The Development of Katakana Characters’ Recognition Ability by Using Association Method and Writing Practice Sheets for Secondary School Students

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: 1) to develop the students’ ability of Katakana characters’ recognition by using association method and writing practice sheets in order to pass the criterion of 70% of the test score; 2) to study the students' opinions on learning activities. The target group of this study consisted of 20 students of Srikranuanwittayakhom School, selected by purposive sampling. This study implemented action research procedure comprising three spirals of action. Three categories of the research instruments were used in the current study, including 1) Experiment tools consisting of lesson plans and writing practice sheets, 2) Assessment tools consisting of end-of-spiral quizzes and post-test, and 3) Reflectional tools consisting of questionnaire and teaching record form. The collected data were analysed by means of computing arithmetic mean, percentage, and standard deviation. The findings were summarized and presented in the form of a descriptive report. The study reported the following findings: 1) The mean scores of all tests from the first to the fourth end–of-spiral quizzes as well as post-test passed the passing criterion; 94%, 97%, 92.6%, 90.8%, and 91.7%. 2) The overall image of student’s opinions on learning activities reached the “Strongly Agree level”.  The results of this study could be applied in teaching Katakana characters to Thai learners of Japanese in order to memorize Japanese characters more effectively.