A Study of Processing of Communication Strategies in the Use of Foreign Languages

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The research project for this study in the academic years of 1997 and 1998 consisted of two parts. One was the development of a software program to collect and analyze oral data (1997), andthe developed software was named "Speech Recording and Analysis Program (SRAP)." The other was to conduct experimental data collection for the researcher's study on communication strategies (CS) in second or foreign language use (1998).Two experiments were carried out to collect oral data from native speakers and non-native speakers of English. The first experimental data collection was conducted as a pilot study to test the usefulness and validity of the developed software. The data was collected from 18 dyads (i. e. , 36 subjects) of native and non-native speakers of English regarding communication strategies used in conversational interactions. The collected data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively, and different interactive CS among three types of pairs (pairs of native speakers, p … More airs of native and non-native speakers, and pairs of non-native speakers) were revealed from the analysis. The other experimental data collection, which was originally planed at the time of application of this project, was conducted from the end of July to the beginning of August, 1998, targeting 32 subjects of Japanese college English learners. The collected data consist of personal data (English proficiency, the extent of field dependence, impulsivity, ambiguity tolerance, and English learning and use : measured by various psychological tests and a questionnaire) and data of communication strategies which was elicited from individual interviews in Japanese and English.The collected data was statistically analyzed immediately after collecting data, using the developed software, regarding temporal variables and contents of utterances. From the analysis, it was clarified, contrary to the researcher's expectancy that the subjects' first language would be the most significant predicator of CS use, that 1) English proficiency was one of the most significant factors to predict CS use, 2) impulsivity was another important factor of CS use, and 3) the actual language use also affected CS use to a great extent. Less