Dictation Technique in Hiragana Writing: Implementation and Result

Japanese Language Education Department, Language Education Faculty, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 55183

^* Corresponding author: yuli.wahyuni@umy.ac.id

Abstract

Mastering Hiragana is a necessity for all students majoring in Japanese, but the students often find it challenging to write Hiragana words. This study explores students’ difficulties in writing Hiragana by implementing dictation techniques in Hiragana learning. Through qualitative descriptive methods and exploring data gathered from 26 first-year students majoring in Japanese Language Education at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, the findings showed that the dictation technique, one of the oldest learning techniques, is still pertinent in modern learning. It can also be utilized not only as a tool in teaching hiragana words but also as a tool for identifying students’ difficulties in writing hiragana words. Findings showed that the students face difficulties distinguishing hiragana letters that look similar (such as A and O), impacting their ability to write the correct word. The students also faced difficulties in writing words containing long sounds and remembering their rules (when to write OO instead of OU, to write EI instead of EE), writing words containing ZU sounds, writing words containing TSU sounds, writing words that were unfamiliar to the students but contained similar sounds (such as TSUMAMI compared to TSUNAMI, BIYOIN compared to BYOUIN), writing words that contain more than three syllables.