A Study of Grammatical Complexity in L2 Learners' Japanese as an Indicator of Language Proficency

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00690
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02090:Japanese language education-related
• Research Institution: Akita International University
• Principal Investigator: Horiuchi Hitoshi 国際教養大学, 国際教養学部, 准教授 (40566634)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 統語的複雑さ / 話し言葉・書き言葉 / 句の複雑さ / 名詞修飾節 / 学習者コーパス / L2日本語ツリーバンク

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aimed to measure the syntactic complexity of Japanese learner language by means of learner corpora of Japanese and to apply the results to Japanese language education. Using an existing learner corpus and a self-made treebank, I investigated the differences in syntactic complexity between spoken and written Japanese, the structural, developmental stages of syntactic complexity, and the structural changes in phrasal complexity and clausal embedding in written Japanese. I also measured the syntactic complexity of native Japanese speakers in a topic-tagged natural conversation corpus and elucidated the correlation between syntactic complexity and topic. Based on these results, I presented recommendations for teaching and learning that promote phrasal complexity and structural development, and a topic-syllabus item sequence based on topic complexity corresponding to syntactic complexity.

Free Research Field

言語学、日本語教育

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本語教育・学習において学習者の言語到達レベルや言語発達段階を理解するため、近年、CEFRやJFスタンダードといった参照枠に見られるCan-Do Statement等を用いることが多くなったが、それがどんな言語形式や言語構造に対応しているのかは定かではない。本研究では、言語到達レベルに応じた言語形式・構造の特徴を明らかにするため、統語的複雑さに注目した。研究の結果、特に書き言葉においては、レベルに応じて、従属節を含む複文だけでなく、多様な名詞句を多く埋め込む文が産出できるようになることが分かった。また、統語的複雑さと対応する話題（の複雑さ）も調査し、話題シラバス項目配列案を提案した。