Japanese Pop Culture for Language Learning: A Quantitative Study on Motivation and Japanese Language Skills Among Japanese Language Students in Indonesia

Via Luviana Dewanty; Ghaida Farisya; Dewi Kusrini

doi:10.14710/kiryoku.v9i1.238-250

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/kiryoku.v9i1.238-250

Japanese Pop Culture for Language Learning: A Quantitative Study on Motivation and Japanese Language Skills Among Japanese Language Students in Indonesia

*Via Luviana Dewanty

- Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia

Ghaida Farisya - Universitas Garut, Indonesia

Dewi Kusrini - Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia

BibTex Citation Data :

@article{KIRYOKU70344,
    author = {Via Dewanty and Ghaida Farisya and Dewi Kusrini},
    title = {Japanese Pop Culture for Language Learning: A Quantitative Study on Motivation and Japanese Language Skills Among Japanese Language Students in Indonesia},
    journal = {KIRYOKU},
  volume = {9},
    number = {1},
    year = {2025},
    keywords = {Foreign language learning; Japanese language learning; Japanese Pop Culture; Pop culture},
    abstract = {This quantitative study investigates the impact of Japanese Pop Culture (JPC) on the motivation and Japanese language skills of Japanese language study program students in Indonesia. This research is based on theories about the role of pop culture in foreign language learning, especially the role of JPC in students' interest in Japanese. Questionnaires related to interest in learning Japanese, motivation to learn Japanese, activities associated with JPC outside of lectures, and improving Japanese language skills were distributed to 70 Japanese language study program students from several universities in Indonesia. The results of data analysis show that JPC plays a big role in motivating students to study Japanese and improve their Japanese language skills. Based on the questionnaire results, all respondents were interested in and liked JPC. Over half of the respondents were JPC fans before becoming Japanese language study program students. Regarding motivation to study Japanese, as many as 63% of students were motivated to become students in the Japanese language study program because they liked JPC before. More than 80% of respondents carry out JPC activities by watching anime and listening to Japanese music. Half of the respondents stated that they could get to know Japan and understand Japanese people better by consuming JPC. In contrast, more than 80% of respondents felt benefits in increasing their ability and understanding of Japanese after consuming JPC. It is hoped that the results of this research can be used as a basis or reference for further research on using JPC in Japanese language learning.},
   issn = {2581-0960},   pages = {238--250}  doi = {10.14710/kiryoku.v9i1.238-250},
    url = {https://ejournal.undip.ac.id/index.php/kiryoku/article/view/70344}
}

Citation Format:

Abstract

This quantitative study investigates the impact of Japanese Pop Culture (JPC) on the motivation and Japanese language skills of Japanese language study program students in Indonesia. This research is based on theories about the role of pop culture in foreign language learning, especially the role of JPC in students' interest in Japanese. Questionnaires related to interest in learning Japanese, motivation to learn Japanese, activities associated with JPC outside of lectures, and improving Japanese language skills were distributed to 70 Japanese language study program students from several universities in Indonesia. The results of data analysis show that JPC plays a big role in motivating students to study Japanese and improve their Japanese language skills. Based on the questionnaire results, all respondents were interested in and liked JPC. Over half of the respondents were JPC fans before becoming Japanese language study program students. Regarding motivation to study Japanese, as many as 63% of students were motivated to become students in the Japanese language study program because they liked JPC before. More than 80% of respondents carry out JPC activities by watching anime and listening to Japanese music. Half of the respondents stated that they could get to know Japan and understand Japanese people better by consuming JPC. In contrast, more than 80% of respondents felt benefits in increasing their ability and understanding of Japanese after consuming JPC. It is hoped that the results of this research can be used as a basis or reference for further research on using JPC in Japanese language learning.

Note: This article has supplementary file(s).

Fulltext View|Download | common.other

COPYRIGHT TRANSFER AGREEMENT FOR PUBLISHING (CTAP) FORM

Subject
Type	Other
	Download (111KB) Indexing metadata

Keywords: Foreign language learning; Japanese language learning; Japanese Pop Culture; Pop culture

Article Metrics:

Article Info

Section: Articles

Language : ID

In Vol 9, No 1 (2025): Kiryoku: Jurnal Studi Kejepangan

Recent articles

Strategi Penjualan Toko Makanan Halal dan Peran Komunitas Muslim Pada Masa Pandemi Covid-19 di Jepang Membangun Masa Depan Berkelanjutan: Kebutuhan Gender, Pendidikan, dan Tenaga Kerja Generasi Z di Negara Jepang, Korea Selatan dan Indonesia Kyushoku di Jepang Sebagai Referensi Program Makan Bergizi Gratis di Indonesia More recent articles

