Junko Yamashita

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of providing guidance and opportunities for learners to engage in autonomous learning outside the classroom, with a specific focus on the forethought and self-reflection phases of self-regulated learning theory. The seven-week learning support using a self-study log provided Japanese language learners with opportunities to visualize their out-of-class learning activities. As a result, even within a short period of time, learners acquired stronger self-reflection skills compared to the control group. This study demonstrates that support based on self-regulated learning theory can solidify and enhance Japanese language learners’ self-regulation skills during out-of-class learning, providing valuable insights for Japanese language instructors aiming to cultivate learner autonomy. Based on the findings, future recommendations include interventions that provide specific support for students who struggle with concrete planning and instruction in strategies for effective self-regulated learning. Additionally, fostering learners’ self-efficacy through scaffolding and acknowledging the role of teacher feedback may further contribute to their self-regulation.

<jats:p>Opportunities for LOTE (Languages Other Than English) speakers to engage with their target language are limited, making it challenging to sustain motivation. The aim of this study is to develop and validate a scale for measuring motivational regulatory strategies among Japanese-language learners and investigate their relationship with motivational factors. This research specifically focuses on Indonesian learners of Japanese who have a non-Kanji (Chinese characters) background and are studying Japanese as a foreign language. The motivational regulatory strategies scale comprises six factors and has demonstrated adequate internal consistency and factor structure. The findings indicate a positive correlation between integrative motivation and these six strategies, suggesting that learners’ integrative motivation may promote the adoption of these strategies. Furthermore, this study emphasizes the significance of the opportunity control strategy, where learners actively seek chances to expose themselves to their target language. Future research is recommended to implement the developed scale in educational settings. Conducting surveys that encompass learners from diverse cultural backgrounds and embarking on longitudinal studies should also be considered.</jats:p>

The main objective of the present research is to develop questionnaire items in Japanese language learning for Indonesian university students. A total of 157 university students participated in the study and completed the questionnaire online. First, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted in order to investigate a structure of motivational factors, which extracted a six-factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis was then conducted through structural equation modeling and the validity of the six-factor model was examined. The Cronbach alpha coefficients were also calculated. The results of the two factor analyses provided a satisfactory reliability and validation of the questionnaire. Consequently, the extracted six-factor motivational structure was certified as an appropriate questionnaire battery to assess Japanese language learning motivation in Indonesia university students.

Demotivation can negatively influence the learner’s attitudes and behaviors, and result in negative learning outcomes. This paper investigates factors contributing to demotivation in learning Japanese as a foreign language in Indonesia, and the relationship between demotivating factors and present proficiencies. A seventeen-item questionnaire was completed by 157 Indonesian university students. As the result of exploratory factor analysis, questionnaire items consequently grouped to four categories: Course difficulty, Speaking anxiety, Devalued learning, and Boredom.The validity of the four-factor structure was verified by the confirmatory factor analysis method. In addition, two-way ANOVA was performed to investigate the relationship between demotivational factors and proficiency level. As a result, statistically significant differences were found between Low and High groups in all the factors, and between Middle and High groups in the factors expect for Devalued learning. In addition, the scores of Speaking anxiety and Boredom consistently scored the highest among the four factors. However, the degree of demotivation was decreased as the learners’ Japanese proficiency improved. Findings from this study indicated that teachers should strive to make classes not only less anxious but also more interesting. Moreover, teachers should scaffold learners, especially low proficient beginners to prevent or minimize their demotivation.

<p>Self-regulated learning strategies have been widely investigated in the field of educational psychology over a few decades. However, very few studies have attempted to clarify the characteristics of these strategies. Within the field of second language acquisition, it is necessary to investigate other factors which affect the use of these strategies in order to develop the effective language learning. This paper firstly aims to present a systematic review of previous studies, mainly focused on a taxonomy of self-regulated learning strategies used in both fields of educational psychology and second language acquisition. Next, it explores the factors such as motivation, satisfaction, and learning difficulty that is related to the learning continuity along with each phase in the cycle of self-regulated learning. By way of conclusion, the author suggests challenges and possibilities that allow language learners to successful learning achievement.</p>