Aprendizagem da Língua Japonesa Apoiada por

Transcription

UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO G RANDE DO NORTE
CENTRO DE CIÊNCIAS EXATAS E DA TERRA
DEPARTAMENTO DE INFORMÁTICA E MATEMÁTICA APLICADA
PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM SISTEMAS E COMPUTAÇÃO
MESTRADO ACADÊMICO EM SISTEMAS E COMPUTAÇÃO
Aprendizagem da Língua Japonesa Apoiada
por Ferramentas Computacionais: Estudo e
Desenvolvimento do Jogo Karuchā Ships
Invaders
Juvane Nunes Marciano
Natal-RN
Fevereiro de 2014
Juvane Nunes Marciano
Aprendizagem da Língua Japonesa Apoiada
por Ferramentas Computacionais: Estudo e
Desenvolvimento do Jogo Karuchā Ships
Invaders
Dissertação de Mestrado apresentado ao Programa
de Pós-Graduação em Sistemas e Computação do
Departamento de Informática e Matemática
Aplicada da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
do Norte como requisito final para a obtenção do
grau de Mestre em Sistemas e Computação.
Linha de pesquisa:
Engenharia de Software
Orientador
Prof. Dr. Leonardo Cunha de Miranda
PPGSC – PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM SISTEMAS E COMPUTAÇÃO
DIMAP – D EPARTAMENTO DE INFORMÁTICA E MATEMÁTICA APLICADA
CCET – CENTRO DE CIÊNCIAS EXATAS E DA TERRA
UFRN – UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO G RANDE DO N ORTE
Natal-RN
Fevereiro de 2014
UFRN / Biblioteca Central Zila Mamede
Catalogação da Publicação na Fonte
Marciano, Juvane Nunes.
Aprendizagem da língua japonesa apoiada por ferramentas
computacionais: estudo e desenvolvimento do jogo Karuchā Ships
Invaders. / Juvane Nunes Marciano. – Natal, RN, 2014.
140 f.: il.
Orientador: Prof. Dr. Leonardo Cunha de Miranda.
Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do
Norte. Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Terra. Programa de Pós-Graduação
em Sistemas e Computação.
1. Informática na educação – Dissertação. 2. Interação humanocomputador - Dissertação. 3. Jogo educacional - Dissertação. 4. Kanas –
Dissertação. 5. Hiragana – Dissertação. 6. Roma-ji – Dissertação. I.
Miranda, Leonardo Cunha de. II. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do
Norte. III. Título.
RN/UF/BCZM
CDU 004:37
Dissertação de Mestrado sob o título Aprendizagem da Língua Japonesa Apoiada por Ferramentas
Computacionais: Estudo e Desenvolvimento do Jogo Karuchā Ships Invaders, apresentada por Juvane Nunes
Marciano e aceita pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sistemas e Computação do
Departamento de Informática e Matemática Aplicada da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do
Norte, sendo aprovada por todos os membros da banca examinadora abaixo especificada:
_____________________________________________________________
Prof. Dr. Leonardo Cunha de Miranda
Presidente
Departamento de Informática e Matemática Aplicada (DIMAp)
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)
_____________________________________________________________
Prof. Dr. Fábio Ferrentini Sampaio
Examinador Externo
Instituto Tércio Pacitti de Aplicações e Pesquisas Computacionais (iNCE)
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
_____________________________________________________________
Prof. Dr. André Maurício Cunha Campos
Examinador Interno
_____________________________________________________________
Prof. Dra. Márcia Jacyntha Nunes Rodrigues Lucena
Examinador Interno
Natal-RN, 24, Fevereiro de 2014
À minha mãe
Agradecimentos
Agradeço primeiramente a Deus, por tudo, especialmente pelo Sábado, o dia para revigorar as
energias a cada semana e poder continuar o trabalho com fé, força e determinação.
Agradeço à minha família (inteira, em todo canto do mundo), especialmente minha mãe,
Juciane, por todo o apoio durante mais essa jornada de estudos, e ao meu irmão e minha
cunhada, que são meu lar na cidade de Natal. Também agradeço ao Nando, pelo mega apoio
agora na reta final da jornada.
Agradeço à minha cidade, Currais Novos, pelos fins de semana bem gastos – estudando
ou aproveitando –, e aos amigos e irmãos que me apoiaram durante a jornada (são muitos para
citar no pouco espaço, então, sintam-se todos inclusos).
Agradeço ao meu orientador, o professor Leonardo, pela incontestável dedicação a todos
os seus alunos, incluindo a mim, pela energia e o otimismo no cumprimento das atividades, pela
compreensão nos momentos em que tudo ficava mais difícil, pelo esforço hercúleo aplicado para
que tudo no trabalho “faça sentido” e dentro dos prazos, pelo acompanhamento assíduo que
sempre ajudou a despertar o esforço e as ideias para seguir com a pesquisa. E, por fim, por ter se
preocupado em me conhecer, descobrir algo que para mim era um hobby e transformar em uma
pesquisa científica que eu nem sabia que era possível desenvolver.
Agradeço à Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte – UFRN – e ao Departamento
de Informática e Matemática Aplicada – DIMAp – pela oportunidade de cursar a pós graduação
em seu programa.
Agradeço ao CNPq pela bolsa de estudos a mim concedida.
Agradeço ao grupo Physical Artifacts of Interaction Research Group – PAIRG – como
um todo, pois cada ideia, crítica e sugestão, de cada membro, contribuiu para o enriquecimento
desta pesquisa. Em especial à professora Erica, que sempre contribuiu muito significativamente
em todas as etapas deste trabalho.
Agradeço à equipe de desenvolvimento do jogo Karuchā Ships Invaders, por ter tornado
possível a construção dessa ferramenta educacional que se mostrou com grande potencial de
crescimento graças ao esforço de todos os envolvidos. Também agradeço aos doze participantes
do experimento com usuário realizado para avaliação do Karuchā.
Agradeço aos membros da banca avaliadora, professor Fábio, professor André e
professora Márcia, por terem aceitado o convite para contribuir com este trabalho. Também
pelas observações importantíssimas feitas pelos professores André e Márcia durante minha banca
de qualificação.
Agradeço, por fim, a todos os demais que de alguma forma, qualquer forma, contribuíram
para a realização desta pesquisa.
“For I have always been a seeker, a dreamer, and a ponderer on seeking and dreaming...”
― H.P. Lovecraft
Aprendizagem da Língua Japonesa Apoiada por
Ferramentas Computacionais: Estudo e
Desenvolvimento do Jogo Karuchā Ships Invaders
Autora: Juvane Nunes Marciano
Orientador: Prof. Dr. Leonardo Cunha de Miranda
RESUMO
O uso de ferramentas tecnológicas para apoiar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem de diversas
áreas do conhecimento é notório e vem crescendo a cada dia, inclusive, no contexto de
aprendizado de idiomas. O estudo de Aprendizado de Idioma com Auxílio de Computador –
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) – realizado nesta pesquisa teve o intuito de
avaliar as ferramentas existentes nesse contexto, focadas especificamente no idioma japonês e, a
partir desse estudo, realizar o desenvolvimento de uma nova ferramenta que auxilie o ensino da
língua japonesa. Como resultados, apresentamos um abrangente levantamento sobre o tema nas
mais diversas tecnologias, bem como, descrevemos todos os passos do desenvolvimento do jogo
Karuchā Ships Invaders, que se propõe a ensinar conceitos básicos do idioma, mesclando-se ao
entretenimento, ainda com foco no público de estudantes brasileiros de japonês. Serão
apresentadas as fases de concepção do jogo e sua evolução ao longo da pesquisa, bem como a
avaliação de sua interface. Ainda, apresentamos um método para avaliar aspectos motivacionais
de ferramentas computacionais com foco educacional e resultados de um experimento realizado
com usuários em perspectiva.
Palavras-chave: Informática na Educação, Interação Humano-Computador, Jogo Educacional,
Kanas, Hiragana, Roma-ji.
Japanese Language Learning Supported by
Computational Tools: Study and Development of
Karuchā Ships Invaders Game
Author: Juvane Nunes Marciano
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Leonardo Cunha de Miranda
ABSTRACT
The use of technology tools for teaching and learning has grown increasingly in our daily life. In
this context, a branch that has had tremendous growth is the area of teaching and learning
language through computational tools. The study of CALL (Computer Assisted Language
Learning), accomplished in this research, aims to evaluate existing tools in this context, focused
specifically on the Japanese language; and from this study, accomplish the development of a new
computational tool that can assist teaching/learning of the Japanese language. As results, we
present a wide survey on the subject in various technologies/devices, as well as the complete
development process of a new tool, the Karuchā Ships Invaders game, that proposes to teach
basic concepts of the language, blended with entertainment, and still, focusing on the Brazilian
students of Japanese language audience. We will present all the concept phases of the game and
its evolution through the research, as well as an interface evaluation. Still, we present proposal
and validation of a method to evaluate motivational aspects of computational tools with
educational focus, and results extracted from an experiment accomplished with prospective users.
Keywords: Informatics in Education; Human-Computer Interaction; Educational Game; Kanas;
Hiragana; Roma-ji.
Lista de figuras
Fig. 1 - Origem pictográfica do kanji de “montanha”. ......................................................................... 22
Fig. 2 - Junção de radicais e ideias para formar um novo kanji. .......................................................... 23
Fig. 3 - Uso de tenten, maru, e junção de caracteres. ........................................................................... 24
Fig. 4 - América do Sul e América Latina escritos em (a) hiragana (b) kanji (c) roma-ji (d)
katakana. ...................................................................................................................................................... 24
Fig. 5 - The semiotic framework (c.f. [40])............................................................................................. 57
Fig. 6 - Reading skill quiz (Elementary Kanji App). ............................................................................. 69
Fig. 7 - Japanese text with roma-ji and translation, audio teaching, and user speaking recognition
(Japanese Conversation Lite App). .......................................................................................................... 69
Fig. 8 - Kanji drawing recognition (Kanji Recognizer App). ............................................................... 69
Fig. 9 - Animation showing the stoke order for the hiragana “ga” (Simple Japanese Gojuon App).
...................................................................................................................................................................... 70
Fig. 10 - Listening skill quiz (Learn Japanese Quick App)................................................................... 70
Fig. 11 - Main menu interface of the game. ........................................................................................... 86
Fig. 12 - Level and difficulty mode interface of the game. .................................................................. 86
Fig. 13 - Scenario transitions of the game, i.e. from/to (a) morning, (b) evening, and (c) night. .. 87
Fig. 14 - Ships of the game for (a) hiragana character (b) cultural element. ...................................... 87
Fig. 15 - Japanese character that represents the player’s performance on a given level, i.e. (a)
passed level with bonus (b) passed level (c) game over. ....................................................................... 88
Fig. 16 - Components of the game (a) hit points bar (b) time (c) difficulty mode (d) level of the
game (e) ship of hiragana (f) ship of cultural aspect (g) guidance laser ray (h) city (i) laser cannon
(j) feedback area of user’s typing.............................................................................................................. 88
Fig. 17 - Different moments of the Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL game. ...................................... 95
Fig. 18 - Five steps of the evaluation method...................................................................................... 100
Fig. 19 - Steps of the method. ................................................................................................................ 110
Fig. 20 - Diagrams that detail user characteristics. .............................................................................. 120
Fig. 21 - Maximum level the users achieved. ....................................................................................... 121
Fig. 22 - Counter of use of the context-help in each level. ................................................................ 122
Fig. 23 - A flow through levels of hard mode, from user “U3”........................................................ 122
Fig. 24 - Severity table of the motivational questionnaire’s answers. ............................................... 123
Fig. 25 - Users playing Karuchā Ships Invaders. ................................................................................. 124
Fig. 26 - Users’ reactions to the game................................................................................................... 124
Fig. 27 - Users answering motivational questionnaire and interview. .............................................. 125
Lista de tabelas
Table 1 - Foco dos Trabalhos da Literatura. .......................................................................................... 35
Table 2 - Medias used by CALL Web Tools for the Japanese language, identified by language
skills. ............................................................................................................................................................. 49
Table 3 - State of the Practice Tools, synthesizing media behavior when accessed from the
Android platform. ...................................................................................................................................... 50
Table 4 - Android MALL Apps Identified and Evaluated .................................................................. 65
Table 5 - Semiotic Framework in the Analysis Domain of MALL Apps for Japanese. .................. 67
Table 6 - Identified Requirements According to Apps’ Classification ............................................... 71
Table 7 - Related Works and Games....................................................................................................... 78
Table 8 - Basic Elements of the Game ................................................................................................... 81
Table 9 - Some Examples of Bosses of the Game................................................................................ 83
Table 10 - Achievements of the Game. .................................................................................................. 84
Table 11 - Summary of the works of literature review. ........................................................................ 99
Table 12 - Basis heuristics for the development of the questions. ................................................... 101
Table 13 - Questions defined to assess multiple interface aspects of Karuchā Ships Invaders. .. 101
Table 14 - Answers for the heuristic based questions. ....................................................................... 102
Table 15 - Severity rating of problems found. ..................................................................................... 104
Table 16 - Map set of heuristics developed for use with the method. ............................................. 111
Table 17 - Example questions guided by the heuristics for the example of the method. ............. 113
Table 18 - Examples of motivational strengths and weaknesses. ..................................................... 114
Lista de abreviaturas e siglas
ARCS: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction
CALL: Computer Assisted Language Learning
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
GPS: Global Positioning System
HCI: Human-Computer Interaction
HKR: Handwritten Kanji Recognition
IHC: Interação Humano-Computador
IMMS: Instructional Materials Motivational Survey
IT: Information Technology
JAMIOLAS: Japanese Mimicry and Onomatopoeia Learning Assistant
JAPELAS: Japanese Polite Expressions Learning Assisting System
JLPT: Japanese Language Proficiency Test
JND: Japanese Names Dictionary
JVC: Japanese Verb Conjugator
JVD: Japanese Verb Deconjugator
LAN: Local Area Network
MALL: Mobile Assisted Language Learning
MAWL: Mobile Assisted Word Learning
MIO: Mímica e Onomatopeias
NHK: Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai
OS: Operating System /or/ Organizational Semiotics
P&D: Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento
PATS: Proverbial Animation of Ten Sounds
PC: Personal Computer
PDA: Personal Digital Assistant
PEFS: Proverbial Exam by Fourfold Selection
PHEG: Playability Heuristics for Educational Games
PT-BR: Brazilian Portuguese
PYA: Practice! Yubimoji AIUEO
Q&A: Question and Answer
RA: Realidade Aumentada
RFID: Radio Frequency Identification
RV: Realidade Virtual
SRS: Spaced Repetition System
TELL: Technology Enhanced Language Learning
UI: User Interface
ULSJPE: Ubiquitous-Learning System for the Japanese Polite Expressions
Sumário
Lista de figuras .................................................................................................................... ix
Lista de tabelas .................................................................................................................... xi
Lista de abreviaturas e siglas ............................................................................................. xii
Sumário .............................................................................................................................. xiii
1
Introdução.................................................................................................................... 16
1.1 Contexto, Problemática e Motivação ............................................................................. 16
1.2 Objetivos ............................................................................................................................ 17
1.3 Relevância da pesquisa ..................................................................................................... 18
1.4 Estrutura do trabalho ....................................................................................................... 19
2
Estado da Arte ............................................................................................................. 21
2.1 Introdução.......................................................................................................................... 21
2.2 O Idioma Japonês ............................................................................................................. 22
2.2.1 Leitura, Escrita, Fala e Compreensão .................................................................... 24
2.3 Estado da Arte ................................................................................................................... 26
2.3.1 Ferramentas para Desktop ...................................................................................... 27
2.3.2 Ferramentas Web ...................................................................................................... 29
2.3.3 Ferramentas para Dispositivos Móveis ................................................................. 32
2.3.4 Ferramentas Hápticas e de Realidade Virtual ....................................................... 33
2.3.5 Ferramentas de Realidade Aumentada .................................................................. 34
2.4 Desafios .............................................................................................................................. 35
2.4.1 Discussão ................................................................................................................... 37
2.5 Conclusão ........................................................................................................................... 38
2.5.1 Tomada de Decisão .................................................................................................. 38
3
State of the Practice of the Web .................................................................................. 39
3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 39
3.2 Computer Assisted Language Learning ......................................................................... 41
3.3 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 43
3.4 Results ................................................................................................................................. 44
3.5 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 51
3.6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 52
3.6.1 Decision Making ....................................................................................................... 52
4
State of the Practice of the Android ............................................................................ 54
4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 54
4.2 Mobile Assisted Language Learning .............................................................................. 55
4.3 Methodological and Theoretical Basis ........................................................................... 56
4.4 Results ................................................................................................................................ 58
4.5 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 72
4.6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 73
4.6.1 Decision Making ....................................................................................................... 74
5
Development of Karuchā Ships Invaders ................................................................... 75
5.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 75
5.2 Related Works and Games .............................................................................................. 77
5.3 Overview of the Japanese Culture .................................................................................. 78
5.4 Karuchā Ships Invaders ................................................................................................... 80
5.4.1 Plot, Gameplay and Features .................................................................................. 80
5.4.2 Interface Design and Implementation .................................................................. 85
5.5 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 89
5.6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 90
5.6.1 Decision Making ....................................................................................................... 91
6
Interface Evaluation of Karuchā Ships Invaders ........................................................ 92
6.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 92
6.2 Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL Game ........................................................................... 94
6.3 Interface Evaluation of Educational Computer Games ............................................. 96
6.4 Karuchā Ships Invaders Study ........................................................................................ 99
6.4.1 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 99
6.4.2 Results ...................................................................................................................... 102
6.5 Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 104
6.6 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 105
6.6.1 Decision Making ..................................................................................................... 106
7
Evaluation of Motivational Aspects........................................................................... 107
7.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 107
7.2 Motivation........................................................................................................................ 108
7.3 Method for Evaluation of Motivational Aspects ....................................................... 109
7.3.1 Example of Application of the Method .............................................................. 113
7.4 Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 115
7.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 116
7.5.1 Decision Making ..................................................................................................... 116
8
Applying Evaluation of Motivational Aspects on Karuchā Ships Invaders .............. 117
8.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 117
8.2 Research and Methodology Scenario ........................................................................... 118
8.3 Results .............................................................................................................................. 120
8.3.1 Quantitative Results ............................................................................................... 120
8.3.2 Qualitative Results .................................................................................................. 123
8.3.3 New Features .......................................................................................................... 125
8.4 Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 126
8.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 127
8.5.1
9
Decision Making ..................................................................................................... 128
Conclusões ................................................................................................................. 129
9.1 Trabalho Realizado ......................................................................................................... 129
9.2 Contribuições................................................................................................................... 130
9.3 Perspectivas e Trabalhos Futuros ................................................................................. 131
Referências bibliográficas ................................................................................................. 132
Capítulo 1
1 Introdução
O uso de ferramentas computacionais para auxílio de diversas tarefas tem tomado cada vez mais
espaço no cotidiano das pessoas. Atualmente, computadores, celulares e a Internet têm sido
utilizados para os mais diversos fins, incluindo o educacional. O uso de, por exemplo, sistemas
tutores, aplicativos em forma de exercícios e jogos educacionais, tem sido amplamente difundido,
em conjunto com diversas formas de tecnologia – como a web, computadores pessoais e
dispositivos móveis – para dar suporte ao usuário no aprendizado de uma tarefa ou conteúdo ao
qual ele não tem disponibilidade de aprender de forma tradicional (como cursos presenciais, com
horários e locais fixos que dificultam o acesso àquela informação). No meio educacional
computadorizado, uma vertente que vem se destacando fortemente é a de aprendizado de
idiomas através dessas tecnologias.
Nesse contexto, surge o termo Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL). TELL
abrange todos os tipos de auxílio oferecidos pela tecnologia – e.g. sistemas tutores, question &
answer, jogos e quizzes – para ensino de idiomas, tendo ramificações como Computer Assisted
Language Learning (CALL) e Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL), que abrangem,
respectivamente, uso de computadores e dispositivos móveis para auxílio ao aprendizado de uma
nova linguagem. Nesta pesquisa, o foco é no aprendizado de língua japonesa através de
ferramentas computacionais.
1.1 Contexto, Problemática e Motivação
O estudo da língua japonesa por si só já é um desafio, principalmente para estudantes ocidentais
– como os brasileiros – que não estão familiarizados com sistemas de escrita complexos como é o
japonês. Cursos tradicionais em escolas são escassos no Brasil, além de tomarem muito tempo
17
Capítulo 1. Introdução
para serem concluídos, possuírem aulas espaçadas e exigirem que os alunos cumpram um horário
determinado em um local específico. O estudo de um idioma como este, por estudantes
brasileiros, requer muito esforço, revisões de conteúdo, treinos reforçados de escrita – por tratarse de novos alfabetos e símbolos para o estudante aprender – dedicados a cada um dos três
alfabetos que a língua possui, escuta e leitura de gramática, que difere em muito da língua
portuguesa. Estes são apenas alguns dos desafios com os quais vai se deparar o estudante logo ao
iniciar seu trajeto no aprendizado do idioma japonês, e tendo isso em vista, é possível afirmar que
novas formas de aprendizado e reforço, que possam ajudar o estudante a estar sempre que
possível em contato com o idioma são bem-vindas, se feitas e avaliadas especialmente para tal.
Nesse contexto, aparecem então os meios computacionais – formas de acessar informações
de estudo fora do contexto de uma aula tradicional, e que ainda podem oferecer recursos
adicionais de estudo, como áudio, vídeo, recursos de Internet para auxílio de tradução, além de
interação com outros estudantes que podem se ajudar entre si. Já existem, em diversos meios
computacionais, ferramentas desenvolvidas com este intuito, tanto no meio acadêmico quanto
em meios práticos, que vão desde programas para desktop, web, dispositivos móveis e até hardwares
específicos, porém como descrito brevemente a seguir, pode-se observar que cada um desses
tipos possui também pontos fracos.
1.2 Objetivos
Em vista da necessidade de estudos sobre as diferentes tecnologias computacionais – observando
suas vantagens e desvantagens –, que podem auxiliar no aprendizado de língua japonesa, esta
pesquisa tem como objetivo principal:
 O desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta computacional para auxílio ao ensino da língua
japonesa.
O objetivo principal desta pesquisa se desmembra nos seguintes objetivos específicos:
 Identificar os principais pontos fortes e fracos das ferramentas atuais existentes no
contexto de CALL para língua japonesa;
 Analisar as diversas tecnologias/plataformas atuais voltadas para desenvolvimento
dos vários tipos de aplicativos encontrados;
 Estudar elementos de ferramentas educacionais que possam ser utilizados no design
da nova ferramenta;
 Desenvolver o design inicial;
 Implementar a ferramenta;
 Realizar testes de avaliação de interface e interação;
Aprendizagem da Língua Japonesa Apoiada por Ferramentas Computacionais
18
 Realizar testes avaliação de aspectos motivacionais da ferramenta.
A ferramenta pretende ser voltada para alunos brasileiros de japonês que podem ou não
possuir algum conhecimento básico de escrita – i.e. alfabeto hiragana – e visa abranger
principalmente o ensino de hiragana, com foco em leitura/pronúncia dos símbolos, e também
conhecimento básico sobre cultura do Japão. Pretende-se que o estudo seja proporcionado
através do uso de várias mídias (e.g. imagem, áudio e texto).
1.3 Relevância da pesquisa
Em primeiro lugar, é importante contextualizar o ensino-aprendizado da língua japonesa de
forma geral, para poder então ressaltar as questões pertinentes ao desenvolvimento de uma
ferramenta voltada para o público brasileiro que almeja aprender esse idioma. A língua japonesa é
uma língua difícil de aprender, uma vez que tem três alfabetos principais que são todos diferentes
do alfabeto romano usado na maioria das línguas ao redor do mundo. Existem os kanji, que são
ideogramas originalmente chineses, importados e adaptados para a língua japonesa. Os kanjis
representam ideias, e, além disso, um kanji por si só pode ter várias leituras/pronúncias. Os
outros dois alfabetos japoneses são hiragana e katakana – que juntos são chamados de kana –,
eles são diferentes dos kanji por serem alfabetos silábicos; o hiragana é o mais básico, usado para
escrever palavras que não possuem um kanji, como também para os adjetivos e terminações
verbais, e como uma legenda – furigana – para kanjis raros ou desconhecidos. O hiragana é o
primeiro alfabeto ensinado a qualquer pessoa que comece a aprender língua japonesa, dentro ou
fora do Japão. O katakana é semelhante ao hiragana em sua formação básica, contudo os
símbolos são todos diferentes; ele é utilizado para adaptar as palavras estrangeiras ao idioma
japonês, e em alguns casos para destacar ou enfatizar alguma palavra ou onomatopeia. No Japão,
eles também utilizam o alfabeto latino – que é utilizado na maioria das linguagens –, mas muito
pouco, como por exemplo, em siglas.
A partir dessa contextualização, é possível observar a complexidade do ensino de japonês
fora do Japão, e trazendo para o cenário brasileiro, temos, além da dificuldade intrínseca ao
idioma, cursos presenciais escassos e caros, e em várias partes do país, até mesmo inexistentes; ao
passo que cada vez mais pessoas estão se interessando pelo aprendizado desse idioma, porém não
encontram facilmente disponíveis materiais que possam ajudá-los, e que sejam voltados para o
público brasileiro, ou seja, material em português-japonês. Em paralelo, temos o enorme
crescimento no uso de tecnologias para a maioria da população, como os computadores e a
Internet, que proporcionam uma nova janela de conhecimento disponível para a população, e
isso inclui materiais de estudo para diversos conteúdos que antes disso não seriam de tão fácil
acesso.
19
Capítulo 1. Introdução
Todavia, mesmo com esse crescimento, materiais para o estudo de japonês voltado para
brasileiros continua escasso, principalmente em se tratando de aplicativos computacionais, isto é,
programas, apps e sites web. Esta pesquisa visa disponibilizar esse conhecimento de forma prática
e de fácil acesso, e além disso, apresentando elementos de educação atrelados ao meio
computacional, e ainda, em uma forma de entretenimento, através do desenvolvimento de um
aplicativo que abranja todas essas características: uma ferramenta computacional de fácil acesso,
para ensino básico de japonês, voltada para o público brasileiro, que proporcione aprendizado e
diversão ao mesmo tempo.
1.4 Estrutura do trabalho
Neste ponto, é descrito brevemente o conteúdo de cada capítulo apresentado a seguir.

Capítulo 2 – Estado da Arte: Este capítulo apresenta o levantamento do estado da
arte do tema, descrevendo as ferramentas computacionais para auxílio ao
ensino/aprendizado da língua japonesa encontradas no meio acadêmico. Além disso,
são expostos desafios com relação a desenvolvimentos futuros pertinentes ao
contexto apresentado;

Capítulo 3 – State of the Practice of the Web: Este capítulo apresenta os resultados
do levantamento de ferramentas CALL Web, voltadas para o contexto de
aprendizado da língua japonesa; as quais são também amplamente difundidas através
da Internet e utilizadas por estudantes estrangeiros de japonês em várias partes do
mundo. Além disso, é apresentado um estudo sobre os tipos de mídia utilizados por
estas ferramentas, visando avaliar o comportamento dessas diversas mídias quando a
ferramentas são utilizadas em dispositivos móveis com sistema operacional Android;

Capítulo 4 – State of the Practice of the Android: Este capítulo apresenta a
identificação de diversos aplicativos MALL (apps) para o ensino de japonês,
desenvolvidos para Android, como também a avaliação de seus designs e
características de interação. Com base nestes resultados, foi realizado um
levantamento de requisitos utilizando O Framework Semiótico, que consiste de um
artefato da Semiótica Organizacional, que nos permitiu identificar e esclarecer os
requisitos dos apps sob diferentes perspectivas;

Capítulo 5 – Development of Karuchā Ships Invaders: Este capítulo apresenta
um estudo sobre a concepção e desenvolvimento do jogo Karuchā Ships Invaders,
que tem o intuito de ensinar língua japonesa para alunos brasileiros do idioma,
levando em consideração as questões culturais de ambos os países – i.e. Japão e Brasil
– e seu impacto sobre os recursos de interface/interação do jogo;
20

Capítulo 6 – Interface Evaluation of Karuchā Ships Invaders: Este capítulo
apresenta uma revisão da literatura sobre avaliação de jogos educativos que analisam
diversas técnicas, e realiza uma avaliação baseada em um deles, aplicado para avaliação
da interface do Karuchā Ships Invaders. A avaliação realizada utiliza uma metodologia
baseada em heurística, focada em jogos educativos, e os resultados demonstram a
eficácia deste método de aprendizagem de línguas suportadas por um jogo
computacional. A descrição do método serve também de guia para futuros avaliadores
escolherem métodos de avaliação com base em seu próprio contexto e necessidades.

Capítulo 7 – Evaluation of Motivation Aspects: Este capítulo propõe um método
baseado em heurística para avaliar o poder motivacional de jogos educacionais sobre a
vontade de um aluno em continuar seus estudos sobre um determinado assunto. O
método também é validado com um estudo de caso, cujo cenário é o jogo Karuchā
Ships Invaders;

Capítulo 8 – Applying Evaluation of Motivational Aspects on Karuchā Ships
Invaders Game: Este capítulo apresenta o resultado da avaliação dos aspectos
motivacionais de Karuchā Ships Invaders, através do método de avaliação de aspectos
motivacionais – desenvolvido também no decorrer desta pesquisa – demonstrando
que esses aspectos influenciam positivamente na vontade do usuário para continuar o
aprendizado e a prática da língua japonesa. O estudo foi aplicado com alunos e
aspirantes ao estudo do japonês, e os resultados mostram que Karuchā Ships Invaders
é uma boa ferramenta CALL para a aprendizagem de língua japonesa;

Capítulo 9 – Considerações Finais: Este capítulo resume os resultados da pesquisa
e suas contribuições.
Capítulo 2
2 Estado da Arte1
2.1 Introdução
As relações entre países, seus habitantes e culturas têm se tornado cada vez mais comuns, até
mesmo entre nações distantes geograficamente. No contexto da América Latina, a imigração
japonesa já não é novidade; japoneses e seus descendentes formam comunidades significativas
em países como Brasil, Peru, Argentina, Paraguai e Bolívia. O relacionamento diplomático entre
Japão e América do Sul iniciou-se em 1873, com a assinatura de um tratado com o Peru e, em
1895, Japão e Brasil estabeleceram o Tratado de Amizade, de Comércio e de Navegação abrindo,
desse modo, o caminho para a imigração japonesa ao país sul-americano. Até hoje, há um
expressivo número de imigrantes japoneses na América do Sul, abrangendo desde a primeira
geração de imigrantes até descendentes que chegam à quinta geração. O Brasil, por exemplo,
possui o maior contingente de japoneses – aproximadamente, 1,4 milhões – fora do Japão.
Por sua vez, o início da consolidação da presença brasileira no Japão foi somente a partir
de meados dos anos 1990. Brasileiros residentes no Japão geralmente são descendentes diretos de
japoneses – também conhecidos como nikkeis – ou casados com descendentes, e buscam no país
oportunidades de trabalho e melhoria de vida, muitas vezes mudando-se com toda a família para
a Terra do Sol Nascente. Apesar de existir toda essa movimentação de pessoas entre o Japão e o
continente latino-americano, existe uma grande barreira: o idioma. Essa barreira é nitidamente
percebida, principalmente, para os que se deslocam do ocidente para o país oriental, pois sua
língua possui particularidades e complexidades às quais os ocidentais não estão acostumados.
Essas características sobressaem sobretudo na forma de escrita do idioma que é bem diferente,
1
Este capítulo é uma versão revisada do trabalho [35], já publicado e apresentado (© 2012 IEEE).
22
por exemplo, das línguas oficiais da maioria dos países latino-americanos, ou seja, português,
espanhol e francês.
Temos observado um aumento significativo na quantidade de projetos de pesquisa e
desenvolvimento (P&D) com foco na criação de soluções computacionais que minimizem as
dificuldades do aprendizado pleno deste idioma. As soluções computacionais de uma forma
geral apresentam um manancial de ferramentas multimídias com a intenção de estimular no aluno
de japonês diferentes competências/habilidades exigidas para o aprendizado de um novo idioma.
Outra preocupação é a interface de usuário da solução que, geralmente, é contextualizado ao
público-alvo. Além disso, também constatamos a existência de diversos trabalhos que apontam a
importância, a eficiência, a aceitação, bem como, as vantagens de utilizar o Aprendizado de
Línguas Assistido por Computador ou, em inglês, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
como, por exemplo, Lam et al. [20], Tiwari et al. [6], McLoughlin et al. [2], Han et al. [5],
Kremenska [4], e Joseph e Uther [3].
Nesse contexto, este capítulo apresenta o estado da arte que descreve os trabalhos da
literatura onde ferramentas computacionais são empregadas tendo em vista o subsídio de
estrangeiros na aprendizagem do idioma japonês. Além disso, com o intuito de agregar valor a
este estudo, identificamos e discutimos diversos desafios computacionais acerca deste tema para a
comunidade latino-americana, em especial, desafios relativos à área de Interação HumanoComputador (IHC).
Este capítulo está organizado da seguinte maneira: a Seção 2.2 descreve importantes
informações acerca do idioma japonês; a Seção 2.3 apresenta o estado da arte; a Seção 2.4
descreve e discute vários desafios computacionais acerca do tema sob a ótica da comunidade
latino-americana; e a Seção 2.5 tece as considerações finais.
