This study examined number marking comprehension among Japanese learners of L2 English, whose L1 does not have an obligatory number marking system. The study conducted an online sentence comprehension experiment with 96 L1-Japanese learners and 32 native speakers of English, wherein participants engaged in a self-paced reading with Stroop-like number judgment tasks. Participants were required to determine the number of single words in stimuli (e.g., _cat_/_cats_, one word; _the cats_/_the cat_, two-word sets), and their judgment time was measured for singular and plural words. The results indicated that both groups took more time to judge single plural nouns, suggesting that Japanese L2 learners of English automatically activate plurality in online sentence comprehension as native speakers do. In contrast, neither group showed an interference effect of singularity in judging singular two-word noun sets (_the cat_), unless the singularity is explicitly marked by indefinite article (_a cat_). The lack of interference may be because of unmarkedness of singularity.
abstract in English
English abstract of the papers.
Learnability of L2 collocations and L1 influence on L2 collocational representations of Japanese learners of English
This study, based on Jiang’s (2000. Lexical representation and development in a second language. Applied Linguistics 21(1). 47–77) bilingual lexicon model, investigates the learnability of collocations among 34 Japanese EFL learners and examines the influence of their L1 on such learning. An acceptability judgment task assessed the knowledge of three different types of collocations: English-only collocations that cannot be directly translated into Japanese (e.g., flat rate); congruent collocations that can be translated into Japanese without changing their meaning (e.g., cold tea); and Japanized collocations that are infelicitous in English, but felicitous in Japanese (e.g., yellow voice). After the task, participants translated the collocations and rated the difficulty on a four-point Likert scale. The relationship between the accuracy of these collocations and the translation difficulty rating scores was analyzed using mixed-effects logistic regression modeling to assess L1 influence. The results showed that with increasing L2 proficiency, learners tend to regard congruent and English-only collocations as acceptable, but even highly proficient learners did not fully reject the Japanized collocations. This suggests that as L2 proficiency increased, participants learned to accept felicitous collocations but did not learn to reject Japanized infelicitous ones. In addition, the influence of L1 was evident in English-only and Japanized collocations and could not be avoided by those with increasing proficiency.
Terai, M., Fukuta, J., & Tamura, Y. (2023). Learnability of L2 collocations and L1 influence on L2 collocational representations of Japanese learners of English. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2022-0234
Investigation of the relationship between animacy and L2 learners’ acquisition of the English plural morpheme
It has been argued that languages differ in the extent to which they allow plural forms of nouns according to the Animacy Hierarchy. Japanese distinguishes between animate and inanimate nouns; the latter are less likely to receive plural markers (e.g., ? hon‐tachi), unlike English. This L1‐L2 difference might cause difficulty in acquiring the plural morpheme. The present study thus investigates the influence of animacy on the processing of the English plural morpheme in online sentence processing. In this study, 34 Japanese university students engaged in a moving window version of a self-paced reading task, during which they also judged whether the number of words presented was one or two when prompted. If animacy matters, Japanese EFL learners might not show an interference effect of this second task for inanimate nouns. However, as no such effect was found, the prediction based on the animacy hierarchy was not confirmed.
Tamura, Y. (2023). Investigation of the relationship between animacy and L2 learners’ acquisition of the English plural morpheme. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 52, 675–690. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-022-09915-2 [Read Online]
Rule-based or efficiency-driven processing of expletive there in English as a foreign language
Although Native speakers (NSs) of English make plural agreement in preverbal-subject sentences (e.g., A pen and eraser *is/are…), previous studies have demonstrated that they prefer singular – not plural – agreement between verbs and conjoined noun phrases (NPs) in expletive there constructions (e.g., there is/are a pen and an eraser…), showing efficiency-driven processing prioritization of agreement between nearest constituents. This paper assesses whether Japanese L2 learners of English (JLE) show this tendency. The results of two self-paced reading experiments together indicated that even though efficiency-driven processing was available to L2 learners, their use was unstable due to the repeated exposure to there are NPpl– and NPpl-type sentences during the task. It seems possible that repeated exposure triggered learners’ knowledge that that conjoined NPs are always plural. Hence, it could conceivably be hypothesized that a learner’s specific knowledge intervenes the efficiency-driven processing strategy.
Tamura, Y., Fukuta, J., Nishimura, Y., & Kato, D. (2023). Rule-based or efficiency-driven processing of expletive there in English as a foreign language, 61, 1577–1606. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2021-0156 [Author Manuscript]
Pitfalls of production data analysis for investigating L2 cognitive mechanism: An ontological realism perspective
This article addresses the pitfalls of performance analysis in investigating cognitive processing during second language (L2) learning. The problems that we discuss in this paper are twofold: (1) Assuming psychological variables to be ontological entities without meeting the criteria for ontological reality and (2) Inappropriateness of assessing abilities based on learner’s speaking or writing performance to investigate cognitive processes. By addressing these, we argue that some latent variables postulated by observing L2 performance do not exist in reality and emphasize the difficulty of interpreting cognitive mechanisms through performance analysis. We also enumerate some problems that arise from the epistemological perspectives of previous research practice (e.g., the bifurcation of contradictory hypotheses and their indeterminacy). Finally, two alternative approaches treating L2 performance are proposed. The implications of this line of discussion for future research are also discussed.
Fukuta, J., Nishimura, Y., & Tamura. Y. (2023). Pitfalls of production data analysis for investigating L2 cognitive mechanism: An ontological realism perspective. Journal of Second Language Studies, 6, 95–118. https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.21013.fuk
L2 learners’ number agreement in the expletive there constructions: Conjoined NP always plural?
