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WasedaX: JPC111x Japanese Pronunciation for Communication

ABOUT THIS COURSE

This course has been designed to teach you Japanese pronunciation so that you can accurately get your message across and share your feelings. For this purpose, the course will present you with pronunciation practice activities and methods for continued study and allow you to acquire essential knowledge and raise your consciousness about Japanese pronunciation.

COURSE STRUCTURE

Every section of this course is arranged according to the following:

1. Lectures

The pronunciation lectures are mainly taught through video content. Professor Toda, as your ‘pronunciation teacher’, will explain the mechanisms of Japanese pronunciation and practice pronunciation together with you. You can also use the ‘Audio Player’ to practice at your own pace.

2. Japanese Pronunciation and Culture through Conversation

This material focuses on phonetic sounds through conversation. This material will help learners be aware of pronunciation in realistic contexts. Further, ‘Culture Introduction’, which is related to the conversation content, will be useful to help understand cultural aspects.

3. Shadowing Practice Materials

This material contains audio files for shadowing practice. In each lecture, you can practice three shadowing sessions. In Section 1, we will introduce the methods for shadowing practice. Practice repeatedly for smooth pronunciation.

4. Education of Japanese Pronunciation around the World

This material introduces you to the different pronunciation characteristics of learners and relevant teaching and learning methods from around the world. This material is not only for Japanese language learners, but can also be used by Japanese language teachers. Select a language that you are interested in from English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai.

5. Pronunciation Check

Pronunciation check is an assignment in which you submit a recorded audio file which is then peer assessed by you fellow learners. You can receive feedback from other students around the world to see if your pronunciation conveys your intended message.

6. Pronunciation Forum

This is an open space to exchange opinions. Please make a good use of this forum.

7. Quiz (Section 1~4) / Final Test (Section 5)

Section 1 to 4 each contains a quiz, and Section 5 contains the final test. The quizzes and test have been designed to check your understanding of the lecture content.

COURSE SYLLABUS

This course contains six sections. Each section will be released at 05:00 UTC (14:00 JST) on their respective release dates. At the time of the release we will notify you via email and through the Home tab.

Section 0

Course Overview

An Introduction to the course including the course syllabus, course outline, learning objectives etc.

 Nov 7 (Mon)
Section 1

Pronunciation Points

Based on the learning objective to teach “Japanese pronunciation to accurately convey messages and feelings” the following five pronunciation points will be introduced:

  1. Learning Japanese rhythm by being conscious of the pronunciation of special morae (beats)
  2. Focusing on tone by being aware of Japanese accent
  3. Being aware of the relationship between intention and intonation
  4. Being aware of thought groups for pronunciation
  5. Understanding how pronunciation corresponds to the relationship between speakers, content and/or scene
 Nov 7 (Mon)
Section 2

Accent

Study about the following three learning points while understanding that accent can change meaning:

  1. Accent of nouns
  2. Accent of compound nouns
  3. Accent of names
 Nov 14 (Mon)
Section 3

Intonation

Study the following six learning points while understanding that intonation can change the intended meaning:

  1. ～じゃない
  2. ～でしょう
  3. ～でしょうか
  4. ～そうですね
  5. ～そうですか
  6. への字型じがたイントネーション
 Nov 21 (Mon)
Section 4

Pronunciation of Colloquial Japanese

Practice and learn about the systematic changes to pronunciation for colloquial Japanese by splitting it into the following four groups:

  1. Contracted sounds
  2. The omission of 「い」
  3. The contracted vowel sound
  4. The pronunciation of 「ん」
Further, practice and learn about the pronunciation changes to the following two groups:
  1. Long vowel sound
  2. The small 「っ」sound
 Nov 28 (Mon)
Section 5

Becoming a "Pronunciation Expert"

As a way of becoming a “Pronunciation Expert”, six points that became evident in Professor Toda’s 2008 research will be introduced. Further, you will learn about how to become a “Pronunciation Expert” through an interview with professional voice actor Ms. Ryu Seira, who has acquired an exceptionally high level of pronunciation despite only studying Japanese language after entering university.

 Dec 5 (Mon)

All release dates, assignments deadlines and dates relating to "Individual Feedback" and "Pronunciation Expert Contest" can be viewed via our google calendar.
(Users who cannot access google calendar can download a PDF).

Course Prerequisites

To take this course you should already have a basic understanding of Japanese, and be able to read both Hiragana and Katakana. However, to assist those learners who are concerned about their understanding of Japanese, and so that the course can be taken without trouble, we have provided video subtitles in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean, and further translations in Vietnamese, Indonesian and Thai.

It is assumed that this course will be taken on a PC since it requires you to submit audio and video files, and to use a microphone. We recommend against taking this course on a smartphone.

Expected Effort

Each week you should expect to spend approximately three hours per week. This time includes:

  • Watching lecture videos
  • Conversation practice
  • Shadowing practice
  • Taking the quizzes (including the Final Test)
  • Pronunciation Check submission and peer assessment

The expected effort may vary from week to week and will also depend on how familiar you are with the sections topic content. Some learners may need additional self-study.

Grading Policy

The passing grade for the course is 60%.

To qualify for a Verified Certificate (fee required) learners must score at least 60%.

There are three assignment types:

  1. Quiz (Section 1 ~ 4): 40%
  2. Pronunciation Check (Peer Assessment (ORA) (Section 1~5)): 10%
  3. Final Test (Section 5): 50%

Assignment Deadline

In principle, all quizzes and tests must be completed exactly one week after it's release.

For the Pronunciation Check, your recorded audio file should be submitted exactly one week after the release of the assignment.

The deadline to assess other learners is exactly one week thereafter.

View assignment deadlines through our google calendar.
(Users who cannot access google calendar can download a PDF).

Academic Policy

WasedaX requires all individuals enrolled in its courses to behave with academic honesty, be diligent about learning, and approach learning materials and assignments with a sincere attitude.

WasedaX expects all learners to respect the personality of other persons and not violate the rights of others through acts of sexual or other forms of harassment.

Further, WasedaX asks learners to abide by the edX Terms of Service and Honor Code.

Pronunciation Forum

We encourage learners to exchange views with each other in the pronunciation forum.

Professor Toda will moderate the discussions weekly along with the Teaching Assistants (TAs). Meet our TAs in the Instructor/TA page.

The "General" topic is for free discussion. Please use this topic for your self-introduction.

Code of Conduct

You are free to contribute openly, but to help keep the forum healthy here are the contribution guidelines:

  • Post encouraging questions and constructive comments. Remember that our learners are from around the world, with different backgrounds.
  • If you have a question, before submitting a post, search the forum to see if your question has already been answered.

Need Support?

To get help with the course, send us a post in the discussion forum and write “[Staff]” in the post title.