2.2 O Idioma Japonês
A Língua Japonesa utiliza três diferentes sistemas de escrita: kanji, kana e roma-ji. Os kanji são
ideogramas, ou seja, caracteres complexos originados de imagens concretas, que ao invés de
representarem sons/pronúncias específicos, representam ideias. Os kanji foram importados da
China e adaptados para o idioma japonês. Vários deles são pictográficos, isto é, suas formas
lembram o seu significado. A Fig. 1 apresenta um exemplo de kanji pictográfico, que significa
“montanha”.
Fig. 1 - Origem pictográfica do kanji de “montanha”.
23
Capítulo 2. Estado da Arte
As pronúncias dos kanji se chamam “leituras”, e cada kanji possui duas formas de leitura, a
ondoku – chamada também de on-yomi – que é de origem chinesa e a kundoku – chamada
também de kun-yomi – que foi vinculada ao kanji após sua chegada ao Japão. Cada kanji pode
possuir diversas pronúncias on-yomi e kun-yomi, aumentando ainda mais o grau de
complexidade.
Os kanji são compostos por traços de vários tipos, e quando escritos à mão, deve-se seguir
uma determinada ordem dos traços, para não gerar ambiguidade na leitura, visto que existem
milhares de kanji, e pode acontecer de um ser confundido com outro muito parecido. Kanji mais
simples podem ser transformados em radicais, que juntos a outros, podem formar kanji mais
complexos, que geralmente representam ideias mais abstratas – verbos e adjetivos – e,
consequentemente, com mais traços. Salientamos que essas associações foram feitas quando da
chegada dos kanji ao Japão, logo, estão muito relacionadas com costumes da época feudal do
país. O exemplo da Fig. 2 ilustra um kanji que “retrata” o fato de os trabalhadores das lavouras
encostarem-se às árvores para descansar.
Fig. 2 - Junção de radicais e ideias para formar um novo kanji.
Atualmente, o número de kanji que são, obrigatoriamente, ensinados nas escolas –
chamados jouyou kanji – é de 2.136 ideogramas; até o ano de 2010 eram 1.945. Isto demonstra
que o japonês é um idioma “vivo” que tende a evoluir com o passar do tempo.
Já os kana são divididos em duas partes: hiragana e katakana. Cada uma delas é um
alfabeto silábico – ou silabário –, onde cada símbolo representa uma única e fixa pronúncia. O
hiragana foi desenvolvido a partir da evolução cursiva do kanji e é utilizado para escrever
palavras que não possuem kanji correspondente, ou que seu kanji seja muito raro ou
desconhecido, bem como para terminações/flexões de verbos e adjetivos. Neste último caso, é
chamado de okurigana. Outra função do hiragana é indicar a pronúncia de um determinado
kanji, sendo escrito ao seu lado ou sobre ele, formando uma espécie de legenda, chamada
furigana. O furigana é utilizado em textos em geral – por exemplo, jornais, revistas e artigos –
nos kanji que não pertencem à lista dos jouyou kanji.
O katakana também deriva dos kanji e é, atualmente, utilizado principalmente para
transcrição/adaptação de palavras estrangeiras em geral, sejam elas substantivos, adjetivos ou
nomes próprios, mas também é utilizado quando se quer dar destaque a alguma palavra, mesmo
de origem japonesa, e ainda para escrever onomatopeias. Ambos hiragana e katakana possuem 46
símbolos/fonogramas básicos, e alguns deles podem ser modificados com o uso dos acentos
japoneses dakuten – mais conhecido como tenten – e handakuten – comumente chamado de
maru – que transformam a pronúncia de certos caracteres. Além disso, símbolos também podem
24
ser combinados entre si para formar novas pronúncias mais peculiares. A Fig. 3 mostra exemplos
de uso de tenten/maru e a combinação de certos caracteres.
Fig. 3 - Uso de tenten, maru, e junção de caracteres.
O chamado roma-ji nada mais é do que o alfabeto romano, utilizado na maioria dos
idiomas ao redor do mundo, inclusive nas línguas latino-americanas. No Japão é pouco utilizado,
sendo visto, especialmente, em indicações em locais públicos e abreviaturas. A Fig. 4 apresenta os
termos América do Sul e América Latina em kanji/hiragana/katakana/roma-ji. Em relação a esta
figura, não existe kanji para América Latina.
Fig. 4 - América do Sul e América Latina escritos em (a) hiragana (b) kanji (c) roma-ji (d) katakana.
2.2.1 Leitura, Escrita, Fala e Compreensão
O aprendizado íntegro da Língua Japonesa para um estrangeiro exige demasiado esforço,
dedicação e tempo. Por isso, muitas vezes esse aprendizado é dividido de acordo com as
necessidades de cada pessoa, sendo deixados de lado os fatores considerados menos importantes
ou os mais difíceis. O estudo da fluência em fala e compreensão é muitas vezes o alvo principal
dos estudantes de japonês, mas para aqueles que pretendem viver no Japão, é essencial que
tenham também fluência na leitura e na escrita. Os desafios trazidos pelo estudo da fala e
compreensão/escuta são semelhantes àqueles tidos em qualquer outro idioma, todavia, quando se
fala na leitura e escrita japonesa, é onde a maioria das pessoas encontra a maior barreira, a qual
faz muitos desistirem do estudo deste idioma.
Existem até mesmo estudos sobre como o cérebro processa e retém as informações de
leitura referente ao japonês. Por exemplo, Mi et al. [1], mostram que há uma diferença de
aprendizado, quanto ao armazenamento na memória e as áreas ativadas do cérebro humano,
entre kana e kanji. Os resultados desse estudo mostraram que o lado esquerdo do cérebro é
ativado primeiro quando é exibido um kana, pois se trata de uma leitura fonética com pronúncia
fixa, enquanto que o lado direito é ativado primeiro quando da exibição de um kanji, pois sua
25
imagem é uma mistura de semantema e morfema2, isto é, representa ideias e não uma pronúncia
fixa. Portanto, existe até mesmo a questão de o cérebro dos estrangeiros não estar acostumado a
processar a leitura da mesma forma que os japoneses, e esta questão se aplica ao contexto latinoamericano, cujos nativos apresentam mais dificuldade em aprender kanji, e sendo estes uma parte
fundamental do idioma japonês, isso impõe mais uma barreira ao ensino-aprendizado.
Existem diversos pormenores que são fatores influenciadores no resultado do aprendizado
desta língua, entre eles podemos destacar o fator cultural de hierarquia e polidez, a compreensão
de contextos e situações sobre os quais o idioma é aplicado, não devendo o orador transgredir as
regras de cortesia exigidas pelo idioma. No idioma japonês existem também as onomatopeias,
que são figuras de linguagem de uso amplo na Língua Japonesa, atreladas a expressões corporais,
mímicas, também muito difundidas no idioma. Além disso, muito utilizados no Japão são os
provérbios japoneses, chamados de kotowaza.
Um método manual tradicional de aprendizado bastante utilizado no estudo da Língua
Japonesa é o Sistema de Repetição Espaçada ou, em inglês, Spaced Repetition System (SRS). O SRS
utiliza flashcards, que são cartões que contêm questões sobre pequenos tópicos de determinada
matéria – por exemplo, um kanji com tradução/leituras, ou uma frase com explicação de
elementos gramaticais – para aprender e revisar conteúdos, e à medida que se aprende os
assuntos neles impressos, os cartões são classificados de acordo com o nível de facilidade que o
aluno teve de lembrar a resposta à pergunta daquele cartão, e é atribuída a cada um a média de
tempo – em horas, dias, meses e até anos – que o cérebro do aprendiz levará para esquecer a
informação. Esse método possui versões computadorizadas, sendo a mais conhecida o software
Anki que, além de outros idiomas, inclui pacotes específicos para o estudo de japonês.
Ainda em relação à contextualização deste idioma, vale comentar a existência de um
conhecido exame oficial de proficiência da Língua Japonesa, aplicado em várias partes do mundo,
denominado Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). Este teste é dividido em 5 níveis, cada qual
com um grau de dificuldade (sendo o 5 o mais fácil), e visa medir e certificar o nível de
proficiência de pessoas cujo idioma nativo não é o japonês. O teste é oferecido/realizado duas
vezes por ano – contudo em alguns países a frequência é anual –, e qualquer indivíduo cuja
língua-mãe não seja o japonês pode prestá-lo.
Por fim, gostaríamos de explicitar que nesta seção delineamos os conceitos mais relevantes
da Língua Japonesa que foram objetos de pesquisa dos estudos que compõem o estado da arte
dos trabalhos que apresentam ferramentas computacionais para apoiar o processo de ensinoaprendizado da Língua Japonesa. Portanto, com essa seção não pretendemos fornecer nenhuma
espécie de tutorial inicial do idioma, tampouco ensinar japonês, mas apenas melhor contextualizar
o trabalho e organizá-lo de forma clara, visando proporcionar o pleno entendimento deste estudo
em toda a sua extensão.
Semantema e morfema são termos da linguística que representam, respectivamente, radical de uma palavra onde
está seu sentido fundamental, e fragmento mínimo capaz de expressar significado.
2
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2.3 Estado da Arte
O estudo de japonês, especificamente, apoiado por ferramentas computacionais vem sendo cada
vez mais empregado. Por exemplo, Kato e Okamoto [7], apresentam as perspectivas tanto de
alunos quanto de professores do idioma japonês, sobre o impacto do uso de ferramentas
computacionais para o estudo da língua, sendo o estudo voltado para atingir proficiência de nível
acadêmico nos estudantes. Os autores desenvolveram um curso com utilização de e-learning
composto por quatro módulos de ensino: léxico, gramatical, transferência de informação e
módulo contextual. Os dois primeiros são focados em identificar significados de palavras e
formações gramaticais, para melhor entendimento de textos acadêmicos; o terceiro módulo é
para sintetizar textos e gráficos relacionados, e para isso o usuário deve entender a relação entre
os dois, ou seja, como o texto explica o gráfico; e o último módulo é para realizar a interpretação
de textos relacionados, entendendo consequentemente a ideia geral do texto estudado.
Na validação do estudo, foi aplicado um questionário que visava descobrir: i) quais as
diferenças entre as preferências de estudo entre os alunos e os professores; e ii) quais módulos de
ensino os grupos consideram importantes para o estudo em um sistema e-learning. Foram
entrevistados 22 estudantes estrangeiros de japonês, dentre alunos de universidades públicas e
privadas, e 20 professores nativos com experiência variando de 5 a 15 anos de docência. Os
resultados mostraram que a maior diferença de opinião entre os dois grupos se encontra no fator
“eficácia” de um método e-learning, pois enquanto os alunos demonstraram grande satisfação e
facilidade, por sua vez os professores encontraram dificuldades e acharam o método inadequado
em certos casos. Outro ponto detectado é que, para os alunos, é mais importante que haja
módulos de exercícios tradicionais – vocabulário e gramática –, o que não é tão preferido pelos
professores. Contudo, em relação à disposição dos módulos, não houve grande divergência de
opiniões.
Lee e Chong [8], também atentos a esta tendência, mostram os benefícios trazidos pelo
chamado blended learning – pode ser traduzido como estudo misto ou combinado, no qual se
mistura o estudo tradicional com o e-learning – no aprendizado da Língua Japonesa. Esses autores
utilizaram como base/referência o JLPT, por isso, dividiram o estudo da língua em quatro
vertentes: vocabulário de escrita, habilidades de escuta, leitura de gramática e habilidades orais,
para então avaliar o estudo tradicional e a eficiência trazida ou não pelo acréscimo do blended
learning.
No estudo de vocabulário de escrita, os autores frisam a existência de numerosos
homófonos na Língua Japonesa e sugerem o uso de fóruns, vídeos legendados e dicionários
online com vários atributos para adquirir vocabulário e ajudar a distinguir as palavras de mesma
pronúncia. Para o estudo de escuta, é sugerido o uso de gravações em formato MP3, as quais
podem estar disponíveis para os alunos estudarem fora do horário da aula presencial, além do uso
27
também de vídeos com o intuito de aprender a linguagem do dia-a-dia e também dialetos. No
estudo da gramática, os autores apontam a dificuldade de estudar as partículas japonesas e
indicam o uso de aplicativos que deem feedback para o usuário fixar o conteúdo, importante
principalmente para aqueles que irão prestar o JLPT. Para o estudo da oralidade, os autores
destacam a importância da hierarquia usada na linguagem no Japão, das formas mais polidas às
mais coloquiais, e aponta como uma forma de estudo o uso de aplicativos direcionados a isso,
com feedback, mas com a indispensável aula presencial com professores nativos, e uso de áudio
para praticar pronúncia.
Nas próximas subseções apresentamos as soluções computacionais agrupando as
ferramentas da seguinte maneira: a) Desktop; b) Web; c) Dispositivos Móveis; d) Hápticas e de
Realidade Virtual (RV); e) Realidade Aumentada (RA). Destacamos que os trabalhos que serão
apresentados a seguir foram encontrados nas principais bases de pesquisa científica, isto é, nas
bibliotecas digitais da IEEE e da ACM, ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus e Scielo.
2.3.1 Ferramentas para Desktop
O primeiro trabalho que apresenta um aplicativo para desktop visando auxiliar o ensino/prática
de escuta/compreensão para alunos com nível avançado da Língua Japonesa é o trabalho de
Mizumachi et al. [26]. O curso, distribuído em CD-ROM, utiliza vídeos onde dois estudantes de
japonês conversam de maneira informal, abordando temas tanto sobre a linguagem em si, quanto
sobre estratégias de ensino-aprendizado e também sobre a cultura e modo de vida do Japão, fator
considerado importante pelos autores, que se basearam em pesquisas específicas. As explicações
gerais do CD-ROM estão ainda disponíveis nas línguas japonesa, chinesa, coreana e inglesa,
podendo ser selecionadas pelo usuário a qualquer momento. Através de testes de validação, os
autores puderam perceber que o sistema teve boa aceitação entre os usuários/estudantes
avançados de japonês.
Outra ferramenta para desktop é apresentada por Stubbs [28], e é conhecida como o jogo
Kana no Senshi. O jogo tem como objetivo ensinar os estudantes iniciantes de japonês a lerem
kana – hiragana e katakana – de forma rápida, para poderem iniciar seus estudos de kanji mais
eficientemente. O aplicativo é capaz de analisar o desempenho, isto é, a rapidez e a acuidade do
jogador e à medida que este progride, os zumbis – inimigos que trazem um kana consigo, são
derrotados com o acerto do jogador – se tornam mais rápidos, também para estimulá-lo a ler e
identificar os kana mais depressa, tornando assim o jogo possivelmente eficaz no ensino e
também atrativo e divertido. Os autores defendem, baseados no processo de validação do seu
sistema, que ele é mais bem aceito pelos usuários, pelo fato de atrelar diversão ao aprendizado.
A ferramenta apresentada por Namatame et al. [19] de interface intuitiva, voltada a
crianças, para o ensino de yubimoji, que é a língua japonesa de sinais. A ferramenta, chamada de
Practice! Yubimoji AIUEO (PYA), primeiramente tem a vantagem de possuir apelo em sua
28
interface, para que possa motivar iniciantes, principalmente crianças nas escolas, a aprender o
alfabeto de sinais básico, diferenciando-se assim dos demais existentes. PYA possui os seguintes
recursos: representação visual de caracteres, tanto do lado de quem diz quanto do lado de quem
ouve; apresentação, simultaneamente, do kana correspondente, a forma dos dedos, da boca e o
som de cada um; animações relativas à forma dos dedos e da boca; animações do movimento dos
dedos, e uma explicação sobre a origem do símbolo, servindo como uma dica para memorização.
Já Yusuke et al. [9], focam seu trabalho nas dificuldades encontradas pelos alunos na
maneira de falar e se expressar, devido à existência dos dialetos, gírias e expressões idiomáticas no
idioma japonês. Os autores propõem a criação de um sistema que fornece ensino explicativo e
também ensino contextualizado sobre gírias e expressões, para uso da linguagem em diversas
situações. O programa desenvolvido possui três funções básicas: reaver expressão, ensinar
expressão e o agente gráfico de interação com o usuário. A função de reaver pode ser utilizada de
duas maneiras: uma é inserir uma expressão ou partes dela, para que o sistema revele seu
significado; a outra é inserir uma situação para que o sistema sugira expressões adequadas a ela; o
sistema também fornece exemplos de uso e expressões similares. A função de ensinar se utiliza
de animações para facilitar o ensino-aprendizado e também possui a aplicação de testes/provas, e
o progresso do usuário é gravado no banco de dados do sistema. O agente gráfico serve para
ajudar nas operações do usuário e também são usados vários agentes que conversam entre si
ensinando a utilizar expressões.
Em [22], Miyazaki e Tomimatsu apresentam uma proposta de design de uma ferramenta
educacional para crianças, para ensino de onomatopeias japoneses, utilizando caracteres –
hiragana –, sons e gestos, em uma plataforma de interação multi-touch. O sistema, chamado
Onomato Planets, é voltado principalmente para crianças da pré-escola, mas também pode ser
utilizado por crianças mais velhas e por estrangeiros. Ele exibe caracteres hiragana como
“estrelas” e estas podem ser ligadas formando “constelações” que são as onomatopeias, e é
dividido em dois segmentos/formas de interação: um para pessoas que não conhecem o hiragana
– como alguns estrangeiros e crianças muito pequenas –, onde o usuário pode aproveitar o som e
o ritmo das onomatopeias e construir os seus próprios, fazendo ligações entre caracteres
hiragana; e outro para aqueles que conhecem o alfabeto, que podem criar onomatopeias através
dos gestos e toques na tela. O sistema detecta diferentes tipos de toque através de vibrações, tais
como, “tap”, “hit” e “knock”, através do tamanho da área tocada e também do tempo que dura
cada toque, e isso gera diversas possibilidades, que são mapeadas através do Onomato Planets.
Sa et al. [24] trazem uma ferramenta que auxilia alunos chineses de japonês, que devido a
particularidades fonéticas de seu idioma nativo, sentem dificuldade em dominar alguns sons da
fonética japonesa, a melhorar/desenvolver sua escuta/compreensão do idioma nipônico,
focando-se em sons longos, modificados – uso de tenten e maru – e contraídos, representados no
alfabeto katakana. A interface de usuário é composta basicamente por duas funções, a de escuta
de exercício e a de resultado de exercício. Internamente, o aplicativo possui as funções de
29
identificar, analisar e mostrar os pontos fracos do usuário no aprendizado, e então gerar novos
conjuntos de exercícios baseando-se nos pontos fracos detectados. O usuário então acessa
inicialmente a função de escuta de exercício, na qual ele aprende a pronúncia/leitura de certas
palavras, e também responde a testes, e então na função de resultado, são mostrados os acertos e
erros, e ao lado dos últimos, explicações detalhadas sobre o erro cometido. A partir daí, o sistema
gerará um novo conjunto de perguntas, focando na dificuldade do estudante, assim ele pode
aprender as pronúncias através de repetição espaçada.
Tiwari et al. [6], apresentam um sistema de tutoria voltado para o contexto de alunos
indianos de japonês, por isso, ele é exibido em inglês, híndi e tâmil (as duas últimas estão entre as
línguas oficiais da Índia). O sistema conta com os seguintes recursos: banco de dados de
flashcards, que apresenta figuras de kanji e uma série de palavras ao lado para que o usuário
selecione as relacionadas à figura em questão, exibindo também o número de traços do kanji;
ordem dos traços animada, que oferece animações coloridas para cada kanji, ensinando como se
deve escrever, além de prover a opção “Speech” para o usuário poder ouvir as pronúncias
associadas a cada um; teste e questionário, no qual é dada uma imagem de kanji e o usuário deve
escrever seu significado em uma caixa de texto, dispondo também de um botão para dicas, caso o
usuário necessite.
2.3.2 Ferramentas Web
Ochi et al. [10] apresentam o desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta para auxílio a estudo de kanji,
que utiliza o que os autores chamam de Resources, que são textos japoneses para que os
estudantes tenham um estudo contextualizado e aprendam o idioma do dia-a-dia. A ferramenta é
capaz de direcionar textos digitais selecionados por usuários para um dicionário e guardar o
progresso do usuário, ou seja, os kanji pesquisados e aprendidos. O sistema desenvolvido,
chamado JUPITER, possui o papel de filtrar os kanji contidos nos Resources selecionados pelo
estudante de nível intermediário e com certa afinidade com kanji através da Internet, para que o
ensino esteja de acordo com o nível e as necessidades do usuário em questão.
O JUPITER possui os seguintes recursos: inserção automática de furigana; geração de
hyperlinks das palavras para um dicionário de kanji; monitoramento de frequência de kanji e
detecção do nível atual do usuário; filtro de kanji “furiganizados”, com base no monitoramento,
para não inserir furigana nos kanji de leitura já conhecida pelo usuário; criação de um modo
practice, baseado nas informações de estudo através dos Resources. O sistema também é capaz
de classificar, com cores, os kanji em: kanji que o usuário deveria entender/ler (em cinza); kanji
que não estão na base de conhecimento (em vermelho); kanji que estão na base de conhecimento
(em azul); e kanji cujo grau de leitura correta é baixo (em verde); e fornece opções para os kanji
destacados. Para determinar quais kanji aparecerão com legenda ou não, a cada kanji computado
30
é associada uma frequência, e aqueles com mais aparecimento e acertos no modo practice são
considerados conhecidos e não mais é mostrado o seu furigana.
Em [18], Pershin et al. descrevem uma ferramenta baseada na chamada Dedução
Contextual: tentar adivinhar o significado de uma palavra ou expressão desconhecida pelo
contexto, buscar informações em dicionários ou listas, ou simplesmente pular a tal
palavra/expressão do texto. A ferramenta, que eles chamam de Sistema B, é voltada para ensino
de japonês, a partir do inglês, e basicamente faz o seguinte: busca um site com determinado
conteúdo em japonês, e outro de conteúdo similar, em inglês, agrupando por data e tópico, então
traduz artigos do japonês para o inglês e guarda essas informações em um banco de dados.
Quando o usuário navega por uma página que esteja contida no banco de dados, é exibida por
um agente virtual a tradução instantaneamente. O Sistema B faz a tradução do texto como um
todo, possui vocabulário dinâmico. Contudo, apenas pode ser aplicado a um número limitado de
sites.
Breen [30] apresenta um dicionário web multi-linguagem que tem o japonês como idioma
pivô, cujas entradas possuem tradução para o inglês, alemão e francês. Grifamos que essa
ferramenta é uma das poucas que contempla algum idioma falado na América Latina, no caso o
francês. É um dicionário simples, que contém organizadas as palavras em japonês – kana e kanji
–, pronúncia em kana e suas traduções para o idioma selecionado dentre os oferecidos. Este
aplicativo é disponibilizado gratuitamente e inclusive para ser incorporado em softwares de
dicionário em geral, como também está disponível em vários sistemas servidores na Internet.
Por sua vez, Yusuf et al. [11] aprimoram um sistema anteriormente desenvolvido pelos
mesmos autores, chamado Onomatopedia, que é um dicionário online de onomatopeias para
estudantes da Língua Japonesa. Eles propõem então o Onomatopeta!3. Os autores frisam o fato
de que necessitam da ajuda de falantes nativos de japonês, porém que para que eles ajudem, é
preciso que o sistema lhes ofereça algum atrativo. Além disso, os autores desenvolveram dois
pequenos jogos na aplicação: o Oshoot, que apresenta para o usuário, quando do upload de uma
onopicture, diversas palavras que podem estar relacionadas com sua onomatopeia, para que ele
atire e acerte nas palavras que ele pretende expressar através da foto compartilhada, com a opção
também de adicionar palavras; e o Slider Part, que mostra, quando o usuário seleciona uma
onopicture do site, sentenças similares para que o mesmo avalie-as e classifique-as de acordo com
a imagem.
Em [21], Zhenlei et al. apresentam uma ferramenta web na qual o usuário tem acesso a um
banco de dados de palavras e suas pronúncias em forma de áudio, gravado por nativos japoneses
com o sotaque natural do Japão. O objetivo é auxiliar estudantes estrangeiros no Japão a
O Onomatopeta! é uma espécie de rede social, na internet, na qual nativos japoneses podem postar fotos com
atrelados onomatopeias – nomeadas pelos autores de onopictures – e compartilhar com outros nativos e também
estudantes estrangeiros do idioma, e devido ao fato de existirem inúmeros onomatopeias na língua, tanto estudantes
japoneses quanto nativos podem se beneficiar e aprender com o serviço.
3
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melhorar seu sotaque ao se comunicar no idioma japonês, visto que para os nativos do Japão é
difícil compreender um estrangeiro cujo sotaque ao falar em japonês é afetado por sua língua
nativa. O usuário desta solução pode ouvir a pronúncia e gravar ele mesmo falando, fazer upload
de sua gravação e esta ser analisada pelo algoritmo, comparando com a original, para ver se está
semelhante/correta. Uma avaliação mostrou que o sistema é realmente capaz de analisar as
gravações com precisão aceitável.
Já Liu et al. [12], desenvolveram um sistema de e-learning baseado em Question & Answer para
ensino do idioma japonês. É proposto um sistema online no qual os usuários possam depositar
perguntas/dúvidas que surgem após aulas presenciais, e onde os professores tenham acesso e
possam respondê-las. O sistema segue basicamente dois princípios: o de atender aos
questionamentos dos usuários, tendo quem os responda, e o de não sobrecarregar os professores,
criando uma lista de perguntas mais frequentes, para que o sistema seja capaz de respondê-las
automaticamente. Os usuários podem agir colaborativamente interagindo com as perguntas dos
colegas, e até mesmo os usuários mais avançados que se dispõem a ajudar os mais novatos,
podem ser indicados pelos professores para agirem no sistema como uma espécie de monitor,
que também tem a liberdade e a função de tirar as dúvidas de outros usuários respondendo seus
questionamentos. Outra vantagem é o fato de que, através das perguntas, os professores são
capazes de observar e trabalhar nas dificuldades encontradas pelos usuários.
Outro sistema web para auxílio no ensino de japonês é o apresentado por Yoshida et al.
[13], para ensino de kotowaza, voltado tanto para estudantes estrangeiros quanto para nativos
japoneses, que segundo os autores, estão perdendo o interesse em aprender os provérbios
nativos. O sistema, chamado JAPES, possui funções de fornecimento de provérbios e seus
significados, criação e compartilhamento de material próprio de cada usuário, geração automática
de quiz, e é formado por dois módulos: o Proverbial Animation of Ten Seconds (PATS) e o
Proverbial Exam by Fourfold Selection (PEFS). No PATS encontram-se as funções de exibição,
criação e compartilhamento de animações referentes a provérbios, bem como de compilações de
material de cada usuário, as quais podem ser compartilhadas. Já o PEFS é responsável por
armazenar informações de aprendizado, aplicar os testes, e mostrar os erros e acertos do usuário.
Han et al. [5], que baseado em CALL, apresenta o desenvolvimento de um sistema online
para ensino-aprendizado de japonês, no qual são criados cursos e conjuntos de cursos –
chamados de “Assuntos” – para os usuários, com oferecimento de exames, e através do feedback
desses usuários e de seus dados de aprendizado são retiradas ideias para melhoramentos do modo
de ensino. São explanadas as principais funções, que são divididas entre funções para professores
– criar novos cursos e assuntos, administrar o aprendizado dos usuários, os cursos e os exames –
e funções para alunos que podem escolher de cursos existentes, responder aos testes/exames,
opinar sobre as questões, elaborar dúvidas e questionamentos aos professores.
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2.3.3 Ferramentas para Dispositivos Móveis
No contexto das ferramentas para dispositivos móveis temos o trabalho de Ichinohe e Suzuki
[25], o qual apresentam o aprimoramento de um site web voltado para usuários de celulares
chamado The World of Kanji com funções de entrega de exercícios via e-mail, personalização
para áreas de maior dificuldade de cada usuário, feedback com o conteúdo correto das respostas
para os usuários e anúncio de respostas na própria página web, além de uma maior área de
controle para os usuários e um maior número de itens para revisão. Os assuntos fornecidos no
site são exibidos para os usuários que prestarão um exame de proficiência em kanji específico no
Japão, e mesmo não sendo possível, devido a limitações tecnológicas, prover grandes quantidades
de conteúdo, a vantagem de utilizar o conteúdo de forma portável e com flexibilidade de lugar e
tempo, compensa essa carência.
Outro trabalho interessante é o de Yin et al. [14], que exibem uma ferramenta, baseada em
computação ubíqua, que auxilia no ensino do idioma japonês, focando nas expressões da forma
polida de conversação. Eles se baseiam nas vantagens da computação ubíqua e distribuída,
interação e colaboração entre pessoas. O sistema é baseado em outro desenvolvido anteriormente
pelos autores, o Japanese Polite Expressions Learning Assisting System (JAPELAS)4, para uso em
PDA. Os autores resolveram expandir as capacidades do JAPELAS, criando um novo sistema,
chamado Ubiquitous-Learning System for the Japanese Polite Expressions (ULSJPE), que conta
com uso de tecnologia RFID, GPS e wireless LAN, e tem as funções de armazenar os dados de
aprendizado – frases em contextos das formas polidas, juntamente com a localização obtida
através das tecnologias de rede – do usuário em um servidor, disponibilizando essas informações
para outros usuários, para que também possam aprender com as experiências de outros
estudantes.
Já Lin et al. [15] apresentam um sistema para dispositivos móveis que auxilia estudantes
estrangeiros de japonês a aprender kanji por meio de estórias mnemônicas5, em uma interface que
utiliza tanto imagem quanto áudio. Como base, os autores utilizam o método apresentado no
livro Remembering the Kanji de Heisig, famoso entre os estudantes de japonês, mas também
referenciado em pesquisas acadêmicas, agregado ao ensino-aprendizado da pronúncia dos kanji e
conhecimento dos componentes dos mesmos.
JAPELAS trata-se de um sistema para ensino-aprendizado de expressões japonesas da forma polida, no qual os
usuários inserem verbos que desejam utilizar e o sistema mostra quatro formas: casual, básica, formal e muito formal,
que correspondem de forma crescente ao nível de polidez da situação.
5 Mnemônica é um auxiliar de memória. São, tipicamente, verbais, e utilizados para memorizar listas ou fórmulas, e
baseiam-se em formas simples de memorizar maiores construções, baseados no princípio de que a mente humana
tem mais facilidade de memorizar dados quando estes são associados à informação pessoal, espacial ou de caráter
relativamente importante, do que dados organizados de forma não sugestiva – para o indivíduo – ou sem significado
aparente. Porém, estas sequências têm que fazer algum sentido, ou serão igualmente difíceis de memorizar.
4
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A implementação do sistema foi feita para um dispositivo já existente, um gravador de
áudio chamado COWON iAudio X5. O programa exibe uma lista de significados/traduções de
um lado, as quais podem estar verdes, se o usuário já aprendeu aquele kanji – criou/gravou uma
estória – ou vermelho, se ele ainda não o aprendeu, e a imagem do kanji é mostrada do outro
lado, oferecendo recursos como lista de palavras correspondentes às partes que formam aquele
kanji, e hyperlinks para estas partes. Ainda é possível utilizar o dispositivo em modo de revisão,
no qual ele utiliza flashcards, nas quais é mostrado apenas o significado do kanji, para que o
estudante se recorde da sua forma, através de estórias criadas e inseridas no dispositivo pelo
próprio usuário.
No contexto de dispositivos móveis, outra pesquisa relevante é a de Hou et al. [16], onde é
aprimorado um projeto anterior desenvolvido por esses autores, que se trata de uma ferramenta
web chamada Japanese Mimicry and Onomatopoeia Learning Assistant System (JAMIOLAS),
que utiliza ciência de contexto voltada para o uso de mímica e onomatopeias (MIO) da Língua
Japonesa. Os autores se motivam no fato de que o uso de ferramentas computacionais cientes de
contexto facilita o aprendizado de palavras de línguas estrangeiras, mas é flexível à necessidade do
usuário, principalmente, do ensino do idioma japonês que é muito rico no uso de mímica e
onomatopeias em sua comunicação do dia-a-dia.
A JAMIOLAS já possuía até então duas versões (1.0 e 2.0), mas foi na versão 3.0, voltada
para dispositivos móveis, que os autores melhoraram a função de sensores e detecção em geral
do ambiente no qual se encontra o usuário, utilizando através da web informadores de tempo –
clima – e localização, além de sensores no dispositivo para detectar outros detalhes. Feito isso, é
apresentado para o usuário um quiz com perguntas do tipo “como descrever o tempo agora com
o uso de MIO”, além de oferecer outros modos/funções de ensino, com uso de mídias prégravadas ou no modo dicionário, onde o usuário pode consultar as MIOs que desejar. O sistema
também dispõe de um módulo para professores, no qual estes podem avaliar e validar novas
MIOs.
2.3.4 Ferramentas Hápticas e de Realidade Virtual
Solis et al. [29] apresentam uma ferramenta para ensino de escrita de kanji através de uma
interface háptica, além do uso de tecnologia Reactive Robots, que é capaz de emular a presença
de um tutor humano, sendo neste caso, uma forma de imitar o processo ensino-aprendizagem
tradicional de caligrafia de kanji, no qual o professor guia a mão do aluno enquanto este segura o
pincel, para ensiná-lo como escrever o kanji, ou seja, ordem dos traços, mais ou menos pressão
com o pincel. Desta forma, é possível então automatizar essa vertente do ensino de japonês, não
sendo preciso que um professor humano esteja todo o tempo ao lado do aluno.
