| 研究実績の概要 |
The purpose of this study is to examine the acquisition of extended discourse skills in Japanese learners of English by studying oral and written narratives. In the first year (FY2018), elicited narratives of two types (i.e., Frog Story & Balloon story) were collected from Japanese university students at three universities, of three different proficiency levels.
In FY2019, additional data was collected from approximately 300 students. The data collected from Japanese learners of English were compared with data gathered in earlier studies with native speakers of Japanese and English (e.g., Nakamura, 1990, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014). The narratives first were analyzed from the perspective of affect and evaluation (Nakamura, 2019a, 2019b). Next, the narratives were then analyzed in terms of the expression of motion events, using a developmental framework. Third, the narrative data was analyzed from the viewpoint of narrative construction, looking at narrative strategies and elements.
In FY2020, data collection continued with emphasis on written narratives (due to Covid-19). First, bilingual narratives of students with high levels of proficiency in both English and Japanese were conducted and analyzed from the perspective of biliteracy, mainly from the perspective of affect and evaluation. Later, preliminary analyses of the written Balloon stories, with its simpler plot and limited characters, were conducted from the perspective of referential strategies (e.g., referent introduction, referent maintenance and referent re-introduction).
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| 現在までの達成度 (区分) |
現在までの達成度 (区分)
3: やや遅れている
理由
While most of the data collection and transcription have been completed, coding/analysis of narratives will still continue into FY2021. Narratives are being organized and uploaded into a narrative database for the Balloon Stories and Frog Stories. The creation of the database has been time-consuming, as many of the stories are handwritten and need to be transcribed before being uploaded. Also, due to the current Covid-19 situation, the collection of oral narratives has become difficult; thus, the majority of the stories being collected are written narratives.
Analyses of the data are being conducted in parallel, with comparisons being made between the monolingual data (i.e., Japanese and English) collected from children and adults, and that from the Japanese learners of English, from the perspectives of (1) evaluative language, (2) expression of motion, (3) narrative structure (e.g., referential expression). Qualitative analyses are almost finished, and quantitative analyses are in progress.
Finally, most of the academic conferences scheduled for presentation of research findings in FY2020 were postponed to FY2021, so venues for presentation of results were limited.
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| 今後の研究の推進方策 |
In FY2021, in-depth coding and analyses are currently underway and the narrative data is being examined from different perspectives (e.g., by proficiency level; type of narrative). Detailed analyses of the narrative skills of Japanese learners of English will be conducted and compared to that of native narrators in English and Japanese. By comparing the narratives created by learners of different levels of proficiency, we will also be able to see what areas (e.g., evaluative language, referential strategies, expressions of motion) cause difficulties for learners of different levels (i.e., elementary, intermediate, advanced). This also will have clear implications for the teaching of narrative skills to Japanese learners of English.
In FY2021, the research results will be presented at multiple international academic conferences (i.e., June: (1) Japanese Society for Language Sciences, (2) International Pragmatics Association; July: (3) International Association for the Study of Child Language). Submissions to other academic conferences will also be considered. In parallel, I hope to publish the research results in multiple publications.
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| 次年度使用額が生じた理由 |
The reason is that the main expenses planned for FY2020 were related to conference participation fees and travel expenses. Unfortunately, most plans for participation at international academic conferences were postponed to FY2021. (The only academic conference participated in FY2020 was an online conference with no travel expenses.)
Therefore, regarding the plans for usage in FY2021, I hope to use the funds to participate in the international academic conferences (online or requiring travel) to present my research findings, as well as to prepare my oral presentations and publications.
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