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published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

The critical period hypothesis for second language learning, which states that young children learn additional languages better than adults, lacks unambiguous empirical support as well as a coherent theoretical model. An experimental study was conducted which analyzed child-adult differences in difficulty of acquisition and long-term retention for rules of syntax and words in Japanese, a language unfamiliar to the subjects. The results of this study found no advantage for children over adults either in acquisition or long-term memory. However, relative to the difficulty of acquisition, the children had lower forgetting rates for words than for rules when both materials were learned completely. In the lexical study, the children's performance at retention was closer to the adults' than at acquisition, whereas in the syntax study, the opposite was the case. These results confirm the existence of developmental differences in the forgetting rates of different materials. Such results imply that, if there is an advantage for learning language at an early age, it might be localized in lexical retention.

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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-190). / xvi, 190 leaves, bound 29 cm

The intent of this study is to examine the trajectory of ideology regarding standard Japanese and dialects from the historical perspective, and also to discuss the cause of the post-war shift of the ideology. Before the war, the government attempted to disseminate hyojun-go aiming at creating a unified Japan in the time when many countries were developing to be nation states after industrial revolution. After the Pacific war, the less strict-sounding term kyotsu-go was more often used, conveying an ideology of democratization. Yet despite the difference in the terms, speaking a common language continues to play a role of unifying the country. Today there is great interest in regional dialects in Japan. Although kyotsu-go is the common language, most people, especially in urban areas, are familiar with (if not fluent in) kyotsu-go. Due to the development of media and mobilization there are few people who cannot understand kyotsu-go. However, until around the 1970s people were more likely to believe in the superiority of standard Japanese (hyojun-go). Standard language was believed to be superior as a result of language policy that had its origins in Meiji and lasted through WWII. This included education policy that required school children to learn hyojun-go. After the war, in a process of democratization there emerged greater acceptance of language variety: dialect. Thus, there has been a shift in language ideology in Japan, and the people's interests in dialects is one indicator of this. This shift is analyzed here from the perspective of Bourdieu's notion of social and linguistic capital, tying it to policy, historical events and societal change.

Any type of education implemented by a modern nation-state is, at least in part, a tool for socializing its people. In this regard, Japanese language and literature education, kokugo, has played an important role in Japan by emphasizing nationalism and the integrity of a Japanese identity. According to Ishihara (2007) and Lee (1996 [English translation 2010]), kokugo, since its inception in 1900, has promoted moral awareness and assimilation of Japanese ideals across the country. However, responding to unsatisfactory test results in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2003 and 2006, Japan's Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) adjusted kokugo education policies. A decision was made to place more emphasis on language skills rather than on the traditional kokugo approach that had been in place from the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912). Based on an analysis of Wakaru Kokugo Yomikaki no Tsubo (WKYT) (Understanding Kokugo: The Secrets of Reading and Writing), an educational television program for elementary school kokugo classes by Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK), this thesis discusses how language skill development has recently been introduced into the kokugo curriculum and Japanese kokugo education policies. This thesis also uses the historical-structural approach of critical language policy research developed by Tollefson (1991, 2013) and Street (1993) to analyze how this modified kokugo education has the potential to affect the social development of students.

