Cognitive processes and pedagogical intervention in acquisition of Japanese: Formulation of interlanguage grammar knowledge on "V-te iru"

Research Project

Project/Area Number	14580339
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Japanese language education
Research Institution	Sophia University
Principal Investigator	KOYANAGI Kaoru Sophia University, Faculty of Comparative Culture, associate professor, 比較文化学部, 助教授 (90306978)
Project Period (FY)	2002 – 2003
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2003)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000) Fiscal Year 2003: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000) Fiscal Year 2002: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
Keywords	Focus on Form / visual input enhancement / implicit learning / implicit memory / language aptitude / working memory / processing speed / Fucus on Form / 情報処理 / focus on Form / 暗示的学習 / 作動記憶
Research Abstract	This study investigated how learners' attention could be directed to the Japanese aspectual marker during reading. Previous SLA research shows that instruction where learners occasionally focus on a certain while maintaining the primarily focus on meaning. This is so-called "focus on form (FonF)." One of the FonF techniques is visual input enhancement where texts are enhanced by underlining and highlighting the target form. Visual input enhancement appeared to be more effective than exposure only in terms of the target-like use in free composition and the sentence preference test that was assumed to measure implicit memory, although the difference between the two was not statistically significant. In addition, processing speed and text memory might have been involved in learners' cognitive processes. Replication studies with improved measures and more subjects will be needed. Another research question was whether verb inflections (te-form of Japanese verbs) can be acquired through rule-based learning or lexical item-learning. It was found that native speakers of Japanese and learners of Japanese as a second language formulated different kinds of knowledge. Learners were better than native speakers in generating the te-form of pseudo-verbs, which suggested that learners formulated rule-based knowledge. Since current SLA research shows that implicit learning, i.e., without rules is superior to explicit learning in terms of accuracy and fluency, future research should use an experimental design to address this issue.