Japanese learners’ acquisition of English manner-of-motion verbs with locational/directional PPs

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shunji Inagaki
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Directed Motion ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Japanese Speakers ◽  
Japanese Learners

This study investigated first language (L1) influence on second language (L2) argument structure in a situation where an L2 argument structure forms a superset of its L1 counterpart. In such a situation, a partial fit between the L1 and the L2 may trigger L1 transfer, whereas availability of positive evidence may allow the learner to arrive at the L2 grammar (White, 1991b). This study tested these predictions by investigating whether Japanese speakers can recognize the directional reading of English manner-of-motion verbs ( walk, swim) with locational/directional PPs ( under, behind), such as John swam under the bridge, where under the bridge can be either the goal of John’s swimming (directional) or the location of John’s swimming (locational). By contrast, their Japanese counterparts allow only a locational reading, as Japanese is more restricted than English in allowing only directed motion verbs ( go) to appear with a phrase expressing a goal. Thirty-five intermediate Japanese learners of English and 23 English speakers were tested using a picture-matching task. Results show that, unlike English speakers, Japanese speakers consistently failed to recognize a directional reading. I suggest that positive evidence need not only be available but also be frequent and clear in order to be used by L2 learners to broaden their interlanguage grammar.

MOTION VERBS WITH GOAL PPs IN THE L2 ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH AND JAPANESE

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shunji Inagaki
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Directed Motion ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Japanese Learners

In English, manner-of-motion verbs (walk, run) and directed motion verbs (go) can appear with a prepositional phrase that expresses a goal (goal PP) as in John walked (ran, went) to school. In contrast, Japanese allows only directed motion verbs to occur with a goal PP. Thus, English allows a wider range of motion verbs to occur with goal PPs than Japanese does. Learnability considerations, then, lead me to hypothesize that Japanese learners will learn manner-of-motion verbs with goal PPs in English from positive evidence, whereas English learners will have difficulty learning that manner-of-motion verbs with goal PPs are impossible in Japanese because nothing in the input will tell them so. Forty-two intermediate Japanese learners of English and 21 advanced English learners of Japanese were tested using a grammaticality judgment task with pictures. Results support this prediction and provide a new piece of evidence for the previous findings indicating that L1 influence persists when an argument structure in the L2 constitutes a subset of its counterpart in the L1.

scholarly journals English Aspect: L1 Transfer and Explicit Instruction

2019 ◽  
Vol 2018 (1) ◽  
pp. 205
Author(s):  
Yuko Koike
Keyword(s):  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
First Language ◽  
Effective Instruction ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Japanese Learners

Aspect shows cross-linguistic variation, and the role of the first language in the acquisition of aspect is often discussed in second language literature. However, whether L1 transfer actually occurs in the areas of grammar is controversial. In this paper, I discuss the aspectual characteristics of English and Japanese associated with their aspectual verb classes, which show both similarities and differences between the languages. Japanese learners of English are predicted to have difficulty in associating the form with the meaning and transfer L1 features when learning aspectual properties of English. In order to investigate this prediction, I examine whether the learners transfer the L1 interpretations associated with the verb classes and the aspectual morpheme when learning English aspect. I then discuss effective instruction for teaching aspect and introduce instructional materials designed to be used for Japanese learners of English. アスペクトには言語特有の特徴が見られ、第二言語習得における母語の影響がしばしば指摘されている。しかしながら、文法習得において母語の転移が起こるか否については意見の統一が見られていない。本論文は、英語と日本語それぞれの動詞のアスペクトによる分類に基づく特徴と両言語の類似点及び相違点について述べ、日本語母語話者が英語のアスペクトを学ぶ際に母語の転移が起こるかについて考察する。さらに、日本語母語話者を対象とした英語のアスペクトの効果的な指導方法を考察しその教材を紹介する。

Explicit instruction, input flood or study abroad: Which helps Japanese learners of English acquire adjective ordering?

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makiko Hirakawa ◽  
Mayumi Shibuya ◽  
Marie Endo
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Intensive Study ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Natural Exposure ◽  
Preference Task ◽  
Japanese Learners

This article explores what kind of second language (L2) input influences Japanese learners’ acquisition of adjective ordering restrictions (AOR) in English where Japanese exhibits no AOR. In Study I, an explicit instruction (EI) group ( n = 13) and a natural exposure (NE) group ( n = 12) responded to a preference task. In Study II, an input flood (IF) group ( n = 15) and a NE group ( n = 16) were involved in the same task. The EI group received 90-minute EI across three weeks while the IF group received positive evidence with multiple adjectives over 15 weeks. The NE groups participated in three or five-week intensive study-abroad programs in North America. Results from the two studies showed that many of the participants failed to make correct choices at the pre-test indicating difficulty with AOR and that only the EI group improved in their performance at the post-tests. We claim that positive evidence alone does not guarantee L2 acquisition of AOR.

