Factors in the path from native language to the acquisition of second language proficiency
| Project/Area Number |
19K00609
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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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| Review Section |
Basic Section 02060:Linguistics-related
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| Research Institution | Future University-Hakodate |
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Principal Investigator |
MIYAMOTO EDSON・T 公立はこだて未来大学, システム情報科学部, 教授 (60335479)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Project Status |
Granted (Fiscal Year 2022)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000)
Fiscal Year 2023: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Fiscal Year 2022: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Fiscal Year 2021: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
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| Keywords | sentence comprehension / second language / reading / English / exposure / reading speed / sentence / Thai / Japanese / working memory / Chinese / relative clauses / number agreement / second-languge / parsing / frequency / adaptation |
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| Outline of Research at the Start |
This project collects reading-time data from native speakers of Chinese, Japanese and Thai to investigate the interplay between different types of native languages with English as a second language. Adaptation along the experiments will be investigated by measuring reading-time speedups to grammatical and ungrammatical sentences.
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
An online study in collaboration with Adam Smith from the Future University Hakodate was completed at the end of March. The study evaluated the effect of exposure on the reading fluency of learners of English as a foreign language in Japan. The exposure manipulation consisted of six blocks of 20 short texts each. The texts in a block had about the same number of words (300 to 550) from controlled vocabulary lists. Participants were told to read as many as they wished of the 120 texts within a period of just over three months. Feedback prioritized reading speed rather than perfect comprehension. Compared to the results of a pre-test, reading times per word in a post-test revealed improved reading fluency as (a) reading times per word were 300 milliseconds faster without significant declines in comprehension, and (b) the speedup at matrix verbs increased along with the number of texts that the participants read.
One possible explanation for the result at the verbs is that exposure to the texts improved learners’ sentence-processing abilities by honing their expectations, thus decreasing the cost to integrate verbs to previous constituents such as the subject in the sentences. If correct, this would suggest that this type of exposure may promote qualitative improvements in reading fluency by enhancing how learners predict what is coming next in the sentence.
The results will be presented at the 24th Annual International Conference of the Japanese Society for Language Sciences (JSLS2023) in July 2023.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
4: Progress in research has been delayed.
Reason
Because of continued difficulties in collecting data in person, experiments on number agreement in English as a second language have been halted in Japan as well as abroad.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The sets of reading time data collected so far in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand are being analyzed to determine how proficiency can account for similarities and differences between the overall reading patterns of learners compared to those of native speakers of English.
New studies are being planned using online data collection.
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Report
(4 results)
Research Products
(6 results)
