Extended discourse in Japanese learners of English: From the perspective of oral and written narratives

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The purpose of this project is to examine the acquisition of extended discourse skills in Japanese learners of English by studying oral and written narratives. In the first four years of the project (FY2018-FY2021), elicited narratives of two types (i.e., Frog Story & Balloon Story) were collected from Japanese university students at three universities and three different proficiency levels. Comparisons were made with data gathered in earlier studies from native speakers of Japanese and English as well as Japanese-English bilingual speakers (e.g., Nakamura, 1990, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014). The narratives were analyzed from the perspective of affect and evaluation, expression of motion events, and narrative organization (e.g., referential strategies).In FY2022, data collection continued with oral narratives, collecting stories in the classroom and online. Data analysis has progressed further, looking at differences in narrative (e.g., referential structure, motion expressions) in the L2 narratives due to proficiency level (advanced, intermediate, and elementary). In particular, findings regarding expressions of motion events were presented and published this year. The ability to use strategies often used in expressions of motion in English, such as manner verbs and multiple path segments/ ground elements, was better at higher proficiency levels. Differences in rhetorical style (e.g., static scene-setting vs. motion descriptions) were also observed.