Study on Asynchronous MES Teaching Approach for Discip line of College Japanese in Characteristic Campus of Agriculture-related Universities

M ing XU

Basic Course Department，Southwest University Rongchang Campus，Rongchang402460，China

With opening and constant sound development of China's economy，increasingly deepening of international communication and integration，more and more non-foreign language colleges and universities start setting up the discipline of College Japanese.The teaching effect of College Japanese influences understanding and knowledge of students about foreign countries and their ability of doing jobs related to Japanese.How to greatly improve teaching effect of College Japanese and make students grasp spoken ability and grammar of Japanese？We recommend asynchronous MES on the basis of10 years of teaching practice.

1 Scientific analysis on asynchronous MES for discipline of College Japanese in characteristic campus of agriculture-related universities

1.1 Origin of characteristic campusof agriculture-related universitiesSouthwest University Rongchang Campus is positioned as amulti-disciplinary characteristic campus.Itwas originated from Sichuan Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine.By 2015，it has had near 80 years of history.In the process of reform of China's higher education，it has experienced integration with Southwest Agricultural University and Southwest Normal University.Now，it is a characteristic multi-disciplinary campus.Characteristicmeans the sum of unique and outstanding features.It ismanifested at both material and spiritual level.In the campus，there aremainly traditional superior disciplines such as animal science，animalmedicine，aquaculture science，and also new disciplines focusing on marketing，information management，and information system of agricultural and livestock products.It is committed to providing human resources necessary for technical，marketing，business operation and management and organizations atall levels in the animalhusbandry and fishery fields.Now，the number of undergraduates is larger than 4000.More than 300 students choose learning College Japanese.

1.2 Analysis on asynchronous MES for College JapaneseIn 1977，the International Labor Organization launched the trainingmode of Modules of Employable Skills（MES）.MESwas developed in close consultationwith industry andmicroenterprises in the unorganized sector，state governments，experts and academia.It offers flexibility in the provision of vocational training to those who have limited education and cannot afford to be away from employment for long periodsof time.On the basisof deeply analyzing occupations and skills，it divides syllabus and teaching materials into different teachingmodules，so as to form block type teaching in strictaccordancewithworking standard（job specifications）［1］.At early stage，MESwasmainly applied in vocational education.At present，some universities have applied MES approach in fulltime education courses，such as marketing.At the beginning of the 1980s，Professor Li Shifa from Hubei University established asynchronous teaching.Withmore than 30 years of teaching practice，it hasmade outstanding achievements and is well known in the country.It is a learning process which has definite teaching aims，plans，and well-ordered organization.Studentsare themasters in learning，and teachers are guiders.Asynchronous teaching is a teaching method that organically united teachers'three guidance forms（teachers'individual guidance，classified guidance and guidance for all students）and students'five learning forms（students'self-study，study in pair，group study，consulting teachers and study all together）.It is a process that teachers adopt five-step guidancemethod to instruct students to study with six-step learningmethod［2］.

The essence of asynchronous MES is taking modular treatment of teaching content and conducting asynchronous teaching.The essence ofasynchronous teaching is to realize individualization of students'learning and make students becomemasters of learning，realize asynchronous teacher guidance，and bring into full play leading role of teachers in the process of students'learning［3］.Asynchronous teaching includes problem enriched instruction，topic enriched instruction，and integrated instruction.These three steps are relatively independent and also integrated.In the process of a teaching stage，problem enriched instruction is the basis of topic enriched instruction and integrated instruction and will run through the entire teaching process.If condition permits，all courses can take the problem enriched instruction.In the practice of College Japanese，we applied asynchronous six-step teaching approach［4］.Six-step approach combines the five step guidance system（teacher asking questions-indicatingmethods-making clear learning points-discussing-strengthening the effect）with＂students'self-learning-practice-listening-assignmentcorrection-summary＂.Specifically，it calls＂six step learning system＂＂students learning＂and places it behind the second step of teachers'five-step guidance.These six steps are not absolutely separated and not every asynchronous teaching classmust strictly complete these steps.

2 Implementation of asynchronousMES for discip line of College Japanese in characteristic cam pus of agriculture-related universities

Combining the essence of asynchronous MES，we made breakthrough in drawbacks of traditional College Japanese teaching，including focusing on teaching，lacking interaction，insufficient practice of spoken language，and less pertinentemployment skills.We improved the asynchronous teaching.For example，we divided knowledge theory into modules：vocabulary，grammar，syntax，text reading.Before teaching，we firstly designed key points of practice and self-learning.Then，we carried out teaching of corresponding vocabulary，grammar，and syntax.This way can greatly improve students'learning interest and teaching effect.