Orientador: Elza Taeko Doi / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T21:24:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mukai_Yuki_D.pdf: 2076961 bytes, checksum: f7a8b72257e9219c46dd85274a57ebd2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Esta pesquisa envolve a análise da interlíngua referente ao uso real das partículas gramaticais wa e ga na produção de textos escritos pelos alunos de língua japonesa como LE. Elegeram-se essas partículas, pois se observou que a maioria dos alunos tinha dificuldades em utilizar corretamente a partícula wa, marcadora de tópico, trocando-a comumente pela partícula ga, de caso nominativo, ou vice-versa. O principal objetivo desta pesquisa é, então, o de identificar e sistematizar o uso dessas partículas utilizadas pelos alunos, e verificar as tendências na aprendizagem das mesmas, além das hipóteses levantadas por eles, concernentes a esse uso, como estratégias de aprendizagem e de comunicação. Para isso, adotou-se a abordagem dos Estudos da Aquisição-Aprendizagem de LE/L2, envolvendo a Análise de Erros. No entanto, diferentemente do que propõe essa abordagem em termos estritos, realizou-se a análise tanto de "erros" quanto de "acertos", para se poder compreender melhor o processo de aprendizagem e a competência (extra-)linguística dos alunos num dado momento de aprendizagem. Como procedimento de análise, adotaram-se os métodos quantitativo e qualitativo. Na análise quantitativa, verificou-se que os alunos tendem a atribuir, de maneira geral, apenas uma função a cada partícula, ou seja, trata-se do processo de simplificação das regras gramaticais. Verificou-se, também, que os alunos do nível básico consideraram ga como marcadora de sujeito gramatical, enquanto que os alunos do nível intermediário apreenderam ga como marcadora de objeto direto. Essa atribuição de diferentes funções à partícula ga é uma das provas de que a interlíngua é flexível, dinâmica e se encontra em processo de transformação no qual os aprendizes levantam hipóteses sobre as regras gramaticais, socioculturais, pragmáticas da língua-alvo, testando-as, reformando-as e negociando o sentido. Revelou-se, também, que, de modo geral, eles utilizam wa e ga adequadamente no nível da frase. Por outro lado, os resultados da análise qualitativa, realizada à luz da dimensão do texto, desvendaram que eles não levaram em consideração a gramática do texto/discurso, preocupando-se simplesmente com a natureza sintática e morfológica do sintagma acoplado por wa ou ga. Uma vez que a escolha entre wa e ga depende, também, do fluxo do texto/discurso e da intenção do emissor, ga já não se limita apenas a "partícula de caso", mas é também discursiva e pragmaticamente utilizada para expressar efeitos significativos no texto/discurso, tal como wa. Ou seja, wa e ga são as "partículas de negociação discursivo-pragmática" na comunicação. Portanto, dos professores, espera-se uma reavaliação da partícula ga, definida nas gramáticas do japonês como mera indicadora de caso. No ensino-aprendizagem de LE/L2, além da gramática da língua proposta pelos teóricos, o conhecimento da "gramática da interlíngua" torna-se imprescindível, pois é esta última que se configura como alicerce da gramática pedagógica voltada aos aprendizes não-nativos. Sem consciência, não ocorre a aquisição, ou seja, o papel dos professores deve ser considerado como "desestabilizador" e "conscientizador" no ensino de LE/L2. / Abstract: This study involves the analysis of the interlanguage corresponding to the actual use of grammatical particles wa and ga in the production of texts written by students of Japanese as a Foreign Language (FL). Such particles were selected due to the observation that most students presented difficulties in using correctly wa, a topic marker, and commonly replaced it with ga, a marker of the nominative case, or vice versa. The main objective of this research is, thus, to identify and systematize the use of these particles by the students and verify the trends in the learning of such particles, and the hypotheses raised by the students concerning their use, both as communicative and learning strategies. With that in mind, the approach adopted was found in the Studies in FL/L2 (Second Language) Acquisition/Learning and involves Error Analysis. However, differently from what that approach proposes originally, analysis was conducted not only of the "wrong" choices, but also of "right" ones, so that one could reach a better understanding of the learning process and of the students' (extra-)linguistic competence at a given moment of their learning. Both the qualitative and quantitative methods were used as analysis procedure. In the quantitative analysis, it was found that students tend to attribute, in general, a single function to each particle, that is, the process of grammatical rule simplification is manifested. It was also found that basic level students consider ga a marker of the grammatical subject, while intermediate level students perceived ga as a direct object marker. Such attribution of different functions to the particle ga is evidence that interlanguage is flexible and dynamic, and involves a transformation process, in which learners raise hypotheses about grammatical, sociocultural and pragmatic rules of the target-language, test them and review them while negotiating meaning. It was also revealed that, in general, students use wa and ga adequately at sentence level. On the other hand, the results of the qualitative analysis, approached in the dimension of the text, reveal that they did not take into consideration the text/discourse grammar, only being concerned with the morphosyntactic nature of the syntagma adjoined to wa or ga. Since the choice between wa and ga also depends on the flow of the text/discourse and on the speaker's/writer's intention, ga is not limited only to the role of "case-indicative particle", but is also discursively and pragmatically used to express meaningful effects in the text/discourse, like wa is. In other words, wa and ga are the "particles for discursive-pragmatic negotiation" in communication. Therefore, one expects of teachers a reassessment of the particle ga, defined in Japanese grammars merely as indicative of case. In the teaching-learning of FL/L2, besides the grammar of the language proposed by theorists, knowledge of the "interlanguage grammar" becomes indispensable, for it is the latter that can be characterized as the foundation of the pedagogic grammar for non-native learners. Without awareness there is no acquisition, thus, the role of the FL/L2 teacher should be one of "destabilizer" and "awareness promoter". / Doutorado / Lingua Estrangeira / Doutor em Linguística Aplicada

