TGT (Teams Games Tournament) Cooperative Learning Model in Kanji Courses to Improve Japanese Vocabulary Mastery

Sep 28, 2026

Mastering kanji is a major challenge in Japanese learning because its complex, multi-stroke characters often intimidate students and hinder direct comprehension of kanji-based words. The difficulty particularly limits reading comprehension (dokkai) when kanji appears abundantly in texts. This study promotes cooperative learning through the TGT (Teams Games Tournament) model, using groups of 3–5 learners, to evaluate students’ JLPT N4 kanji vocabulary mastery and their responses.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

TGT (Teams Games Tournament) Cooperative Learning Model in Kanji Courses to Improve Japanese Vocabulary Mastery Alo Karyati*, Paramita Winny Hapsari Department of Japanese Literature, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universitas Pakuan, Indonesia *[Corresponding author email: alo.karyati@unpak.ac.id](Corresponding author email: alo.karyati@unpak.ac.id) Submitted: 6 January 2024, Reviewed: 15 January 2024, Edited: 17 January 2024, Accepted: 30 January 2024 ======== === ==================================================== Abstract Mastering kanji is a challenge for anyone studying the Japanese language. Due to its intricate nature, many students perceive kanji as an intimidating topic. The students'struggle with comprehending kanji directly impacts their ability to understand words written in kanji. Consequently, kids lack comprehension of the reading (dokkai) due to the abundance of kanji words inside it. To tackle this issue, it is necessary to develop a pedagogical paradigm that promotes cooperation among students, enabling them to effectively overcome challenges related to kanji. The TGT (Teams Games Tournament) model is a collaborative learning model that incorporates groups consisting of 3 to 5 individuals. The research aims to investigate the extent of your proficiency in mastering the JLPT N4 kanji vocabulary prior to utilizing the TGT (Teams Game Tournament) model. What is your proficiency in learning the JLPT N4 kanji vocabulary like after utilizing the TGT (Teams Games Tournament) approach? What is the students' response to studying kanji using the TGT (Teams Games Tournament) model? The research methodology employed is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The research focused on a population of 3rd semester students, consisting of a total of 22 individuals. The data gathering methods employed in this study involved the utilization of questionnaires and interviews conducted using Google Form. Meanwhile, the data analysis technique employs descriptive statistics to assess pretest and posttest scores. The findings of this study demonstrated a notable improvement in students' proficiency of JLPT N4 kanji vocabulary after the implementation of the TGT (Teams Game Tournament) cooperative learning paradigm. Keywords: Cooperative Model; Japanese Language; Kanji; TGT (Teams Games Tournament); Vocabulary INTRODUCTION Japanese is a distinctive and captivating foreign language. The use of four distinct types of letters in learning makes it both unique and intriguing. The characters included in this set are hiragana, katakana, kanji, and romaji. Rose (2019) also affirmed that the Japanese language employs four distinct sorts of letter characters: hiragana, katakana, kanji, and romaji. Due to the presence of these four distinct sorts of letters in Japanese, a significant number of individuals perceive the language as being challenging to acquire. A major challenge in acquiring proficiency in Japanese lies in the inclusion of kanji characters. Japanese language learners frequently encounter difficulties with these kanji characters. This phenomenon arises due to the abundant presence of writing sequences in kanji. Kanji characters are written in an order that starts with 1 stroke and can go up to more than 20 strokes. Many individuals perceive kanji as a complex topic. According to Firmansyah & Rahmawati (2018), kanji poses challenges for anyone learning the Japanese language. Mastering Kanji poses a significant difficulty in the process of acquiring proficiency in the Japanese language (Zimmerman & Mcmeekin, 2020) . Kanji is considered the most arduous character among the several sorts of characters studied in Japanese (Rasiban, 2018) . Kim (2018) asserts that learning kanji poses the greatest challenge for Japanese language learners who are not familiar with kanji. Based on this statement, it can be inferred that kanji is a challenging obstacle for Indonesian learners of the Ja

FAQs

What learning problem does the study focus on regarding kanji?

The study focuses on how the complexity of kanji and students’ difficulty comprehending kanji directly reduce their reading comprehension of kanji-based words.

What is the TGT (Teams Games Tournament) model used for in this research?

It is used as a cooperative learning paradigm where students work in groups of 3–5 to help learners overcome kanji-related challenges.

How does the study evaluate kanji vocabulary improvement?

It uses a mixed qualitative and quantitative method, with questionnaires and interviews, and applies descriptive statistics to compare pretest and posttest scores.

Sep 28, 2026

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