2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A study in psychological and social factors influencing acquisition of Japanese as a second language by foreign residents in Japan through contact conversations
| Project/Area Number |
13680357
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Japanese language education
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| Research Institution | Osaka University |
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Principal Investigator |
AOKI Naoko Osaka University, Graduate School of Letters, Assoc.Professor, 大学院・文学研究科, 助教授 (20184038)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
NISHIGUCHI Koichi Osaka University, International Students Center, Professor, 留学生センター, 教授 (50263330)
OZAKI Akito Nagoya University, Foreign Students Education Center, Professor, 留学生センター, 教授 (60119659)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2001 – 2003
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| Keywords | Japanese as a second language / relationship / social roles / foreign residents in Japan / volunteer teachers / learning activities / second language acquisition / language related episodes |
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| Research Abstract |
This study examined learning activities by foreign residents and volunteer helpers in local JSL study groups to find out how acquisition of Japanese is influenced by relationship between a learner and a volunteer, their beliefs about social roles, types of activities, topic of interaction, discourse structure, and number of participants in discourse. The result shows: 1) learners aspire to lead an independent life as an adult; 2) learners often perceive volunteers as teachers; 3) learners are not necessarily satisfied with the content and process of activities, but they seldom tell volunteers about their opinions and preferences; 4) the reasons of 3) are likely to be learners' beliefs about social roles of teachers and students, their gratitude and reservation for those teaching them for free, and lack of language competence to express their opinions and preferences; 5) volunteers predominantly take initiative of activities; 6) activities are mainly structure drills with elementary learners and reading aloud and comprehension check with intermediate learners; 7) other types of learning activities are embedded within the main activities; 8) in conversations without any target language forms or skills volunteers most often talk about learners whereas learners talk about learning most; 9) volunteers are not necessarily aware of whether learners understand what is going on; 10) volunteers often interfere with learners' utterances; 11) in triads with a volunteer and two learners a learner benefits from peer teaching and listening to interaction with a volunteer and another learner.
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