The research on the relationship between L1 and L2 reading comprehension

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23320112
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Nagaoka University of Technology
• Principal Investigator: SHIBASAKI Hideko 長岡技術科学大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (00376815)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TAMAOKA Katsuo 名古屋大学, 大学院国際文化研究科, 教授 (70227263) ; MAKIOKA Shogo 大阪府立大学, 大学院人間社会学部, 教授 (60264785) ; TOKIMOTO Shingo 目白大学, 外国学部, 教授 (00291849) ; INOUE Tsugio 高知県立大学, 文化学部文化学科, 教授 (30342463) ; ONO Yuichi 筑波大学, 人文社会科学研究系, 助教 (70280352)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: SEM / 読解能力 / 知識の獲得 / 英語学習者 / 作動記憶 / 日本人高校生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed English reading span tests (ERST) for Japanese high school students. The ERST we developed is the first one as ERST with high reliability and validity　for English learners. Using our ERST, we constructed a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) framework with six variables; 1)working memory, 2) English vocabulary size test, 3)English grammar knowledge, 4)L1(Japanese) literacy, 5)English general reading comprehension, and 6)English reading comprehension on a text required specific background knowledge to control the effects of topic familiarity. It was shown that L1 literacy predicted L2 vocabulary knowledge and that skilled L1 readers excelled at building a situation model in L2 text comprehension even when they lacked topical knowledge.

Free Research Field

第二言語習得研究