Developing sociolinguistic awareness through Japanese virtual linguistic landscapes in Sakubun classroom

Sociolinguistic awareness is crucial for L2 learners because language is not just a set of grammatical rules and vocabulary; it is deeply intertwined with social and cultural context. The linguistic landscape serves as a conduit for discerning facets of language use in a given community. This study focuses on raising sociolinguistic awareness among L2 learners by utilising a virtual linguistic landscape in a pre-advanced Japanese writing class. We adopt a qualitative methodology to examine team-based projects within this writing class at a state university in Indonesia. The participants are third-year university students at an intermediate B1 level of CEFR standard. The course has 38 enrolled students, all included in this study. Our findings reveal that by analysing linguistic landscapes, students progress through stages of noticing and being aware of the multilingualism prevalent in their virtual environment. The project enables students to simulate the experience of navigating Japan by interacting with public signs in Japanese despite being geographically distant from the actual settings. It offers an intercultural experience that has the potential to enhance Japanese language education in Indonesia, especially as direct contact with the Japanese language environment, such as public signage in Japan, is typically unattainable for these learners.