Most cited articles

Verba Kompon Hajimeru, Dasu, Dan Kakeru Sebagai Penanda Aspek Inkoatif Bahasa Jepang More cited articles

Aida, N. Z., Putri, R. A., Putri, A., Arrahmah, T. S., Kusrini, D., & Dewanty, V. L. (2021). Can Japanese Learners Pass the JLPT N3 by Reading A3! Visual Novel?. Chi'e: Journal of Japanese Learning and Teaching, 9(2), 111-118. https://doi.org/10.15294/chie.v9i2.48534
Armour, W. S., & Iida, S. (2016). Are Australian fans of anime and manga motivated to learn Japanese language?. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 36(1), 31-47. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2014.922459
Bangsa, B. P., & Sihombing, L. H. (2022). The Impact of Japanese Popular Culture to Indonesian younger Generation: A Case Study of PUNICO. Humaniora, 13(3), 241- 246. https://doi.org/10.21512/humaniora.v13i3.8131
Chan, Y. H., Wong, N. L., & Ng, L. L. (2017). Japanese language students’perception of using anime as a teaching tool. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(1), 93-104. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i1.6862
Chan, Y. H., & Wong, N. L. (2017). Learning Japanese through anime. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 8(3), 485. http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0803.06
Dewanty, V. L., Kusrini, D., & Putri, R. A. (2022). Literature Review: Penggunaan komik dalam pembelajaran bahasa asing untuk pengembangan media ajar bahasa Jepang berfokus pada bentuk dan tampilan komik. Chi'e: Journal of Japanese Learning and Teaching, 10(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.15294/chie.v10i1.48541
Dipa, D. J., Basri, M. S., & Yohani, A. M. (2023). Efektivitas manga Doraemon sebagai media pembelajaran terhadap penguasaan hiragana pada siswa SMAN 4 Pekanbaru. KIRYOKU, 7(1), 126-132. https://doi.org/10.14710/kiryoku.v7i1.126-132
Djafri, F., & Wahidati, L. (2020). Study in Japan and the Motivation of Japanese Language Learners in Higher Educational Institutions in Indonesia. Izumi, 9 (2), 112–120. https://doi.org/10.14710/izumi.9.2.112-120
Faisal, M. A., Lusiana, Y., & Firmansyah, D. B. (2022). Hegemonisasi budaya populer Jepang dalam komunitas Otaku. Kiryoku, 6(1), 9-15. https://doi.org/10.14710/kiryoku.v6i1.9- 15
Gale, J. A. (2012). Japanese popular culture as a major motivation for Japanese language study (Doctoral dissertation, San Francisco State University)
Han, C. Y., & Ling, W. N. (2017). The Use of Anime in Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language. Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Technology, 5(2), 68-78. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1142396
Hatami, W. (2018). Popular culture of Japanese anime in the digital age and the impact on nationalism of young Indonesian citizens. Journal of Social Studies (JSS), 14(1), 37-47. https://doi.org/10.21831/jss.v14i1.21652
Hashimoto, K. (Ed.). (2018). Japanese language and soft power in Asia. Springer Singapore
Imura, T. (2018). A portrait of Japanese popular culture fans who study Japanese at an Australian university: Motivation and activities beyond the classroom. East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, 4(2), 171-188. https://doi.org/10.1386/eapc.4.2.171_1
Iwabuchi, K. (2015). Pop-culture diplomacy in Japan: Soft power, nation branding and the question of ‘international cultural exchange’. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 21(4), 419-432
Karunia, L. F., & Masrokhah, Y. (2023). Pengaruh media pembelajaran bahasa Jepang dengan media Youtube untuk meningkatkan skill menghafal dan menulis berbahasa Jepang untuk siswa kelas X SMA. KIRYOKU, 7(1), 147-155. 10.14710/kiryoku.v7i1.147-155
Klaehn, J. (2023). Talking manga: bringing Japanese pop culture to the North American mainstream. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 14(1), 119-133. https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2021.1926300
Kusrini, D., Dewanty, V. L., & Hidayat, N. N. (2020, December). The development of comics as a media to improve Japanese writing skill. In 4th International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (ICOLLITE 2020) (pp. 155-163). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201215.024
Mufidah, N. S. (2024). Abreviasi dalam komunitas penggemar musikal Touken Ranbu di media sosial X: Kajian morfologi. KIRYOKU, 8(2), 45-59. https://doi.org/10.14710/kiryoku.v8i2.253-267
Oliveira, R. M. M. S. (2022). Exposure to Anime as Motivation for Learning Japanese Language and Culture in Portugal (Doctoral dissertation, Instituto Politecnico do Porto (Portugal))
Osumi, A. (2019). Exploring motivation for learning Japanese as a foreign language (Master's thesis, Purdue University)
Rawlins, J. L. (2014). Cultural alchemist: the cultural diffusion of anime and manga (Master’s Thesis, California State University)
Severino, F. S., & Silva, F. (2023). The trend of Japanese pop culture and its differentiating approach through event tourism. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 14(4), 475-487. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEFM-01-2023-0001
Shamoon, D. (2010). Teaching Japanese popular culture. ASIANetwork Exchange A Journal for Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts, 17(2). http://doi.org/10.16995/ane.204
Toyoshima, N. (2013). Emergent processes of language acquisition: Japanese language learning and the consumption of Japanese cultural products in Thailand. Southeast Asian Studies, 2(2), 285-321. https://doi.org/10.20495/seas.2.2_285
Williams, K. L. (2006). The impact of popular culture fandom on perceptions of Japanese language and culture learning: The case of student anime fans (Dissertation, The University of Texas)
Wishnoebroto, W., Prabowo, R. M., & Jhon, A. (2017). The Influence of Cosplaying in Increasing Japanese Language and Culture Learning at Binus University. Humaniora, 8(4), 329-338. https://doi.org/10.21512/humaniora.v8i4.3872
Wisniawati, W., Rasiban, L. M., & Dewanty, V. L. (2022). Using Anime to Enhance Learning Motivation and Japanese Listening Skills. IJECA (International Journal of Education and Curriculum Application), 5(2), 155-163. https://doi.org/10.31764/ijeca.v5i2.9836

