• Offered by School of Culture History and Language
  • ANU College ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
  • Course subject Japanese
  • Areas of interest Asian Languages
  • Academic career UGRD
  • Course convener
    • Dr Takuya Kojima
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Offered in First Semester 2025
    See Future Offerings

Japanese 3 is an intermediate Japanese language course designed to enhance students’ proficiency in modern spoken Japanese. The course primarily focuses on developing the oral and aural skills necessary for understanding and participating in everyday conversations, while also incorporating reading and writing skills to support the growth of spoken communication abilities. Through a variety of communication activities and tasks, students are encouraged to develop practical communication skills. Using a textbook and supplementary materials, the course explores themes related to historical and contemporary Japan, alongside key communication strategies to strengthen overall communicative abilities. Furthermore, the course offers opportunities to engage with media resources that showcase contemporary Japan, deepening students' understanding of the country.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. Recognise and use a broad vocabulary encompassing terms encountered in a variety of media relating to contemporary Japan.
  2. Manipulate the appropriate linguistic and grammatical skills to communicate on a broad range of contemporary colloquial topics.
  3. Summarise content and present opinions; with a particular focus on oral and aural skills,
  4. Manipulate appropriate aizuchi and ask for definitions and clarification to carry on a smooth conversation.
  5. Demonstrate an understanding of Japan in the 21st Century including its geography, communication styles, society, culture and history.

Other Information

Proficiency level: Students who successfully complete this course will typically achieve a level of proficiency roughly equivalent to JLPT N4-3 to N5-4, depending on their performance and degree of engagement.

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On successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to engage at an Intermediate level of Japanese.


Students with native speaker proficiency (may include cognate languages and dialects) must review the language proficiency assessment and contact the CAP Student Centre for appropriate enrolment advice. Students with previous “language experience or exposure” are required to take a language proficiency assessment to ensure enrolment at the most appropriate level.

 

Relevant past experience includes:

-      Previous study of the language (both formal and informal, for example but not limited to, at school, or, home, or through online activities, etc.)

-      Being exposed to the language in childhood via a family member or friend

-      Travel or living in a country where the language is spoken

-      The language being spoken in your home (even if you do not speak it yourself)

 

Students who are not sure if they need to take a proficiency assessment should seek advice from the course or language convenor. Students who intentionally misrepresent their language proficiency level may be investigated under the Academic Integrity Rule 2021 as having failed to comply with assessment directions and having sought unfair advantage. This may result in a penalty such as reduced grades or failure of the course.


Students are not permitted to enrol in a language course below one that they have already successfully completed, except with permission of the language and/or course convenor.

Indicative Assessment

  1. Quizzes (10x2%) (20) [LO 1,2,3,5]
  2. Mid-term test (10) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
  3. Speech/Communication Task (3x5%) (15) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
  4. Individual/Group Project (150-character outline (3%), 1000-character draft and 1-min speech (7%), 1000-character script and 4-min speech (15%) in Japanese) (25) [LO 1,2,3,5]
  5. Final Exam (25) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
  6. Participation (5) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

The total workload for the course is 130 hours including independent study.

The course requires four hours of classes per week: 1x two hour seminar, and 2 x one hour tutorial. 

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course, you must have previously completed JPNS2003 and JPNS2005, or have been permitted entry based on the results of the Japanese language proficiency assessment. Incompatible with JPNS2012

Prescribed Texts

Main Textbook:

Oka, Mayumi et al. (2009) Tobira - Gateway to Advanced Japanese: Learning through content and multimedia. Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers. ISBN: 978-4-87424-447-0

Grammar Workbook:

Tsutsui, Michio et al. (2012) Tobira - Grammar Power - Exercises for Mastery. Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers. ISBN: 9784874245705 C0081

Kanji book:

Mayumi, Oka et al. (2010) TOBIRA: Power Up Your KANJI. ISBN:978-4-87424-487-6 C0081

Tobira Website: http://tobiraweb.9640.jp/

Preliminary Reading

N/A

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees

Student Contribution Band:
1
Unit value:
6 units

If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2025 $4320
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2025 $5580
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

First Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
3703 17 Feb 2025 24 Feb 2025 31 Mar 2025 23 May 2025 In Person View

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