Comparison of word frequency effects between Japanese learners of English and native English speakers

Jazyk: japonština
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: 日本福祉大学全学教育センター紀要 = The Journal of Inter-Departmental Education Center, Nihon Fukushi University. 10:23-30
ISSN: 2434-706X
Popis: This study examines the larger impacts of the effect of word frequency on second language speakers, compared to first language speakers, by conducting a lexical decision task experiment with Japanese learners and native speakers of English. The participants were instructed to judge, as quickly and accurately as possible, whether or not a high frequency word or a low frequency word on a computer screen was a real English word. The results revealed a significantly large difference in reaction times between high and low frequency words for the Japanese learner group, showing a stronger word frequency effect over the native speaker group. The vocabulary sizes of individual participants were added to the statistical analysis as a predictor to verify the fact that a personʼs vocabulary size can account for the different magnitudes of word frequency effects. The reanalysis showed that a participantʼs vocabulary size may not be the only factor that modulates this different impact. The findings of the present study did not support the language-competition hypothesis in which competition from L1 representations can account for word frequency differences, but instead partially supported the lexical entrenchment hypothesis, which emphasizes the strength of lexical memory representation. 本研究は,第二言語の方が母語より大きいとされる頻度効果について,日本人英語学習者と母語話者を対象に語彙性判断課題を用いて検証した.実験参加者は,パソコンの画面に視覚提示された高頻度語と低頻度語が英語として存在するかどうか,可能な限り速く正確に判断するよう指示された.分析の結果,日本人英語学習者は英語母語話者より高頻度語と低頻度語の反応時間差が大きく,頻度差のインパクトをより強く受けることが明らかになった.さらに,この頻度効果の差異は,語彙サイズに起因するかどうかを調査するため再分析を行ったが,語彙サイズだけでは,頻度効果の差の要因を説明するには十分ではないことが明らかになった.本研究の結果は,頻度効果の差異が母語と第二言語の間の言語間競合であるとする language-competition 仮説ではなく,記憶における語彙表象の強度に注目した lexical entrenchment 仮説を支持する可能性を示唆した.
Databáze: OpenAIRE