2015 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The effect of explicit instruction on the listening comprehension of learners from a mora-timed L1 background
Project/Area Number |
15K04515
|
Research Institution | Tokyo University of Science |
Principal Investigator |
グレアム・マー アラスター 東京理科大学, 工学部, 准教授 (20589006)
|
Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
|
Keywords | listening comprehension / mora-timed / syllable-timed / SLA |
Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
This year I initially planned to collect some empirical data to establish a connection between explicit instruction and improvements in student abilities to discriminate between word boundaries, an important sub-set of overall listening comprehension. However, my initial base line data was too difficult, so I collected qualitative data to move forward with the study. However, qualitative data was positive and established a tenuous connection between instruction and performance. Furthermore students felt that guidance and instruction were necessary to help achieve gains in listening comprehension.
I presented some of my findings at the NELTA Conference (Nepal English Language Teachers' Association) in Kathmandu in February of 2016 and will be publishing a paper on the methods that were used in the conference proceedings. In addition I will be presenting at the KATE Conference in Seoul, Korea in June of 2016, and will be publishing a paper on some of the qualitative results of the initial pilot study.
|
Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Although I did have a set back in my empirical data collection I learned an important lesson, and I did get good quantitative data. I've been able to publish a few papers that show qualitative support for the proposition that native speakers from a mora-timed linguistic background do suffer difficulties with respect to English listening comprehension.
|
Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Another important step is to begin a comparative study, comparing the progress of English L2 learners from a stress-timed language background to English L2 learners from a mora-timed background. I would like to therefore collect data from a wide variety of learners at different stages of their English education. I would like to contact some teachers in Sweden and compare Swedish students with Japanese students after 100 hours of study, 400 hours of study, 600 hours of study and so on.
|
Causes of Carryover |
I plan on collecting empirical data with respect to discrimating word boundares, an important sub-set of comprehension, from speakers with different linguistic backgrounds, and comparing how Japanese learners, coming from a mora-timed linguistic background compare.
|
Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
I will need to collect data from a vareity of sources to make meaningful comparisons between groups of learners from different linguistic backgrounds. In addition to between group comparisons, by collecting data from users at different stages of their linguistic development, I would like to make in group comparisons to document at what rate students develop their listening skills.
|
Research Products
(3 results)