Educational Histories and Language Acquisition in Japan

In this assignment five student profiles are presented. The profiles are based on interviews conducted with students at a private university. The students are long term foreign residents of Japan who entered the Japanese educational system at various ages and as such all share the experience of having learned Japanese as a second language. In the first part of this project a brief description of the students\u27 present educational environment and a description of the interview process is given. In the second part the students\u27 profiles are presented. Finally, using students\u27 educational experiences and self-evaluations of their Japanese language proficiency an attempt is made to draw some conclusions concerning the role the Japanese education system has played in the various degrees of success each student has achieved in acquiring Japanese language proficiency and cultural adjustment to life in Japa