Linguistic skills of children in a Japanese-English two-way immersion program: Implications for English language teaching in elementary school

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02982
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Harada Tetsuo 早稲田大学, 教育・総合科学学術院, 教授 (60208676)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 日英語双方向イマージョン教育 / 話す能力 / 音声習得 / 継承言語話者 / 外国語学習 / VOT / 日本語 / 英語

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This is a project on the development of language skills by children in a Japanese English two-way immersion program. It consists of their speaking skills measured by the ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages (AAPPL) and pronunciation accuracy obtained by acoustic analysis (i.e., voice onset time for [p, t, k] in both English Japanese). For the assessment of their speaking skills, many of the participants (85%) reached the level of at least I-2 or I-3 (Intermediate Mid), whereas the top 15% of them successfully reached the Intermediate High (I-5) level. For the analysis of VOT, though they did not develop their VOT values across grades, speakers of both Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) and Japanese as a heritage language (JHL) in the program produced VOT in the same way regardless of the place of articulation. In addition, the JFL learners successfully distinguished in VOT between English and Japanese.

Free Research Field

第二言語習得、イマージョン教育、音声習得

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

米国の公立小学校で日英語双方向イマージョン教育を受けている児童の85%が小学校5年生までに、B1下位レベル（英検２級または準１級）程度の日本語の話す能力を習得しているのは、日本の英語カリキュラム編成に大きな示唆を与えると思われる。さらに、一方向イマージョン教育とは異なり、発音習得にも大きな利益をもたらす双方向イマージョン教育は、自然環境に近い教室内での音声習得の研究に新たな視点を与えると思われる。また、本研究は将来の言語政策、教員養成、カリキュラム開発に関わる者、さらには教員、学習者、親などに、外国語教育の一つの可能性を示すものである。