Já Nishino et al. [23] apresentam uma ferramenta para auxílio ao ensino da caligrafia de
kanji japoneses, baseando-se na forma de ensino tradicional desenvolvendo a ferramenta com o
34
intuito de melhorar as condições de estudo, já que no método tradicional o professor e o aluno
precisam estar no mesmo ambiente, além de que o professor só pode atender um aluno por vez,
e da forma como ele fica posicionado para escrever – em pé ao lado do aluno –, às vezes os
traços não saem fiéis ao natural. O sistema, desenvolvido com RV, é baseado em uma interface
háptica, ou seja, que utiliza detecção de toques de forças, vibrações e movimentos. Utilizando um
tablet e dispositivo háptico chamado PHANTOM OMNI™, o sistema é capaz de gravar os
movimentos do professor-usuário ao escrever um kanji, e repeti-los para que o aluno-usuário os
sinta, imitando a forma tradicional de ensino como se o professor de japonês estivesse guiando a
mão do aluno.
2.3.5 Ferramentas de Realidade Aumentada
Outro trabalho relevante é o de Wagner e Barakonyi [27], que utiliza tecnologia de RA para
ensinar o significado de kanji. O sistema basicamente é feito para PDAs, que são então equipados
com detectores – uma câmera – de marcadores de RA além de conexão wireless para interagir com
outro PDA, e consiste em um jogo portável para duas pessoas, onde vários marcadores são
dispostos em uma mesa. Cada marcador possui dois lados com o mesmo kanji, porém um
detectável pelo PDA e outro não, para que os jogadores insiram no dispositivo seu significado
sem ajuda. Para conferir as respostas, vira-se o marcador para o lado identificável, e então o PDA
irá exibir, em cima do marcador, a imagem em 3D correspondente ao significado daquele kanji, e
caso o jogador tenha acertado, marca um ponto. Os autores assim demonstram um aplicativo
simples, porém atrativo e educativo a respeito de kanji japoneses.
Por sua vez, Kanev et al. [17], visam construir modelos 3D de kanji para ajudar na
memorização e entendimento, visto que os kanji, em sua maioria, são representações de
objetos/artefatos existentes no mundo real, porém quando escritos se transformam em linhas de
duas dimensões. O sistema, chamado 3D Kanji, é baseado em um algoritmo que consegue
transformar uma imagem 2D em um artefato 3D, e então o software produzido foi adaptado
para, através deste algoritmo, fazer a conversão dos kanji. Além disso, também apresenta um
recurso com o uso de RA, no qual marcadores com os kanji em 2D são detectados por uma
câmera e mostrados na tela em uma forma 3D, e mais, é possível mostrar dois marcadores
diferentes e formar um novo kanji.
Após descrever em detalhes esses 23 trabalhos, a Table 1 sinaliza o foco de cada um deles
em relação ao apoio do ensino-aprendizado da Língua Japonesa, isto é, se visavam apoiar a sua
leitura, escrita, fala ou compreensão.
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Table 1 - Foco dos Trabalhos da Literatura.
Trabalho
Tecnologia
Leitura
Escrita
Fala
[26]
X
[28]
X
[19]
X
[9]
Desktop
X
[22]
X
[24]
X
[6]
X
[10]
X
[18]
X
[30]
X
[11]
[12]
X
X
X
X
X
[25]
X
Dispositivos móveis
X
X
X
X
X
[17]
RA
X
X
Hápticas e de RV
[27]
X
X
[16]
[23]
X
X
[5]
[29]
X
X
[13]
[15]
X
X
Web
[21]
[14]
Compreensão
X
X
X
X
2.4 Desafios
Para o contexto da comunidade/público latino-americana, existem diversos desafios no
desenvolvimento de ferramentas computacionais para apoiar o ensino da Língua Japonesa, como
descreveremos nesta seção.
Podemos dividir os desafios identificados, a partir do estado da arte apresentado na seção
anterior, em três grandes áreas: interface/interação, contexto e cultura. Os desafios de interface e
interação possuem uma grande amplitude de possibilidades, tais quais: o uso de multimídia com
interfaces gráficas, recursos de áudio e vídeo para auxiliar no ensino, e tornar o aplicativo mais
interessante, porém sem perder o foco do ensino-aprendizado. O uso de recursos de áudio
implica em realizar gravações em várias línguas e dialetos, sendo voltado para o público latinoamericano. Outra preocupação está relacionada às questões de resolução, no caso de ferramentas
36
para dispositivos móveis, e tamanhos/zoom de fonte, já que sendo esta muito pequena, pode
tornar difícil a identificação de kanji, por serem em grande parte, caracteres muito complexos.
Aproveitando a tendência atual das tecnologias e a natureza humana que impele o ser
humano a procurar relacionar-se, ainda é possível o uso de redes sociais através da Internet para
o aprendizado/treinamento, através de jogos/competições a respeito de quem está em níveis
mais avançados do idioma, ou de aspectos separados (fala, escrita, compreensão, número de
kana/kanji aprendidos). As interfaces e a interação podem até mesmo contar com alguma espécie
de inteligência artificial, que perceba os pontos fracos do usuário e organize seus estudos de
modo que ele reforce os assuntos nos quais têm mais dificuldade, como também o provimento
de feedback imediato, para que o usuário tenha prontamente respostas sobre seu desempenho, e
possa melhorar.
Em relação ao contexto, podemos apontar desafios como a criação de ferramentas mais
contextualizadas para a comunidade latino-americana, visto que a maioria das soluções, como
apresentado anteriormente, foi desenvolvida para outros públicos-alvo, normalmente países
desenvolvidos onde a tecnologia já é de uso mais cotidiano e abrangente. Alguns desafios em
relação às questões culturais são: considerar o desenvolvimento de uma interface que possa
abranger a cultura japonesa, porém voltando-se para o público latino-americano ou, até mesmo,
especificamente, para cada um dos países do continente sul-americano, cujos costumes são bem
diferentes do oriente. Atendimento às particularidades dos diferentes idiomas presentes neste
continente, bem como trazer aspectos culturais da comunidade latino-americana quando do
design de novas propostas de ferramentas computacionais para apoiar o processo de ensinoaprendizado do idioma japonês.
Estas ações podem extinguir dificuldades, todavia dada à complexidade do ensino da
Língua Japonesa, é possível que tenhamos diferentes desafios, dependendo do foco: leitura,
escrita, fala e compreensão. Isso é corroborado pelo exposto no estado da arte, onde muitos
trabalhos focam apenas um aspecto. As exceções, como apontado na Table 1, foram [12] e [5].
Muitos dos desafios são individuais, o que dá a entender que ainda mais difícil é desenvolver
aplicativos que abranjam mais de um aspecto, ou todos eles, de forma que o aprendizado ainda
seja organizado e eficiente, tanto quanto o de ferramentas direcionadas a um só propósito.
Com relação a desafios de IHC, há muito a ser explorado, visto que é uma questão pouco
considerada. Observando os trabalhos apresentados, notamos que não há neles uma preocupação
explícita com a interface e interação do usuário; um raro exemplo é o trabalho de Maciejewski
[31], que descreve a forma de interação entre usuário e aplicativo, em uma ferramenta que provê
ajuda para melhorar o conhecimento técnico do idioma japonês por estrangeiros que precisam ter
acesso a artigos científicos publicados na língua.
Por ser um trabalho muito antigo, diversas questões ficam em aberto, pois ele foi
desenvolvido baseado na tecnologia de sua época, e por isso descreve formas de interação muito
básicas para hoje em dia. Salientamos, também, que raramente encontramos nos trabalhos
37
científicos da área comentários em relação a avaliações de acessibilidade ou usabilidade das
interfaces de usuário dessas ferramentas. Em nosso entendimento, este fato reforça que as
questões de IHC detém pouca atenção durante o design de ferramentas computacionais
concebidas para apoiar o aprendizado da Língua Japonesa.
Nossa intenção nesta seção não foi apresentar uma lista exaustiva de desafios relacionados
ao tema, visto que alguns novos podem surgir conforme os andamentos dos projetos de P&D
em curso. Os desafios sinalizados estão associados a potenciais pesquisas sendo, portanto,
ponteiros de trabalhos futuros para a comunidade latino-americana de computação.
2.4.1 Discussão
Embora seja um tema de relevância para o público latino-americano, que possui uma relação tão
forte e significativa com o Japão, este ainda é pouco explorado por diferentes áreas. A reação
comum daqueles que necessitam de ferramental tecnológico é a utilização de ferramentas CALLbased objetivando o ensino-aprendizado de japonês por pessoas proficientes em línguas, como o
inglês. Agora, apesar de esta pesquisa mostrar a existência de um grande número de ferramentas
para falantes do idioma inglês ou do chinês, a utilização destas ferramentas, em alguns casos,
pode agregar novos problemas a uma atividade já complexa que é o aprendizado da Língua
Japonesa.
Ação de traduzir uma ferramenta parece não ser a solução mais adequada para o contexto
latino-americano, pois há questões contextuais e culturais envolvidas, além de desafios específicos
em cada área do ensino-aprendizado do idioma (fala, leitura, escrita e compreensão). Por
exemplo, na questão da fala/compreensão, a fonética japonesa possui sons semelhantes aos do
idioma português, o que já não ocorre com o inglês, que possui pronúncia mais “enrolada”. Já no
caso de leitura e escrita, é muito diferente uma ferramenta contextualizada para um público como
o chinês, que já está habituado aos kanji, do que para o público latino-americano, que utiliza
apenas o alfabeto romano.
Podemos, ainda, associar o desenvolvimento de ferramentas CALL-based à implementação
específica de aplicativos para dispositivos móveis, visto que é notável a produção e o
aprimoramento de artefatos de hardware e de software para dispositivos móveis por todo o
mundo, e na América Latina cada vez mais pessoas de várias classes sociais têm tido acesso a
esses aparelhos. Esses dispositivos permitem o uso de uma CALL mais personalizada ao estilo de
vida de cada usuário, pois com eles podem ser escolhidos, por exemplo, horário e local de estudo
de forma ainda mais flexível com relação aos computadores pessoais.
Para elaborar um ambiente propício às atividades desse ensino, serão necessários estudos
direcionados para transcrever/adaptar um método tradicional (analógico), e torná-lo digital sem
que se perca o seu valor educacional. Para isso, entendemos ser necessário estudar o contexto do
público-alvo e sua cultura, além das preocupações imperativas ao processo ensino-aprendizado.
38
O estudo aprofundado do Design da Interação neste contexto é imprescindível para que as
interfaces computacionais possam, de fato, apoiar o ensino.
Assim, tendo os desafios sinalizados na seção anterior em vista como direções concretas de
projetos futuros de P&D nessa área, o idioma é apenas uma barreira, que pode ser transposta por
meio da observação e implementação de aspectos relacionados à área de IHC, mas não sem antes
conhecer, de fato, o estudante, seu contexto e sua cultura. Quando não existe essa preocupação o
atendimento é parcial e a lacuna entre o dito e o feito pode se tornar imensurável.
2.5 Conclusão
Este capítulo tratou do aprendizado da Língua Japonesa apoiado por ferramentas
computacionais. Para tal, identificamos e apresentamos o estado da arte das ferramentas
computacionais já desenvolvidas que visam auxiliar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem da
Língua Japonesa apoiada por ferramentas computacionais. Adicionalmente, visando agregar valor
ao estudo, identificamos e discutimos desafios desse tema relacionados, principalmente, a
aspectos da área de IHC associados a interfaces de usuários para o público latino-americano. Pelo
exposto, acreditamos que novas ferramentas computacionais devam ser desenvolvidas para
atender aos cidadãos de nosso continente para a aprendizagem mais significativa desse idioma.
Como trabalhos futuros, indicamos um estudo aprofundado do Design da Interação das
ferramentas identificadas no estado da arte com o intuito de extrairmos requisitos de design de
uma nova ferramenta que apoie o aprendizado da Língua Japonesa para, especificamente, o
público Latino-Americano. Buscamos, com isso, prover soluções acessíveis e flexíveis para os
latinos que necessitam aprender o idioma nipônico, seja por almejarem mudar-se para o Japão ou
por aqueles que pretendem estabelecer relações com pessoas de origem japonesa.
2.5.1 Tomada de Decisão
Através desse estudo, foi possível observar que as ferramentas aqui apresentadas não são
facilmente disponibilizadas para que os estudantes de japonês de fato usufruam delas. Decidimos
então pela realização de um segundo levantamento, no qual buscaremos as ferramentas que
realmente são utilizadas no dia-a-dia pelos diversos perfis de estudantes de japonês. O próximo
passo de nossa pesquisa se dá na realização de buscas para encontrar essas respostas, bem como
analisar cada ferramenta para perceber quais aspectos e características elas proveem aos usuários,
entendendo assim se e porque são largamente usadas.
Chapter 3
3 State of the Practice of the Web6
3.1 Introduction
Japanese language uses three different writing systems, i.e., kanji, kana (hiragana and katakana)
and roma-ji. Kanji are Japanese ideograms brought and adapted from China, and the Japanese
kanji has two kinds of reading (pronounce), i.e., on-yomi (Chinese reading) and kun-yomi
(attached to the kanji when it arrived in Japan) and still, they can have several “on” and “kun”
readings. Kana are two syllabic alphabets (syllabaries) auxiliary to the language; hiragana is used to
write words whose kanji is rare or does not exist, as for greetings, adjectives, verb endings, and
also as furigana (also called yomigana or rubi), that is a little subtitle insert beside a kanji to reveal
its reading, usually when the kanji is rare. Katakana, on the other hand, is used to adapt foreign
words and names to Japanese idiom, as for emphasis of words. Roma-ji is the Roman alphabet,
used in most languages in the world, including Portuguese, but in Japan is barely used (e.g., public
location indications and abbreviations).
Because of the peculiarities described above, Japanese language learning is, itself, a huge
challenge, specially for foreign students that are not conversant to its writing system. On the
other side, there is a hardship in access good Japanese school/course, as well as the longstanding
courses with far-between classes. Nevertheless, with the improvement of the Internet and the
ease of access to “computers” that has occur more and more, students were able to see a new
way to review content to support their traditional course, or even study topics of interest by
themselves. In this context, language learning (LL) supported by computers and Internet became
very popular, using softwares developed specially for this, as utilization of online forums for
6
Este capítulo é uma versão revisada do trabalho [43], já publicado e apresentado.
40
students all around the world to share knowledge and experiences. This kind of study is called
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL).
CALL studies and their association to Japanese language have already been explored by
some authors, as Landreth [33], Matsushita et al. [36] and Librenjak et al. [34]. Despite the
importance of these works for the subject-matter, it is also known that outside the academic
literature there are several computational tools created with the same purpose too, that is,
support LL in general. These tools are, mostly, the resources that are really used by the large
public of Japanese language students. So, it is our target point to actually know what are them
and what are the features that make them different from the ones found at academy. Still, we see
the rise of using mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets), and with it the increasing success
of Android OS, which is nowadays the most popular mobile system in the world, in addition to
be an open system and also pretty accessible, compared to others in the present market. All these
factors do motivate us to accomplish a study about the possibility of using, in Android OS, the
CALL Web tools for Japanese most used by the students, evaluating its advantages and
drawbacks of this direct portability, from a multimedia viewpoint, being it a very utilized and
useful appeal in this kind of educational resource.
In a previous work, we identified the State of the Art of the subject-matter by the scientific
literature, which presents computational solutions developed to support Japanese LL (Marciano
et al. [35]). In a different way, the aim of this work is to identify computational tools focused on
support of LL that came not from the academic environment, but from the practical; in the
context of our research project, this is called State of the Practice. The State of the Practice tools
are usually found in Web and are broadcast by search and disclose from the students themselves,
at blogs, sites and virtual communities focused on Japanese LL, and there are even tools
developed by the students to help their learning process.
The tools are used both by self-taught as by students searching for extra support to the LL.
These applications usually offer easy access and interfaces that ease use and learning, making
them more popular than the academic ones. It is known that for the realization of a study about
CALL for Japanese language, it is fundamental to traverse the related academic solutions, that we
have done in Marciano et al. [35]. However, we should not leave aside the tools that are really
used by students in practice, namely, the tools that compose the State of the Practice of the
subject. In this work, we focus on the study of CALL Web tools.
This chapter is organized as follows: Section 3.2 contextualizes Computer Assisted
Language Learning; after that, Section 3.3 exposes the methodology used to fulfill the work, and
then presents the results; Section 3.4 discusses the results focused on multimedia perspective,
and, lastly, Section 3.5 presents the conclusions.
41
Chapter 3. State of the Practice Web
3.2 Computer Assisted Language Learning
Over the last decades, many studies were made about the advantages of using Computer Assisted
Language Learning (CALL). Being CALL tools, basically, tools that help and ease LL, supporting
traditional learning (blended learning); and offering ways for the students to have autonomy in
their study (autodidact). These tools are different by the mechanisms used, the interfaces,
resources available, by the fact that they favor some specific skills needed for language
proficiency. Now, we present some works and examples of results of CALL application, for an
overview about using this kind of resource.
Mcloughlin et al. [2], for example, made a study willing to demonstrate the enrichment
brought to LL by the use of technology and CALL, and still, present as results the advantages of
this approach about traditional learning. To perform the study, the authors selected, between
Australian students of French, three groups as follows: i) internal students on campus who follow
traditional teaching with classroom taught by teachers; ii) distance learners, who occasionally have
classroom; and iii) students who have no personal contact whatsoever with teachers and study
entirely by mail, using a method multimedia called French in Action, developed at Yale
University. Initial tests were performed in 1992 and 1993, and both showed that the group (iii)
apparently in more disadvantage, gave results significantly better than the other two groups, i.e.,
(i) and (ii), however, these studies did not generate concrete statistical data. Years later, in 1996,
was experienced to introduce French in Action in studies of groups (i) and (ii) due to the positive
feedback regarding them in previous years, and a new study was carried out in detail this time,
generating well analyzable statistical data. Again students study only by mail outperformed the
other two groups, but with a negligible difference this time, which suggests that the use of the
method/system works well for a variety of contexts, and that the evidence that learning
supported by computer brings improvements is strong, and that students who study by this
method feel more motivated and better understand the content.
Another interesting study is that of Joseph and Uther [3], where they discuss the benefits
brought by the use of mobile technologies for learning foreign languages, showing the possibility
of using many resources such as images, audio and interaction/cooperation with other students.
It also explores the blend and complements the behavioral and constructivist approaches in
language teaching. First, the authors discuss the use of visual media, explaining that its use – at
the time – is limited due to mobile devices have little storage capacity and processing, however,
that won this barrier, are of great help as the humans learn a language accumulating many visual
experiences, as well as noise; for then, the paper demonstrate that the audio features can be used
for various purposes, such as, guide, broker and pronunciation modeler, comprehension and
retention of phonemes, conversation practice and fluency in the language, speaking after the
barriers that must be overcome, such as quality of audio input and output and/for use by speech
42
recognizers, and the size and format of the files, which should be compatible with the device in
question.
On the other hand, Kremenska [4] conducted a study on how a course with CALL
resources can help in traditional study and motivation of language students, and detect which of
its factors may be enemies in order to demotivate them or take the focus of learning based on
feedback from students. The author developed an experimental course design, in which there are
the steps: i) first to test the level of students; ii) then apply two programs with the same goals and
content, but with different approaches - one based on CALL and the other not; iii) collect results
on improved knowledge about student motivation; iv) process the collected data; v) analyze the
data statistically; and vi) completion report on the motivational role of the programs of study.
The author details the steps above, dividing them into three stages, in which expands the
explanation of what is being done at each step; at the end of it all, the most important is to detect
the points that motivate or discourage students the most.
Lam et al. [20] evaluate the level of acceptance and support provided by e-learning systems
with the use of blended learning, i.e., a mix between traditional teaching and e-learning. The
survey was conducted by evaluating an e-course with Japanese students invited to test it and
answer an evaluation questionnaire, with scores of 1 to 4, 4 being the best score. About the
program as a whole, and its usefulness for learning, the evaluation showed it had an acceptance
“good” (score 3)/“great” (score 4) in 95% of users trials, being 48% good, none of the sections
of the application received score 1, i.e., bad. The authors conclude that e-learning systems is an
important tool to aid the traditional teaching, making it more efficient and enjoyable for the
student, especially when it comes to LL, supported by the evaluation of the system, which
showed itself as important from the standpoint of students, reaching more than 90% in general
acceptance. Also, they explain that this kind of system can help students with different learning
rhythms because of the freedom of programming and repetition of content. The authors
emphasize that students feel quite interested by sections containing multimedia elements and
online interaction.
Han et al. [5], focuses on a general theoretical view on the subject, addressing points as
modes of applicability, concept and advantages of using CALL, justifying that the increase in
technology in general makes CALL be provided with better resources related to quality and
diversity, such as multimedia, Web services, sharing information and learning with people around
the world. They also explain that teaching with the use of CALL can be considered gainful when
combined with traditional school methods, and also provide a more personalized
teaching/learning. Tiwari et al. [6], also shed light on some advantages of CALL, such as:
flexibility when preparing lesson plans and courses; individualization/independence of the
student who has the freedom to determine when to start and stop times of study; immediate
feedback provided by the CALL-based tools, good error analysis, helping both the student and
43
the teacher to identify the difficulties in learning; practice sessions with the use of multimedia,
and which the student can carry as many times as necessary.
Seeing the advantages of using CALL, defended and certified by several authors, like the
ones referred above, in the next sections we present methodology, results of the performed work
focused on identify and evaluate the State of the Practice Tools of the subject: CALL Web Tools
to support learning, specifically, of Japanese language. The choose for deepen the study of Web
tools is due to the accessibility factor, since most of them is easy to access and do not need do
install, being able to be accessed from various places, moreover, most of them offer free content
in full.
3.3 Methodology
The case study was performed in two steps: i) identification of Web tools of the State of the
Practice; and ii) evaluation of the identified tools with focus in placing the problems that
occurred in medias outside the environment they were developed to (PC desktop browser). We
underline we do not present in an exhaustive manner the tools available in the market, whereas
during the development of this work, we found a really expressive number of these kind of tools;
since our focus is not to list them, but in the identification of the most used resources and the
possibility of portability to a mobile platform, in this case, Android OS.
For the accomplishment of this work, we understand the term “multimedia” according to
the definition made by Fluckiger [32]. To this author, multimedia appoints the combination,
controlled by computer, of text, graphics, image, video, audio, animations, and any other way
whereby the information can be represented, stored, transmitted and processed digitally, in which
there is at least one kind of static media – e.g., text, graphics, or image – and one of dynamic
media – i.e., video, audio, or animations. Along the chapter it is described if the explored tool is
available in Brazilian Portuguese language (PT-BR), since this identification is relevant to our
research project context. Still, it is important to clarify that, in this work’s context, “input” are the
medias who can be given as an entry by the user; and “output” is the way content is presented to
the user by the application.
We proceed documenting its main functionalities, access availability to PT-BR, and utilized
medias, observed in its original environment – the one that each tool was developed to – and
evaluate them in a mobile Android environment, to verify how they behave – if they work
completely, partly or do not work – with a view from the identified medias for each one, in other
words, we evaluate the behavior of the medias at the proposed environment – if and how they
were affected when run in this environment, the handicaps found and possible solutions for
them. The specifications of the device used in the tests are: Android OS v4.1 – Jelly Bean (API
Level 16), CPU ARM, screen size 7’’, with Adobe Flash Player to Android v.11.0.1.153.
44
The study to evaluate the behavior changes of the present medias in each tool was
performed adopting the five following stages: i) 30 exploratory minutes at the original tool
environment; ii) selection of three tasks; iii) execution of the selected tasks in the original
environment, i.e., a conventional PC desktop browser; iv) execution of the same tasks in Android
environment, i.e., Android’s default browser; and v) comparison of behavior between original
and Android environment, under a multimedia perspective.
3.4 Results
In the process of identifying the tools for the tests to be conducted in this study, we found a
significant number of CALL Web Tools focused on Japanese. However, for the selection of the
tools that would be evaluated in detail here, we consider two main points: i) the most widespread
tools among students ii) as well as those that make use of multiple media types. Several tools
were left out of this review, but our focus is not to provide an exhaustive list and description of
tests, but rather evaluate the possibility and difficulties of using such tools and media in an
Android mobile environment. The tools identified were classified according to the verbal
language skills they serve – i.e., reading, writing, speaking, and listening – and also the tool
availability into Brazilian Portuguese. Still, we show the results of tests conducted in Android
environment proposed, with all the tools that have not been developed for this platform, as
described below. From now on, we will present the selected tools and reports about its features
and also its use in the Android environment.
Ajax を使った手書き文字認識 (handwriting recognition using Ajax)7 is a web tool that
performs recognition of kanji and kanas from a drawing done by clicking on an area of the site
itself. As the user draws, it shows possible kanji by the side. By finding the kanji you want, you
can click on it and this is placed in a text box to be copied by the user. Ajax does not recognize
kanji/kanas written in the incorrect order of strokes (if this occurs, the suggestion of the
application is made over the order and number of strokes than shape drawn by itself). Ajax is
focused on the study of writing, and uses the media image to input and text to output. On
Android, Ajax did not succeed, because even when you select the area to scan the
drawing/character, you cannot make a stroke with click and drag, like it is done on the Web by a
PC desktop.
A tool similar to Ajax is Handwritten Kanji Recognition (HKR)8, but it does not recognize
kanas, only kanji. In HKR, for each designed stroke, a small number is printed on the spot where
it began to be drawn, indicating the number of strokes made so far (you can disable this option).
7
8
http://www.chasen.org/~taku/software/ajax/hwr/.
http://kanji.sljfaq.org/draw-canvas.html.
45
Moreover, HKR has more options for how the input should be recognized, and redirects the user
to a page with information of the recognized/selected kanji. The study of writing is the focus of
HKR, which uses media image for input and text for output. About the test in the Android
environment, the same problem of the tool Ajax was presented.
Like Ajax and HKR, the online tool uPal9 allows recognition of kanji through drawings
made with the mouse. After detected the kanji, you can select it to turn into text and then use it.
In addition this tool provides the option to display information about the kanji, for example,
showing “on” and “kun” readings, meaning in English and animated stroke order. It recognizes
to some extent, kanji written in the wrong stroke order. uPal focuses on the study of writing and
reading, and uses the media text and image to input and output. When you access it from the
Android browser, a redirect is performed to a special page for mobile and, unlike his fellow Ajax
and HKR, uPal works well on the device, but it is slightly harder to get precision in writing.
Another tested tool is Denshi Jisho10, which is an online Japanese dictionary to conduct
searches for sentences, words or kanji, in Japanese (kanji, kana, or roma-ji) and in English (to find
the equivalent in Japanese). After the search is performed, it is possible to direct for example
sentences using the search term, if they are registered, as well as details of the characters of the
search. On the characters detail page, you can see “on” and “kun” readings of each character, and
the translation of each word into Brazilian Portuguese, French, Spanish and English, though,
initially, the page shows up only in English. It is also available several information such as stroke
order, with representations of drawings, radical, components, and presence/place in Jouyou
Kanji11. Denshi Jisho’s main objective is the study of reading, and it uses the media text to input
and, text and image to output. It is possible to use normally the Denshi Jisho in the native
Android browser.
Jiten12 is a dictionary similar to Denshi Jisho but simpler in detailing regarding the kanji, the
more, they share the same concept. Jiten is focused on the study of reading and uses the media
text to input, and text and image to output. The test was also successful in Android. One more
dictionary is WWWJDIC13, which features, besides the translation of Japanese words into
English, links to various information about the word sought, usage examples and audio
pronunciation. It is a site focused on learning reading and also covers listening. Use the media
text as input and text and audio as output. In the tests, it was possible to access media text
normally, but the audio could not be played. Still, as a dictionary type of tool, there is Japanese
Names Dictionary (JND)14, which presents the English translation of a searched word in
Japanese, and shows representative figures to that word, for stronger fixation. It is focused on the
http://www.sp.cis.iwate-u.ac.jp/icampus/u/edic.jsp.
10 http://www.jisho.org.
11 List of kanji characters announced officially by the Japanese Ministry of Education (currently 2,136).
12 http://www.jiten.net.
13 http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C.
14 http://japanese.reader.bz.
9
46
teaching of reading through text media for input and, text and image for output. Its behavior was
not impaired on the Android device.
The Furiganizer15 is a Web application in which a text can be placed in kanji, and it applies
through a command, the furigana in the text provided. This application is focused on the study of
reading, and media text is used for input and output. The test on Android was satisfactory,
indicating that it is possible to use The Furiganizer in the browser of Android environment
normally. While the tools RealKana and RealKanji 16 are Web tools to perform reading practice
of, respectively, kanas and kanjis. The user can choose which set of letters he wants to practice,
and the fonts on which they are presented (between different font styles: conventional or
simulating handwritten). In practice tab, it appears a certain symbol (RealKana) or word
(RealKanji) and the user must enter its reading in roma-ji correctly, then the application proceeds
to another symbol, if the answer is correct, or remains the same, showing a ’x’ indicating an error;
the user can see the answer by hovering over the kana/kanji. Both applications aims at the study
of reading, and use the media: text for input and text and image for output. RealKana site is
available in PT-BR. The behavior of RealKana on test environment was not successful, except
when using an external keyboard, and not the mobile device touch. RealKanji have not worked
with any of the options, external keyboard or touch.
The Ultra Handy Japanese Verb Conjugator (JVC)17 allows the user to type, in roma-ji, a
verb in its infinitive (dictionary) form, and then returns the conjugated verb in: present indicative,
presumptive, imperative, past indicative, past presumptive, provisional and conditional, with an
informal and polite form for each one. Being a Web page, it works well in Android browser.
Analogous to JVC, there is Japanese Verb Deconjugator (JVD)18, however working in reverse,
showing the infinitive form of the verb, as well as seeking to indicate what time/mode of the
verb typed. Still, JVD also works with adjectives. JVC and JVD are not in the same page, and are
not from the same developer. The JVD also works normally in the browser of Android device.
Both are focused on the study of reading – grammar – and only use the media text for input and
output.
Nihongo Dekimasu19 is a free online course in Japanese, also available in Portuguese, with
several multimedia features. Lessons are taught through videos that depict the day-to-day life of a
foreign student in Japan, with the possibility to show subtitles in Japanese with kanji, Japanese
with kana only, roma-ji, English and Portuguese. In the system, the dialogs can be displayed as
text or manga, and there are review questions with immediate feedback. For registered users – for
free – it saves a record of study, containing the student’s performance. Nihongo Dekimasu is to
study reading and listening, and for this, it makes use of media text, image, audio and video for
http://www.furiganizer.com.
http://www.realkana.com.
17 http://www.japaneseverbconjugator.com.
18 http://kanjidict.stc.cx/japverb3.php.
19 https://www.erin.ne.jp/en/.
15
16
47
output. In tests, the media have been affected to be used on Android, because despite running
the homepage of the site, videos, images and exercises could not be displayed. Moreover, the
course of NHK World Radio20, on Android, media image and text were presented correctly but
the audio could not be accessed. This course is offered online, where it is also possible that
students get the lessons for their devices in audio and text. It focuses on the teaching of reading
and listening, using the media text, image and audio for output. And the course Vamos
Ganbatear21, offered weekly by Radio Nikkei, offers its audio and text of each lesson for
download, also in PT-BR, aiming to teach reading and listening through media text and audio for
output. For media text, tests were acceptable, but the audio could not be played.
Livemocha22 is a social network focused on LL, where the “teachers” are the users of the
network, they teach their native language and in return, receive lessons from natives of the target
language of their study. It is possible to send an audio of reading, done by students in the target
language for natives to comment and correct. In addition, the site also offers ready lessons in
various forms of media, with exercises and feedback. Japanese is included as one of the languages
offered by the site, which is focused on the study of reading and listening, as well as speech,
corrected by the natives. As used media they have audio for input, audio and text for output. In
the tests, the site only showed content with options without Flash, even with the plugin installed.
Text and image medias remained the same, but the audio could not be used due to this. With
similar methodology, but with a different target audience, Lang-823 is a site of language teaching,
where each user makes posts in the language he wants to learn, so it is more suitable for
advanced users. People native to the language that the student wants to learn correct your text,
your post, and comment on everything in their native language so that the user is actually
immersed. The focus of Lang-8 reading and writing with the media text for input and output.
The use was not impaired in Android, with the site’s features remaining operative.
We also evaluated LingQ 24 site, that offers lessons in audio with text to follow, in which
the registered user can create a list of known words and their translations, as well as doing
exercises with content already learned. It focuses on reading and listening, and uses the media
audio and text for output. On Android environment, the tasks could not be performed because
the site does not fit the device. However, for users who have a paying account at any level, it is
available the LingQ Android App. And JapanesePod10125, also, is a website with a proposal to
study Japanese with a podcast, where it is available various multimedia resources for learning, as
audio lessons, text to follow, as well as videos and images. Some of the features of the site are
paid, but the newly registered user is entitled to a seven day test of all system features. On the
http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/index.html.
21 http://www.radionikkey.jp/por/community/japanese/.
22 http://www.livemocha.com.
23 http://www.lang-8.com.
24 http://www.lingq.com.
25 http://www.japanesepod101.com.
20
48
Android device, we could not hear the audio or watch the videos, but the medias image and text
remained unchanged.
