Self-Regulation in Second Language Learning: An Investigation of the Kanji-Learning Task

This study investigates how students of the Japanese language regulate the learning of kanji (Japanese written characters). Skill in reading kanji has an important effect on learners' progress in interpretive reading. Data collected over one year were drawn from interviews with 12 students. The study highlighted an inability for many students to control emotions, manage commitments, and control boredom and procrastination when studying kanji. Moreover, advanced learners were more prone to a loss of self-regulation due to frustration caused by a lack of progress in learning, or due to self-criticism over an inability to reach goals. This study raises an understanding of struggles faced by language learners and offers pedagogical implications for instructors to lessen the burden of kanji learning on students.