Japanese Language Teaching at a University in Hanoi, Vietnam: A Survey on Students’ Challenges and Preferred Learning Support

Difficulty in learning Japanese at the university level is often described in terms of discrete skills or linguistic components. What remains less clear is where these difficulties arise in actual use, and what kinds of support learners find workable in non-immersion contexts. This study draws on questionnaire data from 133 undergraduate students in Hanoi to examine both perceived challenges and preferred forms of support. What stands out is not simply variation across skills but that difficulty intensifies at the point where knowledge has to be used. This is most visible in regard to speaking—particularly in expressing ideas and managing anxiety under time pressure—but similar tensions also appear in listening and reading, where comprehension does not always hold in real-time processing. These patterns are reinforced by limited opportunities for use and uneven continuity in self-directed learning. Students’ preferences follow these points of strain. Structure and feedback come first, while cultural materials and digital tools matter in how they extend learning beyond the classroom. The issue, then, is less how much learners know than how that knowledge applied—and whether that use can be sustained over time.