Designing Hiragana Learning Materials for Japanese Language Course in UKM

This research was carried out to design and develop learning materials for students learning Japanese as a foreign language at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). The scarcity of suitable teaching and learning materials for Japanese as a foreign language in Malaysia, especially the writing component, which forms the foundation of learning the Japanese language, has further motivated this study. The pre-production stage that focused on a needs analysis from students and a survey of commercially produced textbooks was carried out. To enhance effectiveness, pedagogical considerations that comprised intrinsic motivation and visual impact comprising images, specialised texts, characters, manga (comic) animations and dialogues were included. This new visually enhanced Hiragana learning materials, realised in a book form, include pictorial illustrations aimed at enhancing the students’ learning process and increasing their content schema. These materials were then utilised and evaluated by both the teachers and students. The findings of the study revealed that this new course book is able to meet the bridge the gap of the old, promote keen interest and production of the Hiragana writing and has a positive effect on the students.