Japanese 4 is a higher intermediate Japanese language course that builds on the foundation established in Japanese 3. This course aims to further enhance students' proficiency in modern spoken Japanese while fostering the development of essential linguistic skills at the intermediate level, with a focus on progressing toward a more advanced stage. Reading and writing skills are also addressed to support the improvement of speaking and listening abilities. The course introduces students to authentic Japanese media resources, enabling them to engage more effectively with real-world language use. Through a series of themes related to historical and contemporary Japan, the course promotes practical communicative abilities and introduces key communication strategies essential for public speaking and in-depth conversations, thereby strengthening overall language proficiency. Additionally, the activities and tasks are designed to encourage students to engage critically with the content, further developing their critical thinking skills.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Use a range of intermediate-level grammatical structures accurately and spontaneously in spoken and written Japanese.
- Comprehend and interact with authentic Japanese media with the aid of dictionaries and other resources.
- Communicate in Japanese in a culturally sensitive and appropriate manner.
- Critically analyse information, taking different cultural and societal conditions into consideration and reflecting on cultural values.
- Present complex ideas in Japanese and communicate them effectively to an audience.
Other Information
Proficiency level: Students who successfully complete this course will typically achieve a level of proficiency roughly equivalent to JLPT N3 to N4, 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 Advanced Intermediate level of Japanese.
Students with native speaker proficiency (may include cognate languages and dialects) must review the language proficiency assessment site and contact the CAP Student Centre for appropriate enrolment advice. Students with previous “language experience or exposure” are required to undertake 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 undertake a language 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
- Quizzes (10x2%) (20) [LO 1,2,4]
- Mid-term test (10) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
- Speech/Communication Task (3x5%) (15) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
- Individual/Group Project (500-character outline (5%), presentation [5-min per student] (10%), 1000-character report (10%) in Japanese) (25) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
- Final Exam (25) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
- 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
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
Recommended Texts:
Making, Seiishi (1986) A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. ISBN: 978-4-7890-0454-1
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 |
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.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8541 | 27 Jul 2026 | 03 Aug 2026 | 31 Aug 2026 | 30 Oct 2026 | In Person | N/A |