Höfundur: Yayoi Mizoguchi

Leiðbeinendur: Charlotte Eliza Wolff og Megumi Nishida

Ágrip/Efni:
This thesis is based on action research on my work as a teacher-researcher (Stenhouse, 1975). The key focus in this study was how I grew professionally and personally through giving feedback on Japanese second language (L2) of my students’ writing at the University of Iceland. I have taught Japanese as a second language in Iceland since 2007 and have had many opportunities to correct L2 Japanese writing. I noticed that my students made many Japanese grammar mistakes in their writing. Feedback could help them reduce the grammatical errors in accordance with the theory of Ferris and Roberts (2001). I began to work on my master’s thesis in 2012 before I postponed my studies. I realized my focus shifted from Japanese particles to feedback when I restarted my master’s thesis in 2024-2025. The data was collected through L2 Japanese writing assignments, Jibun Techo journals, and questionnaires to my students. There were three phases in this action research: conflicts, reflection, and professional and personal growth. I faced many issues and analyzed my conflicts by reflecting thoroughly, for example, by having collaborative dialogue with my critical friend. I realized flexibility was the key to overcoming my challenges. In conclusion, I faced problems due to cultural differences and solved them by accepting the difference. Flexibility allowed me to accept the difference and helped me to be a hybrid educator who combines the purposefully chosen resources from local and own cultures (Nishida, 2003).

Keywords: feedback, action research, teacher-researcher, critical friend, journaling