2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Threshold hypothesis and bottom-up processing in English listening of Japanese learners : High-frequency sound discrimination and categorical perception of consonants
| Project/Area Number |
20520506
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Foreign language education
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| Research Institution | University of the Ryukyus |
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Principal Investigator |
TOYA Mitsuyo University of the Ryukyus, 法文学部, 准教授 (00295289)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
MANABE Kazuchika 日本大学, 大学院・総合社会情報研究科, 教授 (80209676)
ISHIZU Kiyoko 聖隷クリストファー大学, リハビリテーション学部, 准教授 (10446180)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2008 – 2010
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| Keywords | 英語 / リスニング / 高周波 / ボトムアップ処理 / 閾値仮説 / カテゴリー知覚 |
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| Research Abstract |
In the processing model of listening comprehension, proficient learners are considered to have automatic bottom-up skills, which enable them to utilize the top-down skills effectively. It is also said that the bottom-up skills must reach a threshold level for the top-down skills to be employed. The current investigation focused on the role of "high-frequency levels" of listening and posited the following hypotheses : (1) Proficient Japanese listeners of English have better discriminatory ability for high-frequency pure sounds. (2) Proficient listeners have higher ability in discriminating consonants at the word level. (3) Discriminatory ability for high-frequency pure sounds positively correlates with consonant discrimination. (4) There exist threshold levels for discriminatory ability for high-frequency pure sounds as well as consonant discrimination for proficient listeners of English. We prepared pure-sound discrimination tests for 2000Hz and 3000Hz and an L-R categorization test and analyzed 132 participants' data. L-R categorization was tested with [light-right] [play-pray] pairs at 4 different speeds. Additionally, conditions of higher/lower frequency sounds were controlled. The findings indicate that the high-proficiency participants, as measured by the GTEC : (1) discriminated high-frequency pure sounds significantly better and (2) showed significantly higher ability in discriminating consonants. As for the hypothesis (3), the correlation was statistically significant only at the 2000 Hz sound level, although it was not considered very strong. Results also indicated that only highly proficient listeners could discriminate L-R sounds when the areas lower than 1400 Hz were cut in the stimuli. This is considered to support Hypothesis (4).
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Research Products
(7 results)
