
users. Six characters appear in the story beside Taro. In creating those six characters, I
considered their interactions with Taro to make them fit better in the story. After
deciding the designs of the characters, I used Macromedia Flash MX to illustrate the

characters by using a pen mouse on the Wacom tablet.

l. Urashima Taro

Urashima Taro is a young male who is in his early 203. The title of the story is named

after him. He is a kind, earnest man. He lives by the sea and makes his living by fishing.

He wears clothes which were worn by fishermen in the past. I created various facial

expressions to convey senses of comedy to the audience.

31

 

Figure 5 Young Taro

When I created the old man version of Taro, I drew a white beard on his face and colored
his hair white. I added some wrinkles to his face so the character would look old.
However, I purposely let both the young version and the old version of Taro wear the

same clothes to make them obviously seem the same person.

 

Figure 6 Old Taro

2. Turtle

32

The turtle is another important character of the story which later comes back to see Taro
after being saved by him. The turtle takes Taro to the Dragon Palace in exchange for his

kindness, and Taro meets a princess of the palace whom Taro eventually marries.

 

Figure 7 Turtle

3. Princess

The princess at the palace is designed to be very beautiful. The clothes which the princess
wears in the story are often seen in other fairytales in Japan. These clothes used in many
Japanese fairytales are believed to be the same clothes worn by royal families during the
Asuka and Nara periods. The scarf wrapped around her shoulders is often worn by female

characters who look human but are not, in other folklores or fairytales.

33

    

Figure 8 Princess
4. Three kids

Three children appear at the early stage of the story as bullies who torment a turtle. They
wear clothes sort of like Japanese traditional clothes; “Kimono”, however the kimonos
that they wear are not the expensive kinds of Kimono. Their kind of kimonos were easily
made from cotton. I deliberately created three different types of children with three

distinctive hairstyles, facial expressions, and clothing.

34

I I

 

 

Figure 9 Three kids

5. A villager

A man in a village who appears at chapter 5 does not appear in some versions of
Urashima Taro. However, since there are not any new characters after chapter 5, I
purposely created a villager to make the story more interesting. The villager has a
hairstyle called, “chon-mage”, which was the common hairstyle of warriors in Japan. The

villager also wears clothes which imitates a warrior as well.

35

 

Figure 10 A villager

Animation
I used Macromedia Flash MX to develop the animation. My goal was to create the
animation with the natural movement of characters and objects as cartoons on television

or movies represent.

For backgrounds, I attempted to get visual effects of distance between near and far by

implementing different speed to move those near and far objects.

For characters, I created various body parts of the characters in order to make the

movement of characters looking natural.

Sound

36

The audio in the story section consists of the narration and music. The result of the
quantitative research by target audience shows that improving the listening skill is the

highest purpose to use the Internet and CD-ROM.

In order to help users improve their listening skill effectively, it is important to determine
the right volume and narration speed which are comparable with the Japanese level of the
users. I listened to the audio materials actually used in intermediate Japanese classes and
studied the speed of the materials for my project. I recorded my own voice for all the
characters in Urashima Taro. I used Sony Sound Forge 7.0 to adjust spaces between
sentences. For the characters beside Taro, I used an audio editing program called,
“Audiocity” to change the voice pitch for each character. Audiocity allows you to save

files only as MP3 format.

I utilized a software called, “Sound Track” by Apple, and combined different sound clips
to create my own music. I chose various kinds of music to match each scene perfectly.
For example, I used up-tempo music for the scene where Taro goes to the Dragon Palace

with the turtle. Those music clips are saved as AIF and compressed into MP3 format in

Flash.

Flash and Interactivity

37

I separated this program into several files as many as possible, to minimize the size to
download. The story section is divided into 7 movie files and 7 language box files by

each chapter.

 

main.swf

Main

 
    

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[ intro.swf ] L tutorialswf Tl story.swf [aboutusswf ]

 

 

 

scene
selection

chapter

holder “ language

‘ holder

' I
I I I [ I 1
chapter] chapterZ ___ chapter? language 1 language language?
.swf .swf .swf .swf .swf '" .swf

Figure 11 Flash movie tructure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Story section contains useful interactive tools. These features will help users learn

Japanese effectively.

Although the whole story of Urashima Taro only plays for 15 minutes, I deliberately

divided the story into 7 short chapters. Each chapter includes Ieaming elements such as

38

vocabulary, grammars and scripts. Users may choose any chapter since the story section

is designed to begin with menu selection screen.

After selecting scenes, users will move onto the animation screen. I created buttons to
play the animation screen smoothly, which include Play, Pause, Forward, Rewind,
Repeat, Mute buttons. As mentioned above, there are buttons on the screen to guide

users to the next chapter or to a previous chapter.

The Play button is designed to light up before the animation screen is played and when
the screen is paused by a user. When each chapter ends, NEXT button also lights up and

blinks, guiding users to the next chapter.

