Cover not available
Part of
Processability and Language Acquisition in the Asia-Pacific Region
Edited by Satomi Kawaguchi, Bruno Di Biase and Yumiko Yamaguchi
[Processability Approaches to Language Acquisition Research & Teaching 9] 2023
► pp. 144–162

Chapter 6
Japanese L2 corpora and SLA research

| National Institute for Japanese Language (NINJAL) | Hiroshima University
| Western Sydney University

This chapter overviews learner corpora and corpus-based acquisition studies in Japanese to illustrate the advantages of using them in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research. It introduces learners’ oral and written production corpora, including I-JAS, the largest Japanese learner corpora in the world. Through separate studies, including one PT-based study, we illustrate how corpora can be utilised to obtain results beyond what can usually be achieved with small-scale studies, which contributes toward overcoming the recurring limitations of current SLA research. Analysing learner corpora enables immediate crosslinguistic triangulations and greater generalisability of findings regarding interlanguage systems. Corpora-based studies allow SLA researchers to consider new perspectives and areas that have to this day been underexplored because of the paucity of data or lack of typological spread and comparability.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Learner corpora
  • 3.Japanese learner corpora
  • 4.Corpus-based acquisition studies in Japanese
    • 4.1Longitudinal learner corpus, C-JAS, on Japanese demonstratives
    • 4.2I-JAS: Large-scale learner corpus of Japanese L2 with typological spread of L1
    • 4.3Japanese L2 corpus-based studies within Processability Theory
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 2 February 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/palart.9.06sak
References
Akasegawa, S., Pardeshi, P., & Imai, S.
(2016) Nihongo corpus katsuyō Nyūmon: NINJAL-LWP jissen guide [Introduction to Japanese corpus: NINFAL-LWP practical guide]. Taishukan Shoten.Google Scholar
Doughty, C., & Long, M.
(2003) The scope of inquiry and goals of SLA. In C. Doughty & M. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 3–16). Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R.
(1987) Interlanguage variability in narrative discourse: Style in the use of the past tense. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 9(1), 12–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Granger, S.
(2009) The contribution of learner corpora to second language acquisition and foreign language teaching. In K. Aijmer (Ed.), Corpora and language teaching (Vol. 33, pp. 13–32). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Håkansson, G., & Norrby, C.
(2007) Processability theory applied to written and oral Swedish. In F. Mansouri (Ed.), Second language acquisition research: Theory-construction and testing (pp. 81–94). Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Geyer, N.
(2007) Self-qualification in L2 Japanese: An interface of pragmatic, grammatical, and discourse competences. Language Learning, 57(3), 337–367. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kawaguchi, S.
(2010) Learning Japanese as a second language: A processability perspective. Cambria.Google Scholar
Lee, J.-h.
(2009) Tagutsuki Nihongo Gakushūsha Kōpasu no Kaihatsu [Development of Learners’ Corpus of Japanese with tags]. Keiryo Kokugogaku [Mathematical Linguistics], 27(2), 60–72.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B.
(2000) The CHILDES Project: Tools for analyzing talk: The database (3rd ed., Vol. 2). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B., & Snow, C.
(1985) The child language data exchange system. Journal of Child Language, 12(2), 271–295. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Minami, F.
(1993) Gendai nihongo bunpō no rinkaku [Modern Japanese grammar]. Taishukan Shoten.Google Scholar
Mine, F.
(2007) Ninchiteki na sokumen kara mita dainigengo no hattatsu katei ni tsuite: Gakushūsha no shiyō suru setsuzokuji hyōgen no bunseki kekka o motoni [Cognitive factors on second language development: How learners develop their connective expressions in Japanese] Nihongo Kyōiku [Journal of Japanese Language Teaching], 134, 90–99.Google Scholar
(2015) Japanese language development as a second language: Processability of language and thought. Coco.Google Scholar
Neancharoensuk, S.
(2001) OPI dēta ni okeru jōkenhyōgen no shūtoku kenkyū: Chūgokugo, Kankokugo, Eigo bogowasha no shizen hatsuwa kara. [An acquisition study of conditional sentences based OPI data: Natural speech of Chinese, Korean and English learners of Japanese]. Nihongo Kyooiku [Journal of Japanese Language], 111, 26–35.Google Scholar
Niimura, T.
(1992) Shijishi no shūtoku: Nichieigo no shijishi no shūtoku taishō kenkyū [Acquisition of demonstratives: A comparative study of acquisition of Japanese – English demonstratives]. Waseda University Japanese Language Studies Centre Kiyo, 4, 36–59.Google Scholar
O’Keefee, A., McCarthy, M., & Carter, R.
(2007) From corpus to classroom: Language use and language teaching. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ozeki, H.
(2008) Daiiti daini gengo ni okeru nihongo meisi syuusyokusetu no syuutoku katei [The acquisition process of Japanese noun-modifying clauses by first and second language learners]. Kurosio.Google Scholar
