<p>This study addressed the use and perception of Japanese self-reference terms for Japanese native speakers and second language (L2) learners of Japanese. Participants completed a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) and a Felicity Judgment Task (FJT) for quantitative analysis. Individual follow-up interviews were also conducted, which provided additional insight into native speakers’ and learners’ understandings of the uses of self-reference terms in Japanese. The results indicated that overall Japanese native speakers employed different self-reference terms depending on gender (of the speaker and listener), power differences, and situational formality. While some of the findings related to Japanese native speakers’ use and perception of self-reference terms align with previous studies, such as the use of the self-reference term <i>watashi</i> when speaking with higher power listeners (e.g., Ide, 1990b), there were new findings regarding the usage of other self-reference terms including <i>ore</i>, <i>jibun</i>, and <i>uchi</i>.</p><p> </p><p><br></p><p>This study also investigated the effect of a pedagogical intervention for L2 learners focused on Japanese self-reference terms. In addition to the DCT and FJT (as pre, post, and delayed post-test) and individual follow-up interviews, L2 learners also participated in a myriad of other classroom intervention activities within a learners-as-researchers framework (e.g., Tanaka, 1997; Ishihara, 2006) about Japanese self-reference terms (e.g., blog entries, interviews with Japanese native speakers). The L2 DCT and FJT results indicated that before the pedagogical intervention, L2 learners relied heavily on <i>watashi </i>while neglecting other self-reference options compared to Japanese native speakers. After the intervention, L2 learners were able to employ a broader range of self-reference terms (e.g., <i>ore</i>, <i>boku, atashi</i>). This indicates that the intervention helped facilitate L2 learners’ pragmatic competence with self-reference terms. The analysis of L2 usage of self-reference terms in blog entries and individual interviews with learners indicated that some learners employed different self-reference terms without resistance, while others displayed a stronger resistance to using new self-reference terms. Some learners overcame this resistance over the course of the semester, while others stayed with <i>watashi</i> until the end of the semester. Collectively, the results indicate development in pragmatic competence and also various developmental trajectories for different learners.</p><p><br></p>