The Japanese as a foreign language classroom in the United States is full of information about the target culture and cross-cultural interaction between American students and Japanese instructors. This cross-cultural interaction promotes culture learning but sometimes produces potential conflicts due to American students and Japanese instructors having different expectations of each other. The purpose of this study was to investigate student expectations of their Japanese teachers and to explore similarities and differences among Japanese and American expectations. The research questions addressed were 1) What do American students expect of their Japanese teachers in the Japanese language classroom? Do their expectations have any distinctive features?, and 2) What do Japanese teachers expect of themselves in the Japanese language classroom? Do their expectations have any distinctive features? The data was gathered in the two Japanese programs at universities in the Northwest. This exploratory study used both the quantitative and descriptive research methods. There were three primary data analysis procedures: multidimensional scaling analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and rank-order analysis. These multidimensional and hierarchical clustering analyses explored the underlying structure of the concept of what makes a good Japanese language teacher. The rank-order analysis revealed which beliefs were most important for different groups' judgments of who is a good teacher. In addition, the results of these analyses were discussed with the subjects through interviews. The results suggested a major similarity and also some culture differences. Both Americans and Japanese seemed to share a very basic framework about what makes a good teacher, which contained three domains: Classroom management, Interaction and Personality. However, some of the results seemed to reflect a difference between the role-specific aspects of Japanese society and the individualistic elements of American society. In addition, the rank-order analysis seemed to reveal a difference between the two schools.

Many researchers (e.g., Nation, 2001, 2015; Schmitt, 2000) have recognized the importance of vocabulary learning in second language (L2) or additional language (AL) acquisition. The strong effects of lexical and background knowledge on L2reading comprehension have similarly been found in various studies (e.g., Hu & Nation, 2000; Rokni & Hajilari, 2013). In the case of Japanese language, the opportunities for acquiring the lexical and background knowledge associated with Japanese history and culture, especially traditional culture, are scant, because only a small number of Japanese pedagogical materials deal minimally with these topics. Meanwhile, many learners are motivated to study Japanese because of their interest in Japanese history and culture, according to a survey conducted by the Japan Foundation in 2012. This project aimed to increase the opportunities for learning Japanese history and traditional culture through the development of new pedagogical materials based on kabuki, and then the empirical evaluation of the developed pedagogical materials. Nine Chinese-as-a-first-language Japanese learners at the upper-intermediate level participated in the nine-week online course, including the pre- and post-course tests in the first and last weeks. Employing a multi-method research approach, the study examined the changes in learners’ lexical and background knowledge related to Japanese history and culture, their reading comprehension, and their interest in kabuki. Four kinds of multiple-choice tests were administered to collect the quantitative data. In addition, the qualitative data were gathered through the pre- and post-course questionnaires and post-course individual interviews. Overall, the findings indicated that almost all participants increased their background knowledge of kabuki, as well as their vocabulary related to kabuki and general theatrical performances. The results in other areas, such as historical vocabulary, vocabulary depth, reading comprehension, and historical background knowledge were mixed. Further, concerning the depth of vocabulary knowledge, it was found that the learning of vocabulary depth was more difficult than learning of vocabulary breadth. Likewise, the knowledge of use, such as collocations and register constraints, was found to be more difficult to learn than other aspects of vocabulary depth. The participants’ reports in the post-course questionnaire and individual interviews showed that most participants seemed to have increased their interest in kabuki. Overall, the first-of-their-kind developed pedagogical materials contributed to the development of lexical and background knowledge, specifically knowledge associated with Japanese traditional culture and history. This study may provide a model for an evidence-based approach to the development of pedagogical materials that practitioners can adopt or adapt. / Graduate