An Analysis of Students’ Hiragana Letters Mastery at Japanese For General Purpose Course of Universitas Negeri Padang

This research was done due to the importance of Hiragana letters mastery by beginner Japanese students, especially students of Japanese for General Purpose Course of Universitas Negeri Padang. This is because the Hiragana letters are used in the teaching and learning process. The large number of Hiragana letters makes the students find it difficult to learn. In addition, the Hiragana letters have many similarities in forms. Moreover, the order of writing, intonation, pronunciation (hatsuon), double consonants (sakuon), and long vowels must also be paid attention well. This descriptive quantitative research aims at determining the students’ abilities to write and read the Hiragana letters in Japanese for General Purpose Course. It also includes the obstacles they experienced in the teaching and learning process as well as the efforts they made to overcome those difficulties. Based on the test results, it is found that the students’ abilities to read the Hiragana letters as obtained from the multiple choice test (59.4) are categorized as sufficient. Meanwhile, their abilities to write as obtained from the essay test (53.9) are categorized as low. It requires efforts from both lecturers and students to improve the students’ mastery. This research is designed to provide an overview to lecturers teaching the Japanese for General Purpose Course at Universitas Negeri Padang about the students' abilities. The results are also expected to be taken into consideration for lecturers in designing their learning strategies, teaching materials, and learning evaluation.