2018 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Formulaic utterances deployed as stance markers in Japanese university English language learners' peer discussion tasks
| Project/Area Number |
18K00851
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| Research Institution | Kanagawa University |
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Principal Investigator |
David Aline 神奈川大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (70289958)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
細田 由利 神奈川大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (70349124)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | formulaic phrases / epistemic stance markers / task based learning / L2 interaction / conversation analysis |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In the first year we successfully launched this research project for examining formulaic utterances learners use to express their ideas during small-group classroom discussions. This was achieved by (a) purchasing and preparing the equipment needed for data collection and analysis, (b) collecting 32 hours of peer discussion tasks structured within a task-based language learning syllabus to add to our data base, (c) transcribing 6 hours of peer discussions and verifying among participating researchers the resulting transcripts, (d) analyzing the data within five data sessions with our overseas research collaborator and other experts in the field of conversation analysis, (e) presenting our findings from the data analysis at an international conference, and (f) writing up a paper from the findings for submission to a relevant journal in the field. During this initial stage of the research project, our attention came to rest on the common formulaic phrase of epistemic stance I don't know as it appeared without complement and was utilized as a pragmatic marker. This is in contrast to its literal function of noting actual lack of knowledge. We began to comb our existing corpus of this phrase, while also beginning to examine its counterpart in Japanese, wakannai. Other formulaic phrases of epistemic stance came to the fore during this period, and will be investigated as we proceed.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
We smoothly completed our plans for the first year of the grant by collecting data, analyzing the data with specialists in the field, presenting at conferences, and beginning to write up our findings in a paper.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
As we move into the second year of this research project, the current pace of data collection, transcription, and analysis will be maintained. Data collection will consist of recording six groups of four students each for three discussion tasks in the spring term and three different discussion tasks in the fall term. Moreover, transcription will press forward at a greater pace as enough video-recorded data has been archived. The transcripts will be analyzed along with the video data to first improve and verify the quality of the transcription. Then analysis will continue with the focus on the formulaic phrases I don’t know and I think and other such phrases of epistemic stance as they appear in the data. One such phrase that has come to the fore is How about as it is deployed for marking changes of speaker or topic. We will concentrate on analyzing the phrases for their sequential significance and function, their frequency of occurrence, and how they fit into extended sequences as found in the discussion tasks. The analysis will take place in small, focused workshops centered on a single formulaic phrase and a single place of occurrence within an action sequence. We will be comparing our findings with published research on formulaic speech for marking epistemic stance as produced by native speakers of English. Our findings on I don’t know will be written up as a paper for submission to an international journal. And our findings on How about will be presented at international conferences, with audience feedback being taken into consideration in our analysis.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Some of the funds allocated for the first year of the grant were not used as the overseas collaborator's travel expenses were not as high as expected, and equipment needed for the grant was purchased with other research funds that could not be carried over to a succeeding year. Moreover, one of the domestic conferences we had planned to attend was canceled due to the earthquake in Sapporo.
We will use the remaining funds from this year in the second year of the grant to purchase recording and computer equipment with the latest technology so as to accelerate this research project.
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