FACTORS THAT MAKES LANGUAGE LEARNING SUSTAINABLE: CONSIDERATION FROM QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY TOWARD JAPANESE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuko Ikuma
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Japanese Learners

The Generalization of Instruction on Genitive Relative Clause in the Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language

2006 ◽  
Vol 151 ◽  
pp. 99-113
Author(s):  
Akihiro Ito
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Special Instruction ◽  
Japanese Learners

This study examines the generalization of instruction in foreign language learning. A group of Japanese learners of English served as participants and received special instruction in the structure of genitive relative clauses. The participants were given a pre-test on combining two sentences into one containing a genitive relative clause wherein the relativized noun phrase following the genitive marker "whose" is either the subject, direct object, or object of preposition. Based on the TOEFL and the pre-test results, four equal groups were formed; three of these served as experimental groups, and one as the control group. Each experimental group was given instruction on the formation of only one type of genitive relative clause. The participants were then given two post-tests. The results indicated that the generalization of learning begins from structures that are typologically more marked genitive relative clauses to those structures that are typologically less marked, and not vice versa.

Deployment of the formulaic utterance “how about∼” in task-based second language classroom discussions

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-446
Author(s):  
David Aline ◽  
Yuri Hosoda
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Interaction Analysis ◽  
Classroom Interaction ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Alternative Procedures ◽  
Japanese Learners

Abstract Formulaic speech has long been of interest in studies of second language learning and pragmatic use as production and comprehension of formulaic utterances requires less processing and production effort and, therefore, allows for greater fluency. This study scrutinizes the sequential positions and actions of one formulaic utterance “how about∼” from the participants’ perspective. This conversation analytic study offers a fine-grained microanalysis of student interaction during classroom peer discussion activities. The data consist of over 54 h of video-recorded classroom interaction. Analysis revealed several positions and actions of “how about∼” as it occurs during peer discussions by Japanese learners of English. Emerging from analysis was a focus on how learners deploy this formulaic utterance to achieve various actions within sequences of interaction. Analysis revealed that participants used “how about∼” for (a) explicitly selecting next speaker, (b) shifting topics, (c) proposing a solution, and (d) suggesting alternative procedures. Although the formula was deployed to perform these four different actions, consistent throughout all instances was the disclosure of learner orientation to the progressivity of the task interaction. The findings show how language learners deploy this formulaic utterance in discussion tasks designed for language learning and highlights the pragmatic functions of this phrase.

Social Networking Sites and Critical Language Learning

2009 ◽  
pp. 237-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Halvorsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Social Networking Site ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Japanese Learners

This chapter looks at the potential use of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) for educators and second language learners. It views SNSs broadly through the lens of Critical Language Learning (CLL) and looks at specific issues of identity formation, student empowerment, learner autonomy, and critical literacy as they relate to the use of SNSs. This chapter also reports the results of an initial project to make use of the MySpace social networking site for Japanese learners of English. It is hoped that this chapter will raise awareness of some of the complex issues surrounding the use of SNSs by language learners and that it will lead to further research and consideration of these issues.

Japanese EFL learners’ sentence processing of conceptual plurality: An analysis focusing on reciprocal verbs

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
YU TAMURA ◽  
JUNYA FUKUTA ◽  
YOSHITO NISHIMURA ◽  
YUI HARADA ◽  
KAZUHISA HARA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
First Language ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Japanese Learners

ABSTRACTThis study aimed to investigate how Japanese learners of English as a foreign language, whose first language does not have obligatory morphological number marking, process conceptual plurality. The targeted structure was reciprocal verbs, which require conceptual plurality to interpret their meanings correctly. The results of a sentence completion task confirmed that participants could use reciprocal verbs reciprocally in English. In a self-paced reading experiment, participants read sentences with reciprocal verbs and those with optionally transitive verbs (e.g., while the king and the queen kissed/left the baby read the book in the bed). There was no reading time delay for reciprocal verbs but a delay for optionally transitive verbs. Therefore, the participants succeeded in processing second language conceptual plurality in the online sentence comprehension task.

Social Networking Sites and Critical Language Learning

2010 ◽  
pp. 1061-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Halvorsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Social Networking Site ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Japanese Learners

This chapter looks at the potential use of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) for educators and second language learners. It views SNSs broadly through the lens of Critical Language Learning (CLL) and looks at specific issues of identity formation, student empowerment, learner autonomy, and critical literacy as they relate to the use of SNSs. This chapter also reports the results of an initial project to make use of the MySpace social networking site for Japanese learners of English. It is hoped that this chapter will raise awareness of some of the complex issues surrounding the use of SNSs by language learners and that it will lead to further research and consideration of these issues.

User Perceptions of an App for Managing Self-Directed Language Learning

Relay Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 405-428
Author(s):  
Jo Mynard ◽  
Kie Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Educator Perceptions ◽  
User Perceptions ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
The Future ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
Support Students ◽  
Ultimate Purpose

In this paper, the researchers report on a study which is one part of an evaluation of a purpose-built app intended to support students’ self-directed language learning as part of a course of study. The app was used by Japanese learners of English for two years and was created in order to enhance and possibly eventually replace the paper-based materials that had been used for more than ten years. In this paper, the researchers present the findings from the research investigating learner and educator perceptions. As the ultimate purpose of the research was to be able to make informed decisions about the future use of the app, it was vital that these voices be included in the process. The findings indicate some benefits, but mostly limitations of the app and suggest ways in which future tools for managing self-directed learning be optimised.

Interactions in L2: Some Features of Japanese Learner Talk

2019 ◽  
Vol 2018 (1) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
John Campbell-Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Video Data ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Interactional Competence ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
Spoken Interaction

The central use of language in all human societies is spoken interaction, and interactional competence is a tacit goal of language learning. Interaction is not just the utterance of correctly constructed sentences. Rather, learners must be aware of ways in which the target language is used pragmatically by native and proficient speakers to allocate turns, achieve intersubjectivity, co-construct understanding, sustain progressivity, and signal their attitudes and understanding of both their own talk and that of their interlocutor. This paper outlines some common interactional practices of Japanese learners of English, derived from extensive video data of student peer talk, collected over several years in Japanese universities. I highlight such areas as turn-taking, use of discourse markers, backchanneling, and L1 usage. I suggest that awareness of these issues can help both students and their teachers orient to an interactional view of language with concomitant consequences for teaching and learning. 全ての人間社会において言語の主な使用方法は会話であり、その会話に必要な相互行為能力の習得は言語学習においても必要不可欠なものである。相互行為は正確な構文の産出のみで完遂できるものではなく、学習者は発話ターン構造や間主観性・相互認識の構築、会話の継続・維持、参与者の心的状態の表出など、L2母語話者や熟練話者による語用方略を正確に認識し適切に遂行しなければならない。本稿では、多様な会話データから、日本人英語学習者の典型的なL2相互行為の特性を概説する。日本の大学で数年をかけ長期的に収集された日本人英語学習者のピア会話のビデオデータを用いて、学習者による会話中のターン構築、談話標識の運用、相槌やL1使用の方略に焦点を当てた分析を行う。本研究は、英語教師だけではなく、ひいてはその学習者にも言語を相互行為として捉える観点を与え、英語学習活動に相互行為能力の習得を導入する契機になることを目指す。

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