In spring of 2024, I had the opportunity to continue learning Japanese in JAPN 302. It has not been an easy semester as I have realized all the things that I still need to learn and practice. My pronunciation, reading, and writing skills are still not at the level I thought I would be two years ago in Japanese 111. The biggest obstacles that I still struggle with are pronunciation and vocabulary. These are two very important skills that I am realizing are critical to learning any language.
Over the course of the semester, one of the biggest things that I got to practice and learn with valuable feedback was my writing skills. I was able to practice my writing skills with two types of assignments: Reading and Writing Practice Assignments (RWPA) and Virtual Language Table Reports. However, the RWPA was the most helpful in reviewing and learning new grammar structures. Each assignment consisted of three parts:
- My ability to read and comprehend a given paragraph.
- Writing my first draft using what I learned from part 1.
- Rewriting and editing my first draft with the feedback I received.
Reading and writing comprehension (section one) allows me to break down the processes of writing with understanding new vocabulary, expressions, rephrasing, individual grammar practice, and comprehension. Whether I am writing or speaking, rephrasing is a useful skill to have when practicing Japanese. It is helpful when I am trying to figure out how to reword/rephrase a sentence that doesn’t make sense to me or someone I am talking to.
The first draft (section two) allows me to practice and make mistakes when combining the skills that I had practiced in the reading and writing comprehension (section one). Writing the first draft was never the easiest for me. I would often overthink and question everything that I have written.
During the time of waiting for feedback on the first draft, I would ask myself:
- Did I meet the requirements?
- Did I do the grammar structure correctly?
- Am I using the wrong form of this word?
- Does my writing flow smoothly?
Anytime I need to write an essay for any course, these are the type of questions I tend to overthink and rephrase endlessly while trying to write. The downside of these questions is I overthink these so much that I have created simple mistakes.
The second draft (section three) allows me to edit, rephrase, and add additional information that is needed to make my writing more comprehensible. Compared to the first draft, I feel a sense of calmness when modifying my second draft. Before I start the second draft, I look at the feedback I have received on my first draft. This tells me what I missed or what I need to work on during the process of rephrasing and editing my first draft. This allows me to see what my strengths and weaknesses are when writing.
If you would like to view the assignment and/or my work…
These are the orginal PDF versions of the assignments that do not include examples of my writing:
There are PDF versions of the assignemnts that include examples of my writing: