Keywords

1 Introduction

1.1 Persuasive Technology

Persuasive technology is a subfield of HCI that studies technology designed to persuade people to change attitudes or behaviors. In his book, Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What we Think and Do, Fogg introduces this field and provides examples from varied domains including safety (persuading people not to drive after drinking) and education (persuading students to study regularly) [4].

Fogg categorizes persuasive technologies depending on how the technology persuades. For example, Fogg presents reduction technologies that work by making target behaviors easier, and suggestion technologies that give users feedback to help them understand how their behavior differs from a target behavior [4].

Fogg limits his work to technologies that work independently to facilitate a behavior change. We build on Fogg’s work by showing why it can be important to consider what we call a “coupled persuasive system.” Such systems consist of a human component and a technology component that work together to enable behavior change. While Fogg would argue that this is simply a form of computer mediated communication (communication between humans, mediated by a computer), we present a situation in which a human and computer work synergistically as a persuasive system. Specifically we present a case study that couples a human teacher with a pen-based instructional technology system to provide Japanese learners with feedback and suggestions that help change the way they draw Japanese scripts.

1.2 Challenges for Japanese Language Learners

One of the challenges faced by Japanese language learners is becoming comfortable with three types of writing scripts: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji (Chinese characters). There are 46 basic letters in each of the Hiragana and Katakana scripts, and approximately 2000 Kanji characters that the learners eventually need to master (for simplicity, we will refer to letters and characters simply as “characters” in the remainder of this paper).

The need to learn many characters often seems overwhelming to Japanese learners; however, instructors can play a pivotal role in assisting learners by helping them cognitively organize the information expressed in the scripts. This cognitive organization can help the learner develop better ways to memorize characters at an early stage and can also help accelerate the learning process later.

Although each writing script is used for a different purpose in sentences, writing the characters requires similar organizational patterns across all three scripts. For example, learners must focus on their stroke order (the order in which individual strokes are drawn to form a single character) and on their ability to shape the characters correctly. Internalizing patterns in stroke order and character shape can help students cognitively organize their learning. Additionally, the visual attributes of the characters can work together with motor memory to lead to automaticity in writing characters. This, in turn, is one of the keys to successfully learning Japanese.

Teaching stroke order has been strongly encouraged in Japanese education, especially in elementary school. During the 6 years of elementary school, at least 1006 Kanji are introduced as mandated by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology [6]. The widely accepted Kanji test, Nihon Kanji Noryoku Kentei (Kanji Kentei or Kanken), has six sections that deal with Kanji stroke orders [7]. The most advanced of these levels covers 1006 Kanji characters, which is aligned with the Kanji studied in the first six years of schooling [7]. According to Hiroshi Matsumoto, stroke order can serve as a means to “orderly construct” an aesthetically pleasing Kanji by continuously connecting dots and lines [5]. Knowing the stroke order also help learners identify the number of strokes in radicals (parts). This is crucial when looking up a new Kanji in a paper dictionary, as well as when looking up a Kanji in an on-line dictionary if we cannot copy and paste the Kanji into the dictionary, such as when looking up a Kanji that we see on a sign or in a book.

2 Classroom Solution

For several years we have explored the use of networked pen-based computers, a collaborative instructional technology software system called DyKnow [3], and a human instructor to support student learning in college level courses [1, 2]. In this paper we focus on the use of this system to help students master Japanese scripts in two courses taught by the second author.

In addition to regular meetings, the courses “Elementary Japanese I” and “Elementary Japanese II” meet once per week for a laboratory that takes place in a classroom that provides each student (as well as the instructor) with a pen-based computer. DyKnow software allows Japanese characters drawn by the instructor to be shared with students in real time. The instructor can also use the system to collect and view characters drawn by students and optionally to display this work for the entire class to see.

During class, the instructor demonstrates how to draw Japanese characters while the system transmits individual pen movements to the student’s computers where the instructor’s writing is displayed. The students can repeatedly replay the instructor’s writing stroke-by-stoke to reinforce the stroke order and character shape. Figures 1, 2 and 3 show the Kanji character for mountain (pronounced yama), originally written by the instructor, at three stages of replay by a student. Figure 1 shows the character after the first stroke has been drawn, Fig. 2 shows the character after the second stroke has been drawn and Fig. 3 shows the completed character.

Fig. 1.
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Kanji after the first stroke was drawn

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Fig. 2.
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Kanji after the second stroke was drawn

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Fig. 3.
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Kanji after the third (final) stroke was drawn

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The student can use the software’s controls to step through the sequence stroke by stroke. The software provides an option to display each stroke as a completed unit (the entire stroke is displayed at once) and also provides an option to replay each stroke dynamically to show the direction of the original drawing.

After replaying the instructor’s strokes, students practice drawing the character in the software using their own styluses. Sometimes, the students use the software to practice privately while the instructor moves throughout the room and provides feedback. At other times, the instructor uses the software to share some of the student writing with the entire class simultaneously, which allows the instructor to provide feedback to the entire class (see Fig. 4). In either case, the instructor can provide students with detailed feedback on their stroke order and shape by using the software to replay the student’s writing stroke by stroke.

Fig. 4.
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In-class interactive exercise

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Periodically, students take quizzes that require them to draw characters and submit them to the instructor through DyKnow. While grading quizzes, the instructor can review each student’s writing process stroke by stroke. Once again, this allows the instructor to give the students precise feedback. Figure 5 shows an example of a student’s response to a quiz question along with feedback from the instructor. The student’s response, along with the instructor’s feedback are then returned to the student using the software.

Fig. 5.
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Kanji quiz (SO stands for stroke order)

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In each of the use cases described above, the DyKnow software is used to augment the instructor’s ability to give the students feedback that persuades them to adjust their writing style. In addition, the instructor’s choice to periodically share student work makes learning more interactive and social. This can make learning more enjoyable while also motivating students to do a better job while drawing Japanese characters.

3 Survey and Results

With approval from the DePauw University Institutional Review Board we invited 81 undergraduate students to complete an online anonymous survey regarding their experiences using DyKnow software in Japanese courses. We received 30 responses from students who had experience with the software.

The survey included a set of objective questions that students responded to using a five point Likert scale as well as open ended questions. A summary of the responses to objective questions is provided in Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. All percentages are rounded to the nearest integer.

Fig. 6.
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Using DyKnow helped me learn to write the Japanese scripts (Color figure online)

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Fig. 7.
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I have become more aware of stroke orders because we used DyKnow (Color figure online)

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Fig. 8.
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Replaying how the letter/character is written facilitated learning stroke order (Color figure online)

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Fig. 9.
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Feedback through DyKnow (quizzes, in-class writing) helped me to correct stroke orders and shapes of Kana and Kanji (Color figure online)

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Fig. 10.
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Using DyKnow is enjoyable (Color figure online)

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Of the 30 survey respondents, 9 indicated that they had significant experience with writing Japanese scripts before enrolling in their Japanese language course. We believe these students were native Mandarin speakers who were studying abroad in the United States. Table 1 shows the percentage of students who agreed or strongly agreed with the survey statements broken down by prior familiarity with Japanese writing scripts.

Table 1. Comparing presumed native Manderin speakers to other students
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The survey also invited students to provide additional feedback through several open-ended questions. For example, students were asked to describe the biggest advantages of using the DyKnow system. Out of 30 responses, 19 students specifically mentioned stroke order or the system’s replay capabilities. Representative comments are presented below.

  • “Getting the stroke order correct and replicating Japanese characters”

  • “I think the biggest advantage was being able to see the stroke order and the ability to replay it”

  • “Replaying the slides to see how kanji are written. It’s very helpful when studying”

  • “It helped a lot with stroke order”

  • “Stroke order could be easily seen”

  • “Seeing stroke order and movement”

  • “Witnessing the strokes through a clear, large perspective”

  • “Learning stroke order”.

In response to this question, as well as on a question that invited students to provide any additional information they wanted to share, several students commented explicitly about the interaction between instructor, fellow students and the software as a means to facilitate learning. Representative comments are presented below.

  • “Easy to follow teacher’s instructions”

  • “Direct comparison to other’s writing”

  • “Our whole class could learn at the same time”

  • “The student teacher interaction”

  • “It allowed me to playback the teacher’s stroke order. This is especially useful when you are very new to Japanese”

  • “The best part of DyKnow is everyone can write each word at the same time and teacher can also edit and correct them at the same time”.

Many other students implicitly referenced the importance of both the teacher and the technology. For example, one student wrote “I think the biggest advantage was being able to see the stroke order and the ability to replay it”. While this student did not mention the instructor by name, the student implies that the system enabled him to see the teacher’s stroke order.

4 Discussion and Conclusion

The data suggest that students believe that using DyKnow helped them learn Japanese writing scripts. In fact, 83 % of the students agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. More specifically, 90 % of the students agreed or strongly agreed that replaying how a letter of character is written facilitated learning stroke orders, 67 % agreed or strongly agreed that receiving instructor feedback through DyKnow was helpful, and 84 % agreed or strongly agreed that using DyKnow was enjoyable.

While students perceived benefits of using DyKnow regardless of their previous knowledge of Japanese writing scripts, the data suggests that students who had no significant prior knowledge of Japanese scripts were more likely to perceive a benefit. We assume that most of these students were native Mandarin speakers who were studying abroad in the United States. While 55 % of these more experienced students agreed or strongly agreed that DyKnow helped them to learn the Japanese scripts, an overwhelming 95 % of the less experienced students agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. Similarly, while 77 % of the more experienced students agreed or strongly agreed that they benefited from replaying letters and characters, 95 % of the less experienced students agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. Finally, while 44 % of the more experienced students agreed or strongly agreed that the teacher’s feedback (provided through DyKnow) was helpful in learning correct stroke orders, 86 % of the less experienced students agreed with this statement.

This case study demonstrates that coupling a human teacher with a pen-based instructional technology system provides Japanese learners with feedback and suggestions that help them learn to write Japanese scripts. However, our results are limited to young adults who are learning Japanese as a foreign language. Further investigation would be needed to determine if the results generalize to children who are learning the Japanese writing system as their native language.