A Fundamental Study on Prosodic Processing During Silent Reading Among EFL Learners

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K13500
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Nagoya Institute of Technology (2020-2022); Toyohashi University of Technology (2017-2019)
• Principal Investigator: Yoshikawa Lisa 名古屋工業大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (90782615)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: プロソディ / 語強勢 / 第二言語読解 / 眼球運動 / 横断的アプローチ / 縦断的アプローチ / 読解力構成技能

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to examine L2-English prosody processing among L1-Japanese university students learning English from cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches. In the cross-sectional approach, consistent with the results of previous studies on L1-English speakers, Japanese EFL learners processed prosodic information (i.e. lexical stress) in silent reading. In the latter approach investigating the effects of explicit prosody instruction on vocabulary development, learners who received pronunciation and prosody instruction scored significantly higher on post-test of vocabulary than learners who did not.

Free Research Field

第二言語習得研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、日本人英語学習者が英語を黙読する際に経る音韻処理について、プロソディの観点から検討した。リアルタイムの読解プロセスを捉える眼球運動計測による実証研究と、プロソディ指導の効果について調べた実践研究から得られた結果は、英文読解プロセスの解明と効果的な読解指導法の確立に向けた基礎的知見となる。