( DFAT) allocation for language training( see Table 1, above).
For example, to become proficient in Japanese at a survival level( classified by level of difficulty as a Group 4 language with Arabic, Chinese and Korean), 15 hours a week of face-to-face tuition and an equal amount of private study is required for 16 weeks. In contrast, for French, German, Indonesian, Malay, Greek, Portuguese and Spanish( classified as Group 2 languages), to become proficient at a survival level, 15 hours a week of face-to-face tuition and an equal amount of private study is required for 10 weeks. To become proficient at the professional level, the difference is greater: Group 2 languages require 40 weeks study( again at 15 hours a week of face-to-face tuition and an equal amount of private study) compared to 88 weeks for Group 4 languages. So even at the beginners’ level, 1.6 times more time needs to be allocated to Japanese than the Group 2 languages. Thus, it is not surprising that the reduction of face-to-face hours will likely reduce the level of language proficiency attained.
This study investigates whether reduction of face-to-face contact hours is linked to a reduction in language proficiency and an increase in students discontinuing Japanese studies, in the study sample.
METHOD
Sample
The unit of Japanese researched in this study is a beginners’ Japanese subject, the first of eight semester units of increasing level of difficulty typical of many university courses. It can be taken as an elective, a part of a minor( four semesters), or part of a major( either six or eight semesters). Students participating in this unit come from a wide variety of degree backgrounds, but it is only compulsory in the International Studies degree. There are various ratios of male and female( see Figure 1), international and domestic( see Figure 2), compulsory and non-compulsory( see Figure 3) students.
In order to ascertain whether gender, origin or the subject being compulsory influenced the results in 2009, Chi-squared tests were performed. No significant difference was found between years( for gender x 2 = 0.558, df = 2, p = 0.757; for domestic or international status x 2 = 2.935, df = 2, p = 0.230 and for compulsory and non-compulsory study x 2 = 2.529, df = 2, p = 0.282). Thus the possibility that the differences between the years were due to differences in gender, domestic or international status or compulsory and noncompulsory study was eliminated.
An investigation of the students’ Australian Tertiary Admissions Rankings( ATAR) for the Japanese units from 2007 to 2009 was also undertaken. While there was a slight decrease in the students’ ATAR scores over the three years, a correlation analysis of the ATARs and the total mark showed no correlation.
The possibility of teachers influencing students’ views about the change in the number of teaching hours was also investigated as far as possible. Teachers were interviewed about whether they mentioned the reduction in teaching hours to the cohort of students who received four hours of teaching or whether they treated these students differently. None of the teachers spoke to the students about the reduction in teaching hours, in line with the professional work ethic of the staff and the principle of creating a positive learning environment. However, it is not possible to say whether the attitude of the teaching staff about the reduction in teaching hours may have been conveyed in some way to the students, even if unintentionally, so it cannot be ruled out as having influenced the results of the study. While we cannot guarantee that some students may have heard from previous students that the number of contact hours had been reduced, we do not believe that this would have affected the study because we assume that the students were attempting to do their best regardless of the number of face-toface contact hours. Thus, we established as far as possible that the‘ public discourse’ was not a variable influencing the results.
All assessment items and their weightings were the same over the period of the study. The same team of lecturers and tutors taught the unit and marked the assessment items each year. The only difference was the reduction of face-to-face teaching hours. In order to‘ compensate’ for the reduction in teaching hours from five to four contact hours a week in 2009, the language staff were instructed that there would be one hour of‘ online engagement’ per week. The online component of the course consisted of a website linked to the textbook which contained many practice exercises, video clips and online quizzes. This component of the course was not a part of the summative assessment and anecdotal evidence suggests that students did not spend much time on this. However, as reported to us by the teachers involved, in terms of content in the face-to-face teaching hours, the decrease in classroom hours meant that there was a reduction in revision and consolidation time that had previously been scheduled at the end of each chapter, a reduction in the amount of time taken for learning and practicing some grammatical points, and a reduction in the time allotted for practice for oral testing.
Detailed results for 2007 – 2009 were taken from the university database and the Japanese course convenor’ s records were collected. These included marks for each assessment item, total mark, grade and if and when the student had discontinued during the semester. Students discontinuing after the university census date incur a fail grade, while students discontinuing
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