The browser extensions Rikaichan 26 – Firefox – e Rikaikun27 – Chrome – are meant to
reveal a pop-up when the user positions the cursor over a kanji (text) present on the page, to
show information such as translation and some forms of use. Reading is the focus, using the
media text for output. For Android browser, there is Rikai, a paid App with the same
functionality as the two mentioned above. While Furigana Injector, which is also a browser
extension – Firefox28 and Chrome29 –, inserts furigana on the kanji in Japanese texts of a certain
tab. This is a complement to the study of reading and uses the media text as input and output.
PopKanji30 is a small popup program written in Javascript to run in browsers. With it enabled, the
user selects a kanji, and the application shows a figure with its stroke order, as well as its reading
and translation, among other information. It is available the translation into PT-BR. It is an
application focused on the study of reading, and employs the media text as input, and text and
image for output. The application PopKanji did not work in Android browser, because it did not
offer the option of selecting uneditable text.
Kanji Drill31 is a site that offers an online system of flashcards to registered users. It focuses
on the study of reading and uses the media text for input and output. Like it, there is
SpeedAnki32, that has its flashcards focused specifically on the JLPT exam33, and uses the media
text to output. Both have a role in reviewing the studied cards, as a usual Spaced Repetition
System (SRS). Kanji Drill and SpeedAnki work seamlessly on Android, just like in its original
environment. Njuku34, which is a site, offers great Japanese texts with audio for accompaniment,
and some words translated into English. You can download the audio files. It is focused on the
study of reading and comprehension, using the medias text and audio as output. The behavior of
the media text in Android was normal, but the audio could not be accessed. Syvum35, e-learning
site available in PT-BR, offers quizzes in Japanese for the study of reading and listening through
the media text for input, and audio and text for output. By accessing Syvum in the Android
environment, the functions were kept, although they are presented differently. However, with the
audio, we have not succeeded.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/rikaichan/.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rikaikun/jipdnfibhldikgcjhfnomkfpcebammhp.
28 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/furigana-injector/.
29 https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/furigana-injector/cbahnmcliajmanjkaolemjelphicnein.
30 http://www.aprendendojapones.com/2009/07/30/popkanji-dicionario-de-kanji-em-popup/.
31 http://www.kanjidrill.com.
32 http://www.speedanki.com.
33 The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) is a test that evaluates and certifies Japanese language proficiency
for non-native speakers.
34 http://www.njuku.com.
35 http://br.syvum.com.
26
27
49
Teaching Japanese for English speakers is the purpose of the site Nihongo o Narau36,
taking advantage of explanation lessons with vocabulary, grammar, writing, reading, speaking and
listening, and contextualization with Japan using music and photos. The media text, images and
audio are used for output. The behavior of all media in Android remained unchanged. Nihongo
De Care-Navi37 is a site that offers phrases in Japanese with English translation, with examples of
usage and word searches, along with audio for words and phrases. The teaching of reading and
listening through the media text for input and, text and audio as output, is its goal. In tests, it
offered a version for mobile devices, and all media work correctly.
The Anki38 is a desktop program (however on their website is offered access to AnkiWeb,
which is a version of the program that can be accessed on the web) of SRS digitalization, which
contains specific plugins for studying Japanese. Through it you can create decks of flashcards
with the fields “expression”, where you can put kanas, kanji, phrases, “meaning”, for translation
of the content of the previous field; “reading” that contains the reading of content, in hiragana
alphabet, and “tags” for better organization of content. It is also possible to attach sounds to
flashcards, to study listening. Anki is widely used by Japanese students from around the world,
and because of this, it is easy to find ready decks, which students can use, as well as create your
own decks using them as a way of fixing content learned by other means. Anki can be used for
training both reading and comprehension, because of its multimedia features, and the desktop
version is available in PT-BR. The AnkiWeb version, which can be accessed from any browser,
works fine on Android.
Table 2 summarizes 30 identified and evaluated tools, classifies them according to the
language skills they support, and also indicates the used medias, i.e., (T)ext, (P)icture, (A)udio,
and (V)ideo.
Table 2 - Medias used by CALL Web Tools for the Japanese language, identified by language skills.
Tool
Ajax
HKR
uPal
Denshi Jisho
Jiten
WWWJDIC
JND
Furiganizer
RealKana
RealKanji
JVC
JVD
Nihongo Dekimasu
Curso NHK
Vamos Ganbatear
Livemocha
Reading
T&P
T&P
T
T&P
T
T&P
T&P
T
T
T&P
T&P
T
T
http://www.learn-japanese.info.
37 http://eng.nihongodecarenavi.jp/eng/index.php.
38 http://www.ankisrs.net.
36
Language skills
Writing
Speak
T&P
T&P
T&P
T&A
Listening
A
A&V
P&A
A
A
Available in
PT-BR
No
No
No
Partly
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
50
Lang-8
LingQ
JapanesePod101
Rikaichan
Rikaikun
Furigana Injector
PopKanji
Kanji Drill
SpeedAnki
Njuku
Syvum
Nihongo o Narau
Nihongo De Care-Navi
Anki/AnkiWeb
T
T
T&P
T
T
T
T&P
T
T
T&A
T
T&P
T
T
T
T
-
T&A
-
A
A&V
T&A
T&A
T&A
T&A
T&A
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
After the identification of different tools, we selected the 26 most used in Practice,
presented above, to evaluation by tests in Android environment. In these tests, some tools
worked perfectly, others had modifications that did not compromise its performance, while some
of them had part of its content spoilt, inaccessible or simply did not work; on the other hand,
some of them offered a version specific for the device/environment. The result of behavior of
every multimedia element of these tools during the tests in Android environment, as a highlight
of what could be lost of the application when used outside its original environment, are
summarized on Table 2. We also highlight that, in this table, four of the tools described on Table
1 are not present, for they are plugins for a different browser that the Android default one, being
this our default test environment for all of the identified tools.
Table 3 joins the results related to the tools that were able to be used somehow in Android
environment, showing if there were behavior changes of Text, Picture, Audio and Video medias.
Because of that, not all of the tools described above are contained on this table. In its cells, ‘Y’ is
positive for change of behavior, ‘N’ is no change of behavior to (I)nput or (O)utput of
information in the referred media; and “-” means the media was not used in that tool.
Table 3 - State of the Practice Tools, synthesizing media behavior when accessed from the Android
platform.
Tool
Ajax
HKR
uPal
Denshi Jisho
Jiten
WWWJDIC
JND
Furiganizer
RealKana
RealKanji
JVC
JVD
Nihongo Dekimasu
Curso NHK
Vamos Ganbatear
Livemocha
Lang-8
LingQ
Text
N (O)
N (O)
N (I/O)
N (I/O)
N (I/O)
N (I/O)
N (I/O)
N (I/O)
Y (I) & N (O)
Y (I) & N (O)
N (I/O)
N (I/O)
N (O)
N (O)
N (O)
N (I/O)
N (I/O)
Y (O)
Multimedia behaviour in Android OS
Picture
Audio
Y (I)
Y (I)
N (I/O)
N (O)
N (O)
Y (O)
N (O)
N (O)
N (O)
Y (O)
Y (O)
N (O)
Y (O)
Y (O)
Y (I)
Y (O)
Video
Y (O)
-
51
JapanesePod101
Kanji Drill
SpeedAnki
Njuku
Syvum
Nihongo o Narau
Nihongo De Care-Navi
AnkiWeb
N (O)
N (O)
N (O)
N (O)
N (I/O)
N (O)
N (I/O)
N (O)
N (O)
N (O)
-
Y (O)
Y (O)
Y (O)
N (O)
N (O)
N (O)
Y (O)
-
3.5 Discussion
In our analysis, we observed the tools hold manifold focus, medias and strategies for the Japanese
LL/support, and it’s up to the interested user to make a choice for a most appropriate tool for
his context, even though many of them still cannot be used in mobile environment, ignoring this
market trend. Between the identified tools, some of them support students native in different
languages, including specificities of the PT-BR. We highlight that, with this work, we presented
an overview of the area, containing a considerable number and diversity of content, showing, so,
the possibilities and trends of the nowadays State of the Practice, but not an exhaustive list of
tools.
The tests with tools were made manually, for each one of them; first by the fact that it
was necessary to know each tool, the tasks each one perform and the medias they use, since they
are very distinct from each other; also, because in the context of the evaluation of media behavior
and how it affects the learning process, we chose to do a thorough evaluation, under a human
viewpoint instead of automated. A handicap found during the mobile Android environment tests
was the Flash Player point, since the platform does not offer support anymore, even is no longer
possible to install Flash Player from Google Play®, neither from the Flash Player developer’s
official site. To accomplish the tests, it was necessary to search for the player in .apk format, and
install it manually, but even like this, the results were not satisfactory. That occurs because of the
fact that Flash technology is being replaced by sites developed with HTML5 technology.
However, as many sites still use Flash technology, the deactivation of support creates a barrier
with the sites that still did not migrate to new technologies, currently supported.
About the used medias – i.e., text, picture, audio, and video – by the evaluated tools, it was
possible to notice a trend for massive utilization of text and picture medias, followed by audio
media, and just a few applications use video media. Observing the Android environment tests,
the less affected media was text, as for output there was no changing in any of the applications,
whilst audio was the one who suffered more changes of behavior, mostly being not able to be
accessed. This can be partly explained by the differences between the artifacts available in each
platform of hardware/software, but maybe not by a lack of interest or investment to adapt it,
what in some situations does not involve large complexity.
52
About the language skills supported, there is a remarkable trend focused on reading
learning, followed by listening; this can occur because of the complexity required to test abilities
like writing or speak, related to its input medias and the way to analyze them. About the tools
that are or present version in PT-BR, it is possible to highlight that just a small part of them
contemplates native PT-BR speakers public. After made all the tests, we could also observe that
most of the tools can be used at mobile environment, i.e., are compatible, however, because they
were not developed for that, it is not rare that the user cannot access the tool’s whole potential,
mainly over questions about interaction/usability. This could be perceived because the tests were
made manually.
Through the development of this work, still was possible to observe that, even there are
many options available of CALL Web Tools for Japanese, there is still a lot to be done to obtain
satisfactory adaptation, according to the new technological reality that are the mobile devices.
This warns how much current CALL systems are not prepared to the rise of mobile devices,
specifically about Android platform, and its use in LL.
3.6 Conclusion
In this work, we identified the State of the Practice of CALL Web tools that support Japanese
LL, and then, we evaluated how these tools behave in Android OS about its portability, media
recognition, technologies and strategies contained in them, and educational media. With the
achievement of this work, we were able to find that there are several tools for Japanese LL, used
by students all around the world.
We also performed a case study about the possibility of using these tools in an Android OS
environment, and the impact it could cause on the use, regarding the multiple medias used in the
process of learning Japanese. We considered the behavior of each media, being used every single
evaluated tool outside of its original environment (PC desktop browser). Still, we discussed about
the results found in the tools’ tests.
As future work, we point the study of tools focused specifically to the mobile Apps. As
well as a study about requirements and the development of a very own tool, that embrace the real
nowadays public of Japanese language students, that use digital environments offered by the new
technologies with educational purpose.
3.6.1 Decision Making
After the accomplishment of this survey, it was revealed that there is a great tendency for the
various applications to migrate to the context of mobile devices. Being Android the most widely
53
used system in the world today in such devices, we decided by the search tools focused on
teaching Japanese that are available in this context.
Through this survey, we also intend to highlight more features and requirements that such
a tool usually has, intending to start a project to develop a new tool, with a focus that is little
embraced by the existing tools, and addressing new research prospects.
Chapter 4
4 State of the Practice of the Android39
4.1 Introduction
Japanese language learning is known for being a big challenge, particularly for students that are
not acquainted to its writing system. This language uses three different writing systems: kanji,
kana (hiragana and katakana) and roma-ji. Kanji are Japanese ideograms brought and adapted
from China. Kana are two syllabic alphabets – syllabaries – auxiliary to the language. Hiragana is
used to write words whose kanji is rare or does not exist, e.g., greetings, adjectives, verb endings;
and also as furigana (yomigana/rubi): a little subtitle inserted beside a kanji to reveal its reading.
Katakana, in turn, is used to adapt foreign words and names to Japanese idiom, and also for
emphasis of words. Roma-ji is the Roman alphabet, used in most languages in the world,
including Portuguese, but in Japan it is barely used.
Nowadays, the challenge of learning a language like this can be minimized by the use of
different technological/computational artifacts that can be suitable for different kinds of students
and their needs. A trend for language learning is the use of Mobile Assisted Language Learning –,
a derivative subset from mobile learning and Computer Assisted Language Learning – which
refers to an approach of learning that is somehow assisted by the use of a handheld mobile
device (e.g., mobile phone, smartphone and tablet).
In previous work, we identified the state of the art [35] of the subject-matter by the
scientific literature, that presents computational solutions developed to support Japanese
language learning. We also identified the state of the practice [43] focused on Computer Assisted
Language Learning web tools for Japanese, representing the most used web tools, and evaluated
their behaviour when trying to use them in an Android environment, observing multimedia
39
55
Chapter 4. State of the Practice Android
disturbance caused by pure migration, finding that it is not ideal just to run these kinds of tools
on Android operating system, because of incompatibility issues. After the accomplishment of
these researches, it was perceived a convergence of computational solutions – software – for
mobile platforms, also corroborated by the previous works [35][43], whose finding added more
motivation to the achievement of the present work.
In this chapter, we present an evaluation, from the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
perspective, of diversified applications (Apps) developed specifically for mobile devices that use
Android operating system. This evaluation was conducted in order to identify the most
common/used design and interaction requirements/features. As the main result, it indicated the
possibility of developing an App that can cover the needs of most of Japanese language students
with access to an Android mobile device, based on requirements extracted with the help of the
Semiotic Ladder framework.
This chapter is organized as follows: Section 4.2 summarizes Mobile Assisted Language
Learning; Section 4.3 presents the theoretical and methodological bases that ground this work;
Section 4.4 introduces the evaluated Apps based on the Semiotic Framework, classified and
organized in groups; Section 4.5 discusses the results under the HCI viewpoint; and Section 4.6
presents the final remarks.
4.2 Mobile Assisted Language Learning
Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is a combined subset of mobile learning (mLearning) and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Various CALL applications were
presented in [43], a work focused on web CALL tools specifically for Japanese language learning
and the possibility of using them on a mobile environment; and its results led our research to
MALL and Android operating system. For introducing MALL, now we present some academic
works that exemplify the use of this kind of resource.
Edge et al. [40] developed a flashcard system focused on the possibilities mobile offers.
Their application, called MemReflex, is an adaptive flashcard application that gives the user a fast
feedback, by the means of quick succession of retesting new cards/items. MemReflex works with
audio features as well as text, and their research demonstrates enhancement of user’s skills in the
target language, even when they were not concentrated completely on the application. Another
interesting research is Tian et al. [50], that presents two culturally inspired learning games to help
Chinese children to learn Chinese characters. The games are called Multimedia Word and
Drumming Strokes; in the former, children must recognize and write correctly a certain Chinese
character based on hints provided for pronunciation, a sketch, a photo or other multimedia
context; and in the latter, children must write a character correctly with the correct stroke order,
practicing the Chinese characters writing ability.
56
Wong et al. [52] make a study over MALL that highlights “creative learner outputs” and
contextualized meaning making, that is also seamless learning-inclined. They emphasize the
importance of personal and social features mobile provides, and the good influence it can be in
language learning. Their approach only evaluates in-class use of MALL. Zervas and Sampson
[53], propose an IEEE LOM Application Profile – describes educational resources with metadata
– intended to be used for tagging educational resources that are suitable for language learning and
also supported by mobile devices.
Magal-Royo et al. [42], demonstrates the availability of using multimodal environments, by
both students and teachers, for accomplishment of testing and examination activities, in the field
of language learning, showing that through mobile phones the levels of usability and accessibility
can be improved, impacting on the development of new language learning methods. Still, Verma
[51] describes Mobile Assisted Word Learning (MAWL), which is an augmented reality based
collaborative interface that provides the user to learn new words by means of a smartphone, an
approach based on CALL and MALL.
MALL applications have advantages, such as the possibility of studying at almost any time
and place [53] since the student is holding a mobile device; it creates great support for helping
fixing content previously learnt, and even to actually learn new content, all in a customized way
for each student. With the rise of Android operating system and the use of Android devices,
everyday new Apps are available on Google Play® (olden Android Market®). MALL Apps for
Android related to Japanese are varied, and generally purpose specific, even several of them with
a couple of simple functions. They can be dictionaries, games, tutor systems, exercises with
feedback, and are destined for different publics: children, adults, foreign and even Japanese
natives.
After seeing the advantages for the use of MALL applications, corroborated by the authors
cited above, in the next sections we present our methodological and theoretical basis for this
work, and then the results of the research about Android MALL Apps for Japanese language.
4.3 Methodological and Theoretical Basis
The main steps for conducting the research were: i) identification of different Android MALL
Apps for Japanese language; ii) 30 minutes of exploratory use for each App; iii) classification and
grouping similar Apps; and iv) evaluation of design and interaction features. The evaluation of
the Apps will be made all manually, because this way it is possible to detect details from a user
perspective, what would not be possible automatically. All the selected Apps are partly or totally
free, and for the former, it was evaluated the free content. The specifications of the device used
in the study are: Tablet Genesis GT-7200 with Android 4.0.3 – Ice Cream Sandwich, CortexA8
1.2GHz GPU 400MHz, screen size 7’’ (800x480).
57
It is important to highlight that in this work we do not present an exhaustive list of Apps.
Once the number of application is expressive, we selected the most used Apps, based on the
number of downloads, positive rating and indication of connexion at the Google Play®, in order
to analyze and identify the most common patterns and requirements necessary for the
development of a new App that would cover all the important aspects identified. Along the
chapter, it is described whether the explored tool is available in Brazilian Portuguese language
(PT-BR), since this identification is relevant to our research project context.
In order to ground our research, we draw on the Organizational Semiotics (OS) theory. OS
is a theory devoted to the study of organization using the concepts and methods of Semiotics,
that comprises every organization as a system of signs. The OS offers methods and artifacts that
allow the understanding, modeling and constructing of computing technologies. In this work, we
used the Semiotic Framework (Fig. 5), an artifact from OS, for the requirements analysis of the
Apps. Also known as Semiotic Ladder, this framework is an artifact composed by six levels that
offer different points of view of various aspects of a given domain. The six levels of the Semiotic
Ladder are briefly described as follows [40]:
 Social World: in this level, it is observed the relationship between the use of signs and the
effects it can cause on the social context;
 Pragmatics: the pragmatics level focuses on the purposes of the signs. It evaluates the
relationships between signs and the behavior of agents;
 Semantics: the semantics level considers the relationship between a sign and what it refers
to;
 Syntactics: in this level, we can analyze complex structures of a language; it is related to
rules of composing these complex signs from simple ones;
 Empirics: the empirics level embraces statistical properties of signs, studying features like
coding, optimal signal transmission and entropy measurement;
 Physical World: in this level, a sign is observed in its physical form, being evaluated
features as shape, size and hardware, for example.
Fig. 5 - The semiotic framework (c.f. [40]).
58
The methodological and theoretical basis in OS has been used on HCI researches in
various works. For instance in the context of: social software design [47]; social networks
[46][49]; applications [48] and physical devices [44][45] for the interactive digital television;
systems for supporting problem solving and decision making [39], and so on.
4.4 Results
In this section, we describe the identified and evaluated Apps organized in the following
sequence in the text: Tutor System Apps, Game Apps, Quiz Apps, Dictionary Apps, and
Flashcard Apps. It is important to highlight that a flashcard or flash card is a set of cards bearing
information, as words or numbers, on either or both sides, widely used as a learning drill to aid
memorization by way of Spaced Repetition System (SRS40). There are various SRS computing
systems, and for Japanese language learning, the most broadcast one is Anki [38].
Also, it is pointed out the main design and interaction features that are common to almost
all the Apps, leading to a set of interface/interaction requirements for the development of a new
Android MALL App. In order to facilitate possible searches at Google Play Store® for Apps or
even to find the developer himself, we describe next to each App, the name of its developer.
Also, it is important to report that some pieces of text in Apps’ description are highlighted in
cyan, being them the identified requirements that will be explored later.
Tutor System Apps are the most complete Apps in this classification, and they may
embrace other kinds of Apps as aggregated features to provide a large learning environment for
the user. Tutor Systems, in general, present content in an educational way, offering to users new
content for them to learn. It uses features like tabs to present the new content, several of them
with audio support, tabs for the students to review the content, and some of them present
exercises for them to practice, with feedback, corrections and incentive to try again. Some tutor
systems are as follows.
Hello Hello Japanese (by Hello-Hello) is a tutor system with text and audio lessons,
flashcards and notes. It is linked to the course by Hello-Hello company of language learning that
allows users to interact with native speakers of their target learning language, also offering other
language lessons than Japanese. This App offers only the first lesson of each language free, and
the feedback is given by users when they submit the responses for their exercises. It is possible to
use this App in PT-BR language. Similarly, there is also Busuu (by Busuu Online S.L.), which is a
tutor system that offers several levels of courses with text, picture and audio lessons, revisions
The SRS is a system to study a subject systematically, using flashcards, repeating/showing more times the topics –
cards – that are more difficult for the student to learn, and programming the most easy to appear more spaced in
time.
40
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and exercises with feedback. It is attached to the course by Busuu community, which is an online
free community for learning various languages with interaction to native speakers.
Japanese Hiragana Writing (by Teachersparadise.com) is a tutor system to teach hiragana
alphabet. It can show a skeleton for the user to fill drawing, with the options of subtitle, arrows
showing how to draw, or just the picture with no clue, all of them with audio available. This App
does not present feedback to the user. On the other hand, Learn Japanese Numbers (by Ajeic) is
a tutor system to teach Japanese numbers from 0 to 9999. This App offers basic lessons, and
also, tests as flashcards in three levels (first level is from 0 to 99, second from 0 to 999, and third
from 0 to 9999), in addition to a listening practice, both showing the answers as means of
feedback.
The tutor system Obenkyo (by Atomusk) teaches kana, numbers, kanji, vocabulary,
particles and grammar. It also contains exercises like multiple choice, drawing and recognizing
words and characters, and it is also available in PT-BR. The App Japanese Conversation Lite (by
Saora Inc.) is a tutor system that teaches Japanese everyday phrases with text, English translation,
audio examples and voice recognizing to evaluate user speak (few examples in the free version,
and only available with Internet connection). This App counts with a large amount of audio
content available free. JLPT Practice (by Saora Inc.) is a tutor system with focus in studies for
Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT41) exam. It contains a kanji dictionary, flashcards and
also a sample test with feedback (its free version is a demo of a JLPT Level 2 test). There is also
JA Sensei (by Raphaelw), which is a very complete tutor system with lessons about kana, kanji,
vocabulary, verbs, particles, among others, and offers exercises with audio and drawing
recognizer features, having a large amount of free content.
Learn Japanese Language (by KHJLAB) is a tutor system with a childish interface, that
teaches kana alphabets – with audio and mnemonic pictures features – and basic sentences using
just kana. On the other hand, Japanese Verbs (by Szymon Trapp) is a tutor system focused only
on Japanese verbs. This App teaches about all kinds of verbs, and also offers a verb dictionary
plus a customizable quiz about the learnt content. Still, TenguGo Kana (by Tengulogi) is a tutor
system with text and audio lessons and quiz about kana.
Kana Draw and Kanji Draw (both by Lusil) are two other examples of tutor systems. The
former is a tutor system that teaches how to draw kana correctly by offering the picture for the
user to fill in, and providing immediate feedback about the kana strokes; Kanji Draw is the kanji
version for Kana Draw. Some more examples are Learn Japanese Kana Dr Moku and Learn
Japanese Essentials Free (both by Bob Byrne). The former is a tutor system with a childish
interface, and presents kanas with English mnemonics associated to each one of them. It also
offers quiz with immediate feedback. The other App by Bob Byrne, Learn Japanese Essentials
Free, it is also a tutor system, but this one is focused on day-to-day phrases and just offers text
lessons – phrases – with audio and English/Spanish translation.
41
The JLPT is an exam that evaluates and certifies Japanese language proficiency for non-native speakers.
60
GettingThere (by SJC Linguistics) is a tutor system that teaches basic conversation phrases
with text – kanji or only kana – and audio. It also offers exercises with the answers, but no kind
of feedback. There is also Learn Japanese Deluxe (by MobileFusion), a tutor system with various
modules, some of them in the free version, which includes vocabulary trainer, memory match
from kana to English and some flashcards. One more example is Kana Mind (by Zeh Fernando),
which is a mix of kana tutor and game, where the player is given a table with the roma-ji
character and six tables with kana options. The goal is to pick up the corresponding kana. We
also have Japanese Numbers Free (by PayToPun), focused on teaching Japanese numbers. It
provides explanation about number’s kanjis and combinations, as a number converter from
roma-ji to kanji, and two kinds of quiz for training.
Other examples of tutor systems are: EasyKanji (by Micarisoft), Learn Japanese Quick (by
Toy Box) and Learn Japanese (by Bravolol). EasyKanji is a tutor system that teaches from kana
to kanji, showing readings, examples, offering spaces for annotations and kanji writing training.
EasyKanji also offers a customizable quiz. This App has a stylish interface and allows the user to
custom some view elements. Learn Japanese Quick offers lessons about various kinds of subjects
in Japanese, but only three available on the free version. Interesting, this App offers a Study List
and, then, several sorts of exercises to test users’ learning, including listening, reading and
speaking skill tests, as well as vocabulary. It uses text, picture and sound features. Last, but not
least, there is Learn Japanese that provides several example phrases with text (kana and kanji),
audio and English translation. It offers the options of copying text in Japanese, English and
roma-ji, and the user can also share content on Facebook®.
Game Apps is the kind of App intended to unite learning and fun, in the most of times
trying to mask the educational features to keep user motivated. They try to provide learning with
fun, generally offering scores, records storage, and levels for the user to get motivated to play and
unlock new content or more difficult ways of playing. In general, games do not offer explanation
of content, different from Tutor Systems, but some of them can offer the player some clues of
how to achieve the goal. Following, we present some identified and evaluated game Apps. It is
important to highlight that these Apps are not just games in the Japanese language, but games
that are focused on helping on the learning of the Japanese language.
NihongoUp (by Philip Seyfi) is a game in a form of a multiple choice quiz where the
answers come in balloons and the player has to blow up the one with the correct answer. There
are modules of practicing/playing about kana, kanji, vocabulary and grammar, each one of these
allowing the player to choose between classes of words; some of them are classified according to
JLPT levels. The game offers immediate feedback during the game and final statistics. Another
example, JaLaGa (by Joshua Jamison) is a very simple game App where the kana is shown and
the user has to choose the correct roma-ji by multiple choice. At each level, more characters are
added. There are no customizable options.
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In the game App Kanji Writing Game (by Abraham Macias Paredes), the player is given
English meaning, on and kun readings, and the goal is to draw the correct kanji. It is also possible
to use it as a kanji searcher, drawing. This App has functions available in PT-BR, but the
translations to the Japanese words are just available in English. One more example is Hiragana
Tap (by Boon-Hau Teh), a game with a childish interface, where are presented several tables
containing hiragana characters, and the player shall tap them in the hiragana alphabetical order.
The game saves the score with the player’s name. Resembling it, there is Katakana Quiz (by
Maxime Cardinal), but with a more simple interface and katakana characters instead of hiragana
ones.
Hiragana Memory Game (by Eleven11) is a memory game where the player has to turn
tables to find the hiragana and its corresponding pair, which is another table with its roma-ji. It
does not present score or time, just exhibits the number of attempts at the end of each game.
The App Aiue Onigiri (by Makorino) is a childish game only in hiragana, that is indeed for
Japanese kids to form words, but it can be used as a vocabulary training for foreign students. We
also have Hiragana/Katakana Drills (by Robert Muth), a game where the player is presented a
kana and has to select the relative roma-ji in less than the given time. Whilst the levels increase,
more kanas are added to be presented. The score is simple, based on number of hits, and
feedback of errs is imediate. And the game App GamuProg hiragana (by GamuProg) is a game to
practice hiragana skills. A card with a Hiragana character is shown and the player has to select,
between eight other cards, the one with the roma-ji relative to the former. The score is pointed
out at the end, detailing the statistics of the game.
The App Colors in Japanese (by Pibeans) is a game App for the user to practice reading
and listening of the names of the colors in Japanese. The Game offers a practice mode for the
user to get used to the colors that will be presented. Colors in Japanese do not offer score or
levels, it is a very simple game App. Another game App is Touch Japanese Hiragana (by
Hidanosatoyama), where the player is presented a character, has to recognize it and touch the
same character between several that are presented. This game can help the player to practice
hiragana symbols recognition, improving the player’s reading skills.
Quiz Apps use is very simple. They are more like a test for more expert students,
providing a challenging ambient for users to prove their knowledge about the subject. This kind
of App can present a Q&A scenario, where the answers can be multiple choices with text,
picture, audio or, in this case, drawing skills of kana and kanji characters. The identified and
evaluated quiz Apps are presented below.
Kanji Recognizer (by Nikolay Elenkov) is a kanji writing quiz, where the user has to draw
correctly the characters that are asked. It is possible to configure the range and grade of the kanji
to be on the quiz. At the end of each draw, it is exposed whether the user got it right or wrong,
and at the end of the quiz, statistics are shown, allowing users to see their mistakes. There is also
a training mode where it is shown the lines and numbers indicating the stroke order, while in the
62
quiz mode, it is only given the meaning and readings of the asked character. Another example is
JLPT Master (by JCT Co. Ltd.), an App for advanced Japanese students; it offers proficiency tests
with questions of multiple choice completely in Japanese, and feedback at the end of it, being
also possible to use the whole App in Japanese language. The App Conjugation Japanese (by
Tengen.Mobile) is a quiz App that offers exercises about verbs conjugation in various forms –
e.g., nai, ta, i, and te –, each test with 50 questions and immediate feedback. Still, Japanese Trainer
(by Kozhevnikov Alexey) is a simple quiz App that allows users to practice their knowledge
about kana with a very simple question and answer system with immediate feedback. This App
offers no statistics or score.
Elementary Kanji (by Casmo Games) is a quiz App for kanji practice, with the options
from first to sixth grade kanjis (i.e. kanjis teached since first until sixth grades of Japanese
schools), with immediate feedback and stats, and allows the user to see the readings and English
meaning to each kanji. Also by Casmo Games, Master Katakana is a quiz where the user is
presented a katakana character and has to enter the relative roma-ji. There is a temporary status
of correctness that lasts until the end of each training session.
Another examples of quiz Apps are Kana Tutorial (by Karanagai), Katakana Learn
Experiment (by Legendarya/Imaginactiva) and Kana by Hand (by Olof Sjöbergh). Kana Tutorial
is a quiz App only for training kana, presenting the kana for the user to choose the roma-ji or
vice versa, with immediate feedback. Katakana Learn Experiment is a quiz App where the users
can evaluate their abilities of reading, listening, and writing katakana characters, by three kinds of
questions. And Kana by Hand is a quiz App where a letter in roma-ji or an English word is
presented and the user has to write the corresponding hiragana drawing it on the screen. The
feedback is immediate and the progress is saved, so the users can see what characters and words
they already got right.
The App Japanese Grammar Free (by Eltsoft) is a quiz App that offers six levels, since
presenting all questions in roma-ji (Beginner), the other levels present questions all in Japanese,
upgrading the levels of the kanjis whilst the levels increase. The questions are of multiple choice
and the user can access each level one time for free; to keep accessing, premium has to be
bought. Another quiz App is Japanese Kanji Quiz (by Chamicat), a quiz divided by Japanese
grades, where each grade has levels inside. The player is presented a kanji and the user has to
select the correct kana reading, between four options of choice.
Dictionary Apps are the simplest ones. These Apps are digital dictionaries where the user
can easily consult words or characters, since they provide a language database with various
possibilities of search manners. Japanese dictionary Apps can offer search by roma-ji, kana, kanji,
stroke count, kanji radical, and even give words in another language as entry or response. The
dictionary Apps identified and evaluated are presented next.
JED Japanese Dictionary (by Attila Korompai) is an App that allows the user to download
English/French/Spanish to Japanese dictionaries and offers search – kanji by radical, words, and
63
expressions – in roma-ji with results in kanji, in addition to a hiragana and katakana table. There
is also Kabuto (by Gakusoft), a kanji dictionary with the options of searching by words (English
or Japanese), kanji text, kanji radical and number of strokes. Another is WWWJDIC for Android
(by Nikolay Elenkov), which is an Android version of the web tool WWWJDIC, a Japanese
dictionary; and this App depends on Internet connection to work. The App Makimono Japanese
Dictionary (by Remo Arpagaus) is a very large dictionary App, with search options by kanji,
roma-ji, kanji radical, English meaning, and that contains a lot of example phrases for the
searched word, with translations for various languages, including English, Portuguese, Spanish,
German, Russian and French.
Kanjidict (by Spartan Entertainment) is a kanji dictionary App in which the user can select
the kanjis to be shown by JLPT level and/or grade, but there is no search tool. It offers stroke
order indication and other information about the kanji, with English meaning. This App has
made an attempt to be available in PT-BR, but it was not concluded. Also by this developer,
there is Japanese Dictionary, which offers search options, several information about a found kanji
and automatic conversion from typed roma-ji to kana. The same issue with PT-BR language
occurs. One more example of dictionary App is Jishop (by Seva Alekseyev), that provides a
complete kanji dictionary for a period of 30 days of trial. After that, it is only possible to access
the called “school kanjis” for free, i.e. the list of 1006 kanjis learnt in Japanese school grades.
