2023 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
A New Frequency-Based Account of Common English Prepositions and Their Acquisition by Japanese Learners
| Project/Area Number |
21K00653
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| Research Institution | Fuji Women's University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2021-04-01 – 2025-03-31
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| Keywords | prepositions / cognitive linguistics / L2A / frequency / semantics / force dynamics |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The research project was paused for a year since I was going on sabbatical. Beginning in April 2024, I have recommenced work on the project. During the sabbatical, I used the University of Birmingham library to conduct research on the cognitive linguistic framework as it related to prepositions and the semantics of spatial language, and had discussions with top researchers in the cognitive linguistic field who reside in the UK.
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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
I have started work on the project again, and the work is going well.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
This year, data on learners' knowledge of prepositional senses will be obtained through a fill-in-the-blanks test that targets each prepositional sense. In addition, a learner corpus (the ICLE) will be consulted to examine learners’ use of each targeted prepositional sense. This analysis will examine accuracy (use of a preposition appropriate for a sentence context), and avoidance. To determine instances of avoidance, learners’ use of specific prepositional senses will be contrasted with native speakers’ use within comparable corpora.
An online preposition lesson using the Adobe Captivate program will also be created. Based on the findings of the earlier phases of the study, the lesson will target prepositional senses of which Japanese university students display inadequate understanding.
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| Causes of Carryover |
The amount left over was minimal.
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