Supporting JFL Learners with User Customized Kanji Learning System Using Computer Graphics

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a user adaptive kanji learning system for JFL (Japanese as a foreign language) learners. Japanese language education for international students is an emergent issue in Japan. Especially learning kanji is a real challenge for them. Therefore we have tried to implement our newly developed kanji learning system, which received good reputations when introduced it into an elementary school, to a Japanese language class for non-native speakers. A pilot evaluation was conducted in order to find which aspects of our system to be modified to fit for JSL learners. The result of the pilot evaluation reveals that the participants´ feedback was not good compared with that of elementary school children, especially about computer animations and fun factor. A user-unfriendliness about its navigation has been found. Our future works include the improvement of computer animations, the implementation of English navigation and the summary dashboards for reviewing.