Some features are search by roma-ji, audio readings, kanji dismemberment into radicals, stroke
order diagram. Jishop also offers a very simple study option with drills and flashcard, but its main
function is dictionary, justifying the classification. Still, we have Japanese-English Dictionary (by
App For All), which is an App that provides a dictionary with search by words, kanji, English
meaning. It is based on the web tool Denshi Jisho and does not work without Internet
connection.
Flashcard Apps usually consist of the simple use of flashcards to present and review
content. Basically, they present content in flashcards and save the user’s progress along the
learning process. They often use text and audio features for the sake of fix content by the user,
and can use various multimedia resources. Follows the identified and evaluated Apps of this kind.
Color Kana (by Huangtiancheng) is a simple flashcard App where users study kana with
text and audio, and mark each kana with a color depending on the facility they had to
read/remember. Another example is Simple Japanese Gojuon (by Limitfan), a simple table App,
with a sort of flashcard that can show pronounce (with audio), stroke order (animation) and
example of use in a word, of kanas. It also contains a feature that gives a word to be spoken and
recognizes user’s pronounce as an audio entry, but it depends on Internet connection.
AnkiDroid (by Nicolas Raoul) is the Android version of Anki, a SRS tool very known by
Japanese students. It allows the users to create their own deck of flashcards and has the
possibility to sync with their desktop and web versions of Anki, for the decks to be updated.
Anki offers plugins specially for the study of Japanese language and AnkiDroid is available in PT-
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BR. Another App is Spare Time JP (by Aikenau), that teaches kana’s basic sounds showing the
list in alphabetical order. When the user touches a character, the relative sound is played. The
Flashcard App Japanese Vocabulary (by Bravolol) is an App that contains flashcards organized by
subject. Each flashcard presents two sides, one with the Japanese word, and another with English
translation, roma-ji and relative audio. The user can also mark flashcards to a favorite list. One
more example is Qwiz Hiragana (by Ed Halley), a flashcard App that teaches Hiragana characters
and saves user progress to set the cards that will appear in the study each time. This App also
provides the user to earn tickets to redeem power-up prizes.
FlashKana (by Plattom) is a very simple flashcard App, which only contains two-sided
cards, one side containing a kana, and the other side, its roma-ji and alphabet indication (hiragana
or katakana). There is no use of SRS system, no saving of progress and no feedback. It is possible
to choose what cards to see, and whether they will appear in alphabetical order or random.
Similarly, there is Kana Cards (by GamEnlight Studios), but with the difference that the latter
offers kanji cards too. Another one, the flashcard App Flashcards for Kids (by MOZ Android),
brings animal pictures with audio and text (kanji and kana only), but also does not use SRS or
progress saving.
The App Japanese Flashcards (by uTech Studio) provides a SRS system and cards with
kana/kanji in the front side and roma-ji/English meaning on the back side; it offers four decks
for training since kana to words and kanji. The flashcard App Kanji Flashcards (by Joseph
Daverin) provides kana and kanji flashcards for training, with the option to select the alphabets,
and also the kanji by grade. There is a practice mode, where the first side of the card shows all the
information, and also a quiz mode, where the user sees the kana/kanji and touches the screen to
see the response and mark the user hit or fault in knowing the character’s information. Still,
JFCards – Kanji Flashcards (by Plamen Parvanov) provides cards, one side with kanji, the other
with English translation. For each card, there is also an option to see more information about the
character.
When conducting the search for MALL Apps for Japanese, several of them were found.
The authors are aware that this list can be very expressive, but as was explained before, the Apps
were selected under criteria presented above (e.g., number of downloads, positive rating and
indication of connexion at the Google Play®). Still, some of the classifications, like Game and
Quiz Apps, present just a few relevant tools that we intended to introduce in our research;
searches for these kinds of Apps at Google Play® would not exhibit much more expressive
results. It is also important to emphasize that this classification was made after manual analysis of
each App, under the methodology presented in Section III; because of that, there is the
possibility that some table classification may have been affected by means of features that
remained “hidden” until the end of exploratory time.
Table 4 summarizes 64 Android MALL Apps that were identified and evaluated. This table
presents the column names: “Free” that indicates whether the App’s content is available (T)otally
65
free, or (P)artly (i.e. some features are only available if the user gets the full version of it); “Lang.
skills” that indicates language skills embraced by each App, i.e. (R)eading, (W)riting, (S)peaking,
and/or (L)istening; “BR” that indicates whether the App is available in PT-BR, i.e. (Y)es, (N)o,
or (P)artly; and “Audio”, where “I” indicates use of input audio, “O” indicates output, “I & O”
indicates use of both and “-”, that represents no use of audio features for learning purposes.
Table 4 - Android MALL Apps Identified and Evaluated
Tutor System
Type/Icon
Name
Ver.
Free
Lang. skills
BR
Audio
Hello Hello Japanese
1.1
P
R, S & L
Y
O
Busuu
2.5
P
R, S & L
Y
O
Japanese Hiragana Writing
6
T
W
N
O
Learn Japanese Numbers
5.50
T
R&S
N
O
Obenkyo
3.3.1
T
R&W
Y
-
Japanese Conversation Lite
Natsu-12b
P
R, S & L
N
I&O
JLPT Practice
1.4.2
P
R
N
-
JA Sensei
2.6.1
T
R, W & L
N
O
Learn Japanese Language
1.0
T
R&L
N
O
Japanese Verbs
2.1.0
T
R
N
-
TenguGo Kana
2.0.10.128
T
R&L
N
O
Kana Draw
2.3
T
W
N
-
Kanji Draw
3.3.1
T
W
N
-
Learn Japanese Kana Dr Moku
1.0
P
R
N
O
Learn Japanese Essentials Free
1.0
P
R&L
N
O
GettingThere
2.2
T
R&L
N
O
Learn Japanese Deluxe
1.7
P
R&L
N
-
Kana Mind
1.5.71
T
R
N
-
Japanese Numbers Free
1.09
T
R
N
-
EasyKanji
1.1.0
T
R&W
N
-
Learn Japanese Quick
1.3
P
R, S & L
N
I&O
Learn Japanese
2.2
T
R&L
N
O
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Dictionary
Quiz
Game
NihongoUp
1.0.1
T
R
N
-
JaLaGa
1.2.0
T
R
N
-
Kanji Writing Game
2.0
T
W
P
-
Hiragana Tap
1.2
T
R
N
-
Katakana Quiz
1.00
T
R
N
-
Hiragana Memory Game
1.6
T
R
N
-
Aiue Onigiri
1.0.5
T
R&L
N
O
Hiragana/Katakana Drills
13.demo
T
R
N
-
GamuProg Hiragana
2.3.3
T
R
N
-
Colors in Japanese
2.0
T
R&L
N
O
Touch Japanese Hiragana
5.0
T
R
N
-
Kanji Recognizer
2.3
P
R&W
N
-
JLPT Master
1.09
P
R
N
-
Conjugation Japanese
1.0
T
R
N
-
Japanese Trainer
2.1.0
T
R
N
-
Elementary Kanji
2r
T
R
N
-
Master Katakana
1r
T
R
N
-
Kana Tutorial
1.1
T
R
N
-
Katakana Learn Experiment
1.00
T
R, W & L
N
O
Kana by Hand
1.3.1
T
W
N
-
Japanese Grammar Free
1.0
P
R
N
-
Japanese Kanji Quiz
1.0.9.4
T
R
N
-
JED Japanese Dictionary
0.5.5
T
R
N
-
Kabuto
1.04
T
R
N
-
WWWJDIC for Android
2.2.5
T
R
N
-
Makimono Japanese
Dictionary
0.3
T
R
P
-
67
1.4b
T
R
P
-
Japanese Dictionary
1.3
P
R
P
-
Jishop
2.10.0
T
R&L
N
O
Japanese-English Dictionary
1.1
T
R
N
-
Color Kana
2.2.1
T
R&L
N
O
Simple Japanese Gojuon
2.5
T
R, W, S & L
N
O
AnkiDroid
2.0
T
R&L
N
O
Spare Time JP
1.0
T
R&L
N
O
Japanese Vocabulary
2.2
T
R&L
N
O
Qwiz Hiragana
1.3
T
R
N
-
FlashKana
1.0.1
T
R
N
-
Kana Cards
1.6.3
P
R
N
-
Flashcards for Kids
1.0
P
R&L
N
O
Japanese Flashcards
1.02
T
R
N
-
Kanji Flashcards
1.5.5
T
R
N
-
JFCards – Kanji Flashcards
1.3
T
R
N
-
Flashcard
Kanjidict
After identifying and evaluating the Android MALL Apps, we accomplished an analysis in
the domain of MALL Apps for Japanese based on the Semiotic Framework. Table 5 presents
some questions involved on the analysis according to the six levels of the Semiotic Framework.
Table 5 - Semiotic Framework in the Analysis Domain of MALL Apps for Japanese.
Social
World
Pragmat
ics
Semantics
Human Information Functions
Level
Questions Involved
What is the profile of the audience that makes use of MALL Apps for
learning Japanese? Is there a social separation because of the need of owning
or having access to an Android mobile device? Is there any kind of
interaction with other users (e.g., social features)? Can the Apps bring some
idea of contempt about the role of a traditional teacher?
Is it effectual/interesting to integrate the use of MALL Apps to traditional
learning? Is this integration supported by teachers? Are the Apps used as a
complementary manner? Do students resort to other resources (e.g., books
and websites)?
Are the MALL Apps’ interface and interaction features making sense for the
students in a learning perspective? Does the user regard the MALL Apps as
a relevant way of language learning?
Empirics
Physical
World
The IT Platform
Syntatics
68
What are the languages used to develop Android Apps? What are the
technologies involved? What are the tied guidelines to follow (if there is
any) related to MALL Apps?
Do the Apps need to have Internet connection at the moment of its use for it
to function part/completely? What is the required bandwidth?
Are the Apps making use of hardware features such as the accelerometer?
What are hardware requirements (e.g., performance, energy consumption,
and devices) relevant to the application? Are all the physic environments
appropriate for the use of some features of MALL Apps, e.g. voice
recognizer?
Through the Semiotic Framework it is possible to analyze different aspects of the same
problem, favoring the identification of questions that might be obvious, but that were only
clarified when the use of the artifact was performed.
Thinking about the Physical World, it was possible to perceive a lack of use of a very
known characteristic of tablets and smartphones – the accelerometer – by Japanese MALL
Android Apps as a way of interaction. The Empirics brought to scene a frailty present in some
Apps, which is the need of Internet connection to run some functions or even the whole App.
Syntatics raised questions directly related to the programming step of an App development, and
with these three levels that form the IT Platform, directions in this meaning are found for future
development. Analyzing the Human Information functions, we have Semantics, which brings
reflection about the purpose and validity of using Japanese MALL Apps. Pragmatics, that
questions about negotiating between teachers and students for using better the Apps; and Social
World, which considers the social questions for applying the use of Apps for learning (e.g.,
accessibility of devices).
Follows, results from observations about interface and interaction features in the evaluated
Apps, highlighting what is most common based on the created classification in order to point out
the main requirements that each one has. In this case, we are not focused on Android User
Interface Guidelines [37] themselves, but in what is more common to the Japanese MALL Apps
in specific. The Japanese MALL Apps, in general, may be very specific or very embracing in its
content. They can focus on reading skills, presenting: i) texts for recognition (Fig. 6), and ii) texts
in Japanese with corresponding roma-ji and translation (Fig. 7). Writing skills: i) recognizing user
writing by the touch screen (Fig. 8); ii) offering tutoring of how to write a character (Fig. 9); and
speak by capturing user audio and analyzing it (Fig. 7). Listening: i) playing a corresponding audio
for a piece of text for the user to listen and learn the pronounce (Fig. 7), and ii) playing an audio
and asking user to identify what was said in it (Fig. 10).
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Fig. 6 - Reading skill quiz (Elementary Kanji App).
Fig. 7 - Japanese text with roma-ji and translation, audio teaching, and user speaking recognition
(Japanese Conversation Lite App).
Fig. 8 - Kanji drawing recognition (Kanji Recognizer App).
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Fig. 9 - Animation showing the stoke order for the hiragana “ga” (Simple Japanese Gojuon App).
Fig. 10 - Listening skill quiz (Learn Japanese Quick App).
Analyzing the aspect of interface, most of the Apps do not take into account contextual
appearance – e.g., Japanese day-to-day relative pictures, and cultural features – which can take the
user to a more immersive environment and improve language learning as well as Japan cultural
knowledge. In the interaction features – as transition of screens and access to options –,
organization of screens and buttons, most of the Apps follow Android UI guidelines, which
allow different kinds of interaction but with good usability features. To perceive all these details,
it was fundamental to evaluate manually every single App – following the steps presented on
Section III –, whereas automatic evaluation does not allow us to assess the Apps with the
perspective of a user. Hence, it was possible to notice their positive and negative points, and then
perceive what features can be the most effective in the learning context and pleasant in a usability
perspective, and how to work them together in the development of a new App.
Table 6 summarizes the identified requirements from the description of the Apps
(highlighted in cyan in beginning of this Section), as from the analysis of interface features by the
Figures 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.
71
Table 6 - Identified Requirements According to Apps’ Classification
Flashcard
Dictionary
Quiz
Game
Tutor System
App type
Identified features
Audio corresponding to a piece of text
Audio lessons
Combining text, picture and sound features
Custom view elements
Customizable options
Dictionary available on the App environment
Drawing recognition
English/Spanish translation
Exercises with the answers
Explanation of content/subjects of the Japanese language
Flashcards section
Immediate feedback
Play audio for the user to identify what was said
Several sorts of exercises
Showing readings and examples
Skeleton of kana/kanji to fill drawing
Text in Japanese with corresponding roma-ji and translation
Text lessons
Text with example phrases presented in kana/kanji
Voice recognition
Customizable options
Immediate feedback
Levels increase
Score
Statistics
Time
Indication of hits and errs
Possible to configure
Questions of multiple choice
Save progress
Score
Statistics
Status of correctness
Texts for recognition
Training mode
Upgrade of kanji difficulty whilst the levels increase
Use the whole App in Japanese
Writing recognition
Information about the kanji
Kanji dismemberment into radicals
Search by: words (English or Japanese), kana/kanji text, kanji radical, and number
of strokes
Search tool
Stroke order indication/diagram
Translations for various languages
Work offline
Work online bringing more features
Animated stroke order
Feedback
Option for cards to appear in order or randomically
Possibility to sync cards with tools of other platforms
Practice mode
Save progress
Select kanji by grade
Tutor of how to write a character (kana/kanji)
Use of SRS
Voice recognition
72
Table 6 puts together the most common features/requirements present in the identified
Apps, classified according to the Apps’ type. It is interesting to notice that some requirements are
common to more than one kind of App. For example, “Feedback” present on Tutor Systems,
Games and Flashcards, and also in Quiz Apps in the form of “indication of hits and errs”. Quiz
and Flashcard Apps share the “training/practice mode” and “saving progress” features, while
Quiz and Games ask for a “statistics” requirement. Another observation is about Tutor Systems,
since some of its features are actually other kinds of Apps, i.e., a “dictionary” option, a
“flashcard” section, quizzes for “exercises”. Game Apps presents some specific requirements,
despite they are not manifold, as “score”, “time” and “levels increase”, which are characteristics
usually assigned to games in general. Another feature that were only presented in one kind of
App is “kanji dismemberment into radicals” that is present on dictionary tools; this is a very
theoretical feature, what can explain its rareness in more practical kinds of Apps.
4.5 Discussion
Here, we present some challenges and directions for the development of new Japanese MALL
Android Apps. It is significant to state that the use of the OS Framework brought several
questions that were fundamental to reach the requirements elicitation, since it divides the domain
in various levels, facilitating analysis by pointing out direct questions for each level. First of all, it
is important to notice that these Apps can be very purpose-specific as well as very embracing.
For the former, it is common to find a few functions and requirements, while for the latter, more
often we find lots of resources with multimedia and, in some way, a condensation of various
kinds of these Apps, i.e. gathering different features from the several kinds of Apps in order to
generate a powerful tool with many resources. That is what we see in most Tutor Systems, that
can include inside them some sort of quizzes, dictionaries, flashcard features, all of this mixed
with text, picture and audio resources to form a big learning system.
The other four classifications made here present more purpose-specific Apps, which can be
very simple and still have their educational and fun values. These kinds of Apps are very good for
practicing and reviewing content in a quick and simple way, or in the case of dictionaries, to
quickly search for content that the user has doubts about. It is even more practical in the cases
where there is no need for Internet connection. Despite the classifications and tied requirements
may help the developer, giving him directions to follow, these paradigms can be against design
and interaction innovations. Hence, it is important to follow some guidelines, but it is not
mandatory every App, in each classification, to use the same flow, interface or other interaction
designs pattern. It is important that the developer feel free to insert different features and put
them under test, for the Apps to evolve.
73
Moreover, the language skills embraced by each App can be independent of its
classification, but there are some patterns that can be noticed, as reading is the most
contemplated skill, being it prevalent alone in Game, Quiz and Dictionary Apps, and massively
present on the other two kinds (Tutor System and Flashcard Apps), accompanied by other skills.
Tutor Systems tend to embrace more skills, since they are generally more complete Apps with
lots of different features. Speaking is the less covered skill, and it may be assigned for the sake
that it requires more complex programming to evaluate user inputs, since they can be very
different and still be right. Another issue about practicing the speaking skill is the fact that it
naturally imposes usage restrictions, e.g., public places are not favorable, because of ambient
noise, the need of being in silence or speaking softly.
Listening and writing are, respectively, the second and third more reached skills. This can
be explained by the fact that, while a listening practice can be given by an audio play for the
student to give the right answer in text or multiple choice (of text or image), a writing practice
requires a more complex data processing for recognizing draw content, specially kana and kanji,
since they have many particularities (as stroke order, stroke count, size and distance of strokes).
In other words, reading and listening are the most contemplated skills in the MALL Apps
because it is easier to deal with them from a computing perspective.
The availability of Apps made to the Brazilian public is scarce, and because in Brazil the
Japanese language is one of the most searched languages for studying, it represents an open
market for the development of these kinds of tools. This work presents new results for the Latin
America community, showing that the Apps focused on its public is still scarce; this represents
opportunities for development of new Apps for supporting Japanese language teaching focused
on this community.
In the HCI field, it is important to highlight that the results achieved by this research
demonstrate that the Organizational Semiotics can cooperate with Japanese language learning
domain too. This work, therefore, complements the literature in the HCI field, showing the value
of OS over the application domain researched in this work, i.e., interface/interaction in Japanese
MALL Apps; a domain still not investigated under this perspective, and which demands
informed and theoretical grounded discussion.
4.6 Conclusion
In this work, we identified various Japanese MALL Android Apps and created a classification for
them according to their features. We also evaluated interface and interaction factors, based on
Semiotic Framework – an artifact of Organizational Semiotic – in order to identify requirements
for the development of a new tool. The interface and interaction features were evaluated starting
from our classification of the Japanese MALL Android Apps, giving directions of how to
74
develop a new App based on the most common requirements used in each kind. It was possible
to see the usefulness of the OS on the field of HCI directed for the domain of Japanese MALL
Apps.
As future work, we point out the development of a new App that contains suitable
features, a development guided by its kind, depending on the intended classification, i.e., taking
into account the classifications made here and the features and requirements detected can be
helpful for the development of new Apps.
After this considerable survey, we realized that there is an aspect in Japanese language learning
that, in general, is not contemplated by most of the available tools; it is the cultural aspect. So, we
decided to give this aspect a special attention, and now we intend to research about how to insert
this aspect in a CALL tool at this context. The next step of our research, instead of beginning the
project of a new tool from now, is to study the importance of the cultural aspects on the learning
of this language, for then create a new concept of a tool.
Chapter 5
5 Development of Karuchā Ships Invaders42
5.1 Introduction
The use of technological resources is present in most of the daily activities, and it is not different
in the educational domain. These resources are being largely used informally for helping language
learning in several contexts, this is called Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL), and
it encompasses the use of computational tools for the same purpose, in literature called
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Furthermore, there is the rising of educational
games bringing a new way to study manifold themes, the so called gamification [67].
Gamification is basically to use game design elements in non-gaming contexts [54], to bring out
motivational factors that are usually applied on games, to another activities, with the goal of
arousing people to practice what would be boring activities, just for the enjoyment of doing that.
Once these motivating factors are put in the context, and the tasks can become rewarding, it can
cause positive effect on the user.
An interesting approach about educational games is edutainment – i.e. education +
entertainment –, which is to mask the educational piece of the tool with fun, sometimes with
gamified learning activities, to make the learning to be a consequence of playing a game.
Language learning is also included in the field of edutainment and gamification, in the attempt of
making the process of learning a new language to be a pleasant activity for the student. In this
context, for example, Pereira et al. [64] present a game for helping children learn Portuguese
language.
Japan is an island nation located in the Asian continent, which is, in culture ways, very
different from occidental countries, as Brazil. Its language is the Japanese, a language that owns a
42
76
lot of particularities: it has three main alphabets, being two of them syllabics, i.e. hiragana and
katakana (which together can be called kana), and the kanji, which are logographic characters
adopted from China, and they also use roma-ji – Latin script – in some cases, for example,
imported acronyms. This characteristic itself already defines a challenge and/or a barrier for
occidental people that aim to learn about Japanese language. From the three main alphabets, the
most important and basic to know is hiragana. Hiragana characters are the first taught in school
for little children; furthermore, it is the most used alphabet: for words that do not have kanji, for
adjective and verb endings, and also used for identify readings of unknown kanji, being inserted
little hiragana letters by its side (in this case, called furigana).
In previous chapters, we presented the state of the art of Japanese CALL tools which have
been developed in the academic environment [35], the state of the practice of Japanese CALL
web tools [43], and the state of the practice of Japanese Android MALL apps [62]. All these
research brought questions that needed to be answered about Japanese CALL, and an important
axis that remained unexplored is Japanese culture – and what is the importance of that influence
on the design/development of a CALL tool – in the sense of providing improvement on the
learning experience by giving the user a more immersive environment related to the target
language. It was also perceived with these research that, in general, games for helping Japanese
language learning are scarce, specially for native Portuguese speakers; and still, this kind of game
usually do not take into consideration cultural aspects of the involved countries.
This chapter introduces a CALL game directed to Japanese language learning, considering
some aspects of the Japanese culture. In this step of our research, we intend to available a tool –
a game – that can help Brazilians to get conversant to basic Japanese language elements, through
an entertaining gamified way. The game was designed and developed by/for Brazilians, being
necessary a study of Japanese cultural features, which is performed with the purpose of drafting
elements to be used in the interface as well as in the different levels of the game, for contextual
and educational purposes. The game developed here intends to teach and fix the main basis of
Japanese language, which is hiragana alphabet, in addition to teach cultural words that can be
written with these characters for learning vocabulary too.
This chapter is organized as follows: Subsection 5.2 presents works and CALL games for
Japanese language related to ours; Subsection 5.3 presents an overview of the Japanese culture
and describes the influence of Japanese culture on the design of the game developed; Subsection
5.4 presents the developed game; Subsection 5.5 presents a discussion; and Subsection 5.6
concludes the chapter.
77
Chapter 5. Development of Karuchā Ships Invaders
5.2 Related Works and Games
Focusing on Japanese language learning, in the academic field, Stubbs [66] presents a Kana no
Senshi, a desktop game that intends to teach Japanese beginner students to read kana quickly, for
them to be able to start kanji classes efficiently. The game can analyze player’s performance, i.e.
speed and accuracy, and with the progress, the enemies – that come like zombies – become
faster, stimulating the player to read and identify kana faster too; this makes the game effective
for learning and also fun. The author, based on the validation process of their system, defend that
it has good acceptance by the users because it unites fun with learning.
In the practical field, the Kana Invaders [61], the player has a ship too, but this one is
controlled by the keyboard arrows; the enemies fall down similarly to [60]. When the player is
sailing through the air and the ship’s sight meets the target, a signal is showed on that character,
asking the player to type the corresponding roma-ji for it. One more desktop-based game is Kana
Attacks [56], with the particularity that the player has to sail to meet the target, but when it is
done, spacebar has to be pressed and a dialog box will appear showing momently the hiragana for
the player to type roma-ji related. After typed the correct roma-ji, the screen with the ship and
enemies comes back and a shot is fired to the typed letter.
The web-based game Kana Invaders [60] allows the user to choose between hiragana and
katakana at the beginning of the game; then the user is given a ship and enemies start to fall
bringing characters with them. For the ship to shoot, the player just has to type the roma-ji
corresponding to the enemy to be shot. Also, there is another web-based game with same name
[59], which brings different approach, i.e. several enemies are displayed in rows and columns on
the screen, each one with a hiragana character, and a roma-ji is given on the top left; the player
just has to click pointing at the corresponding symbol, the click itself is the shot and the player
has to hit the correct character; at the end of each level, time and accuracy are given. Another
web-based game is Kana Drop [58], in which the player can also choose between hiragana and
katakana characters at the beginning; the enemies – characters – come falling down and the
player has to type the corresponding roma-ji and press the Enter key for the enemy to be
destroyed. The game provides a view of what the player is typing, and also it is possible to erase
the typed characters whether a mistake is perceived.
The Kana Attack [55] brings the enemies as animals holding plaques with kanas written on
it, and the player is given a hammer charged with a roma-ji that matches some of the enemies.
The player has to hammer on the corresponding enemy related to the pronounciation charged on
the hammer at the moment. The Kana Drop [57] brings a Japanese scenario where fixtures fall
down bringing kanas, and the player has to type the corresponding roma-ji using the virtual
keyboard of the device; for that, this game is more suitable for the iPad tablet.
78
Table 7 shows a synthesis of the related works and games, with the name of the game,
version, platform for which it is been developed, interface language, and information about if it is
free. Fields with “-” means the information was not specified by the author/developer.
Table 7 - Related Works and Games
Ref.
[66]
[61]
[56]
[60]
[59]
[58]
[55]
[57]
Name
Kana no Senshi
Kana Invaders
Kana Attacks
Kana Invaders
Kana Invaders
Kana Drop
Kana Attack
Kana Drop
Version
0.3beta4
0.91.0.13
beta
1.0.3
1.1
1.2
Platform
Desktop
Desktop (Windows)
Desktop (Windows)
Web
Web
Web
Mobile (iOS)
Mobile (iOS)
Language
English
English
English
English
English
English
English
English
Free
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
It is important to notice that all these works and games cited above do not contemplate
cultural aspects of Japan, they only bring kanas and some of them bring interface elements that
remind Japan. In this study, we intend to open space for cultural aspects attached to the most
elements of the game that are possible. Next section we present some aspects of Japanese culture,
opening possibilities of what can be used in this field to bring a more immersive and
contextualized learning environment inside the developed game.
5.3 Overview of the Japanese Culture
We organized the Japanese culture in some main aspects, i.e. communication, clothing, feeding,
arts, popular culture, beliefs, and people’s names, as described below. As Japanese culture is very
large, we present an overall perspective of main points, not intending to embrace the whole
theme, but to understand better the context and the usefulness of these elements on the game
design.
Related to its own language, communication between people in Japan has its
particularities. Japanese verbs have several forms, representing levels of politeness, being the two
basic forms, i.e. (i) dictionary form (informal), and (ii) “masu” form (polite). Depending on
whom the speaker is talking to, one or the other form is more suitable, and the use of the correct
form is deeply important, because it shows the respect due to the interlocutor. Still, in Japanese
verbs there is no difference between present and future grammatical tense, as well as there is no
gender or plural for substantives; besides, it is usual that some terms of a phrase are not said or
written, to be tacit; all this making conversations plenty related to concerned context. The
calligraphy – shodō (in roma-ji) – in Japan has also a tradition, and it is an artistic way of writing
Japanese characters that contains several techniques, special brushes, inks and papers.
Communication aspect is strongly present in the game, since it is its core. The main goal for what
79
the game presented in this chapter was developed by our research group is to help the learning of
Japanese language from the basis – hiragana alphabet –, that is, the beginning of communication.
Japanese modern clothing is composed by western and Japanese clothing. Since the
former is being largely used on the daily, the Japanese traditional clothing passed to be used in
special events, like ceremonies, festivals and funerals. The Japanese traditional clothing contains
several variations of a special garment that looks like a robe. They have kimono and yukata as the
most known and used kinds, being the former a formal garment that differs from male to female,
and for the women, it can also vary depending on age or marital status, for example. Yukata is a
most casual version of the kimono, and can be used at home and inns, after bathing. There are
more several garments in the traditional Japanese clothing, e.g. nagajuban, haori, haori himo,
hakama, tabi, zori, and obi. Clothing aspects influence the pictures that appear on the game in
every picture that contains a garment, and the words are present on the bosses.
Japanese feeding has many traditional and known dishes. It is based on rice, soup,
vegetables and meat (often fish), that can be uncooked, baked, fried and so on. Some known
dishes are agemono, which is fried food; yakimono, grilled meat, poultry, fish and vegetables;
nabemono, the baked ones; sashimi, the traditional raw meat, fish and seafood; and sushi, that is
made of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients, usually raw fish or other
seafood. Japanese cuisine has also some known sauces, as shoyo (soy sauce), karashi (kind of
mustard), mentsuyu, ponzu, warishita and wasabi, for example. Another particularity of Japanese
feeding is its cutlery: instead of fork and knife, they use hashi, which are chopsticks used for
eating; this is because they believe there is no good in having weapons on the eating table. The
feeding aspect is also availed for bosses.
The arts in Japan are sundry, including painting (kaiga – that embraces several genres and
styles), sculpture (the traditional clay figures), ukiyo-e (woodblock print), ikebana (artistic flower
arrangements), literature, being these all part of traditional Japanese culture. The modern popular
culture contemplates Japanese movies (with famous genres as horror, tokusatsu, anime, and scifi); music – being the most famous J-rock and J-pop – that nowadays is spread all over the world
through cartoons and games; and manga, the Japanese cartoon magazines. In Japan, most people
do not follow a single religion; instead, they incorporate elements of several beliefs, and this is
what they call shinbutsu shūgō. The main beliefs are Buddhism and Shintō, but there are a few
representations of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, and Taoism, that are
practiced with the religious freedom enjoyed by all Japanese. The arts, popular culture and beliefs
are mainly present in the interface and interaction features of the game, as design and sound, and
also in the cultural words (bosses).
In Japan, people’s names is taken as a very important thing, there is a belief that a name’s
meaning can influence personality and fate for the whole life of a person [65]. When a baby is
born, the parents choose a name that can bring the desired fortune and/or behavior. Japanese
also have their own numerology for people’s names, called seimeihandan, which can also
80
influence on the name’s choice. Japanese have also a preferred number of kanji in a name, which
says that the sum of first name and surname should not have more than five kanji. Beyond the
choice of pronounce, there is also the choice of the kanji that will compound the name, since
several kanji can have the same reading. Futhermore, in Japan there is a list of allowed kanji to
use in people’s names. This list is authorized by the Japanese Ministry of Justice and contains
about 2,200 kanji. Another particularity is that, to have a surname, or a family name in Japan was,
until Meiji era, a privilege of higher society classes. This cultural aspect in particular has
influenced on the game story, for the choice of names with meaning and in the name of the game
itself.
5.4 Karuchā Ships Invaders
The Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL game43 brings a story where a Brazilian city is being
“invaded” by cultural Japanese ships, actually they are coming in peace and just want to be well
received, and the player has to make the ships land safely in the Brazilian city. The name of the
game was also inspired by a Japanese word, i.e. culture in Japanese is written in katakana as
カルチャー and your roma-ji is karuchā. The game is invaders-like, and is also inspired in the
work of Miranda et al. [63].
5.4.1 Plot, Gameplay and Features
Karuchā Ships Invaders starts when a couple of Brazilian exchange students go to Japan to learn
about its language and culture. They have the mission of learn it and rehearse the knowledge to
their friends who stayed in Brazil – which is the player –, because soon Japanese ships are coming
to visit Brazil, and they will need Brazilian help to land; for that, it is necessary that Brazilian
know about basic Japanese language and cultural aspects, so they can guide the ships to land
safely in Brazil. Each day, the duo learn new things about Japan and communicate with the
friends by means of text and pictures that are presented before some levels, teaching about new
hiragana letters they learnt and new cultural experiences in Japan.
The player has a laser to guide the Japanese ships to the ground, which works in a
particular way, i.e. using Japanese language knowledge. Each ship is a visitor that comes with a
hiragana character written on it, and the player has the power to help it land, by typing the
corresponding roma-ji to load a shot of light on the laser. Whilst the laser is charged, it will direct
the shot to the corresponding ship – i.e. a hiragana character or an icon that represents one
aspect of Japanese culture – whose roma-ji was typed, and then the player just do the command
43
Available for download at http://code.google.com/p/karuchashipsinvaders/.
81
for the laser to shoot the guiding light, which is to press the Enter key or backspace. If a ship is
not well received (the player does not type its corresponding roma-ji in time), it hits the city and
the player will lose a percentage from their hit points. Also, if the player gets to pass a level
without allowing any ship to hit the city, the player wins 10% more of their hit points for the next
levels until the end of the in progress game.
Karuchā Ships Invaders is a game developed to help beginners in the Japanese language to
learn the hiragana alphabet in a different and more fun way, and being more immersive in the
Japanese culture and the differences between it and the Brazilian one. This game is intended to be
played for firming content learned by other methods, as for learning new content by playing.