Okuno, Y. & Risda, D.
(2015) ‘Hanasu’ kadai to ‘Kaku’ kadai ni mirareru chūkangengohen’isei-sutōrībyōsha ni okeru ‘taberaretesimatteita’bu wo taishōni- [Interlanguage Variability in Speaking and Writing Tasks: An Analysis of taberareteshimatteita in Storytelling] Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyūjo Ronshū [NINJAL Research Papers] 9, pp. 121–134.Google Scholar
Ozeki, H.
(2016) Corpus-based second language acquisition research. In M. Minami (Ed.), Handbook of Japanese linguistics: Applied linguistics (pp. 313–334). Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ozeki, H., & Shirai, Y.
(2007) Does the noun phrase accessibility hierarchy predict the difficulty order in the acquisition of Japanese relative clauses? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29(02), 169–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piaget, J.
(1959) The language and thought of the child. Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Pienemann, M., Di Biase, B., Kawaguchi, S., & Håkansson, G.
(2005) Processing constraints on L1 transfer. In J. F. Kroll & A. M. B. de Groot (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 128–153). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sakai, T.
(1987) KO, SO, A no yōhō no kenkyū: Konpon gensoku no kyanseru jōken [A study on the usages of KO, SO and A: Cancel conditions of basic principles]. Tsukuba Daigaku Ryūgakusei sentā Nihongo ronshū [University of Tsukuba International Student Education Center Journal of Japanese Language Teaching], 2, 57–65. University of Tsukuba.Google Scholar
Sakoda, K.
(1994) On the acquisition of Japanese demonstratives by Korean speakers. In N. Akatsuka (Ed.), Japanese/Korean linguistics (Vol. 4, pp. 165–181). CSLI.Google Scholar
(1998) Chūkangengo kenkyū: Nihongo gakushūsha ni yoru shiji-shi KO, SO, A no shūtoku katei [Interlanguage Study: Acquisition process of Japanese demonstratives, KO, SO and A by learners of Japanese as a L2]. Keisui-sha.Google Scholar
(2002) Nihongo kyōiku no tameno dainigengo shūtoku kenkyū [Studies on second language acquisition for Japanese language education]. ALC.Google Scholar
(2014) Kaki-kotoba to Hanashi-kotoba no chigai: Gakushūsha Kōpasu ni miru gengo unyō [Differences between written and spoken Japanese: Language performance observed in learners’ corpus]. Conference Handbook, Proceeding of ICPLJ, 56–61. NINJAL, Tokyo, Japan.Google Scholar
(2015) Gakushūsha no rōru purei ni mirareru hanashite no irai hyōgen. [Learners’ request expressions in a role-play task]. Yōroppa Nihongo kyōiku [Japanese Language Education in Europe] 20, 102–107.Google Scholar
(2016) What can we learn from the Japanese language learner corpus? Paper presented at the International Symposium of Processing Approaches to Language Acquisition (PALA), Chūō University, Tokyo, Japan.
Sakoda, K., Ishikawa, S., & Li, J.
(2020) Nihongo gakushusha kopasu: I-JAS Nyumon [Japanese learners corpus: Introduction of I-JA]. Kuroshio.Google Scholar
Shin, H.-K.
(1985) Daini gengo to shiteno Nihongo shūtoku ni okeru KO, SO, A no mondai [Studies of KO, SO and A on the acquisition study of Japanese as a second language]. Gengo no sekai [The World of Language], 2(2), 97–111.Google Scholar
Sheu, S.-p.
(2000) Shizen hatsuawa ni okeru Nihongo gakushūsha niyoru “teiru” no shūtoku kenkyū: OPI dēta no bunseki kekka kara [Acquisition study of “-te iru” in natural speech by Japanese learners: Based on an analysis of OPI data]. Nihongo Kyooiku [Journal of Japanese Language Teaching] 104, 20–29.Google Scholar
Srdanović, I., & Sakoda, K.
(2013) Analysis of learner’s production of adjectives using the Japanese language learner’s corpus C-JAS: The case of takai. Acta Linguistica Asiatica, 3(2), 9–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S.
(1934/1986) Thought and language (A. Kozulin, Trans.). The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Winsler, A., Diaz, R. M., & Montero, I.
(1997) The role of private speech in the transition from collaborative to independent task performance in young children. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12(1), 59–79. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yamaguchi, Y.
(2013) Child second language learning: A study of English as a second language acquisition. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing.Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, Y., & Usarmi, H.
(2017) Plural marking in spoken and written Narratives: A corpus-based study of Japanese learners of English. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 6(5), 224–231. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yamaguchi, Y., & Usami, H.
(2023) Testing the validity of Processability Theory through a corpus-based analysis: The acquisition of plural marking by Japanese learners of English. In S. Kawaguchu, B. Di Biase, & Y. Yamaguchi (Eds.), Processability Theory and language acquisition in the Asia-Pacific region. John Benjamins. (this volume). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yuan, F., & Ellis, R.
(2003) The effects of pre-task planning and on-line planning on fluency, complexity and accuracy in L2 monologic oral production. Applied Linguistics, 24(1), 1–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar