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This study examines the effectiveness of imagery and electronic visual feedback in facilitating students' acquisition of Japanese pronunciation skills. The independent variables, animated graphic annotation (AGA) and immediate visual feedback (IVF) were integrated into a Japanese computer-assisted language learning (JCALL) program focused on the pronunciation of specific word pairs. Students enrolled in an elementary Japanese course in Malaysia were randomly divided into three groups and used three different versions of the program: (a) text + sound, (b) text + audio + AGA, and (c) text + audio + IVF. The results of the study showed that students in the text + audio + AGA group significantly outperformed students in the text + audio only group in pretest-posttest improvement in learning the pronunciation of (a) akusento 'pitch' words, (b) seion 'voiceless' and dakuon 'voiced' words and (c) tanon 'short vowel,' chouon 'long vowel,' and sokuon 'geminate consonants' words. Students in the text + audio +IVF group significantly outperformed students in the text + audio only group in learning akusento words and seion and dakuon words. There were no significant differences between the AGA and IVF groups.

This paper describes an experiment in which an attempt was made to show that Japanese Computer Assisted Language Learning (JCALL) with Animated Graphical Annotation (AGA) is more effective and useful in assisting learners to acquire Japanese language listening skills compared to JCALL without AGA. The independent variable in the experiment is AGA. The principal research question addressed was, “Does the AGA used in the JCALL contribute to the students’ overall pronunciation and listening performances in elementary Japanese language courses by looking into its AKUSENTO (symbol missing), SEION (symbol missing) and DAKUON (symbol missing) and TANON, CHOUON & SOKUON (symbol missing)?” The experiment was conducted in Malaysia last summer. One hundred and twelve students (25 male and 87 female) who were enrolled in Japanese language courses participated in this study. The students were randomly divided into two groups and the pre-test/post-test approach was used in this study. The results of the research showed AGA’s effectiveness in assisting the students to improve their listening skills. However, AGA appeared to be less effective in helping the students to improve their pronunciation skills.

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