Abstract

In learning the Japanese language at beginner’s level memorization and repetition drills are inescapable, but at intermediate and advanced levels the process lends itself quite readily to qualitative outcomes. By qualitative learning I mean, firstly, the attainment of ever-increasing proficiency in written and oral Japanese, allied to some knowledge of the cultural heritage of Japan, in which the educative process takes place, wherever possible, in a constructivist framework fostering independent inquiry and the arriving at independent conclusions (Dart and Boulton-Lewis, 1998; Steffe and Gale, 1995).