Learning Japanese Online
for Hawaii Retail Sales
- Started in 1960 at the
International Marketplace
- The owner Rick Ralston
started with air – brushing on
shirts – ONLY SHIRTS
- Expanded to 35 stores:
- Oahu, Maui, Big Island, Kauai
- California, Nevada, Florida, Colorado
*Original Artwork
*Unique Garments
*Pima Cotton
*Tribal Designs
*Specialty Dyed
*Funny Designs
*Jackets
*Hydroprint Swimgear
*Pants
*Dresses
*and MORE
University of Hawaii 2013 Graduate
Educational Technology Master’s
Program & COLT program
Visual Merchandiser
Internet Marketing Specialist
Crazy Shirts
Graphic & Web Designer
AhVahleen Hawaiian Skin Care
Draw traffic into the stores and increase store sales through
creating engaging and visually appealing posters, props,
merchandise, and displays in the windows and store interior
Draw traffic to the website and increase online sales through
creating web pages, banner ads, triggered emails, search engine
optimization, functioning web forms, social media, digital
catalogs, appealing product pictures, coding, and many more
- Lived in Japan for 2 years
- Minor in Japanese
- Japanese Data Entry
- Worked in Waikiki
- Entertaining tourists
- Advertising
- Retail
- Sales & Customer Service
-
20% - 30% of customers are from JAPAN
Only a few workers speak Japanese
BARRIERS PUT UP
INTERACTION DOWN
If sales drop, job security drops
- Face-to-face class for
employees
- Instructor loss interest.
Repetition.
- Demands on making sales
put time constraints at work
- Inconvenience of meeting
face-to-face
- Instructor doesn’t have to
redo
- Asynchronous instruction
allows for convenience
- Resource that can be
reused
- Mobile
- More interactive than
printed material
The purpose of this instructional design
project is to develop and evaluate the
effectiveness of a web-based module
teaching Japanese phrases to Hawaii retail
sales associates and managers who
interact with Japanese customers.
LEARN LANGUAGE = COMFORT = INTERACTION = SALES
- Store Staff
- Need convenience
- Adults 18 and over
- Limited Japanese
- Enjoy conversation
- Desire more interaction
with Japanese visitors
- Crazy Shirts visuals
- Logo Colors
- A lot of interactive
content
- Cater to various learning
styles
- Textual, Audio, and
Visual stimulation
- Would you be interested in learning more Japanese?
- 12 responses from stores said “yes”
- VP of Sales & Merchandising Thumbs Up (Change Agent)
- What would you like to learn?
- Describing features of clothes
- Greeting Customers
Made a list of 10 useful phrases a week for 4 weeks and 1 youtube
video. Stores printed list & watched video
1)
Kilpatrick, L. (2001) Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction
2)
Kitade, K. (2008) The Role of Offline Metalanguage Talk in Asynchronous Computer-
Mediated Communication.
3) http://www.japanese-lesson.com/.
4) Moore, K. & Iida, S. (2010) Students' Perception of Supplementary, Online Activities
5) Stanford, J. (2009) Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching
6) Yoshitomi, A., Umino T., & Masashi N. (2006) Readings in Second Language
Pedagogy v
- Asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC)
- Interactional features facilitate language learning
- Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
- Improved verbal and text communication skills
- Course management systems incorporate sound
identification
- Other language modules use quizzes, games, and audio
links
Gain Attention – Interactive tools & Crazy Shirts visuals
Inform Learners of Objectives – Objectives listed at the beginning of all 3
“Chunks”
Stimulate recall of prior learning – Flash game reviews previous information
Present the content – Weebly & Google Forms – Weebly formats for mobile
devices
Provide learning guidance – Screencast describing grammar / Audio links for
pronunciation
Elicit performance (practice) – Online recording tool Vocaroo
Provide Feedback – Flash games will provide instant feedback for non-examples
and examples
Assess Performance – Google Forms for gathering results / Answer key provided
Enhance retention and transfer to the job – All Interactive tools utilized
Weebly
Adobe Photoshop
Google Forms
Microsoft Outlook
Vocaroo
HTML
Screenr
Japanese Friends
Garageband
iTunes
Adobe Flash
- Welcoming Guests
- Showing Gratitude
- Giving Directions
-
Types of Clothing
Sizes
Colors
Beneficial Features
- Counting 0 – 10000
- Money Exchange
- Sales & Store Hours
Mizugi
Mizugi means
Mizugi means swimwear
Why?
