Analysis of Japanese language proficiency of Japanese-American college students

The purposes of this study were (a) to ascertain how proficient Japanese-American college students---especially Shin-Nisei (new second generation) students are in Japanese and (b) to determine how each student's background related to his or her proficiency level.;Twelve Shin-Nisei students participated in this research. I used the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Test and a multiple-choice test based on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test to determine their levels of proficiency. I conducted background interviews to obtain relevant information regarding the Japanese language background.;The result indicated that: the Shin-Nisei students' levels of oral proficiency varied but their listening skills were highly developed regardless of their proficiency level in other skill areas. All my subjects except Student I passed the JLPT Level 3. However, scores of Level 2 were varied from student to student. I did not find a consistent relationship between their scores and their background information.