The Social Situational Awareness of Japanese Learners of English as a Foreign Language
| Project/Area Number |
21K13053
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 02100:Foreign language education-related
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
ライランダー ジョン 京都大学, 国際高等教育院, 講師 (60610821)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Project Status |
Granted (Fiscal Year 2022)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000)
Fiscal Year 2023: ¥260,000 (Direct Cost: ¥200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥60,000)
Fiscal Year 2022: ¥520,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥120,000)
Fiscal Year 2021: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
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| Keywords | eye-tracking pragmatics / video-based assessment / sociocultural context / eye-tracking / pragmatics / sociocultural contexts / assessment |
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| Outline of Research at the Start |
This study investigates what accounts for Japanese students’ social-situational aptitude in attending to and employing visual input to comprehend speaker intent from non-verbal cues like facial expressions and gestures and contextual cues like location and speaker appearance. This study utilizes eye-tracking techniques to detect learner attention when exposed to a video-based pragmatic awareness assessment. Findings should reveal details about the as yet unexamined visual stimuli learners focus on and how they use this input to understand speaker meanings and relationships.
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
During the research stage for the academic year 2021-2022, the initial pilot-testing phase revealed issues with the use of the screen-based eye-tracking software. The issue related to the use of a paper-based component of the assessment, which resulted in participants waffling between the monitor, where their eye patterns were tracked, and the response sheet. This resulted in calibration issues. To resolve this, in the academic year 2022-2023, I redesigned all of the item prompts so that the original paper-based portions of the video-based pragmatic assessment were manipulated digitally and added to the screen-based version. This allowed for all aspects of the assessment to be part of the stimuli captured by eye-tracking software. I have accomplished these fixes and further pilot testing has revealed that participants no longer waffle their eye movements during the data collection procedures. Now, rather than writing item responses on a separate piece of paper, participants vocalize their choices aloud and are audio-recorded. This data, along with researcher notes, are added to the data captured by the eye-tracker. Research so far suggests that learners attend to speakers’ facial expressions and gestures presented on screen in a fashion similar to how individuals attend to real-world communication behaviors. This preliminary finding supports calls researchers have made for increased use of authentic resources in both second language instruction and assessment.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
The two papers I brought to near completion in the academic year 2021, I submitted to peer-reviewed journals. One was accepted on the condition of revisions to come. The deadline for those rewrites is next month and I plan on having an updated version ready for submission. The second publication is currently under major revisions and will be submitted to a different journal for peer review. These two publications focus on the statistical analysis of learner populations performing a traditional video-based assessment of pragmatic awareness with a focus on the need for novel data-collection methods such as eye-tracking. The third paper I started in the academic year 2021 is underway and discusses how participants attend to the stimulus using the eye-tracker. I presented at one international conference (CamTESOL) held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (February, 17-19), one domestic conference (Temple University Colloquium) held in Osaka, Japan (February, 4-5), and provided a video-recorded presentation to be displayed for open access at the TESOL national conference held in Portland, United States (March, 21-24), and previewable to participants both in attendance and those limited in their travel due to COVID-19.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The academic year 2022-2023 was designated as the official planned period of data collection and analysis. However, issues arose relating to gathering a sufficient number of participant volunteers. Several calls were made at different periods of the semester but limited numbers responded. This greatly affected the data-collection phase and caused me to reassess my expectations as to the number of participants necessary for the research project. I have also reviewed my method of seeking participants and revised it so as to achieve a more direct messaging campaign in 2023-2024. With the newly revised video-based pragmatic assessment, participants no longer need to shift their visual attention from paper to screen. With the new plan for seeking volunteers in place, I will resume the data collection process in the first semester and then move on to the analysis phase in the second semester. The plan for 2022-2023 is to combine the eye-tracking data and participant vocalized responses on the assessment with their responses to an online language learning survey. Preliminary analysis of the data has revealed a proficiency effect on how participants attend to the written item response options. Additionally, during video viewing, participants show a tendency to attend to embodied gestures present in the video stimuli. Also, the data so far shows evidence of a “face effect”, with participants directing their gaze toward speakers’ eyes and mouths.
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Report
(2 results)
Research Products
(3 results)