The buttons to choose subtitles are located at the bottom of the animation screen. Once
you choose subtitles among Japanese, English or None (no subtitles), the subtitle button
that users have selected will be red. Users can change this subtitle during the play into
another. Once the subtitle is set, it will continue to appear in the following chapter as

well unless the user desires to switch it to a different language or turn it off.

The Language Box, which is located next to the animation screen, consists of four tabs:
Overview, Vocabulary, Hints, and Script. The animation screen will stop if a user
presses any of the Language Box tabs. 1 deliberately set up the animation screen to pause
when a user clicks on any of the four tabs in order for the user to focus on one thing at a

time rather than two at the same time.

39

Delivery

The intemet is the main platform which delivers this program. The results of the
quantitative research indicate that 10 percent participants use CD-ROMs as their sources
to study Japanese, while 38% of them use the intemet. Based on this data, I chose only

the lntemet as this software’s platform.

40

Chapter 5

Post-Production Research
Research Method

Objective

The post-production research consists of two parts: a qualitative survey and an user
observation. The purpose of the qualitative survey is 1) to test the usability of the
software; 2) to investigate how this production can help the target users learn Japanese;
and 3) to evaluate the effectiveness of this project The purpose of the observation is to
know how users interact with the software and to understand their ways of studying

Japanese using this web site.

Procedure

The subjects were students who had taken Japanese 200 or 300 level courses at Michigan

State University. The subjects were contacted by emails from the instructor, Yoshimi
Sakakibara. This survey collected data from 5 students who study Japanese as a second
language. Three were male. Three were from the 300 level course and the other 2 were
from the 200 level course. I observed them using the software and took notes of their

reactions. After they finished exploring the software, the subjects were asked to fill out a

. . 6
questionnaire .

 

5 Refer to APPENDIX E RECRUITING ADVERTISEMENT
6 Refer to APPENDIX F QUESTIONNAIRE FORM OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

41

User Observation

Four of the five participants consented to let me observe them while they were using the

software.

”Jason” was a male student, who finished a 300 level course and will take a 400 level
course next semester. He said he loves to use the lntemet for the purpose of both
Ieaming and entertainment. He started playing the software with no problem. When he
moved to the “Tutorial” section, he didn’t pay much attention to the subsections. When
he entered the “Story” section and selected Chapter 1, he clicked the Play button without
exploring any other features. After he played the story, he turned on the Japanese
subtitles. After he finished watching Chapter I, he clicked on the “Script” tab in the
Language Box. He read through it all quickly. It seemed he learned about some new
words and expressions he didn’t know before. He watched the rest of the chapters with
the Japanese subtitles on. He occasionally, but not often, clicked on the “Vocabulary”
tab in the Language Box while he was watching the story. He sometimes laughed at
some of the scenes. After he finished using it, he commented that it was interesting to
use this software and it was a good practice to improve his listening skill. He seemed to
understand the Japanese language in this story pretty well. He mentioned that he was one
of the top students in the last semester’s 300 level courses. He could be categorized as

advanced-intermediate Japanese Ieamers. He also spoke good Japanese.

42

”Brian” was a male student, who finished a 300 level course, and will take a 400 level
course next semester. He read through all the subsections located in the “Tutorial”
section. Before playing the story, he spent a little time in the Language Box to read the
“Overview,” vocabulary in the “Vocabulary,” and grammar in the “Hints.” Right after he
played the story, he turned on the Japanese subtitles, switched to the English subtitles
after a while, and finally turned it off. In Chapter 2, he started with reading the
“Overview”, and then moved to the “Script.” When he was watching the “Story”, he did
not turned on any subtitles. In Chapter 3, he turned on the Japanese subtitles till the end.
After the story finished, he looked through the “Hints” section. In Chapter 4, he started
with reading the “Overview” and moved to the “Story”, keeping the Japanese subtitles on
from the previous chapter. He also explored the “Vocabulary” section. After finishing
the chapter, he checked the “Script.” He started Chapter 5 by reading the “Script” before
he played the “Story.” He sometimes went to the “Vocabulary” section. He showed the
same pattern in Chapter 6 too. In Chapter 7, he took a look at all the terms in the
Language Box. He kept the “Vocabulary” tab on, as he started the animation. He paused

once, read the Japanese subtitles, and looked up words in the “Vocabulary.”

”Bob” was a male student, who finished a 200 level course, and will take a 300 level
course next semester. He played all the subsections in the “Tutorial” thoroughly. He
began the “Story” by reading the “Overview.” He quickly figured out how to play the
story. He tried to figure out how to turn on the subtitles, switching between different
options. He selected the English subtitles in the middle of Chapter 1. He sometimes

paused the animation and read the English subtitles. At the end of the animation, he

43

clicked all the tabs in the Language Box. In Chapter 2, he spent some time to examine all
the “Overview,” “Vocabulary,” “Hints,” and “Script” contents before playing the story.
He turned on the Japanese subtitles in this chapter. He played the animation without
pausing at all. He kept the same pattern of interaction in Chapter 3, 4 and 5. In Chapter
6 and 7, he also started each chapter by checking all features in the Language Box, but

switched the subtitles to English.

