ABSTRACT
The first thing that comes to mind regarding the publishing of this book is how the numerous strategies have been integrated one after another into the Japanese program for the last 17 years at UNC Charlotte. All of these endeavors were meant to provide students with enjoyable moments and satisfying experiences and to improve their motivation levels. My desire has been that all of our students continue to study Japanese and proceed to the next higher level of classes. Whenever I try to incorporate a new strategy into our course or program, it is essential to know how it affected our students, whether it was accepted by our students, and whether it was effective or efficient for students through assisting their learning, solving their problems, responding to their questions, or inspiring students for further studies. Therefore, I conduct a research study to determine whether the new strategy has turned out beneficial or helpful for our students. Such studies are very important, as it may not be possible for us to find if students were pleased or disfavor it, and we must always strive to do what is best for the students. Strategies that are not accepted by students are discontinued immediately. On the other hand, if the strategy is clearly shown to be effective and was accepted by students as a helpful device, we continue it in the program, even though it may be time-consuming for instructors and require a lot of effort on their part.
