A Study of Reading Comprehension Difficulties and Skills of SL Japanese Learners

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23320107
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese language education
• Research Institution: National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (2012-2014); Osaka Prefecture University (2011)
• Principal Investigator: NODA Hisashi 大学共同利用機関法人人間文化研究機構国立国語研究所, 日本語教育研究・情報センター, 教授 (20144545)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KUWABARA Yoko 福井大学, 国際交流センター, 准教授 (30397286) ; KADOKURA Masami 横浜国立大学, 留学生センター, 教授 (80127753)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MURAOKA Takako 大阪大学, 国際教育交流センター, 教授 (30243744) ; OGOSHI Naoki 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 教授 (90152454) ; INOUE Masaru 麗沢大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (30213177) ; OTA Akira 金沢大学, 国際機構, 教授 (40303317) ; ISHIGURO Kei 大学共同利用機関法人人間文化研究機構国立国語研究所, 日本語教育研究・情報センター, 准教授 (40313449)
• Research Collaborator: KADOKURA Masami ; HANADA Atsuko ; HUJIWARA Miyuki ; FORD Niwa Junko ; YAMAGUCHI Mika
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 日本語学習者 / 読解

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study Japanese learners from beginner to advanced levels were asked to read material in Japanese and describe what they understood and did not understand in their native language. We found the following:
1) Native speakers of Chinese tend to rely on kanji (Chinese characters) and miss nuances conveyed in the hiragana (phonetic alphabet) part of sentences, leading to misinterpretations in meaning.
2) Even advanced learners have difficulty in understanding complex sentences, although they find sentences related to areas they are familiar with easier to comprehend.

Free Research Field

日本語教育