”Sue” was a female student, who took a 300 class and will take 400 level course next
semester. She read all the subsections in the “Tutorial,” and moved to the “Story”
section. She began Chapter 1 with the Japanese subtitles on. After the animation was
over, she checked some words in the “Vocabulary.” In Chapter 2 and 3, she sometimes
looked up in the “Vocabulary,” while she was watching the story. In Chapter 4 to 7, she
first examined the “Overview,” “Vocabulary,” and “Hints” in the Language Box, and

then played the animation. She laughed a lot at several scenes.

Findings from User Observation

I noticed that the 4 subjects were using the software in different ways. Bob and Sue
showed certain patterns after they figured out the best way of using the software. As
their certain patterns, Bob and Sue checked out parts or all the features in the Language
Box before they played the story. Jason looked through the Language Box after the
animation of each chapter was over. Brian changed the way he was using the software in

each chapter.

Survey Results

Tutorial section
There are five subsections in the Tutorial section: Language Selection Tutorial, Language

Box Tutorial, Japanese Level Tutorial, Terminology Tutorial, and Character Tutorial,

which are designed to review before reading the main story of Urashima Taro. Four

students rated the tutorials «Very Helpful» or «Helpful» and one felt they were only

«Somewhat Helpful».

Story used in the Story section

None had read Urashima Taro before. All students rated the content of the story «Very
Enjoyable» or «Enjoyable». All the students rated the illustration and the visual
movement «Very Attractive». Four students thought the speed of the dialog was «Just

Right». One student (from the 200 level) thought it was «Somewhat Fast».

Japanese language used in the Story section

One student from the 300 level indicated they understood «All» of the spoken Japanese in
the story, and 2 from the 300 level understood «Most» of it. On the other hand, the 2
students from the 200 level only understood «Some» of the spoken Japanese in the story.
Experience with Japanese also influenced the perception of how advanced the content
was. Three students thought the level of Japanese used in the story would be classified as

«Intermediate». One from the 300 level thought it would be classified as

45

«Beginner/Intermediate». One from the 200 level thought it would be classified as

«Intermediate/Advanced».

Subtitle Selections for the animation
All the students rated Japanese subtitles for the story «Very Helpful» or «Helpful».

Three students rated English subtitles «Very Helpful» or «Helpful». Two students did not
use English subtitles. All the students thought it was «Very Easy» to find the use of

subtitles in the Story section.

Control buttons for the anmation

Four students rated the Pause button on the animation screen «Very Helpful». One
student rated it «Somewhat Helpful». Two students rated the Rewind button «Very
Helpful» or «Helpful». One student rated it «Somewhat Helpful». Two students did not
use the Rewind button. One student rated the Forward button «Very Helpful». One
student rated it «Somewhat Helpful». Three students did not use the Forward button.
Four people did not use the Repeat button. One student rated it «Very Helpful». Four
people did not use the Mute button. One rated it «Not Helpful». All the students thought

it was «Very Easy» or «Easy» to find the use of control buttons.

Language Box in the Stou section

All the students rated Overview in Language Box «Very Helpful» or «Helpful». All the
students rated Vocabulary in Language Box «Very Helpful» or «Helpful». Two students

rated Hints in the Language Box «Very Helpful» or «Helpful». Two students rated it

46

«Somewhat Helpful». One student rated it «Not Helpful». Four students rated Script of
the story «Very Helpful». One student did not use the script. All the students thought it

was «Very Easy» to find the use the Language Box.

Japanese Learning

All the students thought this web site was «Very Helpful» to reinforce their Listening

skill.

 

Listening

    

d.

Very Helpful Helpful Somewhat Not Helpful Not Helpful at
Helpful all

 

 

 

Figure 12 Listening

Four students thought this web site was «Very Helpful» or «Helpful» to reinforce reading

skill.

47

 

Reading

OHNUAUI

 

Very Helpful Helpful Somewhat Not Helpful Not Helpful at
Helpful all

 

 

 

Figure 13 Reading

Two students thought this tool was «Helpful» to improve speaking skill.

 

 

o—nubu‘

Very Helpful Helpful Somewhat Not Helpful Not Helpful at
Helpful all

 

 

 

Figure 14 Speaking

Four students thought the web site was «Very Helpful» or «Helpful» to learn

Conversational expressions or phrases.

48

 

Conversational expressions / phrases

5
4
3
2
1
0
Very Helpful Helpful Somewhat
Helpful

 

 

Not Helpful Not Helpful at
all

 

Figure 15 Conversational expressions / phrases

Four students thought this web site was «Very Helpful» or «Helpful» to learn

 

Vocabulary.
Vocabulary
5
4
3
2
1
0
Very Helpfiil Helpful Somewhat Not Helpful Not Helpful at
Helpful all

 

 

 

Figure 16 Vocabulary

All the students thought this web site was «Very Helpful» or «Helpful» to learn

Grammar.

