Teaching Japanese Onomatopoeia: Challenges and Possible Solutions

Japanese onomatopoeia relates not only to the imitation of a sound as in Indo-European languages but also to the description of appearances, feelings, atmosphere, conditions and natural processes. Onomatopoetic words compose an essential part of the Japanese lexicon and are utilised in written and spoken language, in formal and informal speech. Although native Japanese speakers use such expressions on a day-to-day basis, Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) learners struggle to understand and use them properly. Recently, representation of Japanese onomatopoeia in language education has been investigated by many scholars. This study aims to define main problems Russian JFL students face and add evidence to the research on the effective Japanese onomatopoeia teaching practices. The multi-method research design including content analysis and a small-scale survey was employed to study useful Japanese onomatopoeia teaching methods. Also, there is a good possibility that our study might be of practical use to JFL teachers and scholars exploring new methods of teaching Japanese onomatopoeia because we offer a guideline with instructions on how to teach onomatopoetic expressions to Russian JFL learners and propose specific exercises to help students overcome the difficulties they experience.