A Study on the Process of Learning Japanese Observed from the Utterances of Intermediate Level Learners in Oral Test

This paper discusses the features of utterances of JSL learners who have finished an intermediate course at Yokohama National University. SLearners took a final test on listening comprehension. We provided two types of listening materials; (A)an article of newspaper, (B)a conversation about the same topic as (A). After the learners had listened each material, they were required to tell a gist of it. The analysis of listening process indicates some common learning strategies. First, the learners catch the repeated words selectively in listening. And secondly, they understand the conversation more easily than article. Thirdly, taking a note is effective to summarize the content. As concerns the speaking process, learners showed different individualities, which suggest the existence of various strategies. Japanese teachers should make JSL adult learners to realize the importance of learning strategies