49

 

 

 

Grammar

5
4
3
2
1
0
Very Helpful Helpful Somewhat
Helpful

 

 

Not Helpful Not Helpful at
all

 

 

Figure 17 Grammar

Four students thought this web site was «Very Helpful» or «Helpful» to learn Kanji.

 

Kanji
5
4
3
2 ,7
1
0
Very Helpful Helpful Somewhat
Helpful

 

 

Not Helpful Not Helpful at
all

 

 

Figure 18 Kanji

Four students thought this web site was «Very Helpful» or «Helpful» to learn Kei go.

50

 

Keigo

o—nwa-u.

 

Very Helpful Helpful Somewhat Not Helpful Not Helpful at
Helpful all

 

 

 

Figure 19 Keigo

Four students thought this web site was «Very Helpful» or «Helpful» to understand

Japanese culture.

 

Knowing culture

    

 

 

 

5 ;,
4
3
2
1
Very Helpful Helpful Somewhat Not Helpful Not Helpful at
Helpful all
Figure 20 Knowing culture

The web site

51

All the students thought it was «Very Easy» and «Easy» to use the web site. They felt it
was «Very Enjoyable» or «Enjoyable» to use this web site for their Japanese Ieaming.

They also felt they would like to use this language Ieaming tool again.

What they liked about the web site

Two students described the site as a great listening tool. Four students liked visual
aspects of the website including the animation and illustration. Two students liked the
interactive features of this web site, including the pause and the rewind buttons, and

Japanese subtitles that help them understand the content of the story.

What part of the website could be improved

Three students thought there should be more contents in the Hints section of the
Language Box. One student suggested that the ending of each chapter should be easier to
recognize. For example, adding the sign “continued” to inform users to move on. One
student said that it should take less time to go back to previous or next pages by using the

rewind or forward buttons.

Findings from Survey

They liked the visual aspects a lot including illustration and animation. The subsections

in the Tutorial section helped users prepare to watch the story and use the features in the

Story section. They thought the Language Box was helpful except for the Hints section.

52

Many students agreed that interface, navigation, and interactivity of the web site are well

designed.

The degree to how much the students understand the content of the story was co-related
to the students’ Japanese level. Students in the 300 level understood much more than
students in the 200 level. However, students in the both 200 and 300 levels understood
the content of the story, Urashima Taro. The students thought that this web site works

best to improve their listening skill.

Based on the findings from the user observation and the survey, a few improvements
could be made in the future. “Hints” in the Language section should contain more
content. The interface that indicates the end of each chapter could be more obvious. The

Rewind and Fast Forward buttons could be added for users' convenience.

53

CHAPTER 6

Conclusion

The production of the thesis is a Japanese language Ieaming web site using the
storytelling animation of a Japanese folklore story. This project was designed for college
students, who study Japanese as a second language and are at intermediate level. The
objective of this project is to design a new effective Ieaming tool with various multimedia

and interactive features.

My own experience as a second language learner inspired the idea to combine the
features of DVDs, a language learning tool such as dictionary, and a storytelling
animation. I deliberately designed the interface that users can explore easily and

encourage their language Ieaming.

One of the biggest challenges was to understand the target audience. The pre-production
survey was conducted in intermediate level classes of Japanese program at Michigan
State University. It has taught me a lot about how Japanese language students learn. The
user testing for the post-production research showed me their actual ways of Ieaming
Japanese language on the lntemet. Through those surveys, I could gather insights for

designing the storytelling Ieaming web site.

As the result of the quantitative research shows, students at intermediate level are

interested in the use of online resources for Japanese language Ieaming. However, they

54

still have a hard time in finding good web sites appropriate to their level of skills.

Students at intermediate level are positive in exploring new styles of studying Japanese.

Learning Japanese language is as challenging as Ieaming other languages. There are
many areas to study, such as Listening, Reading, Grammar, Vocabulary, Speaking, and

so on. It is so hard to master all the areas of a language.

Ideally, there should be appropriate materials to assist students of all levels of Ieaming
language and all purposes. My product was designed mainly to reinforce leamer’s
listening skills. Based the post-production research, I feel the web site was effective at

accomplishing it's goal for intermediate Japanese language Ieamers.

55

APPENDIX A CONSENT FORM OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Using Digital Storytelling for Japanese Language Learning
Consent Form

Instructions

You are being asked to participate in a survey for the production of a thesis called, Using
Digital Storytelling for Japanese Language Learning. Please read this consent form
thoroughly. If you agree to participate, please sign your name at the bottom of this page
and you will start the questionnaire.

Project Description

The purpose of this production thesis is to create a new Japanese language Ieaming tool
for American college students who study Japanese as a second language. The product
will be a web site containing an animated story related to Japanese culture or trends. It
will also include explanation of grammar and vocabulary used in the story to help
Ieamers.

Survey Procedure

The survey will take around 10 minutes to complete. You are being asked to answer 18
questions in the survey. The purpose of this survey is to discover what Ieaming materials
you use to supplement and enhance your Ieaming of Japanese and to generate ideas on
how to create more effective Ieaming materials for you.

