Research on the Acquisition of Variation in Verbal Behavior Among Learners of Japanese

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370582
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese language education
• Research Institution: Tokyo Gakugei University
• Principal Investigator: YABE HIROKO 東京学芸大学, 留学生センター, 教授 (30227045)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): TAKAHASHI Minako 琉球大学, 教育学部, 准教授 (60336352) ; HONDA Akiko 立命館アジア太平洋大学, 言語教育センター, 准教授 (80331130)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 自然談話 / 接触場面 / 学習者場面 / 意味交渉 / 調整行動 / 話題連鎖

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research aimed to investigate what kind of Japanese was acquired by learners of Japanese in non-Japanese environments, and what these learners would newly acquire after moving to Japan. Most of the research subjects were foreign students staying in Japan for a short time. Natural conversations in contact and study situations along with attitude surveys based on semi-structured interviews were collected twice; the first was immediately after the subjects had arrived in Japan, and the second was approximately one year after. Upon completing the analyses of three focused areas, which are (1) the analysis of adjustment behavior on the negotiation of meaning in contact situations, (2) the analysis of topic chains on verbal behavior to maintain small talk or “chatting,” and (3) the analysis of learner awareness on the selection of utterance styles, the observation and analysis results of the data demonstrated differences and the broadening of verbal behavior variations.

Free Research Field

日本語教育