2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A study on kanji recognition of L2 learners
| Project/Area Number |
16520328
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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 | Chubu University |
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Principal Investigator |
KOMORI Saeko Chubu University, Department of Humanities, Associate professor, 人文学部, 助教授 (60221248)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2004 – 2006
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| Keywords | Second Language Acquisition / Kanji compound words / Lexical decision tasks / recognition process / reaction time |
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| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this study is to investigate the kanji recognition process by L2 learners through a comparison of intermediate learners, advanced learners and native speakers of Japanese.
The research questions for this study are the following :
1. How do intermediate and advanced learners of Japanese process kanji words?
2. Do advanced learners process kanji words in the same way as native speakers, or do they process kanji words in the same way as intermediate learners?
Four experiments were conducted to answer these questions using two-kanji compound words with different conditions in terms of orthography, phonology and semantics. As for the first question, results showed that the kanji recognition process for the intermediate learners and the advanced learners are the same in terms of orthography and phonology, although there is a statistical difference in terms of semantics. In general, the advanced learners are faster than the intermediate learners, but the kanji recognition processing itself is the same. It seems that both groups of learners analyze each element of kanji words and decode visual pattern analytically.
As for the second question, the recognition process of kanji words for advanced learners is not the same as the native speakers. The data from this study do not support a claim that advanced learners have established the same automatic pattern recognition processing skills for kanji as native speakers of Japanese.
Based on the findings from this study, two different models for kanji recognition processing are proposed. The default route for L2 learner kanji word recognition is orthography→phonology→semantics, while the native speaker default route is orthography→semantics.
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Research Products
(4 results)
