Building and examining threshold hypothesis: Effects of large amount of input on language acquisition

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K02688
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Prefectural University of Kumamoto
• Principal Investigator: Yoshii Makoto 熊本県立大学, 文学部, 教授 (70240231)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 多読 / 第二言語習得 / インプット / 閾値 / 長期的研究

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study investigated whether or not threshold exists for language learning. Threshold means that there might be a certain minimum amount of input learners need in order to gain noticeable growth. This research focused on large amount of input learners receive from extensive reading and how such input bring about the obvious growth. The literature review on extensive reading studies showed at least 100,000 to 500,000 words to see the clear change in reading, listening, grammar, and vocabulary. In this research projects, we examined learners receiving at least 100,000 to 200,000 words of input. The learners made the noticeable change. We also examined the change in spelling knowledge. The results showed that large amount of input helped learners gain spelling knowledge.

Free Research Field

第二言語習得