This document discusses content-based instruction (CBI) for Japanese heritage language learners. It summarizes previous research on CBI and motivation, defines heritage language learners, and outlines challenges for Japanese language teachers. The document also presents research questions and describes a study that interviewed 6 Japanese heritage students to understand how CBI impacts their affective domain. Key findings indicate that CBI enhances student interest and motivation by incorporating relevant content, appropriate challenge, and addressing academic and non-academic language goals.

2. Heritage Language (HL)
Learners
Definition (Valdez, 1997, p.13)
The degree of proficiency level of HL
learners varies widely from novice level to
advanced level: HL students have been
referred to as native speakers, quasi-native
speakers, residual speakers, bilingual
speakers, and home-background speakers.

3. Importance of HL Learners
UCLA Steering Committee reported (2000)
the potential value of heritage languages as a
resource of the nation.
Therefore, it is essential to make use of the
language skills of the nation’s immigrants and
their bilingual children (Morrison, 2001).

4. Challenge for Teachers at Saturday
Japanese Language Schools
1. Extra work for students
2. Conflict with regular school activities or sports
activities
3. Does not relate directly to students’ academic
performance.
4. Whose desire is it to attend Sat. school?
Parents’ Desire! -> lack of motivation
4 out of 6 informants – parents’ desire
1 informant- my own desire

5. Content-Based Instruction
Critical factors: (Grave & Stoller, 1997)
1. Motivation: effort and persistence
high effort and working for a longer time on difficult
material (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996)
2. Positive attributions: effort > luck & ability
3. Interest: preference for certain topics or themes
(different from curiosity)

6. Research on CBI
Motivation and interest
-> learning is occurring.
Challenging informational activities
-> effort
Student success

7. Previous Research Evidence
Motivation
New learning and the performance of
previously learned skills, strategies, and
behaviors (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996).

8. Theoretical Frames
1. i plus one (Krashen, 1982, 1985)
We acquire language by input that is a little
beyond our current level of competence
(Krashen & Terrell, 1983, p.32)
2. Optimal experience (Csikszentmihalyi,
1990, 1993)

9. Theoretical Frames
3. Brinton, et al (1989) and Stlyker & Leaver
(1999)
3-1. Students’ learning experience should be
taken into account.
3-2. To teach language for eventual use
3-3. To use relevant information/content in order
to motivate learners
3-4. To meet students’ appropriate needs in
affective and cognitive domain

10. Research Questions
1. What theories of a CBI emerge in
Japanese language for Japanese heritage
language (JHL) learners?
2. What is the role of CBI in affective
domain for this particular sample?

11. Methodology
Qualitative method using triangulation for
reliability and validity
1. Interview
2. Observation
3. Written survey
Coding system simplified the data.

12. Participants
• 6 JHL learners between the ages of 13 and
17
• 4 students whose both parents speak
Japanese as a first language
• 2 students whose one parent speak Japanese
as a first language
• They all plan to continue to study.

13. Participants
Purpose of learning
credit: 5 out of 6 informants
future career: 4 out of 6 informants
speak with relatives: 5 out of 6 informants
Number of visits to Japan
1 time, 4 times, 5 times, 6 times, 7 times, and 10
times
Two students have an experience attending
Japanese school during summer.

14. Reading Materials
Reading Materials : Past and Present of Japan
1. Ninja
2. Edo Period
3. Japanese and Its Writing
4. Japanese Vending Machine
5. Japanese High school Survey
6. Exchange Program

15. Result
Key Words:
1. Relevance, new information, and visual
aids -> Interest
2. Challenge & level of difficulty ->
i plus one and optimal experience
3. Academic and non-academic purposes ->
Purposes of learning

16. Relevance
1. Relevance in age, language and cultural
backgrounds enhances students’ interests.
All informants showed the great interest in
Japanese High School Survey (age relevance)
Exchange Program (relevance to visit to
Japan)
Lengthy and heated discussion:
-> motivation (Brinton et al., 1989)
They learned new information and compared
it with previous knowledge about high school
students.

17. Interest
2. Interesting topics - > generate situational
interests (certain types of themes or specific
content)  motivation
Ninja > Japanese and Its Writing
Ninja -More assertive in discussion
Informant L: “ I would like to learn Japanese
history, however, it depends on the topics.”

18. Role of Visual Aids
Visual aids (e.g. over-head projector) enhances
validity of CBI.
Good FL/L2 teachers use visual aids to implement
CBI in their curriculum (Krashen, 1987).
Informant H:
“I would like to learn History besides the
Japanese language with some visual aids:
pictures, videos, etc.”

