Does shadowing practice improve Japanese language communication ability and logical thinking ability of students?

• Project/Area Number: 26590146
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Educational psychology
• Research Institution: Hiroshima University
• Principal Investigator: Matsumi Norio 広島大学, 教育学研究科, 教授 (40263652)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
• Keywords: シャドーイング / コミュニケーション能力 / 論理力 / 日本語 / 母語 / 第二言語 / 大学生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research was designed to examine whether the shadowing practice for a certain period of time can improve language communication ability and logical thinking ability of college students who have reached the developmental stage of native language and working memory. Eight experiments were carried out for undergraduate and graduated students who learn Japanese as a native language or a second language. The main results were as follows: (a) The shadowing training could extend the span of sentence processing and improve Japanese language skills of listening, speaking, and reading, and (b) The pairing of the shadowing training and "sentence copying with working memory" could also improve both the writing skill and logical thinking ability.