On the Mechanism of Acquisition and Reassembly of Features in L2 Acquisition

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K19997
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0102:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: Utsunomiya University
• Principal Investigator: Kimura Takayuki 宇都宮大学, 国際学部, 助教 (40967717)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-08-31 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 理論言語学に基づく第二言語習得

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we conducted empirical research targeting Japanese-speaking learners of English to explore the mechanisms of feature acquisition and feature reassembly in second language acquisition. The results of multiple experiments revealed that intermediate-level English learners exhibit behaviors in the developmental stages of acquiring English grammatical features that are not observed in either the target language, English, or their native language, Japanese. Their second language grammar shows a mixture of influences from their native language and misanalysis of second language input, resulting in the creation of grammatical structures that are not typically allowed in human languages. Additionally, it was suggested that as proficiency increases, learners exhibit behaviors more similar to native speakers, providing insight into the role of innate language knowledge in second language acquisition.

Free Research Field

言語学，第二言語習得

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の結果は，最近の第二言語習得研究では軽視されがちである人間の生得的言語知識の役割に再度スポットライトを当てた点で広義の学術的意義がある。また，領域内の課題についても，これまで明確に論じられてこなかった，第二言語における具体的な生得的言語知識の役割についても示唆を提示した点で大きな意義があると考える。加えて，こうした知見は英語教育などの実践的分野においても応用・実践の価値があるものである。具体的には，教師が中級英語学習者が作り出す文法の誤分析について把握することで，彼らをそのような誤分析に導かないための方法などについて考察・議論をする機会を提供できる。