2017 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
The effect of explicit instruction on the listening comprehension of learners from a mora-timed L1 background
Project/Area Number |
15K04515
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Research Institution | Tokyo University of Science |
Principal Investigator |
グレアム・マー アラスター 東京理科大学, 工学部教養, 准教授 (20589006)
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Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
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Keywords | listening / comprehension / mora-timed / stressed-timed / SLA / English / pedagogy |
Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In three years of study, results indicate that the effect of instruction on the listening comprehension abilities of learners from a mora-timed L1 background are positive. Students have expressed the view that explicit instruction helps them to understand the English sound system. Students have overwhelmingly indicated that while the pedagogical focus on the English sound system was difficult, it was useful. Secondly, most students felt that it helped them to improve their comprehension. And, tellingly, students indicated that if they could more easily comprehend naturally spoken English, they would study more. This study suggests that learners coming from a mora-timed or syllable-timed L1 background face more difficulties in learning English than learners coming from a stress-timed L1 background, and that teachers need to be aware of this.
This would suggest that teachers need to be better prepared to explicitly point out the phonological differences between mora-timed and stress-timed languages. And furthermore that classroom materials either need to be written with this in mind, or adapted with this in mind.
Lastly, currently, in Japan, there is a focus on EMI, (English as a Medium of Instruction) where content classes are taught in English. However, the results from this study suggest that CLIL classes (Content and Language Integrated Learning), where content teaching is mixed with linguistic support, would be more successful, especially with learners with slightly lower proficiencies.
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Research Products
(7 results)