| Project/Area Number |
17K03013
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Foreign language education
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| Research Institution | Akita International University |
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Principal Investigator |
Williams Clay 国際教養大学, 国際教養学部, 准教授 (70792555)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
長沼 奈絵子 国際教養大学, 国際教養学部, 助教 (10381336)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Fiscal Year 2018: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Fiscal Year 2017: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
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| Keywords | RHM / young learners / vocabulary acquisition / conceptual access / language education / Vocabulary learning / Young Learners / L2 learning / L2 vocabulary / 言語学 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
The study investigated L2 vocabulary acquisition in over 1000 4th-6th graders in 7 elementary schools in Akita, Japan. The results show that elementary-aged students are faster across the board matching L2 vocabulary to pictures compared to L1 translations. This effect was strengthened significantly when students were taught the vocabulary via pictures (as opposed to L1 translation), even when the test stimulus image was not the same as that used for teaching. This further asymmetry in reaction times strongly suggests that the null hypothesis, that children are bound to the Revised Hierarchical Model, should be rejected. In effect, it suggest that children are able to map L2 vocabulary to mental concepts from the first time they hear said vocabulary, and that they can retrieve L2 for meaning directly from concept, as opposed to translating L2 to L1 and retrieving semantic information from the L1 form. This effect continues, but rapidly diminishes, through 6th grade.
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
The research demonstrates rather conclusively that the Revised Hierarchical Model does not apply to elementary-aged L2 learners, as they demonstrated conceptual access from beginning instruction.
It also suggests that use of pictures in elementary vocabulary instruction is particularly effective.
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