Though, we provide a sort of tutor presenting a story with characters – the two exchange
students – that introduce the player to cultural elements that will be present in the game (as
bosses). It still can be played for those who are yet conversant to hiragana, for practice of content
and evaluation of knowledge, and also for improving vocabulary, by means of the cultural words
(bosses).
The difficulty of the game contains three modes: easy, normal, and hard. They differ in the
average time the ships and bosses fall down on the screen, being easy from 5 to 7 seconds
between each ship/boss, normal is 4 to 6 seconds, and hard is 3 to 5 seconds. Withal, bosses’
falling speed is decreased depending on the number of characters they have, i.e., for example a
word containing five hiragana characters will fall down slower than a word that contains three
hiragana characters, according to the following formula, where “t” is the time of fall, “dm” is the
difficulty mode, with the values 1 for hard, 2 for normal, and 3 for easy; and “noc” counts the
number of hiragana letters used to form the word.
t  dm * 3  dm  noc
The game, available initially in Brazilian-Portuguese (PT-BR) and English languages, is
composed by 30 levels, each one adding a new “gyo” – i.e. column with a family of five or less
hiragana characters in the Japanese alphabetical order – for the player to practice hiragana. Table
8 shows the 107 hiragana characters, each level of the game with the respective gyos
(families/columns of each hiragana character, in alphabetical order), the new characters that are
presented in each level and total number of new characters included in the level. Levels 15 and 30
are totally dedicated to cultural aspects, and that is why they do not contain new single hiragana
characters.
Table 8 - Basic Elements of the Game
Level
Gyo
1
2
あ(a)
か(ka)
Hiragana (with its corresponding roma-ji)
Character
あ(a) + い(i) + う(u) + え(e) + お(o)
か(ka) + き(ki) + く(ku) + け(ke) + こ(ko)
3
さ(sa)
さ(sa) + し(shi) + す(su) + せ(se) + そ(so)
4
た(ta)
た(ta) + ち(chi) + つ(tsu) + て(te) + と(to)
#
5
5
5
5
82
5
な(na)
な(na) + に(ni) + ぬ(nu) + ね(ne) + の(no)
5
6
7
は(ha)
ま(ma)
は(ha) + ひ(hi) + ふ(fu) + へ(he) + ほ(ho)
ま(ma) + み(mi) + む(mu) + め(me) + も(mo)
5
8
や(ya)
や(ya) + ゆ(yu) + よ(yo)
3
9
10
ら(ra)
わ(wa)
ら(ra) + り(ri) + る(ru) + れ(re) + ろ(ro)
わ(wa) + を(wo)
5
11
ん(n)
ん(n)
12
13
が(ga)
ざ(za)
が(ga) + ぎ(gi) + ぐ(gu) + げ(ge) + ご(go)
ざ(za) + じ(ji) + ず(zu) + ぜ(ze) + ぞ(zo)
1
5
5
14
15
だ(da)
だ(da) + ぢ(dji) + づ(dzu) + で(de) + ど(do)
5
–
–
0
16
17
18
19
ば(ba)
ぱ(pa)
きゃ(kya)
ぎゃ(gya)
ば(ba) + び(bi) + ぶ(bu) + べ(be) + ぼ(bo)
ぱ(pa) + ぴ(pi) + ぷ(pu) + ぺ(pe) + ぽ(po)
きゃ(kya) + きゅ(kyu) + きょ(kyo)
ぎゃ(gya) + ぎゅ(gyu) + ぎょ(gyo)
5
20
しゃ(sha)
しゃ(sha) + しゅ(shu) + しょ(sho)
21
22
23
24
25
じゃ(ja)
ちゃ(cha)
ぢゃ(dya)
じゃ(ja) + じゅ(ju) + じょ(jo)
ちゃ(cha) + ちゅ(chu) + ちょ(cho)
ぢゃ(dya) + ぢゅ(dyu) + ぢょ(dyo)
26
にゃ(nya)
ひゃ(hya)
びゃ(bya)
にゃ(nya) + にゅ(nyu) + にょ(nyo)
ひゃ(hya) + ひゅ(hyu) + ひょ(hyo)
びゃ(bya) + びゅ(byu) + びょ(byo)
27
28
29
30
ぴゃ(pya)
みゃ(mya)
りゃ(rya)
–
ぴゃ(pya) + ぴゅ(pyu) + ぴょ(pyo)
みゃ(mya) + みゅ(myu) + みょ(myo)
りゃ(rya) + りゅ(ryu) + りょ(ryo)
–
5
2
5
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
0
In level 29, it is also added the study of sokuon, which is a little “tsu” character (っ) that
has as its function to double the consonant that comes right after it. Sokuon does not appear in
Table II because this table represents hiragana gyos whose characters will be presented alone for
the player to type its reading, and once sokuon does not have a single reading – because it
depends on the consonant that follows it – it is only used in bosses words, where it can be typed
according to its reading in that context. For example, in the word “happi” (はっぴ in hiragana),
the first ‘p’ is represented by a sokuon, ergo, its reading in roma-ji is ‘p’; in another example case,
there is the word “korokke” (ころっけ in hiragana), where the second ‘k’ is also represented by
sokuon, i.e. in this case, sokuon reading in roma-ji is ‘k’. With that said, it is understood that it is
not possible to type sokuon’s reading when it is presented alone, since it depends on another
characters, and that is why this character is only practiced in words, in this case, Karuchā Ships
Invaders’ bosses.
Hiragana characters also have different influence/weight depending on the level. The more
time a character was presented on the game, the more it will cause damage to the city. For
example, in level 2, the character “あ” (a) will cause twice more damage than the character “き”
(ki), once (a) was presented since level 1, while (ki) is a new hiragana character, presented for the
first time in level 2. And the calculation goes on like this, each level of distance adds 50% more
83
damage strength to the ship. For a guarantee that the user will practice more the recent presented
characters, there is also a mechanism similar to the one cited above. For each level that passes,
the characters presented on previous levels would lose frequency of appearing. Using the same
characters on the previous example, in level 2, (a) has 50% less chance to appear than (ki). Also
for guarantee that new characters will be practiced, from each two ships, one contains a new
character inside, as a way to make sure that new hiragana letters will be presented indeed.
Also, the game contains bosses once every three levels, which are pictures related to some
of the culture elements cited on Section III, and in the same way, the player has to type the
corresponding roma-ji to the picture presented. The bosses are graphically represented by a box
with a parachute, with pictures inside that represent a cultural word, and that, if not guided, will
bring a lot of damage to the city below. The hiragana and roma-ji for each picture is presented to
the player in the stories told by the exchange students, for the player to learn the word associated
with a picture, and then be able to type its corresponding roma-ji when the boss falls down, i.e.
the boss pictures do not contain tips in hiragana or another alphabet.
The percentage of bosses that contain both pictures and characters is 50% for hiragana
characters alone and 50% for pictures (bosses). Levels 15 and 30 are different from the others
because they are only-boss levels, i.e. no hiragana character alone will fall down, but only cultural
pictures will appear on the screen. In level 15, it is possible to appear any boss since level 3 until
level 12, plus the new bosses that come as new in the own level. In level 30, the bosses that can
appear are all the bosses of the game, since level 3 until level 27, plus the bosses that are first
presented in the level 30 itself.
Table 9 presents the levels that contain bosses, i.e. stronger ships – boxes with parachutes
– that contain, instead of a hiragana character, a picture related to some of the cultural aspects
explored in Section III; this Table presents examples of words contained in each boss level, once
there are many. The frequency of appearance of bosses – every three levels – demonstrates the
dedication Karuchā Ships Invaders has to cultural aspects in the learning of cultural vocabulary
through the game. It is important to enhance that each boss level respects the limit gyo, i.e. the
cultural elements that are in each level only can contain characters that have already been
presented in the game before. Level 3 only contains feeding words, since it is difficult to form
words that dovetail in the cultural aspects’ context, with only the first three gyos of hiragana.
Table 9 - Some Examples of Bosses of the Game.
Level
3
6
9
Cultural aspect (word in hiragana and roma-ji)
Feeding
Arts & popular culture
すし(sushi)
–
さけ(sake)
–
したけ(shitake)
うちかけ(uchikake)
はし(hashi)
とくさつ(tokusatsu)
Clothing
きもの(kimono)
ゆかた(yukata)
はかま(hakama)
さしみ(sashimi)
てまき(temaki)
のり(nori)
あにめ(anime)
からおけ(karaoke)
ようかい(youkai)
かまくら(kamakura)
#
3
3
10
84
12
はおり(haori)
げた(geta)
にぎり(nigiri)
ごはん(gohan)
すきやき(sukiyaki)
15
よめそで(yomesode)
ふりそで(furisode)
いろそで(irosode)
てりやき(teriyaki)
しめじ(shimeji)
18
おび(obi)
たび(tabi)
じかたび(jikatabi)
わさび(wasabi)
やきそば(yakisoba)
てんぷら(tenpura)
21
いろむじ(iromuji)
じゅうにひとえ(juunihitoe)
しょよ(shoyo)
しゃり(shari)
ぞり(zori)
おはしょり(ohashori)
わらし(warashi)
きゃはん(kyahan)
ぎゅどん(gyudon)
しゃぶしゃぶ(shabushabu)
わがし(wagashi)
さくらもち(sakuramochi)
はっぴ(happi)
しっぱり(hippari)
ころっけ(korokke)
あまなっとう(amanattou)
24
27
30
まんが(manga)
うんけい(unkei)
えんくう(enkuu)
ががく(gagaku)
おりがみ(origami)
へいあん(heion)
すどく(sudoku)
やくざ(yakuza)
いけばな(ikebana)
かぶき(kabuki)
ぶがく(bugaku)
さむらい(samurai)
うきよえ(ukiyoe)
じょうもん(joumon)
げいしゃ(geisha)
しょどう(shodou)
きょうげん(kyougen)
しんとう(shintou)
おんあが (onnagata)
にんぎょうじょうる
(ningyoujoururi)
くまどり(kumadori)
9
9
10
7
6
6
6
The game contains the following requirements for Japanese language learning games
identified in a previous chapter (4): i) customizable options, i.e. three difficulty modes (i.e. easy,
normal, and hard); ii) immediate feedback (loss of points when a ship hits the city); iii) levels
increase, i.e. from 1 to 30; iv) score, i.e. hit points of the player; v) statistics, i.e. top 10 and
achievements; and vi) time, i.e. 60 seconds to survive for each level. There are 18 achievements in
the game that the player can get, by filling some requirements; these achievements are presented
in Table 10, with their symbols (that are highlighted in the achievements screen when got), name
and description of requirements to win each one of them.
Table 10 - Achievements of the Game.
Symbol
Name
Description
Karuchā newbie
Finish the first boss level – level 3 – in any difficulty mode
Hiragana newbie
Pass the first 5 levels in any difficulty mode
Karuchā beginner
Finish the first 3 boss levels in any difficulty mode
Karuchā reckless
Did not read any of the stories during a whole game
Karuchā cautious
Read all the stories during a whole game
Karuchā on the go
Finish level 15 in any difficulty mode
Hiragana on the go
Finish levels with basic characters – until level 11 complete – in any
difficulty mode
Hiragana warrior
Finish the game in any difficulty mode
Hiragana lover
Finish the game in all the difficulty modes
Karuchā master
No loss of hit points in the levels 15 and 30 in any difficulty mode
85
Karuchā sensei
Gojuon master
Handakuten sensei
No loss of hit points in all boss levels in any difficulty mode
No loss of hit points in levels where new gyo are gojuon in any difficulty
mode
No character with tenten or maru hits the city during the 30 levels in any
difficulty mode
Youon sensei
No youon character hits the city during the 30 levels in any difficulty mode
Hiragana master
No single character hits the city during the 30 levels in any difficulty mode
Karuchā master
No boss hits the city during the 30 levels in any difficulty mode
Karuchā ships invaders
sensei
Karuchā and hiragana
addicted
No loss hit points during the whole game in any difficulty mode
Played the whole game 10 times in any difficulty mode or summing the
modes
It is significant to explain some terms used in the achievements and its importance to
hiragana learning. The term “gojuon” designates the most simple hiragana characters, i.e. the
ones which do not contain accents. The accents in hiragana can be “tenten” or “maru”. Tenten is
a symbol that reminds a quotation mark, put on the top right of a letter to make it sound
differently; for example “ka” (か) with a tenten is read “ga” (が). Maru is a small circular symbol
used only on the “ha” gyo to make it sound with ‘p’; for example “ha” (は) with a maru is read
“pa” (ぱ). The “youon” symbols are combined characters in which the first one is a hiragana that
ends on ‘i’, written in normal size, and the second is some character of the “ya” gyo, written
smaller, and they create combination of sounds. For example “ki” (き) plus “yo” (よ) gives “kyo”
(きょ).
5.4.2 Interface Design and Implementation
Karuchā Ships Invaders was developed to be a game that presents an immersive environment to
the player, and this characteristic is meant to be present in all aspects of the game, since the plot,
the gameplay and, the most remarkable: interface. Fig. 11 shows Karuchā Ships Invaders main
menu interface, with its available options and demonstrating the concept of Japanese ships’
arrival in Brazil.
86
Fig. 11 - Main menu interface of the game.
It is important to notice and highlight the presence of key elements that suggest a Brazilian
city, in this case, Rio de Janeiro – a worldwide known Brazilian city –, with elements as Christ the
Redeemer’s statue – considered one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World –, Maracanã
Stadium, favela and the famous Copacabana boardwalk on the beach. The elements that suggest
Japan are the ships, which come with a Japanese flag and a hiragana letter and the laser that will
guide the ships to the ground, which suggests advanced technology, by whom Japan is widely
known.
Since every three levels it is presented a set of new cultural words, that are introduced to
the player by reporting of the characters (Brazilian exchange students), the level’s choice screen
was designed to highlight that (Fig. 12). This screen is divided in the difficulty mode choice area
and the level choice area, which presents the unlocked levels corresponding to the selected
difficulty mode. Also, the level area is subdivided, and the levels grouped every three, once every
three levels, the third is a boss level; still, below each group of three, there is a button that takes
to a story, which presents the elements corresponding to the three levels above. There are also
two big groups with 15 levels each, indicating that they end up in an only-boss level (levels 15 and
30).
Fig. 12 - Level and difficulty mode interface of the game.
87
For each three levels that pass, there is a scenario transition – from morning to evening,
from evening to night, and from night to morning again (Fig. 13) – meaning that the experiences
of the exchange students are happening in several days and moments of the exploring trip,
showing that no matter the hour or the day, there is always something new and interesting to be
learned about language and culture of Japan; and this also represents that Japanese language
learning is a process that takes a long time and effort to be well done.
Fig. 13 - Scenario transitions of the game, i.e. from/to (a) morning, (b) evening, and (c) night.
Fig. 14 shows design elements where characters and words will be put into, being Fig. 14a
the element that contains a hiragana inside, and Fig. 14b the element that contains a cultural
picture representing a cultural word presented on stories before the level it appears. Following
the plot, there are Japanese visitors coming to Brazil, and they are represented by the ships and
boxes during the levels. At the end of each level, it is presented the player’s results and score for
that level (which is the remaining hit points the player has for that level), and with that, appears a
Japanese character which is a sort of pilot of the ship that demonstrates happiness or sadness
according to the performance of the player.
Fig. 14 - Ships of the game for (a) hiragana character (b) cultural element.
In Fig. 15a there is the character presented when the player passes the level without losing
any hit points, and thus, gets the 10% hit points’ bonus; Fig. 15b shows the character presented
when the player passes the level but lost some hit point in the process; and Fig. 15c exhibits the
character presented when the player could not pass the level and receives the “game over”
message.
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Fig. 15 - Japanese character that represents the player’s performance on a given level, i.e. (a) passed
level with bonus (b) passed level (c) game over.
Fig. 16 presents a screenshot of the game in execution, explaining the main elements
contained on the screen. In Fig. 16 it is possible to observe a ship with a hiragana falling down
(Fig. 16a); a box with a parachute bringing a picture of a cultural aspect – in this case, sushi –
(Fig. 6b); the area of the city, where ships and boxes will cause damage if not received,
represented by a sort of force field around the city – highlighting that this element suggests a
Brazilian city (Rio de Janeiro) – (Fig. 16c); the hit points bar, where the green shows how much
hit points the player still has (Fig. 16d); indication of the difficult mode being played at the
moment (Fig. 16e); the indication of the current level (Fig. 16f); the remaining time the player
needs to survive (Fig. 16g); and the element that will shoot the guiding light to the ships and
boxes, i.e. the laser machine (Fig. 16h). As a way to differ new characters from previous, new
hiragana characters appear with the font color deep gray, whilst characters that have been
presented in previous levels come with font color red.
Fig. 16 - Components of the game (a) hit points bar (b) time (c) difficulty mode (d) level of the game
(e) ship of hiragana (f) ship of cultural aspect (g) guidance laser ray (h) city (i) laser cannon (j) feedback
area of user’s typing.
89
Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL game was developed using MOAI platform 44 for games
development, with Lua programming language 45. This development decision was made based on
the results of the previous chapter (3), where it was found out the issues of running applications
in non native platforms; since MOAI has multiplatform resource, it was chosen for the
development of this game, thinking about future distribution for another operational systems.
5.5 Discussion
The first remarkable difference from our game to the others – mainly the games described in
Section II – is the exploration of cultural aspects clearly present in the levels of the game – as
design items and bosses in certain levels. The use of cultural aspects in the whole environment of
the game brings to the player a more immersive way to learn content in a different language,
mainly in a case like this one, where there is a Brazilian trying to learn a language from a country
– Japan – that is in so many ways different from player’s native land.
The game Karuchā Ships Invaders differ from others by a noteworthy feature: it focuses on
the hiragana alphabet study. Hiragana is a very important part of Japanese language learning, once
it is its basis; with hiragana alphabet it is possible to write every Japanese original word, and that
includes all the cultural words present on the game. This alphabet is needed to be known by
anyone that aims to read in Japanese language, since it is the most used: for words that do not
have kanji, for adjective and verb endings and even for subtitle rare and/or unknown kanji
characters. To bring katakana with the idea of the game, it would be necessary to create more
different stories of situations that protagonists would go through, with new words to learn, since
this alphabet is used mainly to write foreign words, i.e. which do not originate from Japan; with
that, more modern Japanese cultural knowledge would be needed, to bring these new words
related to experiences that can be lived by foreigners in Japan.
Japanese language learning has many particularities, and some of them are directly related
to cultural aspects, as the communication means they use daily. When explained out of a context,
it can be hard for a Brazilian person to assimilate a topic as language hierarchy, for example, since
in Portuguese language we don’t have such thing used often day by day. Another important
question about using cultural elements in the design is that it shows Japan to the player, not only
in the gameplay – with the relation between hiragana and roma-ji learnt by playing – but in the
whole process of being in contact with the game itself – through images and sounds, for example.
These elements bring the player to know more about Japan whilst learning the language of this
44
45
http://www.getmoai.com.
http://www.lua.org.
90
country, and the harmony between learning and design is pleasant, helping and encouraging even
more the learning process.
It is also important to notice the influence of Brazilian culture itself on the development of
this kind of game. Since it is planned and designed by/for Brazilians, it is expected that the life
experiences of the programmers and designers, and the cultural environment where the game was
developed, can influence on the final result too. Still, this is a game developed thinking first in
Brazilian students of Japanese, so it is necessary to think over the knowledge and experiences of
the players and how to take them and, in an effective way, bring them to the game and the
learning process too. That is why the game mixes Brazilian and Japanese elements, since the plot,
where the two Brazilian exchange students go to Japan and inform their friends in Brazil about
what they learn every day; to the arrival of Japanese ships in a Brazilian city, that will be received
and guided for these friends with the knowledge they got from the students.
Another particularity of our game is to bring out several game requirements, as choice of
difficulty, for attending since the beginner willing to learn hiragana, a student that wants to learn
more of the Japanese popular vocabulary with the cultural aspects, until a more expert student
that just wants to practice knowledge; several levels that increase hardship for the player, avoiding
the game to become boring and keeping it interesting for the player to get motivation to go
through all the levels; a top 10 with the names and scores of the players who went better, being
also a motivation trigger for the player to get best scores and play more, thus learning more of
hiragana and Japanese culture.
Karuchā Ships Invaders is available in PT-BR language, once it is focused on the Brazilian
Japanese learners, and this feature allows a lot more Brazilian users to access this kind of
resource, because with the games currently available for this purpose, the student was forced or
needed to know the English language to be an intermediate between Portuguese and Japanese.
This kind of situation is harmful for the learning process, whereas each language has its own
particularities that are already difficulty to perceive from one to another; once a third different
idiom is brought into the process, it becomes a lot easier to lose details that can compromise a
good knowledge of a given language.
5.6 Conclusion
This chapter presented a CALL game with the purpose of helping teaching Japanese language,
introducing the hiragana alphabet; developed taking into account aspects of the Japanese culture
– included in the gameplay as the biggest enemies (bosses) –, also introduced in this chapter. It
was also performed a study of Japanese cultural features to include it in the game design, creating
a more immersive environment to the user, improving the learning experience.
91
As future steps of the research, we intend to develop katakana mode, with all of its symbols
and combinations as hiragana, and brand new cultural words that are written with this alphabet.
In a super advanced mode, it is planned to add kanji words in the bosses. Also, we point out the
accomplishment of tests with Japanese language students to collect data related to learning and
interface/interaction evaluation of the game.
The decision made after the accomplishment of this step of the research is to perform an initial
interface evaluation, in order to discover what are the points in which the tool needs to be
improved before performing an user evaluation. Since we intend to evaluate other aspects, such
as motivational, it is not interesting that the game be presented to prospective users with basic
interface failures.
To accomplish that, we intend to search for evaluation methods that are focused in this
kind of tool, and if there is no such method, the idea is to propose a new one, based on an
already used method in the evaluation of interface aspects in general.
Chapter 6
6 Interface Evaluation of Karuchā Ships
Invaders
6.1 Introduction
Interface evaluation of computer systems in general include usability and accessibility as main
aspects, and when it comes to the field of computer games, another aspect arises, which is
playability. Playability measures aspects of gameplay, such as motivation, satisfaction, immersion
and challenge. To accomplish these evaluations, manual, semi-automatic and automatic methods
can be used; each one of them can detect different interface issues. The interface evaluation
brings for the developers several questions and points of view about a system, which they can use
to improve it and solve problems for the end user. The accomplishment of an interface
evaluation is fundamental to analyze the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) aspects of a given
system.
In this context, Ivory and Hearst [76] present the state of the art about automating
methods of usability evaluation of user interfaces, exhibiting a taxonomy that highlights the role
of automation in this context and to compare several methods. 132 methods are evaluated,
applied between WIMP and web interfaces. They highlight that user evaluation is fundamental,
but can be increased and complemented by automated methods, and also contribute for lower
costs and time of the evaluation as a whole. Følstad et al. [71] present a survey on practical
usability evaluation, using a methodology that includes observation and qualitative interviews.
The survey respondents were 224 usability practitioners with experience, who answered questions
about their experiences in usability evaluations they have participated. The conclusion is the
evaluation techniques are often adapted by the practitioners, for the given context.
93
Chapter 6. Interface Evaluation of Karuchā Ships Invaders
Hilbert and Redmiles [75] performed a survey about user interface events, focused on
computer-aided techniques, in which they present a framework to help on approaches’
categorization and comparison. The authors concluded that computer-aided techniques for
evaluation of interface can bring out the overall problems that can be detected by an automatic
method, but lacks points that can only be perceived by the analysis of a human being, so the
techniques are complementary. Grossman et al. [73] perform a survey about learnability, which is
an important aspect of usability, that represents how easy is to the target users to learn how to
use a system. It is compared a traditional think-aloud method to a question-suggestion method,
using 10 undergraduate architecture students, volunteers, to evaluate AutoCAD’s learnability.
The results made the authors develop a new evaluation protocol to identify learnability issues,
and they conclude that the methodologies can be used together.
Yuan et al. [94] accomplish a survey about accessibility of games. The impairments are
classified in visual, hearing, motor and cognitive, and can lead to two types of barriers: (i) critical,
when the person cannot play a game because of a disability; (ii) and non-critical, when the person
is able to play, but with reduced gaming experience. To reduce these barriers, it is pointed the use
of several kinds of stimuli for an activity, as visual, audible, and haptic. The authors provide
manifold detail about each disability in various kinds of game; still, provide directions in
development and evaluation of games with characteristics of accessibility that embraces several
kinds of audience.
The growing use of technology to enhance learning experiences grows increasingly in the
field of language learning, these educational applications are called Technology Enhanced
Language Learning (TELL) in literature. TELL has two main branches, which are Computer
Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL), and in
both are used applications for a given operational system, that can be web and/or standalone,
that will help the user to learn a target language. CALL and MALL applications can be tutor
systems, questionnaires, multi-user sharing experience; and a rising type of application is game.
In this context, in previous steps of the research, we identified Japanese CALL tools from
academic and practical environments, including desktop, web and mobile systems. We identified
23 academic works, divided into desktop, mobile, web, haptic, and augmented and virtual reality
applications [35]. In the practical field were analyzed 30 tools for web [43] and 64 Android apps
[62]. The results obtained led to the development of a CALL game to teach Japanese language
[80]. The present chapter accomplishes a literature review about interface evaluation focused on
educational computer games; with the goal to perform an interface evaluation of our own CALL
game developed early. The game is called Karuchā Ships Invaders and it is meant to teach the
hiragana alphabet and Japanese cultural aspects for students of Japanese language.
This chapter is organized as follows: Subsection 6.2 presents the Karuchā Ships Invaders
CALL game; the Subsection 6.3 exhibits the literature review; after that, Subsection 6.4 presents
94
the study of the interface evaluation for the game; Subsection 6.5 brings the discussion; and,
finally, Subsection 6.6 concludes the chapter.
6.2 Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL Game
The Japanese language is a very challenging idiom to learn once it has three main alphabets that
are all different from the Roman alphabet used in most languages around the world. There are
kanji, ideograms that were originally Chinese but were imported and adapted to Japanese
language; they represent ideas and one kanji alone can have several pronunciations. The other
two Japanese alphabets are hiragana and katakana (which together are called kana), they are
different from kanji since they are syllabic alphabets; the former is the most basic, used for
writing words that do not have a kanji, also for adjectives and verb endings, and as a subtitle for
rare or unknown kanji (the subtitle is called furigana). Hiragana is the first taught alphabet to
anyone learning Japanese language, in or outside Japan. Katakana is an alphabet similar to
hiragana in its basis, but the symbols are all different and it is used to adapt foreign words to the
Japanese idiom, and in some cases for highlighting a certain word or onomatopoeia. In Japan,
they also use the Roman alphabet – which is used in most languages –, but barely; for example, in
acronyms.
In this context, Karuchā Ships Invaders is a CALL game46 developed by our research team,
and presented in details in [13], with the goal of supporting Japanese language learning, by means
of presenting the most basic Japanese alphabet – i.e. hiragana – plus some cultural words related
to Japanese culture. The concept of the game is a story where Japanese ships are heading to
Brazil – represented by a city with Brazilian elements on the game screen – and need help to land;
this help has to come from Brazilians that know the basics of the Japanese language, to pass the
commands to the ships.
The gameplay is space invaders-like, where the ships act like “invaders”. Each ship brings a
Japanese letter on it, or a cultural Japanese word written with the basic alphabet; and the player
has to type on the keyboard, the corresponding pronunciation using the Roman alphabet, and
then press the Enter key or backspace. If the type is correct, a laser will be shot and embrace the
ship, helping it to land safely, though, if a ship is not guided – the player does not type its
pronounce –, it will fall down and cause damage to the city below. Fig. 17 shows three
screenshots of the gameplay: Fig. 17 (a) show the level choice screen, Fig. 17 (b) and (c) shows
gameplay screens, Fig. 17 (d) shows the end of a won level, Fig. 17 (e) shows a context-help
menu, and Fig. 17 (f) shows the end of a failed level.
46
Available for free download at http://www.karucha.pairg.dimap.ufrn.br.
95
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
Fig. 17 - Different moments of the Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL game.
To present/teach new content to the player, the game exhibits stories protagonized by two
Brazilians that went to Japan to learn about its culture; the stories are reports to their friends in
Brazil, to help them be able to guide the ships that come to land. The game affords three
difficulty modes – i.e. easy, normal, and hard – each one increasing velocity to the ships’ fall. Still,
each difficulty mode contains 30 levels to be passed, with increasing number of hiragana
characters and cultural words to be learned. Hiragana is presented in alphabetical order and is
exhibited in all levels but 15 and 30, which are levels that only contain cultural words called the
bosses of the game. Also, every three levels, the third combines hiragana characters with cultural
words, or bosses.
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The Karuchā Ships Invaders game was developed to provide an immersive environment
for the users – with a focus, but not limited to, on Brazilian students of the Japanese language –,
presenting the Brazilian city that receives Japanese visitors; in Brazil side there is the city elements
that reminds of Brazil, like, for example, the statue of Christ the Redeemer, Maracanã Stadium,
favela and the famous Copacabana boardwalk on the beach. Japan is represented on the ships,
which bring a Japanese flag in their front, plus the letters themselves, that are unique of the
Japanese writing system. Multimedia resources also contribute to the immersive nature of the
game, using, for example, sounds and images that remind of both Japan and Brazil.
6.3 Interface Evaluation of Educational Computer Games
The literature review is a fundamental part of this chapter, because it is from this that analysis of
methods, with applications and results, is made. This overview presented next enables getting
knowledge about evaluation in the context of educational games, taking into account several
aspects of interface to be evaluated. Once this is a very specific field, there is not a large amount
of works related; still, this does not intend to be an exhaustive list of related works, but a
selection of the main research and techniques currently used in this context.
The search methodology includes searching papers in main online scientific libraries and
bibliographic databases, using certain keywords and concatenations of them. The used libraries
are ACM DL, IEEE Xplore, Springer, Elsevier, Scielo, Scopus, ISI Web of Knowledge, and also
in Google Scholar. The keywords searched are a permutation of the following words (presented
in this chapter in alphabetical order): “accessibility”, “case”, “educational”, “evaluation”, “game”,
“interface”, “literature”, “playability”, “review”, “state of the art”, “study”, “survey”, and
“usability”. After the search was accomplished, works were selected to compose this review,
based first on the abstracts and, second, a nimble reading of them. The selected works were then
read carefully, analyzed and classified according to methodology, aspects and requirement of
users in the process. The chosen works are presented next.
Omar and Jaafar [88] aimed to reach a heuristic method to evaluate educational games,
with focus in Malaysian ones; and with what it would be necessary a few persons to evaluate,
including designers, developers and usability professionals. They use heuristics based on
Nielsen’s, relating them to the context of educational games, for evaluation of playability.
Another work by the same authors [86] brings a set of heuristics and a framework of five steps to
apply them in an interface evaluation using prospective and end users, with heuristics focused on
educational games that were divided into five aspects of educational games, i.e. interface,
educational/pedagogical, content, multimedia, and playability. In a later work of these authors
[89], Omar et al. improved the previous work presenting a tool – AHP_HeGES – to facilitate
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this kind of evaluation during the game’s development process. The methods are not validated in
those works.
Desurvire et al. [69] bring a set of heuristics to evaluate playability of video, computer and
board games, based in other heuristics from the literature, and to be made by an expert evaluator;
they called the method HEP. Their method is applied in the work with the development of a
game which is used to evaluate the method. They also made a user centered evaluation, using
four prospective users, in order to compare its results with the HEP method and concluded that
HEP found a considerable higher number of issues over the user centric approach, despite the
latter found more specific issues to the game.
Liao and Shen [79] present the interface evaluation of a computer game-based learning
material, called Crazy Machines 2, using heuristics and user centric approaches to determine if the
game was developed under usability principles. The heuristics used are present in a work referred
by the authors; and the user centric evaluation was made with five research students from courses
as education and communication technologies. Korhonen et al. [77] accomplish a comparison
work between two playability heuristic sets. The evaluation was performed with eight persons
from game industry and academy, divided in four pairs. The results of the study point out that
the use of heuristics guided the evaluators well, including during the development phase; a lower
point of heuristics, according to the evaluators, is that since there are a lot of kinds of games, it is
difficult to make heuristics that work for all of them; on the other side, too much specific
heuristics may restrict their use. Another interesting finding is that it is hard for the evaluators to
have a real game experience during the evaluations, once they have to be alert to the playability
problems that may occur. The authors concluded that this is a valid method, but that needs
improvement for the games area.
Pinelle et al. [91] develops a new set of heuristics to evaluate usability of game interfaces.
They base their work on Desurvire’s [69] and claim that the HEP heuristics have limited coverage
of usability issues; then, they presented a set of heuristics focused on usability, made by the
authors. To do that, the authors analyzed a list of 108 computer game reviews, and once the
problems were identified and classified, it would be developed heuristics that would be the
opposite of the given problem. They reached a number of 12 categories of problems, and
developed a list of ten heuristics, highlighting that they are based on Nielsen’s. The evaluators
were five videogame players with experience in usability evaluation.
Barcelos et al. [68] propose another new set of heuristics for evaluation of digital games,
and validate them comparing to another existing set. Their set is a compilation of some others,
including Pinelle’s [91], and what they aimed to do was to create a more short and direct set of
heuristics, that could be as efficient as the larger ones in which what they based. For the
evaluation, were chosen the games Earth 2160 and Outlive, both from the category Real Time
Strategy of games. The evaluators were 34 HCI students of a upper course of digital games; they
were divided in groups in which some of them received the list of 18 heuristics developed by the
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authors, and others received the 40 Federoff’s [70] heuristics. They conclude, by the results of the
evaluation, that the performance of both sets is very similar.
