Empirical Study on the Development of Foreign Language Production Ability by Elementary School Students Considering Foreign Language Learning Experiences

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26780498
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Education on school subjects and activities
• Research Institution: Osaka Kyoiku University
• Principal Investigator: IKUMA Yuko 大阪教育大学, 教育学部, 准教授 (60549088)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 小学校外国語活動 / 英語音声産出能力 / 外国語学習歴

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study focused on the Japanese-speaking young learner’s attitude and their progress towards L2 speech training based on the questionnaire response after longitudinal training period. Over four hundred students among the 3rd grade through 6th grade participated in this study. The result showed that higher proficiency students showed interest in broader perspective like “conversation,” while lower students in rather narrower like “discrimination,” or “sound.” These results suggest that learners who got attention toward phoneme might improve their perception, however, to promote their proficiency, they need some instruction to have attention to wider perspective of speech. Educators should cultivate learners’ self-efficacy, with paying attention to learners’ attitude toward various aspects of spoken language.

Free Research Field

第二言語習得