| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥2,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000)
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| Research Abstract |
It has been said that the phonological loop in working memory plays an important role in the vocabulary acquisition of children. The first aim of this study is, therefore, to make clear the relationship between the ability of children o repeat sound patterns, i.e. basic practice in foreign language learning, and the process of developing the phonological loop of the mother tongue through non-word repetition tasks. The next aim is to determine when we should start teaching English to children. After a two-year longitudinal study, in which we first collected the errors children made in repeating Japanese non-words, and then analyzed their process of acquiring Japanese sound patterns, i.e. their mother tongue phonological development, we explored to what extent Japanese phonological knowledge children acquired actually interfered with their performance of non-word repetition.
In 2005, we conducted research using non-word repetition tasks and picture vocabulary tests, and the results sugges
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ted the following points : (1) the performance of non-word repetition among Japanese children relates to vocabulary size, at the age of three and four, and their performance of non-word repetition relates to their age, but (2) their performance does not improve any more at the age of five temporally. There is a distinctive gap between phonological system acquisition rates of Japanese-speaking children and English-speaking children, whose performance relates to vocabulary size from the age of three to the age of eight. This result shows that phonological knowledge among Japanese children seems to be acquired earlier that that of English-speaking children, and it interferes with their performance at the ages of five and six.
In 2006, our results suggested that children's performance of non-word repetition recovers at the age of seven, when there is little individual difference between the performance of non-word repetition and vocabulary size. Therefore, we conclude that the best time to start teaching English to children is at the age of seven. Less
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