Japanese-English Bilingual Language Acquisition and Attrition - An fNIRS exploratory Study

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H01291
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02100:Foreign language education-related
• Research Institution: Ritsumeikan University
• Principal Investigator: TAURA Hideyuki 立命館大学, 言語教育情報研究科, 教授 (40313738)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 田浦 アマンダ 摂南大学, 国際学部, 准教授 (60388642) ; ヒーリ サンドラ 京都工芸繊維大学, 基盤科学系, 准教授 (10460669)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: バイリンガリズム / 言語習得 / 言語喪失 / 言語脳科学 / 帰国生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The two findings were that (1) Japanese-English bilinguals who were born and raised in bilingual surroundings up to age 12 reached similar linguistic levels. However, J-E bilinguals brought up in the USA used less brain energy on English tasks while those raised in Japan expended less brain energy on Japanese tasks and (2) Japanese-English bilinguals who were raised and brought up in the USA up to age 12 showed attrition having taken place in their English in the second year back in Japan while those brought up in the USA until age 16 showed attrition in their English in the third year back in Japan.

Free Research Field

バイリンガリズム、言語習得、言語喪失、言語脳科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

上記結果は、この分野で全く先行研究のないバイリンガル対象の横断・縦断研究を言語面だけでなく脳賦活面で得られた点で、非常に大きな貢献となった。特に表象言語である日本語とアルファベット言語コンビネーションの日英早期バイリンガル対象の縦断研究である点と、脳賦活データも対象としている点で前例がない。