Participation in the survey is voluntary. This survey will be conducted only with your
consent. You may stop participating in the survey at any time for any reasons. You don’t
have to answer any questions you do not want to. Participation in this project will in no
way effect your evaluation in the class.

Confidentiality

The results of the survey will be used for comparative research and design purposes only.
Your privacy will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law. All responses to
the survey will be anonymous. Your name will not be associated with the findings. The
result of this survey will be used only by the investigators. The data will be stored in a
locked cabinet and on a drive on a password-protected computer, available only to the
investigators.

Contact Information
If you have any questions about this project, please contact the principal or secondary
investigators:

 

 

 

Principal Investigator Secondary Investigator
Brian Winn Asuka Nakagawa
253 Comm Arts Building 253 Comm Arts Building

 

 

56

 

 

 

East Lansing, MI 48824 East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-5497 517-353-5497
winnb@msu.edu nakagawa@msu.edu

 

 

 

 

If you have questions or concerns regarding your rights as a study participant, or are
dissatisfied at any time with any aspect of this study, you may contact — anonymously, if
you wish - Peter Vasilenko, Ph.D., Chair of the University Committee on Research
Involving Human Subjects (UCRIHS) by phone: (517) 355-2180, fax: (517) 432-4503, e-
mail: ucrihs@msu.edu. or regular mail: 202 Olds Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824.

Statement of Consent
If you agree to participate in this survey, please sign and date below.

“I voluntarily agree to participate in this survey.”

 

Printed name

 

 

Signature Date

57

APPENDIX B QUESTIONNAIRE FORM OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Questionnaire for “Using Digital Storytelling for Japanese Language Learning”

01) What is your gender? __ Male _ Female
02) How old are you? _ years old
03) Are you native English speaker? _ Yes _ No

04) How long have you been studying Japanese? About _ years

05) Have you ever been to Japan? _ Yes No

06) What reason motivated you to want to learn Japanese?
07) What is the biggest challenge you have in trying to learn Japanese?

08) Are you finding that Japanese is easy or hard to learn?
_Easy _In between _Hard

09) Do you use the lntemet or CD-ROM to learn Japanese by yourself?
_Neither _Both _lntemet only _CD-ROM only

10) If you use the lntemet or CD-ROM to learn Japanese by yourself, how satisfied are
you in using them for the following purposes, using a scale from 1 = strongly satisfied to
5 = strongly dissatisfied. If you do not use the lntemet or CD for a particular purpose,
please leave it blank.

_ To improve listening skill

_ To improve speaking skill

_ To improve reading skill

_ To improve writing skill

To learn grammar

To learn vocabulary

To improve conversational expressions/ phrases

To learn Hiragana and Katakana (syllabic Japanese alphabets)

58

To learn Kanji (third Japanese alphabet from China)
To use dictionary or translation tool
To know more about Japanese culture or trends

11) How interested would you be in using Japanese language learning materials on
the lntemet or CD-ROM for the following purposes? Please write your answer, using a
scale from 1 = very interested to 5 = not interested at all.

_ To improve listening skill

_ To improve speaking skill

_ To improve reading skill

To improve writing skill

To learn grammar

To learn vocabulary

__ To improve conversational expressions/phrases

_ To learn Hiragana and Katakana (syllabic Japanese alphabets)

_ To learn Kanji (third Japanese alphabet from China)

_ To use dictionary or translation tool

_ To know more about Japanese culture or trends

12) How easy is it for you to find Japanese language Ieaming materials on the lntemet
or CD-ROM which are appropriate to your ability level for the following purposes, using
a scale from 1 = very easy to 5 = very hard?

_ To improve listening skill

__ To improve speaking skill

_ To improve reading skill

To improve writing skill

To learn grammar

_ To learn vocabulary

_ To improve conversational expressions/phrases

_ To learn Hiragana and Katakana (syllabic Japanese alphabets)

_ To learn Kanji (third Japanese alphabet from China)

__ To use dictionary or translation tool

_ To know more about Japanese culture or trends

13) How often do you use the following to improve or reinforce your Japanese skills?
Please check your answer.

_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often The lntemet

_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often Computer CD-ROM

_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often Audio cassette or audio CD
_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often Radio

__ Never __ Sometimes _ Often Broadcast or Cable Television
_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often DVD Discs

_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often VCR Tapes

_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often Movies shown in a Theater
_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often Comic Book

_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often Picture Book

59

_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often Fiction (novels, stories)
_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often Nonfiction writing
(newspaper, magazine)
_ Never __ Sometimes __ Often Textbook
_ Never _ Sometimes _ Often Other

 

14) If you use DV Ds for Japanese Ieaming purposes, which of the following features do
you use (if available)? Please check the applicable items below.

