The Routledge Intermediate to Advanced Japanese Reader: A Genre-Based Approach to Reading as a Social Practice

The Routledge Intermediate to Advanced Japanese Reader: A Genre-Based Approach to Reading as a Social Practice is designed for intermediate to advanced learners of Japanese and presents 25 authentic texts taken from a wide range of media and literary sources which promote deeper understanding of Japan among readers. The book is divided into 10 genre-based chapters, allowing the learner to focus on the textual features relevant to that genre.

Key features include:

• Selected texts covering topics related to Japanese language, society and culture encountered in the Japanese media, from news reports through to interviews, book reviews, short stories and editorials
• Wordlists for challenging vocabulary and kanji provided throughout to aid comprehension and learning
• Pre-reading activities enabling familiarity with the topic, the text’s background and words to be encountered in the reading texts
• Short grammar explanations of essential structures
• Questions to help comprehension, raise awareness of genre features, promote critical reading, and to think more deeply about the content
• Opportunities to write texts, utilising what students have learned by reading the texts
• Vocabulary and grammar lists at the back of the book.

The Routledge Intermediate to Advanced Japanese Reader emphasises reading as a purposeful social act which requires readers to make meanings of texts by considering the author’s choices in language (scripts, vocabulary, styles) in the texts. The learners are guided to situate each text in society (for example, the author, target audience, social-cultural background related to the subject), in order to understand the social significance of reading and writing. This book aims to help learners develop the ability to critically read and write in Japanese for their own social purposes.

It is suitable for both class use and independent study.