2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Theoretical and empirical research on the acquisition of English article use and tense by Japanese learners after the sensitive period
| Project/Area Number |
21320078
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Linguistics
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| Research Institution | Miyagi Gakuin Women's University |
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Principal Investigator |
YUSA Noriaki 宮城学院女子大学, 学芸学部, 教授 (40182670)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KOIZUMI Masatoshi 東北大学, 文学研究科, 准教授 (10275597)
NASUKAWA Kuniya 東北学院大学, 文学部, 教授 (80254811)
KIM Jungho 東北大学, 文学研究科, 助教 (70513852)
SNAPE Neal 群馬県立女子大学, 国際コミュニケーション学部, 准教授 (10463720)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2009 – 2011
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| Keywords | 日本人英語学習者 / 冠詞 / 時制 / 刺激の貧困 / 普遍文法 / fMRI / 敏感期 / 構造依存性 |
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| Research Abstract |
This study provides the behavioral and neuroimaging data to show that(1) two distinct regions of the left frontal gyrus explain individual differences in second language(L2) proficiency ;(2) post-puberty Japanese leaners of English can acquire more knowledge of syntax than is instructed, suggesting the interweaving of nature(universal principles of human language) and nurture(instruction) in L2 acquisition ;(3) at least the core principle(i. e., structure-dependence) in the computational system still functions after the critical or sensitive periods, suggesting plasticity for neural circuits for language in adult L2 learners ;(4) the acquisition of article use and tense can be explained in a principled way by the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis ;(5) explicit instruction can improve at the very least the performance of L2 learners ;(6) results here provide useful insights into the pedagogical grammar of English.
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