Last update:

No citation recorded.

Last update: 2025-04-19 04:56:18

No citation recorded.

Copyright Notice

Starting from 2017, the author(s) whose article is published in the Kiryoku journal attain the copyright for their article and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. By submitting the manuscript to Kiryoku, the author(s) agree with this policy. No special document approval is required.

The author(s) guarantee that:

their article is original, written by the mentioned author(s),
has never been published before,
does not contain statements that violate the law, and
does not violate the rights of others, is subject to copyright held exclusively by the author(s), is free from the rights of third parties, and the necessary written permission to quote from other sources has been obtained by the author(s).

The author(s) retain all rights to the published work, such as (but not limited to) the following rights:

Copyright and other proprietary rights related to the article, such as patents,
The right to use the substance of the article in its own future works, including lectures and books,
The right to reproduce the article for its own purposes,
The right to archive all versions of the article in any repository, and
The right to enter into separate additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of published versions of the article (for example, posting them to institutional repositories or publishing them in a book), acknowledging its initial publication in this journal (Kiryoku: Jurnal Studi Kejepangan).

Suppose the article was prepared jointly by more than one author. Each author submitting the manuscript warrants that all co-authors have given their permission to agree to copyright and license notices (agreements) on their behalf and notify co-authors of the terms of this policy. Kiryoku will not be held responsible for anything arising because of the writer's internal dispute. Kiryoku will only communicate with correspondence authors.

Authors should also understand that their articles (and any additional files, including data sets and analysis/computation data) will become publicly available once published. The license of published articles (and additional data) will be governed by a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Kiryoku allows users to copy, distribute, display and perform work under license. Users need to attribute the author(s) and Kiryoku to distribute works in journals and other publication media. Unless otherwise stated, the author(s) is a public entity as soon as the article is published.

Notes for Usage of Generative AI in Scientific Writing

The following guidance refers only to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process:

Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies should only be used in the writing process to improve the readability and language of the manuscript.
The technology must be applied with human oversight and control and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased.
Authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.
Authors must not list or cite AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author on the manuscript since authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans.
The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in scientific writing must be declared by adding a statement at the end of the manuscript when the paper is first submitted.
We do not permit the use of Generative AI or AI-assisted tools to create or alter images in submitted manuscripts.
The use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in the production of artwork such as for graphical abstracts is not permitted. The use of generative AI in the production of cover art may in some cases be allowed, if the author obtains prior permission from the journal editor and publisher, can demonstrate that all necessary rights have been cleared for the use of the relevant material, and ensures that there is correct content attribution.