A Consideration About Competence in Kanji and their Teaching
abstract
This essay deals with the definition of ‘kanji competence’ from the point of view of the three main approaches to language in Japanese: shiru (to know), wakaru (to understand) and dekiru (to be able). After outlining competence, the essay proceeds to investigate how to carry on a comprehensive teaching process which takes into account: ‘who’ (are the learners), ‘what’ (they need to learn) and ‘how’ (to teach). The considerations presented here are based on the Author’s personal experience as a former learner, now reconsidered in his role as a teacher.
Keywords: Reading ability • Kanji competence • Kanji strings • Japanese written language • Teaching strategies