Grace et al. [72] provide an initial evaluation of a language learning game for Mandarin.
The evaluation was made with 21 potential users of the game, called Polyglot Cubed. By means
of questionnaires, the authors analyzed the response of the users and were able to detect some
interface issues with the game, as problems with selecting objects while playing and seeing
pictographic representations of words. Serrano et al. [92] accomplish an evaluation of an
educational game through observation of users’ interaction. While the players do play the game,
data is collected automatically and analyzed to extract relevant issues. They proposed a
framework and performed a case study with a basic math game to validate it.
Lazareck et al. [78] performed an evaluation of an educational game for 13-15 year olds,
which teaches about biotics and hygiene. The evaluation was made with 129 pupils of three
different UK schools, in a user centric approach that used a questionnaire the users answered
after playing the game. The questions addressed mainly to usability and playability, and the
answers were given in varied ways, since yes/no ultimo comments they wanted to make about
the game, and then the responses were analyzed. Hersh and Leporini [74] performed a study
about accessibility in educational games for disabled students. The study was applied on disabled
students and people that are close to them, as family and educators, by means of a questionnaire.
The results of the study gave the authors answers for them to develop guidelines and
recommendations about the development of this kind of game for these target users. The
guidelines, beyond accessibility, also evaluate pedagogical aspects and playability/usability.
Park and Kim [90] present a study about accessibility for disabled people, in serious games
for mobile environment. The authors suggest guidelines for development of this kind of game
taking into account the following aspects: definition of game goals; planning game scenario;
planning game components; planning rewards; planning training progress; and planning of
training effects and achievement. Each one of these aspects has a guideline associated. Torrente
et al. [93] bring a study about accessibility of educational games for blind students. They
developed three different eyes-free interfaces, applied on a point-and-click game. The cyclical
navigation system provides a two-level interaction using right and left arrows, and buttons
“enter” and “escape”; in which the elements are selected and the options are passed through
sounds for the player. The second, called sonar, uses the mouse and sounds to indicate that the
cursor is near an object. And the third is a natural language commands interface, with typed
commands. It was made an evaluation of the three interfaces analyzing them according to
usability, engagement and additional cost. They also mention a pilot study with ten blind
students, though it is not described results about this study.
Table 11 summarizes the works of literature previously presented. This table presents the
column names: “Based on”, which indicates if the method is based on (H)euristics, User Centric
(UC), (An)alysis, and/or (G)uidelines; “Focus” that indicates the evaluation focus, i.e. (U)sability,
99
(A)ccessibility, (Pl)ayability, (I)nterface, (Pe)dagogical, (S)ocial, (M)ultimedia, (C)ontent, (St)ory,
(R)ules, and/or (Me)chanics; “Applied” and “Needs User” that indicates, respectively, if the
method was applied and if the method needs end users during the evaluation process, i.e. (Y)es
or (N)o.
Table 11 - Summary of the works of literature review.
Work
[88]
[86]
[89]
[69]
[79]
[77]
[91]
[68]
[72]
[92]
[78]
[74]
[90]
[93]
Based on
H
H
H & UC
H & UC
H & UC
H
H
H
UC
An
UC
G
G
An
Evaluation
Focus
Pl
I, Pe, C, Pl & M
I, Pe, C, Pl & M
Pl, St, Me & U
I, R, St & S
Pl
U
Pl
U
U & Pe
U & Pl
U, A, Pl & Pe
A
A
Applied
N
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
End Users
N
Y
Y
N
Y
N
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
It is possible to notice a trend of heuristic evaluation followed by user centric evaluations.
The heuristic evaluation has the advantage of being flexible and can also be applied with
prospective and end users. Related to the focus, the most evaluated are playability, usability and
pedagogical aspects. The works that evaluate accessibility are specific and use techniques as
guidelines and comparative analysis. The majority of works apply their techniques to validate
them practically. Some of the techniques presented are just exhibited and explained, but not
applied in the same work.
6.4 Karuchā Ships Invaders Study
In this Subsection, we first present the methodology used to evaluate multiple aspects of
interface of Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL game, and then another subsection presents the
results obtained in this study.
6.4.1 Methodology
The methodology chosen to be applied in this study is, initially, heuristic based, the developers
being evaluators, for detecting overall interface issues, based on the work of Omar and Jaafar
[86]. The choice of this work in particular was made because it has a set of heuristics focused on
evaluation of educational computer games, which is our focus too. Still, this work [86] is a result
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of several research [88][89][87][81][83][82][85][84] focused on this subject-matter. The work [86]
brings the set of heuristics and also provides a framework with five steps to apply, represented in
Fig. 18.
Fig. 18 - Five steps of the evaluation method.
The first step consists in developing a questionnaire based on the heuristics that suits the
context of the game to be evaluated. After that, it is made an identification of possible evaluators,
between experts, prospective and end users. The third step plants the way the evaluation will be
conducted, as location, time and form of presentation of questionnaire. The fourth step designs
the evaluation as a whole, determining which will be made in the available time and the order to
be followed. The fifth step is related to the analysis after the evaluation and dictates what will be
made with the results. The steps conducted in this study are presented in this section.
The heuristics used in the expert evaluation – Playability Heuristics for Educational Games
(PHEG) – are divided in five main aspects of an educational game, i.e. (i) Interface, which
includes factors as interactivity, navigation, design and consistency (UI has ten heuristics); (ii)
Educational/Pedagogical, which evaluate goal and objective, challenge, feedback and player
control (ED has ten heuristics); (iii) Content, which contain aspects related to the educational
material provided (CO has eight heuristics); (iv) Multimedia, which addresses to the use of text,
audio, animations and all kinds of media, if they are appropriate (MM has eight heuristics); and
(v) Playability, which evaluates questions such as balance, pace, control of the player over the
game, and adequacy of levels (PL has seven heuristics), in a total number of 43 heuristics.
The PHEG evaluation can be performed by experts, or by prospective/end users. For the
evaluation, we developed a set of questions based on the basis heuristics of five aspects
previously described, for guiding the evaluators in the process. The method requires two or more
questions per aspect, but it is not mandatory to develop questions over all the heuristics. The
questions of this study were developed based on the heuristics that fit the context and needs of
Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL game. Table 12 presents the heuristics used as basis for the
development of the questions (cf. [86]); in this table we do not present all 43 heuristics, only the
ones which we used to develop questions for our research.
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Table 12 - Basis heuristics for the development of the questions.
Multimedia
Content
Educational
/
Pedagogical
Interface
Aspect
Code
UI1
UI3
UI4
UI6
UI9
ED1
ED2
ED4
ED9
ED10
CO1
CO3
CO4
CO5
CO6
MM2
MM3
MM4
MM6
Playabili
ty
MM7
PL3
PL4
PL5
PL7
Heuristic
Brief Description
Uses aesthetic and minimalist design
The uses of space, color and text are according to the principles of screen design
The uses of text, color and font follow the principles of readability
The interactivity of the game is suitable to learners level
Provide specific and self-identified key for specific task (e.g. exit, glossary, main, and objective)
Clear goal and learning objectives
The activities are interesting and engaging
Can be used as self-directed learning tools
Offers the ability to select the level of difficulty in games
Ability to work in their own pace
Reliable content with correct flow
Navigation of content is easy and accurate
Supporting materials are sufficient and relevant
Materials are interesting and engaging
Players able to understand the learning goal
Combination of multimedia elements are adequate
The presentation of multimedia elements are well manage
Suitability of multimedia elements for specific use
The use of multimedia elements support meaningfully the text provided
The quality of multimedia elements (e.g. text, image, animation, video, and sound) used is
acceptable
The pace of the game are in balance
Players able to control the game
Progress of the game can be seen at anytime
Challenge is adequate, i.e. not too easy and not too difficult
Table 13 presents the questions developed specially for the evaluation of Karuchā Ships
Invaders CALL game, which represents the first step of the framework.
Table 13 - Questions defined to assess multiple interface aspects of Karuchā Ships Invaders.
Interface
Aspect
Basis Heuristic
(Table 12)
UI1
Education/Pedag
ogical
Q1. Graphical elements are consistent and adequate?
UI3
Q2. Screen space is well distributed (each element has enough space)?
UI4
Q3. Font size for roma-ji is adequate?
Q4. Font size for Japanese characters is adequate?
UI6
Q5. Interaction mode is adequate to the audience?
UI9
Content
Question
ED1
ED2
ED4
ED9
ED10
CO1
CO3
CO4
CO5
Q6. Access buttons for different functions and features are easily identified?
Q7. Menu division is adequate?
Q8. Learning goals are clear?
Q9. Gameplay is incentive and engaging?
Q10. Is it possible to obtain new considerable knowledge about Japanese language by
just playing the game?
Q11. Does the game provide choice of difficulty level?
Q12. The difficulty levels are adequate, i.e. too easy/hard, or discrepant?
Q13. The game suits to different learning paces of the students?
Q14. The content is presented in gradual and coherent way?
Q15. Is it easy to access support content, i.e. stories?
Q16. The educative stories bring the content in a comprehensive way?
Q17. The educative stories do provide enough background for the player to win the
game?
Q18. Is it interesting/engaging to learn through the stories?
CO6
MM2
Multimedia
MM3
MM4
Playability
MM6
MM7
PL3
PL4
PL5
PL7
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Q19. Is it clear for the player the content to be learned along the game?
Q20. The multimedia elements (e.g. sounds, images, and text) are in the context of the
game?
Q21. The presentation of multimedia content follows an adequate flow? (Is there too
much or a lack of multimedia)
Q22. The use of the following multimedia elements is adequate?
a. Images in the stories
b. Text in the stories
c. Ambient music
d. Sounds (e.g. laser, shot, and explosion)
e. Images in level transitions
Q23. The multimedia elements are significant for the gameplay and learning (or are
dispensable)?
Q24. The quality of multimedia elements is acceptable?
Q25. The game flow is adequate?
Q26. The controls of the game are adequate (or are tiring, hard, non-intuitive)?
Q27. Is it easy for the player to perceive or access the current status in the game at any
moment?
Q28. The challenge level is adequate to the audience, i.e. not too easy and not too
difficult?
6.4.2 Results
The evaluation was made using HCI experts as respondents for the questions developed about
Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL game. The answers were given subjectively, since the method
used is an adaptation for Omar and Jaafar [86]. It was chosen to analyze the data beyond
objective numbers as answer. Table 14 presents the answers for the 28 heuristic based questions
previously defined (Table 13).
Table 14 - Answers for the heuristic based questions.
Interface
Aspect
Answer
Q1. The graphical elements are consistent together, and also are in the context of the learning proposal of the
game.
Q2. The game screen could be increased in height, for the elements to have more space to fall. Though this change
could require other adjustments about resolution.
Q3. The roma-ji fonts along the game are in an acceptable size, but the game should provide personalization for
this feature, for possible players with sight issues.
Q4. The characters inside the ships are in a size sufficient enough to be seen clearly. Though, it is interesting to
give the player the opportunity to personalize this feature.
Q5. Considering the audience as learners with abilities to see the elements on the screen and type commands on
the keyboard, the interaction mode is adequate.
Q6. In the menu screen and inside the menus, the elements are identifiable, but when the game is on, there is no
button that indicates pause, menu, configurations of sound or screen. These elements should be represented by
icons while the game is being played, for the player to have more control over the game.
Q7. Yes, the menu options are well divided.
Playability
Multimedia
Content
Educational/Pedagogical
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Q8. There is not a presentation of the game in the beginning. The help menu provides some information, but it
would be interesting to have some kind of initial animation to present the educational and fun goals of the game.
Q9. The gameplay is invaders-like, so it can be engaging for those who like this kind of game. Also can be
incentive the fact that the player is learning a new language while playing the game.
Q10. Considering the player with no knowledge at all about Japanese language, s/he will get considerable
knowledge (an entire alphabet and vocabulary – words related to the culture of the country). For the ones who play
Karuchā Ships Invaders for training hiragana skills, there are still the cultural words to be learned.
Q11. Yes, the game provides three difficulty modes.
Q12. The difficulty modes are just different in velocity. Considering that, they are not discrepant. But related to
content, there is no increasing based on the difficulty.
Q13. The game provides three different difficulty levels. To suit all paces, it is desirable that the game provide
some kinds of personalization, which it does not.
Q14. Yes. The hiragana content is presented in alphabetical order, and the cultural words are presented just when
all the characters that compound it have been presented before. The amount of content by level is also acceptable.
Q15. The stories become available as the player passes through the levels (one story for each three levels). Once
available, the player has the option to read it as many times as needed, in the level choice screen.
Q16. Considering the audience is a native English or Portuguese speaker. The content is well divided and
exhibited for the player.
Q17. The stories present all the content that will be charged in the game, so it provides all the knowledge the
player needs to reach the end of Karuchā Ships Invaders.
Q18. The stories are displayed in text and images. Maybe animations could be more engaging and less tiring.
Q19. The content is only viewed as a whole when the player gets to the end of the game (30 levels).
Q20. In general, the multimedia elements follow the context of the game. The music and sounds could be more
related to the theme.
Q21. The multimedia is in good amount.
Q22.
a. The images in the stories are fundamental to teach the cultural words, once they are the same images that will
appear in the game for the player to recognize.
b. The text in the stories is adequate and fundamental.
c. The ambient music could be more related to Brazil and Japan at the same time.
d. The sounds for laser, shot and explosion are common sounds that can be adequate, but they could remind more
of the theme (Brazil – Japan)
e. The Japanese pilot is adequate to the context.
Q23. The use of educational stories is more acceptable for the player when it presents not only plain text, but
images and animations; the multimedia elements should not be considered dispensable in this case. Plus, the
gameplay becomes more joyful when the game provides an immersive environment related to the theme, what
happens in Karuchā Ships Invaders.
Q24. The elements of multimedia are in good quality.
Q25. The presentation of elements follows a logic order and the number of levels corresponds to the content that is
well distributed between each level. The difficulty grows increasingly including the cultural words that can be
formed only by the characters that have already been presented.
Q26. Considering a desktop environment, the controls feel adequate, once it focuses on the standard keyboard. The
controls are intuitive, since the player just has to type the roma-ji to the symbols and words presented.
Q27. The time, difficulty mode and level are clear on the screen; the hit points bar does not indicate a fix number
or the amount of loss in a crash. The total points are also not exhibited.
Q28. Considering the audience as learners of hiragana that can be from knowing nothing to be conversant to the
alphabet; for the former, it can be considered little hard if the player chooses not to read the educative stories that
are presented. The cultural words can be a plus challenge for those who only learnt the alphabet itself. The
possibility of choice of difficulty mode embraces most of the audience needs.
The results provided, i.e., the answers by the experts (Table 14), are the data to be analyzed
regarding Karuchā Ships Invaders’ interface. In the fourth step of the process, it was decided to
apply the questionnaire, then analyze the responses, then generate quantitative results based on
these responses, leading to detection of specific number of problems and its corresponding
severity rating. Table 15 presents the severity rating for each one of the five aspects evaluated;
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beside the severity ratings, there is an indication of what question detected the issue. This table is
a representation of what was decided to be made in the fifth step, based on the framework.
Table 15 - Severity rating of problems found.
Aspect
Number
4
3
Problems
Severity rating
2
3
(Q3, Q4 & Q6)
1
(Q13)
1
(Q18)
Interface
4
-
-
Educational/
Pedagogical
2
-
-
Content
1
-
-
Multimedia
1
-
-
-
Playability
1
-
-
-
1
1
(Q2)
1
(Q8)
0
-
-
1
(Q20 /Q22c /Q22d)
1
(Q27)
-
-
It is interesting to highlight that no problem with severity rating 3 or 4 was found in this
evaluation. This may have with the fact that Karuchā Ships Invaders was developed over
considerable previous research [35,43,62], providing a better sight of what was desirable to be
developed. A discussion about the results is presented in the next section.
6.5 Discussion
This chapter brings a noteworthy contribution to the field of evaluation of game interfaces in
general, once it brings a literature review that can guide researchers that aim to accomplish this
kind of evaluation. Still, the evaluation that was performed for Karuchā Ships Invaders also
shows that methods can be adapted for the needs and context of each game, focusing in
educational computer games. The framework and heuristics used are adaptive and can be applied
for experts or for prospective/end users, depending on the questions developed based on these
heuristics.
The answers for the questionnaire also raise discussions that follow, about each one of the
five analyzed aspects of usability. The interface analysis shows that there are some issues such as
lack of personalization for features as font size, and lack of buttons and configuration elements at
the time a level is being played; this analysis also raises questions about accessibility of the game,
once there are no customizable options to support players with special needs.
For the educational/pedagogical aspect, the issues are about the difficulty modes, which do
not increase content to be learned in each mode. This question can be answered analyzing the
sort of the game, which is “invaders”; this kind of game has the characteristic of increasing speed
as the difficulty increases, and related to new content, it is represented by the 30 levels, where
each one of them brings new characters or words for the player to learn. Besides, there is a
discussion about the learning goal being clear to the player, since the content is not provided at
105
once in the beginning of the game; the question is if it is really necessary, or in and educational
and fun point of view it is interesting to the player to discover new content along the game. The
purpose of the locked content is to make the game more engaging and interesting.
The analysis of content perceives that the presentation of the stories with only text and
pictures may be exhaustive for the player. The suggestion, to make the learning more gamified, is
to add animations to the stories; the animations are less tiring to the player and more interesting.
After all the game is a new way to learn, with the bid to be different from traditional learning, in
which reading is a noted constant, and perhaps should be avoided in this approach.
Multimedia aspect brings attention to the sound and music aspect, which are the less
related to the context of the entire game. The ambient music reminds only Japan, whilst the other
sounds are way too common; the latter is not a big issue, but fixing it could render the game a
more interesting and immersive learning environment. The analysis of playability aspect, as
multimedia, was the one that showed the fewest issues of all; the main question was about the
possibility of the player to get access to the current statistics of the game at any time, which was
found that there is a lack of this possibility. In this case, this lack can be seen as a gamification
characteristic, whereas the player is having fun with the game without the preoccupation of
looking at statistics when a level is being played; this feature takes this load away from the player,
who is concerned about protecting the city and guiding the ships to land, instead of a learning
status.
About the technique used to evaluate the interface of Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL game,
it was useful to evaluate the five aspects, but there is a lack it does not embrace. The emotional
and affective aspects of the interface cannot be evaluated by this set of heuristics. In the context
of educational computer games, as seen in this literature review, this aspect is not contemplated
in general evaluations.
6.6 Conclusion
This step of the research accomplished a literature review about interface evaluation of
educational games, followed by a study that applied game interface evaluation techniques in the
Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL game. The performed evaluation embraced the points interface,
educational/pedagogical, content, multimedia and playability, and showed that the game interface
is in general, adequate to its purpose. Still, it can be concluded that the method used is useful, but
does not embrace certain aspects, such as the player’s emotional response to the game.
As future work, it is intended to do a hedonic evaluation of the game. Also, it is pointed to
improve the interface of the Karuchā Ships Invaders CALL game based on the results of this
study, plus do an evaluation that focuses on learning value of the game with end users.
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This step of the research showed that, fixed some interface issues, the game is in conditions to
pass through a user evaluation. The next step we decided to take is to search for methods that
can evaluate aspects as motivational, with focus in educational computational tools, in order to
choose the one who fits better. In case that there is no such method, the same line of this chapter
will be followed: search for methods that are closer to our research context and adapt it,
proposing an extension or a new method.
Chapter 7
7 Evaluation of Motivational Aspects47
7.1 Introduction
The use of technology to support several activities is a reality nowadays. In this context we have,
among others, the use of technological tools that support the learning of manifold subjects. In
previous chapters (2, 3 and 4) we accomplished some research about this theme, evaluating
several of these tools, from academic and practical field, and perceiving its platforms,
classifications and common requirements/features; including a chapter focused on educational
media applied specifically on these kinds of tools.
In this context, this chapter intends to study and perform a method proposal for evaluation
of the motivation a technological educational tool causes over a student’s will in learning a given
subject through it. This evaluation is in the middle between interface and learning evaluations,
being an axis that leads to learning, whereas learning is not necessarily pleasant; so before
performing a substantial and long learning evaluation, in this technological context, it is
important to inquire if the given tool is capable to hold the student in the process in a pleasant
way, i.e. if it offers an environment that induces the student to keep studying the given subject.
As a guide, we use ARCS Model [98], which is a method for evaluation of motivation in
traditional courses, but an example of application of this method in a computational system is
Huang et al. [97], which uses ARCS model as basis to evaluate a tutoring system that teaches
MATLAB syntactical structures; it also uses a method of analysis based on ARCS, the IMMS
(Instructional Materials Motivational Survey) [99] that provides a standard scale to be used for
answering the questions; in this study, the result’s analysis is made crossing and comparing
profiles with respective answers.
47
108
In this chapter, we propose a heuristic-based method to perform an evaluation of
motivational aspects of educational technologies. The proposed method uses heuristics as a basis
and involves experiences with end users of the evaluated tool. We describe in details every steps
of the evaluation method, since the development of the necessary formularies, identification of
users, the moment of the experience and the data analysis after that; with the objective of help
other researchers to apply the method in their own research contexts.
This chapter is organized as follows: subsection 7.2, we present an understanding of
motivation and introduce some basic terms and concepts to help understanding the chapter as a
whole; following, in subsection 7.3 we detail the method proposal developed; after that,
subsection 7.4 we present the discussion section; and finally, in subsection 7.5, the conclusion is
presented.
7.2 Motivation
This section presents some basic terms and concepts – i.e. interface, heuristic and, mainly,
motivation – adopted along this work, aiming to better specify the intentions of the proposed
method and to clarify the meaning of the used terms.
Motivation is a term used in many contexts, therefore it has different definitions and/or
understandings for each one of them. In psychology, motivation refers to a condition in the
organism that influences the direction of behavior. There are several theories about motivation,
for example Maslow’s (pyramid of needs), Murray’s (needs and motives) and Skinner’s
(conditioning) theories. Motivation is also related to hedonism, which embraces the pleasure and
satisfaction of the human being. The term is defined, in the Cambridge Dictionary, as
“willingness to do something, or something that causes such willingness”.
Still, motivation can be classified in two kinds, i.e. intrinsic and extrinsic. The intrinsic
motivation is when the person does some activity for his own sake, because he enjoys it, and not
searching for an external reward. The extrinsic motivation is the opposite, the individual
accomplishes a given task because of a reward to be earned, or a punishment to be avoided
[103][104]. Through these definitions, we understand that the motivational aspects of an
educational tool are the ones that have the power to keep the interest of the student in the
subject being taught, mainly through the use of the tool itself. The evaluation method proposal
presented in this work focuses on finding the extrinsic motivational power of a tool, which does
not exclude the help of intrinsic motivation by its audience.
There are several kinds of interfaces, as mono/multimodal graphic, mobile, tangible,
haptic, organic, gestural, sonorous, holographic and brain-computer. Our method intends to
embrace them all, once related to educational tools, bringing a set of heuristics that can be used
to several interaction contexts – being more general in this side – since the focus of the tool is an
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Chapter 7. Evaluation of Motivational Aspects
interactive product for educational purposes. Still, there are several kinds of educational
applications, as tutor systems, exercises/practice systems, games, quizzes, and the method is
intended to fit them all too.
The heuristic evaluation is a method commonly used to evaluate usability issues of a
product; it is considered an easy, fast and cheap – if compared to others (e.g. cognitive modeling
methods, pluralistic inspection, focus groups) – method to be used in an evaluation process, and
typically used to evaluate usability [105]. It is based on following heuristics, which are sorts of
guidelines that indicate possible issues in an application from a given context or point of view.
The work of Omar and Jaafar [81] presents a method to evaluate playability of games with
heuristic evaluation, which shows the possibility of using heuristics for evaluation of different
aspects; inspired with this possibility, the present work presents a method which uses heuristics
as basis to evaluate motivation in educational tools.
7.3 Method for Evaluation of Motivational Aspects
The evaluation method is a heuristic-based technique focused on evaluation of motivational
aspects in the context of educational media and technology. The Method for Evaluation of
Motivational Aspects has the purpose of evaluate a technological educational tool by the user
perspective of how powerful is the influence of the given tool in motivate the student-user to
keep studying the subject embraced by that tool. This evaluation method adopts as a basis the
ARCS model [98][100], which divides motivational aspects in four axes, i.e. attention, relevance,
confidence, and satisfaction.
A brief explanation [100] of each one of the axes clarifies that Attention is the aspect that
brings the student to use a given learning tool, i.e., what engages curiosity, and also, variety is
important is this aspect, to maintain the attention after the first impression. Relevance is to bring
to the student a relation with meaning with the study, presenting a content that is important for
them; this relation can be in personal or professional areas of the student’s life. Confidence is to
provide clear objectives to the students, and challenges possible to be accomplished, in order to
help students establish positive expectancies for success. And Satisfaction is to provide fair
rewards to the student, according to their performance in learning. The four axes work together
to raise the motivational power of a given course or learning tool.
Our heuristic-based evaluation method is intended to fit all branches of technological
educational tools, once it is an embracing method, where the heuristics will guide the evaluators
to bring out questions and issues focused on each one’s context. The ones who will apply the
method are guided through the heuristics for the development of a set of questions using the
heuristics that fit more in the given context, and they should direct these questions to embrace
specifically the tool to be evaluated.
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The minimal number of experts to apply the method is one, and they should be familiar to
the tool that will be evaluated, as to its goals. It is desirable that the experts have knowledge
about heuristic evaluation, as well as about the whole context of the tool being evaluated; this can
be achieved with people that have expertise in all of these topics, or with a crew of experts in
which each one is responsible for a determined expertise.
The application of the method is done in the following fourteen steps grouped into three
stages: i) pre-experience (accomplished by the experts); ii) during-experience (with the
participation of both experts and prospective/end users); and iii) post-experience (again only the
experts). The steps inside each phase (pre, during and post-experience) do not necessarily follow
a mandatory sequence, once the steps are complementary. The defined sequence is to do first the
pre-experience steps, then the during steps, and finally the post steps; but inside these phases, the
steps’ accomplishment sequence can be adapted the way it fits better in the context, or as the
experts find it better to achieve the results.
Figure 1 represents all steps of this evaluation method; the steps highlighted in bold and
italic are specific from the motivation evaluation, once the other steps can be found and followed
in other kinds of evaluations; and next, we present an explanation of every step. Above each one
of the three phases, it is indicated who participates, i.e. (E)xperts and/or (U)sers.
Fig. 19 - Steps of the method.
First, there is the pre-experiment stage of the evaluation method. In the User Profile
Definition step, the experts search for potential or end users of the tool, based on their
knowledge about it, and make de invitations. With the profile delineated, the User Formulary
Development step can be accomplished, which is the development of a formulary for the users
to answer about themselves, before answering anything about the tool; this formulary is mainly
intended to identify the level of the user concerning the topic to be taught by the tool, and the
tool itself; together with this formulary, the consent formulary is developed, which contains
explanations for the user about what information they are transferring to the experts and how
this data will be used (for example, personal information, photos, audio and video recordings).
The Final Interview Development step consists in developing a set o questions by the
experts to be asked verbally to the user in the last step of the during-experience time; the
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questions should include topics about the experience as a whole, and also complementary
questions about the evaluated tool, giving the user the opportunity to express better some things
they did not expose in the motivational questionnaire. In the Motivational Questionnaire
Development step is the last step of the pre-experience, and the experts are responsible for
developing a questionnaire guided by the heuristics (Table 16); the questions developed should
follow a format, which is a question with two kinds of answer: a Likert-type scale (1-5) and a
space for comments, being the former mandatory and the latter optional for the user/evaluator
to fill. For each axis of ARCS model [98, 100] – i.e. attention, relevance, confidence, and
satisfaction –, we recommend to develop a minimum of two questions, but this number is
extensible/adapted for the needs of the context, being careful to not become the experience
tiring, since the questionnaire answering is just one of the five steps that the users will participate.
Table 16 shows the 31 heuristics divided in four axes, i.e. Attention (9), Relevance (6),
Confidence (7), and Satisfaction (9).
Table 16 - Map set of heuristics developed for use with the method.
(S)atisfaction
(C)onfidence
(R)elevance
(A)ttention
Axis
#
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
A7
A8
A9
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9
Heuristic
Description
Graphical interface captures user’s attention
Design stimulates user’s inquiry
User interaction maintains the interest of the user
Interaction between users stimulates continuous usage of the tool
Multimedia used maintains the interest alive
Tangible features draw the attention to the tool at first
Presentation of content offers interesting and innovative visual and features
Interaction is intuitive
Interface is practical, clear and objective
Modes and levels embrace the various kinds of users
Learning goals are according to the profile/needs of the users
Content is relevant to the target audience
Tool relates teaching with the experiences of the users (students)
Interface/interaction features are familiar to the audience
The goals are stepwise and well guided in the flow of the tool
Learning goals are clear
Learning/testing levels follow the user’s development
Goals and levels can be configured to attend several levels reached by the user
Tool offers different kinds of rewards
Rewards do reflect the effort/ability level of the user
A way of learning measurement is comparing results from other users
A way of learning measurement is to maintain status of the user and evaluate single progress
The user has the possibility of test/perceive, through the tool, the user own progress
Social interaction function between users provides/shares rewards by success
Rewards’ measurement is fair, according to the level of the user
Learning and progress are reinforced/highlighted when the accomplishment of specific
goals
Tangible/gestural features are ergonomic and not tiring
Feedback is well presented, in a way the user can analyze the progress
Interaction is inclusive for several kinds of users, considering motor abilities
Interaction is not exhaustive after a considerable or desirable time of usage
Interface is not mentally exhausting
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Starting the during-experiment stage, is the User Formulary Application step, in which
the consent formularies are presented and explained, together with a quick explanation about the
experience as a whole, and then, if the user agrees, the user profile formulary is applied, intending
to know better the profile of each user individually. The Tool/Prototype Presentation step
consists of presenting the tool to be evaluated to the users, for guarantee that they all will be able
to answer the questionnaire with property; the duration time of presentation is decided by the
experts, according to the context, amount and complexity of functions and learning features.
Once presented the tool, next is the Tool/Prototype Usage step, in which is given the user
some time – determined previously by the experts, and equal to every user – to explore the tool
as a whole; also, the experts can ask the user to accomplish some tasks, also defined previously.
Still, in the step, experts should note user’s behavior, doubts, questioning and other interesting
things that may occur during this step; this observation is very important and can even help the
final interview to flow better.
In the Motivational Questionnaire Application step, the heuristic-based questionnaire –
developed in the first step of the method – is applied, for the users who are participating in the
process; the time to answer should be determined by the experts. In the Final Interview
Application step, the questions developed in step IV are the guide, but depending on
observation of the experts about the behavior of the user during the usage of the tool, these
questions can be adapted, or changed of order to give better flow in the conversation; the
interview should be recorded – with audio and video – and also, if possible, the expert or some
auxiliary person can make some annotations about the answers.
The post-experiment stage begin with the Quantitative Data Analysis step, in which the
experts analyze the answers of the motivational questionnaire, using the Likert-scale levels to
generate a severity table about possible tool issues detected in these answers; also, flow and usage
diagrams are generated, which will contribute to infer thing when crossing this data with profile
and other extracted information. In the Qualitative Data Analysis step, the experts should read
and listen to all the information recorded during the experiment, plus the subjective answers of
the users, in order to organize the data to help the future requirements analysis, and also to
contribute in the inferences of the next step.
The Data Gathering step will unite qualitative and quantitative data. The experts should
cross information of the generated representations with the information collected and organized
in previous steps, aiming to deduce the reason of the answers – being good or bad –, compare
the final results of each user based on each profile, and help to decide what decisions to make in
the final steps of the method, i.e., find the positives and negatives and define which requirements
should be inserted, modified and/or withdrawn. The Motivational Strengths and Weaknesses
Documentation step is for the experts to use the data gathered to develop an objective list that
describes the stronger and weaker points of the tool under a motivational view; this list will help
guide the Requirement Analysis step. In the Requirements Analysis step the experts analyze the
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initial requirements of the tool, identifying issues and gaps according to the evaluation results;
and extract new requirements by analyzing suggestions and comments of the users.
At the end of the process, the experts will be able to analyze – through the questionnaire
answers (quantitative) and comments (qualitative), the interview and the observations during the
usage – the results for their tools related to motivation. Through this data, which is focused on
the users’ opinion, it is possible to conclude the initial motivational power of the given tool. Also,
it is possible to do another instance of the evaluation, with the same users, to ascertain the
motivational power of the tool along the time for the same person. The method can show issues
that can be related to other aspects, as usability and interface, but in a way that contributes to the
final motivation of the user, i.e., these issues will be analyzed under the motivational view, once
they leverage the motivational power of the tool.
7.3.1 Example of Application of the Method
Following the steps of the method, as described in the previous section, we present in this
subsection an exemplification of each motivational step of the three phases, since it is the main
contribution of our evaluation method; we focus in explain how to accomplish these steps. It is
important to contextualize the example, which was made with an educational game called
Karuchā Ships Invaders [80] that aims to support basic Japanese language learning, including a
basic alphabet – i.e. hiragana – and cultural words. The example described below was based on
the case study that was previously conducted to evaluate the method described in this work.