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether L2 learners of English can employ efficiency-driven number agreement processing with conjoined noun phrases (NPs) in expletive there constructions (ETC). Previous studies reported that native speakers of English prefer singular agreement over plural agreement when conjoined NPs are used in ETCs (e.g., there is a pen and an eraser…), which implies that native speakers (NSs) of English prioritize efficiency over the canonical agreement. The present study examined whether L2 learners can show similar processing tendencies. In Experiment 1, an offline error correction task was administered to Japanese L2 learners of English to see the learners’ explicit knowledge. The results indicated that they tend to make a plural agreement in ETCs. In Experiment 2, L2 learners were compared with NSs in the self-paced reading task, which demonstrated that—unlike the NS group—L2 learner group analyzed conjoined NPs as a plural. The fact that L2 learners preferred plural agreement could be due to their explicit knowledge that conjoined NP should always be plural. This knowledge led to a non-nativelike agreement in ETC in online sentence processing.
Tamura, Y., Fukuta, J., Nishimura, Y., & Kato, D. (2021). L2 learners’ number agreement in the expletive there constructions: Conjoined NP always plural? Reports of 2020 Studies in The Japan Association for Language Education and Technology, Chubu Chapter, Fundamentals of Foreign Language Educational Research Special Interest Group (SIG), 2–23. [PDF] (Password to open the PDF: kisoken202001)
Examining the Validity of the LexTALE Test for Japanese College Students
The question of how vocabulary knowledge of second language (L2) learners can be measured in a valid and reliable way has attracted attention from researchers. One widely used format for assessing vocabulary knowledge is a Yes/No test, where learners are asked to indicate whether they know each vocabulary word on the test. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the LexTALE test, a recently developed Yes/No English vocabulary test, can be an approximate measure of vocabulary knowledge and general proficiency for Japanese learners of English. In this study, 111 Japanese university students majoring in English took the LexTALE, an English to Japanese translation test, and the Vocabulary Size Test (VST). They were further asked to provide self-ratings of their English proficiency. Analysis showed that the LexTALE score correlated more strongly with the translation score and VST score than self-ratings of their proficiency. The results also showed that the LexTALE score correlated significantly with the TOEFL ITP® score, although some self-ratings resulted in a higher correlation. The findings suggest that for Japanese learners of English, LexTALE may be used as an approximate measure of English vocabulary knowledge and, to a lesser extent, general proficiency.
Nakata, T., Tamura, Y., & Aubrey, S. (2020). Examining the validity of the LexTALE test for Japanese college students. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 17, 335–348. doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2020.17.2.2.335
Cognitive processes during self correction in L2 oral production: Comparison between tasks with a high and a low cognitive demand
This study investigated how task difficulty affects cognitive processes during self correction in L2 English oral production. Previous studies have explored this issue based on the taxonomy of self correction behavior proposed by Kormos (1999) which classifies self corrections into different-information repair, appropriacy repair, and error repair. This study sought to determine whether learners focus more on concept, lexis, grammar, or phonology when self corrections occur. English learners were given two direction-giving map tasks: one which is cognitively more demanding in generating message (Task High), and the other cognitively less demanding (Task Low). Each task was followed by a stimulated recall interview to determine the learner’s cognitive processes when a self correction was observed. Their comments were categorized into four cognitive stages: conceptualization, lexical encoding, grammatical encoding, and phonological encoding. We hypothesized that Task High would induce more conceptualization than Task Low. The participants focused on the conceptual aspect more frequently than the grammatical aspect during Task High, while no difference in cognitive process was found in Task Low. The results also revealed that, while there was no significant difference in conceptualization between high-proficient and low-proficient learners, the more proficient learners tended to focus more on grammatical aspects than lexical.
Kobayashi, M., Iwatani, M., Tamura, Y., & Abe, D. (2019). Cognitive processes during self correction in L2 oral production: Comparison between tasks with a high and a low cognitive demand. LET Journal of Central Japan, 30, 31–44.
Written languaging with indirect feedback in writing revision: is feedback always effective?
Recent studies have shown that languaging contributes to second language skill development. Feedback is often used in combination with languaging as a prompt of verbalization during writing revision, and this combination has shown the effect of increasing the quality of writing. The present study tested whether and how indirect feedback helps learners engage in languaging, and whether the effects continued with the second new writing on the same topic. Forty participants engaged in a three-stage writing task: writing a first draft, revision with languaging with/without feedback on specific grammatical or lexical errors, and writing the second draft. Writing was multidimensionally assessed in terms of syntactic complexity, grammatical accuracy, and fluency. The results showed that the participants focused more on grammar when they were given feedback and succeeded in more error correction than when they did not receive feedback. Learners improved in fluency and slightly in accuracy, but not in complexity, regardless of the existence of indirect feedback. Importantly, written languaging with feedback did not show superiority to written languaging without feedback in skill development. The findings suggest that even metalinguistic correction induced by feedback is not always necessarily effective, but languaging may have a positive effect on overall writing quality.
(2019) Written languaging with indirect feedback in writing revision: is feedback always effective?, Language Awareness, 28, 1–14. DOI: 10.1080/09658416.2019.1567742
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Japanese EFL Learners’ Sentence Processing of Conceptual Plurality: An Analysis focusing on reciprocal verbs
This study aimed to investigate how Japanese EFL learners, whose first language does not have obligatory morphological number marking, process conceptual plurality. The targeted structure was reciprocal verbs, which require conceptual plurality to interpret their meanings correctly. The results of a sentence completion task (SCT) confirmed that participants could use reciprocal verbs reciprocally in English. In a self-paced reading experiment, participants read sentences with reciprocal verbs and those with optionally transitive verbs (e.g., while the king and the queen kissed/left the baby read the book in the bed). There was no reading time delay for reciprocal verbs but a delay for optionally transitive verbs. Therefore, the participants succeeded in processing L2 conceptual plurality in the online sentence comprehension task.
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