It is often the case that intermediate-advanced level students do not clearly recognize their accomplishments in the learning process. Unlike beginner level students, it is not easy for them to set more than one short-term goal where they can continually assess and recognize their progress. Especially outside Japan, intermediate-advanced students' lack of confidence in learning Japanese at times discourages them from continuing their studies. Using audio-visual materials such as films and TV dramas in the classroom enables learners to become familiar with spoken Japanese in "close-to-real" situations and environments. Moreover, this ensures the feeling that they have understood and enjoyed the materials in the same way that native Japanese speakers do. As a result, they can gain confidence in their language abilities, and are encouraged to continue to pursue their studies. In this paper, I first survey audio-visual materials and their usage in the classroom and then discuss their effectiveness as illustrated by their use in one of my intermediate-advanced level classes.
The abstract above is courtesy of the Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education.