Why?
It’s made of 2 characters
Why?
It’s made of 2 characters
Mizu = Water
Ki = Clothes
Put 2 of them together
Put 2 of them together
“Ki” conjugates to “Gi”
Put 2 of them together
“Ki” conjugates to “Gi”
Then you get “Mizugi”
Water Clothes
Water Clothes
Swimwear
*Explained the content in much greater
detail focusing on describing grammar
principles
*Learn how to put sentences together
*Covered origins of words and phrases
*Reviewed content
*Engaged the learner with interactive audio and visuals
*Showed Examples and Non-Examples
*Provided immediate feedback if answer was correct or
incorrect and why
- 24 volunteers, ONLY 10 completed
- 2 males, 8 females
- 7 store managers, 1 regional manager, 1
assistant manager, 1 supervisor
- 9 spoke English as a first language, 1 –
Korean
- 2 – No Japanese experience, 8 learned little
on the job or in class
LOST 14
VOLUNTEERS
- Participants were given 5 weeks.
- Started the module in December and
ended on January
- Assumed store staff would have some of
the holidays off
- Managers and Supervisors are not off
during the holidays
- BUSIEST TIME OF THE YEAR FOR
RETAIL
“Time limit to
complete was
a bit stressful.
Starting during
holidays was not
a good idea.”
6 increased 2 same 2 decreased
PRE-TEST = 90%
POST-TEST = 85%
- Participated in the Crazy Shirts course several years ago.
- Knew a lot of Japanese already
- This module taught new Japanese phrases never used before
- Needed to recall MORE new unfamiliar material in Post-Test
- Presentation of Content was motivational and engaging
- Likert Scale pts for favorite tools (1 least favorite to 5 most
favorite)
Screencast – 28 pts
Audio – 27 pts
Quizzes/Tests – 26 pts
Flash Games – 25 pts
Screencasts explained content in greater detail (i.e. grammar)
-
“I thought I knew a reasonable amount of Japanese from classes I
have taken, but this class proved that I still have a lot to learn”
-
“There needs to be a way to actively track your progress. There
also needs to be a way to see your results”
-
“More please”
-
“Would like to continue with this type of learning tool, but with
different languages”
-
“I believe that with a little tweaking, this module would be an
excellent asset to Crazy Shirts in bridging the communication
barrier between sales staff and Japanese customers.”
-
“Thank you / Arigatoo”
- Lost Volunteers
- Lacked extrinsic incentive
- Bad Timing - Holidays
- 24 volunteers ; 10 completed
- Email communication
- Work schedules
- Content vs. Format
- Audio not working properly
- Google Forms not working
- Good Content
- Interactive tools
- Different learning styles
- Job security
- Fun
- CEO recognition
- Averages Score:
Improvement +11%
- Students continue to use it
- Must test module with face-to-face synchronous elements
- Lack of human interaction can decrease motivation
- Timing of testing module was poor
- Need to find out the volunteers’ most convenient time
- Create a facebook page for Crazy Shirts learning
community
- Extrinsic incentives such as grades, bonuses, or
recognition is needed to increase participation
- Time to fix audio coding for google forms and mp3 links
- Make Quiz/Test with immediate feedback like games
Gavon Wong
gavon@ahvahleen.com
gavonw44@gmail.com
Please visit
www.japaneseforcrazyshirts.weebly.com