| dc.description.abstract | In recent years, there have been exchanges between Taiwan and Japan, and the number of Japanese language learners have increased every year, indicating the increasing importance of Japanese language learning. Although there are many Han characters in the Japanese language similar to those of Chinese, the pronunciations and meanings greatly vary. Therefore, Japanese language learners are often confused while learning. Past studies have also found that special sounds in the Japanese language (geminate consonants, long vowels, and syllabic nasals) and voiced sounds are quite difficult for leaners, resulting in students’ low learning motivion. Therefore, some strategies to enhance learning motivation are required, such as gamification learning. The purpose of this study is to incorporate the three gamification elements, namely, scores, hints, and rewards into the system design to develop a Japanese listening learning system with a gamification mechanism and explore the impacts of “with or without a gamification mechanism” (answer calculation mechanism, instant score display, and answer result screen), individual differences (high and low prior knowledge and male/female students) on learning performance, learning motivation, learning perception, and game performance, as well as the corelations among the variables.
The learning contents of the Japanese listening learning system developed in this study included 36 Katakana and Han characters (geminate consonants, long vowels and voiced sounds) with in the scope of the Japanese Language Proficiency Tests (JLPT N2 and N3). The system structure consists of geminate consonants (speech recognition), voiced sounds (speech choices), long vowels (listening spelling), and mixed special sounds levels. The hints of pronunciation, Han characters, and images were also provided. This system framework covers four modules: learning area, challenge area, mixed special sounds levels, and gamification mechanism. The hints in the above-mentioned learning area, challenge area, and mixed special sounds levels (including pronunciation, Han characters, images) can be used to help in Japanese vocabulary learning.The system gamification mechanisms include: answer calculation mechanism, instant score display, and answer result screen. In terms of system design, the Japanese listening learning system has been designed into “gamification mechanism and non-gamification mechanism”.
Forty-four students from the Department of Japanese Studies of a private university in Northern Taiwan were adopted as the research participants. They were divided into the gamification mechanism group (23 people) and non-gamification mechanism group (21 people); high prior knowledge group (23 people), and low prior knowledge group (21 people); male (21 people) and female (23 people). The research tools included Japanese language learning performance test, learning motivation scale, learning perception questionnaire, and system record file. The data analysis included: reliability analysis, paired samples t test, independent samples t test, and the Pearson correlation.
The main results included: （1）Significant improvement was seen in the learning performance of learners “gamification mechanism and non-gamification mechanism”, however, both groups showed no significant difference in terms of all the items under Japanese listening learning performance;（2）The learning motivation of the group “with or without a gamification mechanism” in terms of test anxiety was reduced, however, both groups showed no significant difference in terms of all the dimensions under learning motivation;（3）The learning perception of the learners in the two groups of “gamification mechanism and non-gamification mechanism” showed no significant difference;（4）In terms of the number of hints used in game performance, the “without a gamification mechanism” group was greater than the ”with a gamification mechanism” group. However, the “with a gamification mechanism” group was higher than the “without a gamification mechanism” group in terms of points awarded in the level;（5）Significant progress was seen in the learning performance of the learners in the high and low prior knowledge groups. In addition, the high prior knowledge group was higher than the low prior knowledge group in terms of the pretest and posttest of overall learning performance and the posttest of listening spelling. However, no significant difference was seen in other items;（6）The learning motivation of the high and low prior knowledge groups in terms of test anxiety was reduced; however, both groups showed no significant difference in all the dimensions of learning motivation;（7）The learning perception of the learners in the two high and low prior knowledge groups showed no significant difference;（8）In terms of the game performance of the long vowels level, the high prior knowledge group was significantly superior to that of the low prior knowledge group;（9）Significant progress was seen in the learning performance of both male and female learners. However, both groups showed no significance in all the items of the Japanese listening learning performance;（10）The test anxiety under learning motivation was effectively reduced for both the male and learners; the males were significantly greater than the females in terms of control beliefs under learning motivation;（11）The learning perception of both groups of the male and female learners showed no significant difference;（12）In terms of game performance, female learners were significantly higher than the male learners in terms of the number of times of viewing the image hints and the number of times of listening to pronunciations in the learning area under the long vowels level; （13） The corelations of “gamification mechanism and non-gamification mechanism”, “high and low prior knowledge” and “males and females”: It showed a significant correlation in some of the items, but both groups differed.
The research results targeting different gamification mechanisms, prior knowledge, and male and female learners effectively bring about benefits in terms of Japanese language learning. Furthermore, as far as teachers, researchers, and system developers ware concerned, different corresponding gamification mechanisms can be developed to assist learners with individual differences to learn the Japanese language.
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