Learning Japanese script through storytelling and multimedia

Summary This paper offers a rationale for storytelling and multimedia in the context of learning the Japanese script Hiragana. There is a growing interest in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) of Japanese and the use of multimedia to achieve learning goals. The complexity of the Japanese writing system raises a lot of questions on how to accelerate and improve the process of learning Japanese scripts. In the domain of CALL and multimedia, this paper considers the methodological approach to language learning and presents a design of a multimedia tutorial for learning Japanese script Hiragana. The paper synthesizes multimedia and storytelling with its implications to learning and instructional design to inform creation of such a framework.