19. Challenge
i plus one -> appropriate challenge
1. Willing to challenge learning more kanji
without furigana (ruby characters)
Ruby characters are used in the typography of
languages, especially Japanese and Chinese. They
are small characters placed above or to the side of
an ideogram (kanji in the case of Japanese).
とうきょう
東京
Tokyo
東京

20. Challenge
i plus one -> challenge
2. All informants expressed a desire and
necessity to be able to read articles
without furigana even though it takes
extra effort.
Informant H: “I prefer the article
without furigana, but it requires a lot of
preparation.”

21. Challenge
i plus one -> Cognitive needs
Students are aspired to learn Japanese by
understanding slightly beyond their current
level of proficiency.
The cognitive needs of the students should
be appropriate to the proficiency level of
the class. (Stryker & Leaver, 1997).

22. Purposes
Academic purpose:
1. To gain a credit test
2. Plan to continue to study in college
3. To use the Japanese language as a career
Non-Academic purpose:
To speak with their family and relatives

23. How does CBI contribute to JH students?
1. In the syllabus of CBI,the eventual uses of
Japanese language learners are taken into
account (Brinton, et al., 1989).
academic purpose
credit test: 5 informants
“Yes”
future career: 3 informants
“ Yes”
3 informants
“Possible”
non-academic purpose:
communicating with relatives: 5 informants

24. How does CBI contribute to JH students?
2. Optimal experience is essential.
Unlike students who learn the Japanese language
as a foreign language, JH students have more
experiences in not only language contact and use
but also cultural experience: therefore, it is
essential to meet students’ unique language
background (family language use, years of
attending Japanese school & frequencies of
visiting Japan)

25. How does CBI contribute to JH students?
3. Students’ interest
age appropirate (e.g. teen culture and
fashion), interesting topics (e.g., ninja), and
their language and cultural experience
(Japanese family life) in order to enhance
students’ motivation

26. How does CBI contribute to JH students?
4. New Information
Informant L:
Regarding Edo Period, Japanese Vending Machine,
and Japanese high school students’ survey,
“I learned a lot of about what there is in
Japan. It’s expanding my horizon.”

27. How does CBI contribute to JH students?
5. Level of difficulty
Referring the article with a lot of kanji, 5 informants
claimed,
“I did not like it all since there are many new
kanji.”
Importance of appropriate level
Importance of i plus one

28. How does CBI contribute to JH students ?
6. Appropriate challenge:
Students would like to challenge to learn
more kanji and also kanji without furigana
within their capacity (i plus one).
-> i plus one -> motivation and positive
attributions (appropriate challenge leads to
efforts).

29. Obstacles of CBI
1. Not easy to find appropriate articles to suit
students’ interests and appropriate level.
2. Finding authentic materials is a difficult
task due to time consuming
3. Teachers need appropriate training and
experience to implement CBI.

30. Conclusion
CBI contributes to affective domain:
appropriate challenging activities, students’
interests, and motivation; therefore, CBI
can meet JH students’ needs linguistically
and culturally in affective domain with
appropriate curriculum and teachers’
pedagogical training.

31. Implications
1. Authentic materials
1-1. One of solutions is to use textbooks that
compile authentic materials such as “Authentic
Japanese: Progressing from Intermediate to
Advanced” by Kawata et al., and “Rapid
Reading Japanese” by Mirua and Oka.
1-2. Through the internet, authentic articles can
be found.
2. Teachers’ training is needed to implement CBI.

32. Limitation
Since the number of informants were 6 at
one particular school, the data might not
be generalized.

33. Future Research
• To investigate correlation between CBI and
Japanese proficiency level since JHL
students have a desire to continue to study,
use it for their career, and for an immediate
purpose, they all would like to obtain credit
with grade, “A.”

34. Analytical Model
OHP

35. References
• Grave, W., & Stoller, F. L. (1997). Content-based
instruction: Research foundations. In Snow &
Brinton (eds.) The content-based lassroom. New
York: Longman.
• Krashen, S. D., & Terrel,T. D. (1983). The natural
approach. Englewood Cliffs, NY: Alemany Press.
• Pintrich, P. R., & Schunk, D. H. (1996).
Motivation in education: Theory, research, and
application. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

36. References
• Snow, A. M., & Bringon, M. D. (1988). Contentbased language instruction: Investigating the
effectiveness of the adjunct mode. Tesol
Quarterly, 22(4), 553-574.
• Valdez, G. (1995). The teaching of minority
languages as academic subjects: Pedagogical and
theoretical challenges. The Modern Language
Journal, 29, 299-328.