European Journal of Foreign Language Teaching ISSN: 2537 - 1754 ISSN-L: 2537 - 1754 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1117076 Volume 2 │ Issue 3 │ 2017 LEARNING JAPANESE AS A HERITAGE LANGUAGE: THE HOME SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT Mizue Aikoi School of Education RMIT University, Melbourne Australia Abstract: The number of heritage language speakers in the world has increased in recent years and the diversity and importance of heritage language education has become significant. The focus of this paper is Japanese heritage language learners in an Australian context. The project was conducted at a hoshuu-koo, a Japanese supplementary school and explored the experiences of a group of year seven students over a period of one year, in an alternative language class especially designed for heritage language learners. Emphasis for this study was on exploring the language learning experiences of a group of students and considering these against the experiences they brought with them to assist in their learning. The theoretical approach underlying the design of language instruction for the research was based on theories of language acquisition for heritage language learners and emphasised integrated, meaningful content with a focus on the academic register. Data were based on student performance in writing tasks. This research has implications for the design and pedagogical approaches adopted for Japanese heritage language education programs. Keywords: Japanese heritage language (JHL) learners, hoshuu-koo, writing tasks, home environment 1. Introduction This paper explores issues related to learning Japanese as a heritage language and challenges that arise for children learning the language of their families while living in another language environment. The context for the study was a hoshuu-koo, a Japanese Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 103 Mizue Aiko LEARNING JAPANESE AS A HERITAGE LANGUAGE: THE HOME SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT Saturday school, in Australia. The participants were students in year seven at the hoshuu-koo. The significance of maintaining heritage language has become increasingly important socially, culturally and economically as global population movement increases. Year seven was selected as the focus for this research as this is a time when the demands of learning the heritage language become more demanding and complex (e.g., Douglas, 2010; Willoughby, 2006). It is also a time when peer socialisation can seem more important than formal learning (Schneider, 2016). Patrick (2004) also mentioned adolescent years are the periods which identity should be respected to consider learning methods. Therefore, this is a year when proficiency and social development can become a challenge and influence motivation for participation in certain types of extra-curricular activities. Against this background is the growing understanding that heritage language learners have different needs and abilities to those acquiring the language as a first language and also for second language learners. The research project discussed here consisted of studying a group of students at a hoshuu-koo who had been enrolled into a newly developed heritage language course, the Nihongo class. The Nihongo class was run concurrently with an existing course, the Kokuga class, designed by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The Kokuga class was designed by the MEXT for the purpose of teaching formal Japanese language and literacy to children of Japanese families who intended to return to Japan. There is a growing body of evidence that many children in the Japanese diaspora in Australia do not have the Japanese language skills to successfully study at this level and the expectation that they can participate in formal classes based on the Japanese curriculum is setting them up to fail, or withdraw (Oguro & Moloney, 2012). The newly designed heritage language course, based on guidelines developed by Douglas (2006), for this research was to address the issues faced by many heritage language learners and explore strategies to encourage these learners to continue studying Japanese. The results revealed certain characteristics of students’ writing. Overall, they were competent with the structure of written passages. There were some common mistakes made by all students, such as use of wrong particles and inappropriate vocabulary, while verb conjugation and incorrect vocabulary was more individual. It was predicted that the learning environment would influence the type and amount of errors learners would make in the use of grammar and vocabulary. Therefore, in order to investigate the differences amongst students three students were selected for further examination. These three students had markedly different heritage language experiences in the home environment and differing proficiencies as evidenced through their test results. European Journal of Foreign Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 3 │ 2017 104 Mizue Aiko LEARNING JAPANESE AS A HERITAGE LANGUAGE: THE HOME SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT This article presents a description of the relevant literature, identifies the theoretical frame of the research, and describes the approach taken to Japanese heritage language learning for students in an alternative class in a hoshuu-koo. The data collection and analysis were based on writing tasks the students completed. Three students with diverse language backgrounds were studied in depth. Findings agree with research that suggests that significant differences in the home language environment may be associated with learning Japanese as a heritage language (Douglas, Kataoka, & Chinen, 2013). The conclusion emphasises the importance of teaching and learning experiences for individual students and includes implications for the further study. For viewing / downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejfl/article/view/1282 European Journal of Foreign Language Teaching - Volume 2 │ Issue 3 │ 2017 105