2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Extended discourse in Japanese learners of English: From the perspective of oral and written narratives
| Project/Area Number |
18K00789
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| Research Institution | Meikai University |
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Principal Investigator |
中邑 啓子 明海大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (20449044)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | oral narrative / written narrative / spoken discourse / written discourse / extended discourse / Japanese learners / English learners |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The purpose of this project is to examine the acquisition of extended discourse skills in Japanese learners of English by studying oral and written narratives. In the first four years of the project (FY2018-FY2021), elicited narratives of two types (i.e., Frog Story & Balloon Story) were collected from Japanese university students at three universities and three different proficiency levels. Comparisons were made with data gathered in earlier studies from native speakers of Japanese and English as well as Japanese-English bilingual speakers (e.g., Nakamura, 1990, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014). The narratives were analyzed from the perspective of affect and evaluation, expression of motion events, and narrative organization (e.g., referential strategies).
In FY2022, data collection continued with oral narratives, collecting stories in the classroom and online. Data analysis has progressed further, looking at differences in narrative (e.g., referential structure, motion expressions) in the L2 narratives due to proficiency level (advanced, intermediate, and elementary). In particular, findings regarding expressions of motion events were presented and published this year. The ability to use strategies often used in expressions of motion in English, such as manner verbs and multiple path segments/ ground elements, was better at higher proficiency levels. Differences in rhetorical style (e.g., static scene-setting vs. motion descriptions) were also observed.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Most of the transcription, data collection and analyses have been completed. In particular, a considerable number of oral narratives were collected this year, due to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions. This took up more time than expected. Narratives continued to be organized, analyzed and uploaded into a narrative database comprised of the Balloon Stories and Frog Stories. The creation of the database is the most time-consuming part and requires careful planning and organization. It will be the main focus of this coming year. Most of the written stories are handwritten and have been typed and organized. In addition, the newly collected oral stories need to be transcribed first before being uploaded.
In FY2022, conference presentations started to transition to in-person, but remained online for the most part. Multiple presentations are scheduled for FY2023.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
As most of the transcription, data collection and analyses are currently in the process of being completed, in FY2023 the results will be finalized. Conference presentations have been scheduled: (1) International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB14); (2) International Pragmatics Association (IPRA2023), and (3) The 21st Asia TEFL International Conference (Asia TEFL 2023) and several research publications are in preparation. In particular, the focus will be the narratives of Japanese learners of English according to different levels of proficiency and how different aspects of narrative (e.g., expressions of motion) are influenced by the level of the learners. Implications for the teaching of extended discourse skills (i.e., spoken and written narrative skills) to Japanese learners of English will also continue to be considered.
Narratives continue to be organized and uploaded into a narrative database comprised of the Balloon Stories and Frog Stories. The creation of the database is the most time-consuming part and will be the main focus of FY2023. Efforts are being made to organize the data in a manner that will be easy for the public to access.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Reasons for incurring amount to be used next fiscal year: It will be mostly to organize and set up the database for the narrative (e.g., personnel expenditure/ honorarium), and for dissemination of research results (e.g., conference presentations, publications).
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| Remarks |
Research publications will be made available on Research Map page.
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