Comprehension process of second language indirect requests

1994 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satomi Takahashi ◽  
Herbert L. Roitblat
Keyword(s):  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Literal Interpretation ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Sentence Reading ◽  
Comprehension Process ◽  
Indirect Requests ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
Subsequent Target

ABSTRACTThis study examined the comprehension of English conventional indirect requests by native English speakers and Japanese learners of English. Subjects read stories inducing either a conventional or a literal interpretation of a priming sentence. Reading speeds did not vary as a function of the interpretation. Subsequent target sentences that paraphrased either the literal or the conventional interpretation of the prime sentence were read more quickly when they paraphrased a conventional interpretation of the sentence than when they paraphrased a literal interpretation. Target sentences were also read more quickly if they paraphrased the interpretation induced by the context than if they did not match. The results suggest that both native and nonnative speakers process both meanings of an ambiguous conventional request.

scholarly journals Perceived Phonological Overlap in Second-Language Categories: The Acquisition of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese Native Listeners

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Michael D. Tyler
Keyword(s):  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Discrimination Accuracy ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Immersion Experience ◽  
Phonological Categories ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
The Continuum

Japanese learners of English can acquire /r/ and /l/, but discrimination accuracy rarely reaches native speaker levels. How do L2 learners develop phonological categories to acquire a vocabulary when they cannot reliably tell them apart? This study aimed to test the possibility that learners establish new L2 categories but perceive phonological overlap between them when they perceive an L2 phone. That is, they perceive it to be an instance of more than one of their L2 phonological categories. If so, improvements in discrimination accuracy with L2 experience should correspond to a reduction in overlap. Japanese native speakers differing in English L2 immersion, and native English speakers, completed a forced category goodness rating task, where they rated the goodness of fit of an auditory stimulus to an English phonological category label. The auditory stimuli were 10 steps of a synthetic /r/–/l/ continuum, plus /w/ and /j/, and the category labels were L, R, W, and Y. Less experienced Japanese participants rated steps at the /l/-end of the continuum as equally good versions of /l/ and /r/, but steps at the /r/-end were rated as better versions of /r/ than /l/. For those with more than 2 years of immersion, there was a separation of goodness ratings at both ends of the continuum, but the separation was smaller than it was for the native English speakers. Thus, L2 listeners appear to perceive a phonological overlap between /r/ and /l/. Their performance on the task also accounted for their responses on /r/–/l/ identification and AXB discrimination tasks. As perceived phonological overlap appears to improve with immersion experience, assessing category overlap may be useful for tracking L2 phonological development.

AGENTIVE VERBS OF MANNER OF MOTION IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH AS SECOND LANGUAGES

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Directed Motion ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Spanish Study

This article presents two experiments that examine the effects of the native language (L1) on the second language (L2) acquisition of argument structure. The linguistic focus is on agentive verbs of directed motion (march, walk) and change-of-state verbs (break, melt) in Spanish and English. Agentive verbs of directed motion undergo a transitivity alternation in English when there is a prepositional phrase (The captain marched the soldiers to the tents) but not in Spanish (*El capitán marchó a los soldados hasta el campamento). Two experiments are reported that examine whether Spanish and Turkish learners of English at the intermediate level undergeneralize the transitivity alternation with manner-of-motion verbs, and whether English learners of Spanish overgeneralize the alternation. In both experiments subjects performed a picture judgment task and a grammaticality judgment task. Results confirmed that the L1 constrains the acquisition of argument structure: There were overgeneralization errors with manner-of-motion verbs in the Spanish study and there were undergeneralization errors with these verbs in the English study. Learnability implications are discussed.

A statistical method of evaluating the pronunciation proficiency/intelligibility of English presentations by Japanese speakers

ReCALL ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Kibishi ◽  
Kuniaki Hirabayashi ◽  
Seiichi Nakagawa
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Evaluation Method ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Native Japanese Speakers ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Japanese Speakers ◽  
Estimation System ◽  
Japanese Learners

AbstractIn this paper, we propose a statistical evaluation method of pronunciation proficiency and intelligibility for presentations made in English by native Japanese speakers. We statistically analyzed the actual utterances of speakers to find combinations of acoustic and linguistic features with high correlation between the scores estimated by the system and native English teachers. Our results showed that the best combination of acoustic features produced correlation coefficients of 0.929 and 0.753 for pronunciation and intelligibility scores, respectively, using open data for speakers at the 10-sentence level. In an offline test, we evaluated possibly-confusing pairs of phonemes that are often mispronounced by Japanese speakers of English. In addition, we developed an online real-time score estimation system for Japanese learners of English using offline techniques to evaluate the pronunciation and intelligibility scores in real-time with almost the same ability as English teachers. Finally, we show that both the objective and subjective evaluations improved after learning with our system.

The Effect of Study-Abroad on Pragmatic Transfer

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20
Author(s):  
Naoko Osuka
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Pragmatic Transfer ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
The Us ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Japanese Learners

AbstractThis study aims to investigate the effect that studying abroad may have on pragmatic transfer in requests, refusals, and expressions of gratitude, produced by Japanese learners of English. Twenty-two Japanese college students completed a multimedia elicitation task (MET) before and after studying in the US for one semester, together with twenty-two L1 English speakers and twenty L1 Japanese speakers as baseline data. The MET is a computer-based instrument for eliciting oral data. Unlike previous studies on pragmatic transfer, which often lack statistical evidence, this study includes statistical analysis. The analysis revealed that negative pragmatic transfer occurs within a limited range. The identified transfer includes pragmalinguistic transfer, whereby, assuming that their politeness levels are equal, learners directly translate L1 expressions into L2; and sociopragmatic transfer, whereby learners transfer L1 discourse patterns and functions. Resistance to L2 norms and increased fluency can be influencing factors. The results indicated that the effect of study-abroad is limited because most of the negative transfer which was identified before studying abroad remained after studying abroad. Thus, the necessity of explicit pragmatic instruction was proposed.

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