_ Japanese subtitles

_ English subtitles

_ English audio track

_ Japanese audio track

15) How much do you like the following types of stories (for Ieaming or entertainment
purposes), using a scale from 1=LIKE VERY MUCH to 5=DO NOT LIKE AT ALL?
_ Love story

__ College campus life

_ Comedy

_ Science Fiction

_ History

_ Folklore/Mythologies/Traditional Stories (ex. Crane Lady, Bamboo Lady, Golden
Boy, Six Little Statues...)

_ Mystery

_ Horror

_ Non-Fiction (ex. Law, Economics, Finance, Crime. . ...)

_ Other

 

16) What specific dramas, movies, comics, or animes, if any, have you used to study
Japanese? Please list the titles and genre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title genre
Title genre
Title genre
Title genre

 

 

17) If there was a web site with animated Japanese stories, what features would be
desirable to help you improve your Japanese, using a scale where 1=very desirable to
5=not at all desirable.

__ Animation supplemented with English subtitles

_ Animation supplemented with Japanese subtitles

_ Animation supplemented with English audio dialog

_ Animation supplemented with Japanese audio dialog

_ Grammar explanation of dialog

_ Vocabulary explanation of words used in dialog

_ Furigana with Kanji (phonetic comment and reading aid)

_ Script of entire story in English text

_ Script of entire story in Japanese text

60

18) What other features would be desirable to help you improve your Japanese in a web
site with animated Japanese stories?

Thanks very much for your time!

61

APPENDIX C STORY SCRIPT IN ENGLISH

Chapter 1

Once upon a time near the sea, there lived a very kind young man called Taro Urashima.
He made his living by fishing and picking up shells in the sea everyday.
One day, when he was on the way back from fishing in the sea, some children were
making a lot of noise.

Taro: “Oh what’s happening?”

As he went closer, he saw that they were tormenting a turtle.

He ran up to the children and scolded them.

Taro: “What are you doing? Stop it! What a pity!”

Children: “It’s ok to beat a turtle.”

Children: “It is. It is.”

Taro: “Then, I will give you guys these fish.

You can take them back to your home and eat them.

In exchange, can you release the turtle?”

Children: “In that case, we have a deal.”

He gave the children all the fish he was supposed to sell, to save the turtle.
The children went back home with the fish.

Taro: “Now it’s safe.

Go back to the sea.”

Turtle: “Thank you very much for saving me from harm.

I won’t forget your kindness”

The turtle disappeared into the sea.

Chapter 2

After several days had passed, Taro was fishing as usual and the turtle swam over.
Turtle: “Mr. Taro Urashima, I am the turtle you saved some time ago.”

I came back because I want to return your favor.

I live in the legendary Dragon Palace in the sea.

I came to pick you up and take you there.”

Taro: “You can take me to the Dragon Palace?”

Turtle: “Yeah.”

Taro: “I thought it was just a myth!”

Turtle: “No, it is real.”

Taro was surprised, but he decided to follow the turtle because he was interested in what
the Dragon Place looks like.

He rode on the turtle and went into the sea.

Chapter 3

Turtle: “Taro, here is the Dragon Palace.”

When he opened his eyes, he saw a magnificent castle in the sea.
The turtle dropped off Taro at the front gate and swam off.

After a while, the princess came to the gate.

She was very beautiful.

62

Taro: Nice to meet you. I’m Taro Urashima.

Princess: “Mr. Taro Urashima, welcome to the Dragon Palace.

Thank you very much for saving the turtle.

Please enjoy yourself here.”

He was guided into the castle.

There was a lot of food and pretty fish were dancing in the room.

Taro had very much fun and stayed in the Dragon Palace for a long time.
After a while, Taro and Princess fell in love.

Soon they got married.

They were very happy together in the palace.

Chapter 4

Three years had passed since he came to the Dragon Palace.

He gradually began to miss his old home.

Finally he decided to leave the palace.

Taro: “Princess, it has been three years since I came here.”

I want to leave for my home.”

Princess: “Why do you think like that?”

Taro: “I miss my home above the sea.”

Taro: “Please don’t leave.

You are my husband!

Your home is here with me now.”

The Princess pleaded for Taro to stay, but Taro’s mind didn’t change.
Finally she gave up.

Princess: “1 want you to stay here with me, but there is no way to keep you here.
But be warned, your former home may not be the same as you remember.”
After saying that, the princess gave a box to Taro.

Princess: “Please take this Tamate-Bako with you.

It will allow you to return to your village as if you never left.
However, you must not open it whatever happens.”

He received the Tamate-bako from her.

Then, he left the Dragon Palace riding on the turtle.

Chapter 5

Soon after he arrived at village, he wanted to go to his house.

However, something was strange.

He found his village had changed a lot.

He could not find his house where he lived.

He asked a man in the village.

Taro: “Excuse me. I am Taro Urashima. Do you know where my house is?”
Man: ”Well, I have never heard of it.”

Taro: “No, certainly I lived near here.”

After a while, the man remembered something.

Man: “Oh yeah, I have heard a story of a .young man with your name that didn’t come
back after he went to the sea three hundred years ago.”

