Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Acquisition of Aspect in a Second Language: a Bidirectional Study of Learners of Japanese and English

博士论文研究：第二语言方面的习得：日语和英语学习者的双向研究

• 批准号: 0345697
• 负责人: Gita Martohardjono
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: CUNY Graduate School University Center
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-02-15 至 2006-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0345697&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Acquisition; Aspect

Under the direction of Dr. Gita Martohardjono, Ms. Alison Gabriele will conduct a series of experiments for her doctoral dissertation on the acquisition of aspect by second language learners of Japanese and English. The goal of this research is to investigate the degree to which grammatical properties of the first language aid or impede second language acquisition. One of the most difficult challenges facing a learner of a second language is successful interpretation of markers of tense and aspect. While tense places a particular event in time, aspect refers to the internal temporal properties of an event, such as whether an event is ongoing or whether it has been completed. In a controlled experimental study, classroom learners of both Japanese and English will be tested on three areas in which aspectual notions are encoded: grammatical morphology (for example, the progressive be+ing), complex predicates (such as the particle up in eat the pizza up) and temporal adverbs (such as yesterday). The bidirectional design of the experiment will provide insight into the role the native language plays in second language acquisition. Learners at different levels of proficiency (from intermediate to near-native) will be tested in order to find out at what point in development learners successfully interpret these structures, and whether aspect is eventually fully acquired in L2 acquisition. This research is significant for both language pedagogy and the theory of second language acquisition. This study will provide insight into how second language learners acquire meaning, in what ways their knowledge differs from the knowledge of native speakers, and why this domain of language is so difficult to acquire. The results of projects such as this one can be used to develop guidelines for effectively teaching Japanese as a foreign language. Finally, this project will initiate a sustained collaboration between the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City and Miyagi Gakuin Women's University in Sendai, Japan, where half of the experimental studies will be conducted.

在Gita Martohardjono博士的指导下，Alison Gabriele女士将在她的博士论文中进行一系列关于日语和英语第二语言学习者习得体的实验。本研究的目的是调查第一语言的语法特征在多大程度上有助于或阻碍第二语言习得。对于第二语言学习者来说，最困难的挑战之一就是能否成功地理解时体标记。时态将特定事件放置在时间上，而体则指事件的内部时间属性，如事件是否正在进行或是否已经完成。在一项对照的实验研究中，日语和英语的课堂学习者将在三个领域对体概念进行编码：语法形态(例如进行时be+ing)、复合谓词(例如吃披萨Up中的助词up)和时间副词(例如昨天)。实验的双向设计将有助于深入了解母语在第二语言习得中所起的作用。不同水平(从中等到接近母语)的学习者将被测试，以找出学习者在什么发展阶段成功地解释了这些结构，以及在第二语言习得中是否最终完全习得了方面。这一研究对语言教育学和二语习得理论都具有重要意义。这项研究将深入了解第二语言学习者是如何获得意义的，他们的知识在哪些方面与本族语者的知识不同，以及为什么这一语言领域如此难以获得。像这样的项目的结果可以用来制定有效地将日语作为外语教学的指导方针。最后，该项目将启动纽约市城市大学研究生院和日本仙台宫城学馆女子大学之间的持续合作，一半的实验研究将在那里进行。