A Study on Development of CAI Program to Facilitate Understanding of Question Sentences in Arithmetic Problems for Children Whose First Languages are not Japanese.

许多县市都为不以日语为母语的小学生安排了专门的讲师。然而，很少有老师能够用他们的母语与孩子们交流。这项研究项目研究了非日语母语的孩子们如何理解小学算术问题的问句。我们测试了受试者的理解能力，方法是用我们自己开发的计算机程序把问题句打印出来，并录下来。我们发现，许多在日本呆了相当长时间的巴西儿童仍然难以理解算术中的问句。为了找出他们的困难在于进行简单计算的能力，还是理解日语句子或处理抽象概念的能力，我们使用了一个计算机程序，该程序用日语和葡萄牙语以及印刷和录音两种语言提出问题。我们…的主题更多的人被要求从一组与所描述的情况相匹配的图片或方程式中选择每个问题的正确答案。测试对象包括非巴西人和土生土长的日本人志愿者以及巴西人。我们发现，非母语受试者在反应时间和准确性上的差异比母语为日语的受试者更大。研究还发现，他们在母语中的分数不一定会更高。在现阶段，我们认为有需要整理更多资料，才能得出结论。测试数据的收集进展缓慢，主要是因为我们开发的程序需要安装在要使用的每台计算机上。这是因为没有多少小学有足够的互联网设施来进行基于网络的测试环境。然而，事实证明，这个项目在受试者中很受欢迎，与传统的纸笔测试相比，受试者可以更长时间地保持注意力，在解决问题时有更强的动机。在进一步的研究中，我们计划扩大习题集的数据库，并修改程序，使其可以用于日语和葡萄牙语以外的语言。较少

Many prefectures and cities assign special instructors to elementary school pupils who do not speak Japanese as the native language. Few instructors, however, are able to communicate with the children in their own languages.This research project studies how children who are not native speakers of Japanese understand question sentences of elementary school arithmetic problems. We have tested the subjects' comprehension by presenting question sentences in print and in recording using a computer program which we have developed. We have found that many Brazilian children who have been in Japan for a considerable length of time still have trouble understanding question sentences in arithmetic. To find out whether their difficulty lies in the ability to carry out simple calculations, or in understanding Japanese sentences or in handling abstract concepts, we used a computer program which presents problems both in Japanese and in Portuguese, and both in print and in recording. The subjects we … More re asked to choose the correct answer for each question from a set of pictures or equations that match the situation described.The test has been given to non-Brazilian and native Japanese volunteers as well as to Brazilian subjects. We have found that non-native subjects vary more in response time and accuracy than native Japanese subjects. It was also found that they do not necessarily score higher in their native language. At this stage, we consider it necessary to collate more data before we can draw a conclusion. The collection of the testing data has been slow in coming, mainly because the program we have developed needs to be installed on each computer that is to be used. This is due to the fact that not many elementary schools have sufficient Internet facility for a network-based testing environment. The program, however, has proved to be popular among the subjects, and the subjects can be expected to retain attention focus longer and to have stronger motivations in solving the questions than on a traditional paper-and-pencil test. In a further research, we plan to expand the database of the problem sets and to modify the program so that it can be used in languages other than Japanese and Portuguese. Less