Long-term Modification of Language Proficiency in Japanese Students Overseas : Effects of Age and Early Education in Second Language Learning

本研究的主要目的是分析母语为日语的人在长期接触英语环境下，母语和二语习得和保持的过程。为了检验“年龄效应”和“早期教育效应”，我们以每个家庭为单位进行了一系列调查，并获得了不同年龄段的受试者，例如，从小学生到他们的父母。（项目负责人：亚拉巴马大学的詹姆斯·埃米尔·费登教授）负责美国的调查;日本队负责东日本的比赛（山田恒夫，国立多媒体教育研究所）或西日本（Reiko A.Yamada，Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International，ATR-I）每个调查包括1）关于英语和日语声音的语音感知的实验，2）日语和英语发音的实验; 3）日语和/或英语科目的成绩测试。测试1和测试2是由美国团队在1998和1999财政年度进行的;测试3是自1998财政年度以来由日本团队通过邮件进行的3次测试。在日本成年人和年轻学生中，英语语音的感知和产生在这两年中没有显着变化。虽然详细的分析还没有完成，但这一结果表明，日本学习者的言语感知和英语产出的显着改善需要更长的时间停留在第二语言环境中。此外，问卷调查澄清了日本家庭在美国遇到的各种社会文化和心理问题。我们认为有必要继续这项年度调查，以澄清整个习得和维持过程的母语为日语的英语语音。

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the acquisition and maintenance processes of L1 and L2 proficiencies when native speakers of Japanese have been exposed to English environments for a long term. To examine "age effects" and " early education effects", we executed a series of surveys in each family unit, and got subjects of various ages, for example, from students in elementary schools to their parents.In our original plan, the American team (Project leader : Prof.James Emil Flege, University of Alabama) was in charge of surveys in the United States ; the Japanese teams were in charge of those in East Japan (Tsuneo Yamada, National Institute of Multimedia Education) or West Japan (Reiko A.Yamada, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, ATR-I).Each survey consisted of 1) experiments on the speech perception of English and Japanese sounds, 2) experiments on the production of Japanese and English sounds and 3) achievement tests on Japanese and/or English subjects. Test 1 and Test 2 were carried out in FY1998 and FY1999 by the American team ; Test 3 was done 3 times since FY 1998 by sending by mail from the Japanese team.In both Japanese adults and younger students, perception and production of English speech were not dramatically changed in these two years. Although detail analyses have not finished yet, this result suggested drastic improvements in speech perception and production of English by Japanese learners need their longer stays in L2 environments. In addition, questionnaires clarified various socio-cultural and psychological troubles that Japanese families met in the United States. We think it is necessary to continue this annual survey in order to clarify the whole acquisition and maintenance processes of English speech by native speakers of Japanese.