63

Chapter 6

Taro was very surprised.

Taro: “What on earth happened!?

I was at the Dragon Palace for only three years, but three hundred years passed here!”
He was at a loss.

Then, he noticed Tamate-Bako, which he was holding.

Princess: “You must not open it whatever happens.”

He remembered what the princess said, but he decided to open the Tamate-bako anyway
When he opened it, white smoke came out.

Chapter 7

He had become an old man.

He realized that time had passed much slower in the Dragon Palace.

However by opening the Tamatebako, he returned to his current age.

He burst into tears, sitting on a beach.

Taro: “What should I do from now?”

The turtle, sensing the tears of Taro, returned to the beach.

The turtle transformed into the beautiful princess.

Princess: “Don’t cry Taro. You saved my life once and now I will now save yours.”
In a cloud of smoke, both Taro and the princess became turtles.

Both swam off into the sea to live happily for several thousand years together.

APPENDIX D Consent From of Qualitative Research

Using Digital Storytelling for Japanese Language Learning
Consent Form

Instructions

You are being asked to participate in a survey for the production of a thesis called, Using
Digital Storytelling for Japanese Language Learning. Please read this consent form
thoroughly. If you agree to participate, please sign your name at the bottom of this page
and you will start the questionnaire.

Project Description

The purpose of this production thesis is to create a new Japanese language Ieaming tool
for American college students who study Japanese as a second language. The product
will be a web site containing an animated story related to Japanese culture or trends. It
will also include explanation of grammar and vocabulary used in the story to help
Ieamers.

Survey Procedure

The survey will take around 40 to 60 minutes to complete. You are being asked to
explore the web site including the animation, and, after that, answer questions in the
survey. The purpose of this survey is to conduct usability testing of the web site, to
investigate how this production can help the users learn Japanese, and to evaluate the
effectiveness of this projects.

Participation in the survey is voluntary. This survey will be conducted only with your
consent. You may stop participating in the survey at any time for any reasons. You don’t
have to finish watching whole the animation if you don’t want to, or answer any
questions you don not want to. Participation in this project will in no way effect your
evaluation in your future class.

Confidentiality

The results of the survey will be used for comparative research and design purposes only.
Your privacy will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law. All responses to
the survey will be anonymous. Your name will not be associated with the findings. The
result of this survey will be used only by the investigators. The data will be stored in a
locked cabinet and on a drive on a password-protected computer, available only to the
investigators.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this project, please contact the principal or secondary
investigators:

65

 

 

 

 

 

Principal Investigator Secondary Investigator
Brian Winn Asuka Nakagawa

253 Comm Arts Building 253 Comm Arts Building
East Lansing, M148824 East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-5497 517-353-5497
winnb@msu.edu naggawafiimsuedu

 

 

If you have questions or concerns regarding your rights as a study participant, or are
dissatisfied at any time with any aspect of this study, you may contact — anonymously, if
you wish — Peter Vasilenko, Ph.D., Chair of the University Committee on Research
Involving Human Subjects (UCRIHS) by phone: (517) 355-2180, fax: (517) 432-4503, e-
mail: ucrihs@msu.edu. or regular mail: 202 Olds Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824.

Statement of Consent
If you agree to participate in this survey, please sign and date below.

“I voluntarily agree to participate in this survey.”

 

Printed name

 

Signature Date

66

APPENDIX E RECRUITING ADVERTISEMENT

Evaluation Opportunity for a Japanese Language Learning Web Site using Storytelling
Animation

Volunteers are needed to assist in the evaluation of a Japanese language learning web
site. Volunteers will have the opportunity to contribute their evaluation and insight
regarding this project.

The web site is created for Japanese language Ieamers to reinforce their Japanese
language skills by watching an animated story related to Japanese culture. This is a thesis
project of Asuka Nakagawa, MA student in the Telecommunication Department of the
College of Communication Arts and Science at Michigan State University.

The purpose of this survey is to test the usability of the web site, to investigate how this
production can help the users learn Japanese, and to evaluate the effectiveness of this
project.

The volunteers should be students who were enrolled in 200- or 300-level Japanese
courses in Spring semester 2004.

This evaluation will take 40 to 60 minutes and will be conducted between Monday July
12 to Friday July 30 2004. The location will be conference or study rooms in the
Communication Arts and Science building, Business Library or the Main Library at
Michigan State University.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact the person below to arrange a time
and location to take the survey.
Asuka Nakagawa

nakagawa@msu.edu
(517)355-3137

67

APPENDIX F QUESTIONNAIRE FORM OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Questionnaire for “Using Digital Storytelling for Japanese Language Learning”

01) What is your gender? _ Male _ Female
02) How old are you? _ years old
03) Are you native English speaker? _ Yes No

04) Which course-level of the Japanese Program did you take in this spring semester?
_ 200 level _ 300 level

05) How often do you use the lntemet or CD-ROM for the purpose of learning Japanese?
_ Never _ Hardly Never __ Sometimes _ Often _ All the time

Questions about the TUTORIAL section:

There are five subsections in the TUTORIAL section including Language Selection,

Language Tips Box, Japanese Level, Terminology, and Characters. Following are the
questions related to them.

