Foreign Languages
Farzaneh Moradi
Abstract
This paper is an introduction and a critical review of the book Genki a two-volume book for elementary education of the Japanese language which was first published in 1999 and republished in 2011 and 2020. The book has been used in many universities and language teaching centers around the world, especially ...
Read More
This paper is an introduction and a critical review of the book Genki a two-volume book for elementary education of the Japanese language which was first published in 1999 and republished in 2011 and 2020. The book has been used in many universities and language teaching centers around the world, especially in recent years. This study is an attempt to identify the strengths and weaknesses of this textbook. This critical assessment is carried out from visual and content-based aspects using Razi’s (2009) evaluation criteria. The overall conclusion of this study showed that Genki, which is the result of a collaboration between a group of Japanese language teaching professionals and teachers, has many strengths and advantages, but while having the strengths, the book suffers from a few shortcomings that if eliminated in future editions, it can be used as a relatively reliable educational source that has the potential to attract the positive attention of many Japanese language teachers and students, especially those who choose to study English independently on a self-study basis.
Foreign Languages
Farzaneh Moradi
Abstract
This paper is an introduction to and a critical assessment of “Marugoto” course-books comprised of 9 volumes for elementary and intermediate education of Japanese language which is provided by “The Japan Foundation” based on the standards of this foundation, split into (Starter, ...
Read More
This paper is an introduction to and a critical assessment of “Marugoto” course-books comprised of 9 volumes for elementary and intermediate education of Japanese language which is provided by “The Japan Foundation” based on the standards of this foundation, split into (Starter, Elementary, Pre-intermediate, and Intermediate) levels. This study is an attempt to identify the strengths and weaknesses of this series. This critical assessment is carried out from visual and content-based aspects using Razi’s (2009) evaluation criteria. The results suggested that while having their strengths and advantages, the books suffer from a few shortcomings, which can be eliminated in future editions to achieve better results and to secure a spot as a relatively new textbook for teaching the Japanese language. However, the overall conclusion from the analysis is that despite a few problems, the strengths of the book exceed its weaknesses, and in conclusion, it can be used as a reliable source where the main aim of learning the Japanese language is acquiring speaking skills.