First is the Motivational Questionnaire Development step, and here we present four
example questions, one for each motivational axis, i.e. attention, relevance, confidence, and
satisfaction. To develop these questions, the expert has to have in mind the aspects of the tool
that he wants to evaluate, using the general heuristic as a guide, but developing a question that
describes specific points of the given tool. The questions were developed in multiple choice
format, and, additionally, at the end of each question there was a field for optional comments
that users could fill in if they desired, in order to explain about their answer or make suggestions.
Still, it is important to explain that it not mandatory to use all of the heuristics to develop the
questions, once for some contexts, one or some of them may not fit; an example, in the context
of Karuchā Ships Invaders, is the S5, which embraces features the game does not offer, as
tangible interaction. Table 17 shows the example questions for Karuchā Ships Invaders.
Table 17 - Example questions guided by the heuristics for the example of the method.
Axis/Basis Heuristic
(cf. Table 1)
(A)ttention
Closed Question
Answers
1) Not at all
A5.1. The images used are 2) Just some elements
A5 pleasant and in the learning 3) Pleasant, but out of context of Japanese
context of Japanese?
4) In the context of Japanese, but not pleasant
5) Very pleasant and all in learning context of Japanese
(R)elevance
(C)onfidence
(S)atisfaction
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1) Not at all
R3.1. The content Karuchā Ships2) No, the content is low
R3 Invaders intends to teach fits your 3) Somewhat, it is very specific
(user) needs?
4) Yes, but I’d like more content options
5) Yes, all I want to learn
1) Not at all
C2.1. Your development in 2) Just in the beginning
C2 learning was accompanied by the 3) Just in only-kana levels
levels of Karuchā Ships Invaders? 4) Yes, mostly
5) Yes, completely
S4.1. Were you able to
1) No, nothing in the game highlights that
reinforce/highlight what you
2) No, because it is repetitive
already
learned
by
the
S4
3) Yes, but only if I focus strongly on the learning
accomplishment of some task
4) Yes, naturally
(some level completed or
5) Yes, every time I complete a level (or mode)
repeated, for example)?
The next motivational step is the Motivational Questionnaire Application. In this step,
the user was asked to answer the motivational questionnaire, explaining the multiple choice
questions and that the comments’ space was for complementation or observations, but optional.
Still, it was explained that during this activity, the user could ask for the experts to clarify any
doubts about the questionnaire answering; it is important to highlight that the experts are present
and active in all steps of the whole process. Also, at the end of the questionnaire, there was a
space for more comments and suggestions for the game.
The last step dedicated to motivation is the Motivational Strengths and Weaknesses
Documentation, in which the experts will analyze the data gathered and extract this information.
Table 18 presents some example results in the context of Karuchā Ships Invaders, also divided by
ARCS axes. These results were achieved by analyzing the questionnaire answers, the comments,
the observations during the usage and the users’ interview answers. They are presented in natural
language and indicate issues that will guide the next step – Requirements Analysis – with
suggestions of features to be treated, improved, included or removed from the tool in future
iterations, to better attend the users’ educational needs.
Table 18 - Examples of motivational strengths and weaknesses.
Axis
Comments / Suggestions / Issues
1. Some images chosen for the cultural words (bosses) are difficult to understand/read.
Attention
2. The game design is very pleasant/beautiful.
3. The content to be learned fit well for most of the users’ profiles.
4. New modes were suggested: a mode in which the most missed elements fall with more
Relevance
frequency, for the user to practice more his weakness; a mode with possibility to customize what
gyos/kanas will fall in the level.
5. At the end of the level, the missed kanas should be presented with its reading (roma-ji) beside it,
instead of only the Japanese character.
Confidence
6. Several users approved the stats and would like to share the results and compare it with other
players’.
7. There is a lack of an elaborated scoring system, with balance, that reflects the effort and
performance of the user.
Satisfaction
8. The portability for other operating systems, some users commented that it would be unlikely to
change their preferred operating system just to play Karuchā Ships Invaders.
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7.4 Discussion
First, it is important to highlight that the method proposal was refined through the
accomplishment of a case study and post analysis of the experience; the case study was
accomplished with an educational game called Karuchā Ships Invaders [80], and the examples
presented in the previous section are based on this experience. Initially, the method only had 7
steps, which were improved and incremented with the help of the pilot experience. The pilot also
helped us to improve each step with details that were only perceived in practice, for example, the
need of written consent terms, the time of presentation of the experience for the user and the
details that should be given. Still, the most increased phase was the post-experience, which only
contained one step, and now there are five; we were not capable to describe the data analysis in
such details until we had to actually perform it. The separation of tasks for the analysis proved
quite necessary, once the data collected is considerably wide and heterogeneous.
The elaboration of the motivational questionnaire presented some difficulties, as the fact of
how to use terms that were not too technical, for common users to be able to understand and
answer the question properly. We indicate that a pilot test be accomplished with focus only on
this point, before the usual pilot experience. Also, depending on the scenario, the heuristics can
fit more or less, making it respectively more easy and more difficult to develop a set of questions
to embrace the whole tool features; and as a result there will be bigger and minor questionnaires
depending on the context and on the effort, knowledge and available time of the experts to
develop them. For that, the method can extract/detect more or less issues of the tool.
The method has a considerable set of heuristics intending to embrace the most cases as
possible, and the ability of the experts, as the user profiles and even the end users who actually
participated of the experience are determinant factors to the success of the application of the
method. The evaluation method also provides considerable guidelines to the whole process,
which can help inexperienced evaluators too. The definition of user profile is crucial, it has to be
very well delineated, to match the interests with what the tool offers, once this match will impact
on the answers given and the will of the user to cooperate properly. The success in developing a
useful interview also depends on these first steps.
During the experience, it is important to provide an equal environment for all the users,
following always the same steps, presentation and rules for everyone. That is why is it so
important to accomplish pilot tests, first with the questionnaires, to evaluate if they are clear and
extract the information the experts want to; and also with the whole experience, to detect
previously possible issues that may interfere and/or impair the results.
The data analysis is a very challenging activity, because the data should be crossed: the
results of the questionnaire, the interview answers and behavior, and also the user profile
formulary answers. But this analysis can extract several aspects of the evaluated tool; the
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comments made by the users may embrace issues and suggestions for interface and interaction
features, technological platforms, the experience itself, among others; because these themes have
a relation with the motivational impact of the tool at the end. A user may find the tool
interesting, but it also may not have possibility to access it after the experiment (e.g., because of a
different operating system, computer hardware, and specific devices).
Finally, it is fundamental to highlight that the results obtained with this method proposal
showed that it needs to be revised, with a deeper knowledge of motivation as a whole, aiming to
improve it to obtain a more closed method which presents more clear motivation results at the
end of its usage. This method showed to have much potential, and an expansion and/or increase,
or even a more specific scope, can make it become even more useful to evaluate motivational
aspects in a determined learning tool context.
7.5 Conclusion
This chapter presents and exemplifies a heuristic-based evaluation method proposal to evaluate
motivational aspects of technological educational tools. This method uses a division for
motivational aspects in four axes to create heuristics that guide evaluators in the development of
a set of questions that are able to extract several issues about the motivational power of a given
tool. We described this proposal in detail and presented some examples of how to apply it, in
order to support others to use this method, although we highlight that it still needs improvement.
As future work, we intend to expand this work with a deeper conceptual basis about
motivation, aiming to obtain better and more accurate results with the application of the method
improved. Also, we indicate a motivational evaluation using educational tools, with different
themes and learning aspects.
Through the accomplishment of this step of the research, the next one is highly united to this.
The decision made is to analyze the results of this experiment validation, but over the point of
view of the results for Karuchā Ships Invaders game. The next step of this research is to compile
all the data collected in order to improve several aspects of Karuchā, analyzing and attending, to
the extent possible, to the users’ suggestions.
Chapter 8
8 Applying Evaluation of Motivational
Aspects on Karuchā Ships Invaders
8.1 Introduction
CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) tools are increasingly present in our daily life.
There are several kinds of tools that can be classified as CALL - e.g. websites, desktop software
and mobile apps - and for each of these kinds, there are several teaching approaches. It is
possible to find tutor systems, exercises collections, cooperative online learning, and also games.
CALL games are very interesting and engaging for most users, since it blends learning with
entertainment and fun. The present work focuses on CALL games and their influence on the
motivation and learning of the students, including the development and expansion of evaluation
methods to obtain this kind of data. The evaluation of motivational aspects of educational games
is important to give the developers several clues about the end-users’ approval or disapproval for
the game features, and guide the course of development.
This work is placed in the context of a research project whose theme is Japanese language
learning supported by computational tools. Therefore, this chapter presents new results of our
research on this subject. In previous chapters, we presented the state of the art (chapter 2), and
the state of the practice of web (chapter 3) and mobile (Android) (chapter 4) platforms of CALL
tools for Japanese language. Also, we developed a CALL game called Karuchā Ships Invaders
(chapter 5) focused on Japanese language learning, evaluating its interface aspects (chapter 6); and
a method of evaluation of motivational aspects for educational media and technology (chapter 7).
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Karuchā Ships Invaders [80] is a CALL game 48, in a space invaders’ style, focused on
Japanese language, developed by our research team in Lua programming language with MOAI49
game engine platform. With it, the student-player can learn and practice knowledge about the
most basic Japanese alphabet – i.e. hiragana50 – and cultural words related to Japanese culture.
The game tells a story where Japanese ships are heading to Brazil and need help to land. To help
them, the player has to know the basics of the Japanese language, to pass the commands to the
ships. The game offers three basic difficulty modes, i.e. easy, normal and hard, each one
increasing velocity and frequency to the ships’ fall. Also, it exhibits stories to present the content
to the players – this is one of the clear educational aspects of Karuchā.
In this chapter, we present the application of the method developed earlier on Karuchā
Ships Invaders educational game and its results regarding the motivational power of our game in
making Japanese language students want to keep their learning. The experiment was
accomplished with Brazilian prospective users and provided quantitative and qualitative data,
whose analysis will also be detailed in the present chapter.
This chapter is organized as follows: subsection 8.2 introduces the research and
methodology scenario; subsection 8.3 presents the results for the evaluation; subsection 8.4
presents the discussion; and subsection 8.5 concludes the chapter.
8.2 Research and Methodology Scenario
The method is a heuristic-based method for evaluation of motivational aspects of educational
media and technology. The heuristics of the method were developed based on the ARCS Model
[98], i.e., divided into four axes: Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction. ARCS Model
was first developed to be used in traditional courses in Educational, but there are works that used
it as a basis to accomplish evaluations with digital educational programs, as in Shellnut et al. [106],
Wongwiwatthananukit [107] and Huang et al. [97].
The experiment was divided in six stages: definition, planning, data gathering, calculation,
presentation and data analysis and interpretation. Follows the experiment guide for the Data
Gathering stage (when the users do participate), which was divided in five steps, to detail and
clarify the process:
1. There is a quick presentation of the environment, in which the user is aware where to stay
during the experience, what will be the steps of the experiment, know about the cameras
Available for free download at http://www.karucha.pairg.dimap.ufrn.br.
http://www.getmoai.com.
50 Hiragana is the most basic Japanese alphabet, used for native words for which there are no kanji, or an unusual
kanji, and also for grammatical particles, suffixes, verb and adjective inflections. Hiragana is also used to show the
pronunciation of kanji as a reading aid, like a subtitle, what is called furigana.
48
49
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Chapter 8. Applying Evaluation of Motivational Aspects on Karuchā Ships Invaders
2.
3.
4.
5.
and fill a Free and Clarified Consent Form, in order to allow the experimenters to collect
the data.
The experimenter follows a presentation guide (whose accomplishment should take up to
10 minutes):
a. Explain about Karuchā (download, plot, educational features and rules);
b. Explain about the motivational testing (where the user’s ability or Japanese
language level are not being evaluated/judged, but the main goal is to determine
the motivational power of the tool);
c. Present the game menu, options and keyboard shortcuts;
d. Present the gameplay, playing a level as an example.
The user is free to explore the game for up to 40 minutes (it is also explained that if the
user desires to stop using the tool, they are able to do that at any moment). In this step,
the experimenter note observations about the user-tool interaction.
The user answers the motivational questionnaire, being aware that they can ask for help
due to possible doubts.
The experimenter mediates the final interview with the user, based on the pre-defined
questions, but being able to adapt the flow accordingly to observations about the user
during the usage of the game.
For this evaluation, we needed users who were involved somehow with Japanese language
and culture. We searched between students and also professors; and, since it is a game we are
evaluating, we searched for the users among people who were already computer game players and
people that are not (searching for a player and a non-player for each of the profiles). The user
profiles we searched for to accomplish the evaluation were: i) aspirants to the study of Japanese
language (no previous knowledge); ii) beginners in the study of Japanese language (some
knowledge in kanas51); iii) intermediate students of Japanese language (JLPT52 N5 or some
kanji53); iv) advanced students of Japanese language (JLPT N4 or N3); and v) expert students of
Japanese language (JLPT N2 or N1). These profiles were chosen because we would like to
observe if the game is suitable for all these levels of knowledge, and also to see whether
motivation varies due to the knowledge when playing the game.
We were able to accomplish the evaluation with 11 users, one at a time. The de-tailed
profile of the users is described in the diagrams (Fig. 20), which detail the following information:
Kanas are the two basic alphabets of Japanese language, i.e. hiragana and katakana, which compose the former
reading and writing studies of the language.
52 JLPT is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, divided in five levels, in which N5 is the easiest and N1 is the
most difficult level.
53 Kanji are ideogram characters of the Japanese language, more complicated than kana, and much more numerous
(each kana alphabet has 48 basic symbols, whilst kanji are 2,136 of most usage (taught mandatorily), but the total
amount is not exact.
51
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Japanese knowledge of the users in the four language skills – i.e. writing, reading, speaking and
listening – and Japanese cultural knowledge. From all the 11 users, the age varies from 16 to 23
years old; 73% are male and 23% are female; and 91% declared themselves as computer game
players, against 9% non-players.
Fig. 20 - Diagrams that detail user characteristics.
8.3 Results
8.3.1 Quantitative Results
The quantitative results will be presented in tables and figures with diagrams, divided into Log
Flow and Results of Severity Analysis of the Motivational Questionnaire.
8.3.1.1 Log Flow
The following figures represent the flow of the users through the game, recorded in the log file.
Fig. 21 shows the maximum level each user achieved, in each one of the three most basic
difficulty modes, i.e. easy, medium and hard54. Fig. 23 shows a flow of a specific user (U3)
through levels of the hard mode, showing how many times he played, failed and won each level
and the maximum level reached. Fig. 22 is a counter of how many times each user used the
context-help55 in each level.
Each difficulty mode has 30 levels, in which every three levels there are bosses mixed with hiragana, and the levels
15 and 30 are only-boss levels.
55 Context-help is a feature with educational purposes, in which the student-player can consult, during the level, the
reading of the kanas or bosses. It is available in easy mode for all the kanas and bosses presented so far, and in
medium mode, only for the kanas and bosses of the present level.
54
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An interesting thing to analyze about Fig. 21 is that few users played all the difficulty
modes, and crossing data with the profile, the users who played in hard mode were the ones with
more knowledge about Japanese language. Another relevant observation is that a user (U9) with
no knowledge about the idiom was able to achieve a high level (level 19) in easy mode, and
crossing data with Fig. 22, it is possible to infer that the context-help feature was very important
for this accomplishment. U8 and U10 also fit in this description. The U1, instead, took another
approach: crossing the diagram with observation data, it was possible to see that this user was
trying to learn the symbols through several repetitions, and that is why, even taking all the given
time, he only reached level 3.
Fig. 23 shows a representation of a game flow through hard mode of a specific user (U3). It
is interesting to notice that the levels he failed the most had bosses (level 9 and 12), but the
previous boss levels (3 and 6) were won in first try. This shows that the game difficulty is
increasing with the levels. Also, it is perceived that the level he was not able to pass was an onlyboss level (level 15). Even if the user is an intermediate Japanese student, the game was able to
provide a challenge, showing that in fact it suits since beginners until advanced Japanese students.
About Fig. 22, the main inference is the relevance of the context-help feature. Only three
of the users did not access the feature, being two of them intermediate/advanced Japanese
students. The number of times this feature was used is noticeable, in a period of 40 minutes,
there were users able to access it for about 150 times. Except for the ones who did not used
context-help, the minimum of times a user accessed it during the experiment was about 30 times.
This feature was not originally in the initial concept of Karuchā, but the importance of its
addition to the experiment is highly proved by this diagram, and also by the logs, observations
and users’ answers.
Fig. 21 - Maximum level the users achieved.
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Fig. 22 - Counter of use of the context-help in each level.
Fig. 23 - A flow through levels of hard mode, from user “U3”.
8.3.1.2 Results of Severity Analysis
Fig. 24 is a table containing the evaluation of severity analysis for the motivational questionnaire,
where there is represented an average of each question’s response including all the users’
responses. The first group is for Attention, second for Relevance, third from Confidence and
fourth from Satisfaction. It is noticed that the lower scores were related to Confidence and
Satisfaction, and the analysis of what may have caused it is presented on qualitative results. Still,
crossing profile data with the answers it is perceived that lower scores were given by advanced
Japanese students or regular computer game players, which are more rigorous users in this
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context. Their answers were very important and should be well analyzed in order to improve the
motivational aspects of Karuchā educational game.
Question
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
U1
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
5
4
5
5
4
5
5
3
5
4
4
U2
5
5
4
5
3
5
4
4
4
5
4
4
4
5
5
5
3
4
U3
4
3
4
5
5
3
3
3
2
2
4
4
5
5
1
1
4
1
U4
4
4
4
5
3
3
4
5
4
4
5
4
5
4
3
3
3
4
U5
5
5
4
5
4
5
3
5
5
4
4
4
5
5
4
5
4
5
U6
4
3
5
5
5
5
4
5
5
5
3
5
5
5
3
5
5
5
U7
5
4
4
5
3
3
4
2
2
3
3
4
5
3
4
3
4
3
U8
4
4
5
5
3
3
5
3
5
5
3
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
U9
5
4
4
5
5
3
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
5
2
3
4
4
U10
4
3
4
5
5
3
3
5
5
5
4
4
4
5
3
3
3
4
U11
5
4
4
5
4
3
3
3
4
4
2
2
4
5
2
5
5
4
Min
4
3
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
4
3
1
1
3
1
Max
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
Mode
5
4
4
5
3
3
4
5
5
5
4
4
5
5
3
5
4
4
Average
4,55
4,00
4,27
4,91
4,00
3,64
3,82
4,09
4,09
4,27
3,73
3,91
4,55
4,55
3,00
3,73
3,82
3,73
Fig. 24 - Severity table of the motivational questionnaire’s answers.
8.3.2 Qualitative Results
The qualitative results of this experiment were extracted from observations during the usage step
(step 3), comments written spontaneously by the users in the motivational questionnaire (step 4)
and interview answers (step 5). Through this data, it was possible to confirm some issues the
developers were already aware because of the interface evaluation, that were not fixed until the
experiment. For example, issues with size and choice of some bosses’ pictures, commented by
some of the participants. Also, some animation effects were discovered as giving the wrong
message, such as the abduction animation, that could pass the idea of destruction of the ships,
instead of the intended help to land. A positive fact detected about the design is that several of
the users demonstrated more interest for the game after seeing its first graphics, as the menu
screen and a level screen.
Other issue detected through users’ suggestions was in the context-help feature; this
feature’s importance and relevance was already confirmed in the quantitative data analysis, but
the users gave ideas to improve it. One of the ideas is to offer help of all levels until the current
level, being available to navigate through levels’ new kanas. Also, it was suggested a boss contexthelp, following the same format of kana context-help. Issues related to statistics presented at the
end of each level were also detected. It was suggested that the stats presented not only the missed
kanas, but also their reading in roma-ji, i.e., the roman letters.
Some users also commented they would like to compare their results with other studentplayers, in order to get extra motivation to improve their skills in the game. Another interesting
feature suggested was to the game give recommendations to the player, depending on how the
level was finished. For example, if the player won the level, but took too many hits, the game
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could give a message like “You may need to repeat this level to improve your learning”. Other
suggestions embraced the development of an elaborated scoring system, to be used for
comparison/competition between users; the development of online server and features, such as
achievements, timeline stats, social share of results; and also, portability to other OS, such as
Linux and Mac. All these punctual repairs contribute strongly to improve the motivational power
of Karuchā, since every comment that is analyzed and treated properly makes users more
comfortable in using the game, and the flow becomes more pleasant.
The following figures show some user reactions during the accomplishment of the
evaluation. While playing the game, interaction with the game was registered (Fig. 25), and also
users’ facial expressions (Fig. 26); moments of the motivational questionnaire and interview
answers are showed in Fig. 27. It is noticed that various users had good moments during the
usage of the tool, which is mainly perceived in Figs. 25 and 26, through visual expressions56 of
joy. Also, there were moments of confusion, doubts and frustration, which were caused
sometimes for interface issues, and sometimes for the game itself, where the player can win or
lose.
Fig. 25 - Users playing Karuchā Ships Invaders.
Fig. 26 - Users’ reactions to the game.
All the users signed a Free and Clarified Consent formulary, allowing the recording and use of their images for
sake of experiment’s results.
56
125
Fig. 27 - Users answering motivational questionnaire and interview.
8.3.3 New Features
Following, we present a list of features classified by the motivational axes, and extracted from the
users’ answers - optional comments and interview - in the experiment. There were 20 new
features identified in this activities with student-players: Attention (FA1..FA8), Relevance
(FR1..FR5), Confidence (FC1..FC3), and Satisfaction (FS1..FS4).
 Attention: FA1. Improvement of bosses’ images; FA2. Improvement of ship abduction
effect; FA3. Highlight the clickable areas; FA4. Implementation of other modes, such as
survival; FA5. New modes/levels with different time limit; FA6. Keep music during
context-help usage; FA7. Option buttons available in the levels; FA8. More variety of
sound effects.
 Relevance: FR1. Context help of previous levels on easy mode; FR2. Context help of
bosses; FR3. More intuitive keyboard shortcuts; FR4. Make the most missed elements to
fall with more frequency (a new mode); FR5. Implementation of a customizable mode
(choose what symbols to practice).
 Confidence: FC1. Show roma-ji for missed kanas at the end of the level; FC2.
Comparison of results with other players; FC3. The game give recommendations, such as
“you may like/need to repeat this level” if the player misses many ships.
 Satisfaction: FS1. Implementation of a scoring system, different from number of hits;
FS2. Portability to other OS; FS3. Implementation of competition/interactive mode; FS4.
Development of online features (such as timeline diagrams, general stats, and
achievements).
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8.4 Discussion
The application of method to evaluate motivational aspects of the educational game Karuchā
Ships Invaders brought to light several results from the data analysis. Analyzing the method itself,
there are various questions that can be raised and discusses, such as regarding the application
possibilities. In the present work, method was applied in person, and there are several
characteristics of the method that can only be achieved this way, such as: usage live observations;
video recording of interview; the interview itself; explanation of users’ doubts by the
experimenters/developers.
On the other hand, it is possible to do some adjustment in the method, in order to
accomplish a future evaluation with the new online features of the game. For example, the
questionnaires can be available online for the users to answer; the video for recording facial
expressions can be recorded by users’ webcams, if they agree to; and doubts can be solved online
with FAQs or members of the evaluation team that are available to do so. Still, it is possible to
consider using another evaluation method, but adapting the method to sundry situations may be
important and make more sense, once it is a way to extract similar data from the in person
experiment. Though, this adaptation demands more research and study.
About the game itself, there are several topics to discuss. The evaluation raised many issues
that turned into new features to be implemented; which demand much work, new
implementation and redesign included. The Attention axis, despite of being the one with the
higher scores in the Likert-scale, was also the one who received more comments and suggestions.
Several interface issues were pointed, such as the fact that some boss images contain very small
or confusing representations; the ship abduction effect can make the player think he is destroying
the ship instead of helping it; the clickable areas of the game are not well highlighted/indicated.
These are features that will be redesigned in a next step of the research, in which the game will be
completely rethought in terms of design and implementation; this is necessary to maintain the
consistence of the game as a whole, once it intends to offer an immersive environment to
Japanese language students, that would not be complete with a very well designed interface.
Other new features are already solved, as keeping the music playing during context-help, more
option buttons during the levels, and the new modes and levels are in design process.
The Relevance axis raised considerable questions too, as the implementation of contexthelp for bosses, and the possibility to navigate through the helps of previous levels. These
features are already implemented, as well as another help, with less hints, for medium difficulty
mode, in order to reinforce the learning experience. The new modes proposed for this axis’
analysis are also in design process, as the modification of some keyboard shortcuts that the users
pointed as non-intuitive.
127
The axis of Confidence brought few, but important new features, such as the already
implemented exhibition of roma-ji for missed kanas at the end of each level. Another interesting
suggestion was the idea of the game to give recommendations to the student-player, this can also
reinforce the learning nature of the game. Some users also commented the desire of having their
results shared and compared with other players, and this is interesting because in the interview
form, a question was directed to the possibility of having an online server with some social
features, though this was not implemented at all, but it was already an idea discussed by the
Karuchā’s development team.
The Satisfaction axis is the one whose new features are all left to implement; this axis raised
more complex questions, as the development of an elaborated scoring system, the development
of the game to another OS and platforms (the latter requires several thinking, once it can
embrace other devices with different input characteristics), and the generation and presentation
in real time of all the data, similar to what were collected in the experiment; but in the online
feature, each player should have an account that saves, processes and presents all the data in
graphics, diagrams and with customizable options, in addition to the option to share it to other
social networks. This axis showed that there is a series of features that may seem basic and
simple, but that demand complex thinking to maintain everything working and making sense,
mainly in the context of an educational game, to continue offering a good balance between
learning and fun, keeping also the learning context presented in the interface elements and
interaction.
8.5 Conclusion
This chapter presented the application of the method for evaluation of motivational aspects of
educational games, describing all the steps for one specific evaluation scenario, including results.
The method was applied in Karuchā Ships Invaders educational game and the results showed
that the game is a powerful influence to Japanese language students, since the beginners and
extending to advanced students. The evaluation also brought to light several issues that were
turned into new features to be included in the game. It is noteworthy that several of these new
features are already implemented after the accomplishment of the experiment.
As future work, we indicate the accomplishment of a study to evaluate the possibility of
using the method away (not in person), to achieve new data from the players of the online server,
and also to verify the possibility of the method to embrace evaluation of online educational
games. Also, for Karuchā, we indicate the implementation of the new features that are still open,
and to introduce a katakana mode in the game.
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After all the research done, the main decision made to be accomplished, even out of the present
work/text, is the improvement of Karuchā Ships Invaders, mainly, by the availability of an online
server, in which users can create accounts and have several motivational and educational
resources to explore the game; these features are already being developed in beta version. Also,
together with it, is the implementation of the new difficulty modes proposed, which are already
being designed to fit the game. From now on, Karuchā Ships Invaders tends to grow and be
improved even more, opening opportunities even to new research themes in this context.
Capítulo 9
9 Conclusões
Neste capítulo, apresentamos um resumo de cada capítulo anterior aqui apresentado, apontando
sua importância e relevância para a pesquisa como um todo, como também os resultados
alcançados com cada um deles e os objetivos específicos que cada um foi responsável por
realizar.
9.1 Trabalho Realizado
Através do levantamento do Estado da Arte de ferramentas computacionais para auxílio ao
ensino de japonês, foi constatado que apesar de existirem diversos aplicativos, hardwares e
softwares, estes não estão ao alcance do grande público e não são efetivamente utilizados pelos
estudantes do idioma. Já no levantamento do Estado da Prática das ferramentas web, foi possível
observar os tipos de aplicações que de fato são utilizadas pelos estudantes e determinar seus
pontos fortes e fracos. Foi observado sobre estes aplicativos, como um ponto fraco, a dificuldade
de utilizá-los em dispositivos móveis, e sendo esta uma grande tendência atual, este ponto acaba
por tornar-se de considerável importância ao se pensar no aprendizado de língua japonesa por
esse tipo de meio. A partir disso, foi feito um levantamento de aplicativos para dispositivos
móveis focado na plataforma Android, e esse estudo ofereceu novas perspectivas com relação às
vantagens e desvantagens desse tipo de aplicação e seus contextos de uso. Os três levantamentos
citados foram de vital importância para embasar a continuidade do estudo, descrita a seguir.
Após realizados os levantamentos de inúmeras ferramentas CALL para o contexto de
japonês, foi desenvolvido um jogo – Karuchā Ships Invaders – que traz a proposta de ensinar
conceitos básicos da língua e cultura do Japão, com foco no – mas não limitado ao – público
brasileiro de estudantes de japonês. A atual pesquisa realizou o desenvolvimento completo do
130
Game Design, bem como avaliações de aspectos de interface e interação; e de aspectos
motivacionais do jogo. As avaliações realizadas com experts e usuários em perspectiva mostraram
questões a serem melhoradas na ferramenta, bem como nos métodos de avaliação, uma vez que o
presente trabalho também propõe métodos de avaliação baseados em heurísticas.
9.2 Contribuições
 Capítulos 2, 3 e 4: Estes capítulos foram de vital importância para a análise das
ferramentas já existentes no contexto de nossa pesquisa, bem como para avaliar pontos
fortes e fracos das ferramentas atuais, ajudando a alcançar nosso primeiro e segundo
objetivos específicos (“Identificação dos principais pontos fortes e fracos dos jogos
atuais” e “Análise de tecnologias/plataformas”).
Publicações: Marciano, J.N., Miranda, L.C. and Miranda, E.E.C. Aprendizagem da
Língua Japonesa Apoiada por Ferramentas Computacionais: Estado da Arte e Desafios
para a Comunidade Latino-Americana. In Proc. CLEI 2012, © IEEE (2012), 1-10.
Marciano, J.N., Miranda, L.C. and Miranda, E.E.C. Japanese CALL web tools: Identifying
and evaluating their multimedia behaviour in android OS. In Proc. EdMedia 2013, AACE
(2013), 1087-1096.
Marciano, J.N., Miranda, L.C., Miranda, E.E.C. and Pereira, R. Android MALL apps for
Japanese language: identifying and eliciting interface/interaction requirements through the
semiotic framework. In Proc. CLEI 2013, © IEEE (2013), 220-230.
 Capítulo 5: Este capítulo foi responsável por alcançar o terceiro, quarto e quinto
objetivos específicos de nossa pesquisa (“Estudo de elementos de jogos educacionais”,
“Desenvolvimento do game design” e “Implementação”); nele está contido todo o
processo de concepção e desenvolvimento da primeira versão do jogo Karuchā Ships
Invaders, descrevendo-o em detalhes (regras, jogabilidade, prêmios, proposta de ensino).
Publicações: Marciano, J.N., Ferreira, A.L.S., Correia, A.C.C., Miranda, L.C., Miranda,
E.E.C. . Karuchā Ships Invaders: Cultural Issues on the Design/Development of a
Japanese CALL Game made by/to Brazilians. In: XII Simpósio Brasileiro de Jogos e
Entretenimento Digital (SBGames), 2013, São Paulo, SP. Anais do XII Simpósio
Brasileiro de Jogos e Entretenimento Digital. Porto Alegre, RS. SBC (2013), 172-180.
 Capítulos 6: Este capítulo cumpre o sexto objetivo específico da pesquisa (“Avaliação de
interface e interação”). Realizamos o estudo de diversos métodos de avaliação de
interface, optando pela avaliação heurística e adaptando um método já existente para
realizar a avaliação de Karuchā Ships Invaders. Neste capítulo, também apresentamos os
resultados extraídos da avaliação, apresentando melhorias técnicas a serem realizadas no
jogo.
131
Capítulo 9.Conlusões
 Capítulos 7 e 8: A união destes dois capítulos cumpre o sexto objetivo específico da
pesquisa (“Testes com usuário (motivação)”). No capítulo 7 temos o estudo do método
de avaliação, que se desenvolve em uma nova proposta de como avaliar aspectos
motivacionais no contexto de jogos educacionais, com foco do desenvolvimento e
validação do método. Já o capítulo 8 traz os resultados do método para o jogo Karuchā
Ships Invaders, com foco nos pontos fortes do jogo, nos novos requisitos (features) que
surgiram devido aos comentários dos usuários e nas melhorias necessárias a serem feitas
no jogo.
Publicações: Marciano, J.N., Miranda, L.C. and Miranda, E.E.C.: Evaluation of
motivational aspects in educational media and technology. In: 26th World Conference on
Educational Media and Technology (2014), pp. 780–787, © AACE 2014.
9.3 Perspectivas e Trabalhos Futuros
A realização deste trabalho, com suas contribuições, dá-nos a oportunidade de seguir
pesquisando este campo da ciência que são as ferramentas computacionais com foco educacional.
Foi possível cumprir diversas metas, e ao longo desse estudo, é perceptível o quanto a área
oferece em termos de oportunidade de pesquisa. As contribuições aqui geradas despertam novas
questões de pesquisa que podem ser estudadas a fundo, gerando diversos outros trabalhos.
Como trabalhos futuros, indicamos dar continuidade à evolução do Karuchā Ships
Invaders, com a intenção de prover, para um público ainda maior, uma ferramenta de apoio ao
aprendizado do idioma japonês. Também indicamos o estudo e desenvolvimento de outros tipos
de ferramentas, como um sistema de tutoria, e que possam abranger outras habilidades
linguísticas, como também outros aspectos da língua japonesa.
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