2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report

Knowledge and acquisition of grammatical constructions in English as a Foreign Language

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21K00661
Research Institution	Nippon Medical School
Principal Investigator	KIRK STEVEN 日本医科大学, 医学部, 准教授 (10794753)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	西川純恵日本医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (60373015)
Project Period (FY)	2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
Keywords	construction grammar / second language / repetition
Outline of Annual Research Achievements	This study examines the acquisition of grammatical constructions in English as a second language, through repetition-based pedagogical activities, as measured with a grammatical priming task, administered before and after the pedagogical intervention. A pilot study of this task was conducted approximately 10 years ago. In the first year of the current project, the tasks and data from this pilot study were examined and evaluated to create the grammatical priming task to be used in the current project. Furthermore, we investigated corpus linguistic data on verbs in relevant grammatical constructions, in order to select appropriate verbs for the grammatical priming task. We also investigated a range of language teaching materials to work out the methodology of the pedagogical intervention. Lastly, we examined several software packages for delivering cognitive psychology experiments, to select one for the grammatical priming task.
Current Status of Research Progress	Current Status of Research Progress 3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed. Reason The methodology of the project has been worked out, with the intention to test it with a second pilot study. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recruiting participants for in-person participation proved to be difficult, so the actual pilot study was postponed.
Strategy for Future Research Activity	For the first part of the second year of this project, we intend to conduct a limited pilot study of the grammatical priming task and the pedagogical intervention. Afterwards, we will make any necessary adjustments to the methodology and recruit participants for the main study.
Causes of Carryover	Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pilot study was not conducted during the 2021-2022 year. Funds for participants will be carried forward.