2.1 M odules of College JapaneseWhen dividing modules for College Japanese，we took account of application level of students after graduation.Students choosing to learn Japanese are interested in Japanese agricultural science and technology，culture，manufacturing industry，and the spirit of shokunin.Literally translated，＂shokunin＂are artists and craftsman who feel a deep obligation to ensure the best possible work.Some studentswant to apply agricultural service related jobs in Japan after graduation，and some students are interested in basic cultural knowledge.Considering characteristics of language，culture，application of Japanese，and possible trend of cognition level and future development of students in animal science，animalmedicine and marketing disciplines，we divided College Japanese into 5 modules，as shown in Fig.1.The first module in Fig.1 involves students'emotional concept of College Japanese.Generally，the introduction section of each course will touch upon theoretical knowledge system and cognition.College Japanese belongs to foreign language teaching，involves cross-cultural and transnational issues，and also involves cultural quality of students.In this module，teachers collect and compile development history of College Japanese，let students firstly know text，article，historicalmaterials，and video，and teachers can present contentof sub-modules，learn and communicatewith students，especially cooperative spirit，selfconfidence willingness and interest andmotivation.In thisway，it is able to change ideas and attitudes of students towards College Japanese，finally realize learning of Japanese and foreign language culture，and so as to become excellent students of foreign language culture.After solving the problem of emotional concept of College Japanese，students will have interest and motive force.Then，it enters the second module.Fear of difficulty is a common problem for students learning foreign languages，especially for skills of using foreign languages.For example，dumb Japanese or dumb English is often heard.In themodule of language skills，teachers make elaborate design of listening，spoken，reading and writing，design suitable text cases，short Japanese videos，dialogues，etc involving Japanese agricultural technologies，culture，manufacturing industry，and the spirit of shokunin，to attract students to learn Japanese.The thirdmodule is language knowledgemodule，including phonetics，vocabulary，grammar and syntax.These are basis of learning Japanese.This module needs much effort of teachers，to improve accuracy of students'pronunciation，vocabulary understanding and memory，and proficiency of grammar and syntax.Next is the fourth module.Under thismodule，there are sub-modules，such as resource，cognition，regulation，communication，and comprehensive strategies.Teachers should take advantage of various resources to interact with students，help students learn communication etiquette，with the aid of sand tables and scenes，and provide studentswith reading and comprehending homework to consolidate their learning.Finally，the module is cultural quality.In thismodule，teachers should design cultural background knowledge，historicalmaterials，cases，and videos using commercial，political and non-governmental activities，to improve quality and level of students'cross-cultural activities，and cultivate their speech and non-speech actions.Therefore，cultural background knowledge plays a great role of enriching language knowledge and skills，while speech and non-speech actions will lay certain foundation for improving students'communication ability in Japanese.

2.2 Asynchronous teaching of College JapaneseIn the context of times of Internet and mobile Internet，there are both hardware and software foundation for asynchronous teaching of College Japanese.After asynchronous teaching of College Japanese is modular，it is required to conduct 6 step asynchronous teaching using＂integration-separation-integration＂approach combining teachers'guidance and students'self-learning，as shown in Fig.2［5］.Before opening the class，teachers prepare discussion topics and targets according to presetmodules.

In class，teachers instructwith passion the theoretical knowledge for questions designed.In the module of separation（out class），teachers can draw support from network platform such as Internet and Mobile Internet to present outline of College Japanese for self-learning，discussion and preview.According to results of mutual and self checking，teachersmay give instructionsby groups or individuals，and consolidate the checking and make upper extension using modules previously designed，and change the submodules according to learning situations.Next，it enters themodule of integration（in class）teaching.Teachers can consolidate gains of students according to their learning situation，summarize and promote their theoretical knowledge of College Japanese and help them apply related Japanese.For example，teachers can help students solve some key problems in actual commercial and political affairs，to change situation of learning foreign language just for foreign language，improve their interest of learning College Japa-nese，and alsomeet the actual demands of those studentswanting to study in Japan.In this way，it repeats itself in endless cycles and enters the next＂integration-separation-integration asynchronous teaching＂process，and finally completes asynchronous MES process of College Japanese.

3 Points for attention in implementation of asynchronous MES for College Japanese

Implementation of asynchronous MES for College Japanese lifts College Japanese from general language learning to asynchronous advance bymodules.Combining demands of students，taking interests of students and future employment opportunity as basis，asynchronous MESmakes knowledgemore systematic，effectively utilizes teaching time，and raises teaching efficiency.Students can analyze and solve problems related to business and political affairs in Japanese.This can greatly raise interest of students in learning College Japanese and improve their ability of using Japanese.Students can select familiar industries according to their employment direction or interest.It is recommended to simulate language use and communication in Japanese，and pertinently analyze knowledge of College Japanese in language use，phonetics，grammar，and syntax，etc.

From the 10 years of continuous practice of asynchronous MESapproach for College Japanese，it proves that such approach calls for higher requirement for both teachersand students.Teachers needmakemore efforts and have indiscriminate love for every student，have strong democratic idea，carry out democratic classroom teaching according to differences，accumulate solid and broad theoretical knowledge and adequate operation skills，have high ability of regulation，and are good at innovation and implement diversified examination of students.Students should pay attention to improving their awareness of independence and regulation，respecting teachers，and conduct active learning.Otherwise，it is difficult to realize the expected effect of asynchronous MES approach for College Japanese.

4 Conclusions

Southwest University Rongchang Campus is positioned as amultidisciplinary characteristic campus.Every semester，more than 300 students choose learning College Japanese.The exploration in asynchronous MES for discipline of College Japanese in characteristic campus of agriculture-related universities conforms to laws of education and teaching development.Wemademodular design for discipline of College Japanese in emotional concept，language skill，language knowledge，learning strategy，and cultural quality combining students'demands and education and teaching rules.Relying on Internetand Mobile Internetaided teaching platform，it came up with＂Integration-Separation-Integration＂asynchronous teaching approach.The practice indicates that teaching effect of such approach is remarkable.With interaction of teachers and students and support of corresponding resources，the asynchronous MES for discipline of College Japanese will exert certain influence on promoting teaching effect of College Japanese in colleges and universities of China.

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