2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
A Study of English Writing in Applied Cognitive Linguistics
| Project/Area Number |
21520404
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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 |
Linguistics
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| Research Institution | Nara University of Education |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
YONEKURA Yoko 奈良教育大学, 教育学部, 准教授 (20403313)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2009 – 2011
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| Keywords | 応用認知言語学 / 英語アカデミック・ライティング / 英語教育 |
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| Research Abstract |
We often have misunderstandings in our daily conversations. Unfortunately, this is also true of written texts, even of English writings by Japanese students at the undergraduate and graduate level. One possible reason for this can be traced back to the stage of English grammar and writing teaching in junior and senior high school. Recently, Applied Cognitive Linguistics(ACL) has developed under the Cognitive Linguistic premise called the "Usage-Based Model", the basic idea of which is focused on the practical aspect of language use and of linguistic experience. Thus, ACL, we believe, is one of the most promising approaches to the advancement of English writing ability for Japanese students. Based on the study of Cognitive Linguistics, our research objective is to explore the way(s) ACL can be applied to the development of practical English writing skills for Japanese students. First, we analyzed distributions of the authentic data collected from classroom English, looking specifically at grammar and textual composition. After the theoretical, as well as descriptive, examinations of the data, we arrived at the conclusion that when students whose data was sampled express their ideas several biases were identified, particularly involving a propensity for the use of some sentence patterns(e. g. topic-comment style) and that of the constitution of a paragraph and an essay. From an ACL standpoint, we found that they were ultimately derived from the difference in "construal,""metaphor" and "rhetorical style", which are selectively but unconsciously exerted in the interlanguage English-Japanese communication. In order to alleviate these biases, we proposed pedagogical directionalities that will lead to the promotion of English writing ability through classroom teaching.
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Research Products
(4 results)
