A multi-dimentional study in the process and determining factors of acquisition of Japanese as a second language by immigrant workers

本研究的目的是了解在自然环境中学习日语的外来务工人员是如何习得日语的。调查对象是居住在爱知县的巴西裔日本人，他们是日本目前最大的移民工人群体。1994年度，根据以前发表的相关文献，制定了详细的研究计划，包括数据收集程序，在1995财政年度，在大约两个月的时间间隔内，与10名讲葡萄牙语的巴西人举行了6次会议，收集了数据。每次会议包括一个由研究小组成员发起的控制和非控制问题的采访，两种类型的角色扮演，两种类型的图片描述，和两个任务来跟踪语音和书写系统的习得。整个会议都用数字录音机录了音，并作了文字记录。另外，在调查前和调查中，用葡萄牙语对被调查者的语言背景、语言使用情况、对日语学习的态度以及日本社会的整体情况进行了两次访谈，并在1996年度将调查数据制成数据库，从语音、词汇、句法、语篇和写作系统的纵向研究，这是第一次在JSL的背景下进行的纵向研究，可以说是独一无二的，因为它选择了大量的被调查者和分析的多样性。本文的研究结果不仅有助于拓宽英语二语习得研究的范围，而且对欧美等地的外来务工人员二语习得研究也有一定的借鉴意义。

This research was planned to find out how Japanese is used acquired by immigrant workers learning Japanese as a second language (JSL) in natural settings. Informants were recruited from among Japanese Brazilians, who constitutes the largest population of immigrant workers Japan at present, living in Aichi Prefecture.In the 1994 fiscal year, research design was drawn up based previously published relevant literature together with a detailed research manual with includes data collection procedures, task descriptions and questionnaire forms in both Japanese and Portuguese.In the 1995 fiscal year data was collected in six meetings with each of the ten Brazilian Portuguese speakers with approximately two month interval. Each meeting consisted of an interview with controlled and non-controlled questions initiated by a member of the research team, two types of role play, two types of picture description, and two tasks to trace acquisition of pronunciation and writing system. The entire meetings were audiotaped with a digital audio tape recorder and transcribed. Two interviews were also conducted in Portuguese before and in the middle of the data collection period concerning the informants' language background, language use, and attitude toward the learning of Japanese and the Japanese society in general.In the 1996 fiscal year the collected data was made into a data base and analyzed in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, discourse and writing system.The longitudinal research we carried out is the first of the kind in the context of JSL.It can be considered to be unique for its selection of informants and multiplicity of analysis. Our findings will not only contribute to broaden the scope of studies in acquisition of JSL but also to cast a new light on studies in immigrant workers' second language acquisition which have been conducted in Europe and North America.