06) If you read the subsections in the TUTORIAL section, how helpful was each for you
in preparing you to watch animation in the STORY section. Please circle one response
below.

Language Selection Tutorial
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Language Tips Box Tutorial
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Japanese Level Tutorial
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Terminology Tutorial
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Characters Tutorial
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

07) What other information would be desirable to include as a tutorial to help you use the
STORY section effectively? Please write any suggestions you have.

68

Questions about the STORY section:

08) Have you read or heard this story before using this software? _ Yes _ No
09) How enjoyable was the content of the story?

_Very enjoyable __ Enjoyable _ Somewhat enjoyable __ Slightly enjoyable
_Not enjoyable at all

10) Did you find the illustration visually attractive?
_ Very attractive _ Attractive _ Somewhat attractive _ Slightly attractive
_ Not attractive at all

11) Did you find the visual movement attractive?
__ Very attractive _ Attractive _ Somewhat attractive _ Slightly attractive
__ Not attractive at all

12) In the story, how much of the spoken Japanese did you understand?
__ All _ Most _ Half _ Some _ Not a1 all

13) How would you classify the level of Japanese used in the story?
__ Beginner _ Beginner/Intermediate _ Intermediate
__ Intermediate/Advanced _ Advanced

14) How was the speed of dialog?
_ Very slow __ Somewhat slow _ Just right __ Somewhat fast __ Very fast

15) How much did you enjoy Ieaming Japanese by using this web site?
_Very enjoyable _Enjoyable _Somewhat enjoyable _Slightly enjoyable
____Not enjoyable at all

16) There are several interactive functions in the software, including: Japanese and
English subtitles, control buttons for the animation (stop, pause, rewind, forward, repeat
and mute sound), and a language tips box (overview, vocabulary, hints, and dialog
script). If you used any of these functions, please circle one response to rate how helpful
each function was.

The story animation screen:
Japanese subtitle
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

English subtitle
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

69

Control the animation:
Stop button
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Pause button
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Rewind button
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Forward button
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Repeat button
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpfirl at all or did not use

Mute button to stop the sound
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

The language tips box on the right-hand side of the animation screen:
Overview
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Vocabulary
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Hints (explanations of grammar and proper words, and tips)
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

Script of entire story

Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all or did not use

21) How many vocabulary and grammar questions did you have which were not
explained in the language tips box?
None 1 2 3 4 5 Several

22) If you remember, please write down the vocabulary and grammar which you need to
be explained in the language tips box? (Writing in English is also fine.)

23) How easy is it for you to find how to use control buttons in the animation screen?
_ Very easy _ Easy _ OK _ Hard _ Very hard

70

24) How easy is it for you to find how to use subtitles under the animation screen?
__ Very easy _ Easy __ OK _ Hard _ Very hard

25) How easy is it for you to find how to use language tips box on the right-hand side the
animation screen?

_ Very easy __ Easy __ OK __ Hard _ Very hard

26) How easy was it to use the STORY section?
_ Very easy __ Easy _ OK _ Hard _ Very hard

23) What skills do you think this web site helped you reinforce or learn? Please rate the
following skills using a scale from 1 = very helpful to 5= not helpful at all.

Listening
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all

Reading
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all

Speaking
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpfiil at all

Conversational expressions / phrases
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all

Vocabulary
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all

Grammar
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all

Kanji (third Japanese alphabet from China)
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all

Keigo (humble and honorific form of verbs)
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all

Knowing culture
Very Helpful 1 2 3 4 5 Not helpful at all

Questions about the web site:

22) How easy was it to use the web site?
_ Very easy __ Easy __ OK __ Hard __ Very hard

71

24) Would you like to use this web site again for your Ieaming?
__ Yes _ No

If no, why?

25) Please write down what you like about the web site.

26) Please write down what you wish could be improved in the web site.

Thanks very much for your time!

72

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Census Bureau. (2000). “Home Computer and lntemet Use in the United States: August
2000,” [Online]. Available: http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p23-207.pdf.

Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Urawa. (1998). “Survey Report,”
[Online]. Available: hgpzllwww.jpf.go.jp/e/urawa/.

Japanese-Language Education Abroad. (1998). “Survey Report,” [Online]. Available:
httpzl/www.jpf.go.jp/j/japan i/oversea/img/e gaiyoupdf.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test. (2004). “JLP'T guide,” [Online]. Available:
httpz/lwww.aiei.or.jp/examination/jlpt guide e.html.

 

Pew lntemet. (2004). “Pew lntemet & American Life Project,” [Online]. Available:
httpzl/www.pewinternet.org/.

Pew lntemet. (2004). “The lntemet Goes to College,” [Online]. Available:
http://www.jfiwinternetorg/PPF/rfl1/report display.asp.

73

   

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