Hanasu: Interactive Japanese language m-learning application to support listening and speaking exercise

The Japanese language is not only one of the most favorite foreign languages in Indonesian higher education, but it is also considered a difficult foreign language to learn. This fact creates many mobile learning (m-learning) applications that were developed to help learners learn the Japanese language independently. Existing Japanese m-learning apps concentrate only on improving vocabulary, writing and reading skills. Although improving vocabulary and reading skills are important, practicing Japanese pronunciation is also crucial in fundamental Japanese learning. This study introduces the idea of utilizing the listening and speaking exercise in the M-learning implementation to provide learners with a new experience in term of Japanese language learning method. In addition, this paper also describes preliminary learning outcomes from a small-scale assessment of the learners when they are using the speaking input in m-learning. Evaluation result indicates that the listening and speaking method is feasible for future implementation of m-learning with promising learning outcome enhancement compared to the conventional learning method.