Development of speaking ability among Japanese learners of English: A meta-analysis

关于日本英语学习者（JLE）如何发展口语能力的研究已经进行了，但结果好坏参半。本研究考虑了研究背景（如初中或高中）和教学时长（如9个月）的差异等调节变量，运用元分析方法解释了以往研究结果的差异，并阐明了初中英语口语能力的发展模式。在使用数据库搜索相关文献后，我找到了13项适合进行meta分析的研究，使用前测和后测分数的差异程度。使用随机效应模型得到的结果显示，英语的流畅性和句法复杂性发展到中小程度，但准确性没有提高。调节变量分析没有显示出对发展程度的显著影响，表明需要在该领域进一步研究。

Research into how Japanese learners of English (JLE) develop speaking ability has been conducted, but with mixed results. This study used meta-analysis to explain divergent results among previous studies and to clarify developmental patterns of speaking ability of JLE, taking into consideration moderator variables regarding differences in research contexts (e.g., junior or senior high school) and in instructional lengths (e.g., nine months). After searching for relevant documents using databases, I found 13 studies suitable for meta-analysis, using degrees of differences between pretest and posttest scores.Results obtained using the random-effect model showed degrees of development to small or medium degrees in fluency and syntactic complexity but not in accuracy. The moderator variable analyses did not show significant effects on the degree of development, showing the need for further investigation in this area.