A study of similarity and/or dissimilarity of brain activation of Japanese learners during written tests and conversation

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00725
• 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: Ritsumeikan University
• Principal Investigator: HIRATA Yu 立命館大学, 言語教育情報研究科, 教授 (00340753)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 日本語学習者の脳活動 / 筆記テストと会話 / 脳活動の近似性と相違性 / fNIRS (近赤外光分光法) / 日本語の会話力

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The following findings were obtained regarding the similarities and/or dissimilarities of brain activation of Japanese learners during the written tasks and conversation. Both the prefrontal cortex and the language areas were more activated during conversation than during the written tasks. The hemispheric dominance could not be generalized to each individual or task. It seemed to reflect the complexity of brain activities due to the different learning stages and language tasks. The rearrangement tasks activated the brain the most. In that respect, they were closer to the conversation tasks. As far as the examined upper-intermediate learners were concerned, the four-option multiple-choice tasks or Japanese reading comprehension tasks exhibited a higher degree of similarities. In terms of whether we should use oxy-hemoglobin or deoxy-hemoglobin as the main indicator for the experiment, we confirmed the importance of continuing to pay attention to the deoxy-hemoglobin data.

Free Research Field

日本語教育学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本語教育を含め、現代の外国語教育においては、文法や単語などの知識偏重から実際の会話力／運用力を重視するようになっている。しかし、実際問題として、教育現場では教育成果を検証する方法として筆記テストに頼っている部分が大きい。筆記テストを会話力向上やその評価に有効に使うことができれば、教育現場でのメリットは大きいと言える。本研究では、日本語学習者の筆記テスト時と日本語会話時の脳活動の近似性・相違性についての知見を蓄積してきている。研究結果の将来的な応用としては、脳活動の質的・量的な近似性・相違性という新しい視点から、会話力の推定（評価）や向上に寄与する筆記テストの開発が考えられる。