Author Description

This dissertation, "Learning Japanese as an Additional Language: a Case Study of One Learner's Experience" by Siu-wai, Louisa, Chan,, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of thesis entitled Learning Japanese as an Additional Language: A Case Study of One Learner's Experience submitted by Louisa S. W. Chan for the degree of Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong September, 2003 This dissertation is a diary study by the author of her own experience of learning Japanese as an additional language in a variety of contexts, including self-study, formal instruction and informal interaction, in both Hong Kong (where Japanese is not normally used outside the classroom) and Japan (where Japanese is widely used outside the classroom) over a period of seven months, in light of the increasing popularity of learning Japanese among Hong Kong people and little research on the acquisition of Japanese as a second or foreign language. The study aims to identify the salient features in the learning experience with the hope of generating some suggestions for the learning of Japanese by Hong Kong people and the teaching of Japanese to Hong Kong people. It revealed that awareness of and reflection on one's learning needs and behavior, together with the appropriate use of language learning strategies (memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive and social strategies) were conducive to success in learning. These strategies mainly include the use of mnemonics, focus on form or meaning to meet different task demands, deductive and inductive analysis of language, constantly mo