Environmental factors affecting chinese and Japanese language Acq

8/4/2019 Environmental factors affecting chinese and Japanese language Acq

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Environmental factors affectingChinese and Japanese

Language Acquisition

Gabriela Amaro G.Michelle Perales H.


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1. About the study

This study charts the results of a five-year longitudinalstudy of the evironmental factors affecting bilingualism.

The study focuses on the children of Taiwanese living inJapan who participate in Chinese and Japanese

immersion education, and examines how family andenvironmental factors affect second language learning.


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1. About the study

The environmental factors that influence language

acquisition in children include the guidance of teachersand parents, issues regarding children's personaldevelopment, and the language environment of one'shome and school.


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1.1 Importance of the study

Understanding precisely how factors affect the languagelearning process is critical to the questions of whether limitedexposure during childhood is sufficient to foster bilingualism,as well as questions regarding the main influences on

language acquisition.


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2. Aspects of the study

2.1 Participants2.2 Procedures


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2.1 Participants

This study focused on 12 students at an X high school whowere children of Taiwanese parents living in Japan. All wereseniors with an average age of 19, and all were Chinesenative speakers who spoke Japanese as a second language.

Either one or both parents were born in Taiwan, and thestudents came to Japan between the ages of 1 and 14. Allentered the same school and were exposed to the sameimmersive language classes.


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2.1 Participants

Both teachers and students used the respective language ofeach class; half of the program's teachers were Japaneseand half were Chinese. Classes were held 35 hours perweek.


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2.1 Participants

Age at arrival (years) 1 3 5 6 7 10 12 13 14

Length of stay (years) 18 16 14 13 12 8 7 6 5

Number of

participants

2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2


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2.1 Participants

Table 2. Round, School Grade, and Content of SurveyRound School Grade at

the time of surveyContent of Survey

1 7th grade 1) Chinese vocabulary test. 2) Japanese vocabulary test. 3)Family questionnaire.

2 10th grade 1) Chinese vocabulary test. 2) Japanese vocabulary test. 3)Language environment questionnaire.

3 11th grade 1) Chinese vocabulary test. 2) Japanese vocabulary test. 3)Language environment questionnaire

4 12th grade 1) Chinese vocabulary test. 2) Japanese vocabulary test. 3)Language environment questionnaire, interview


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2.2 ProcedureThe survey was carried out fourtimes. The grade level of students atthe time of the survey is indicated inTable 2. Chinese and Japanesevocabulary tests were each limited to

40 minutes. After the second round,the survey of language environmentwas introduced, and was not timed.During this one-on-one interview, theinvestigator examined the students'

degree of language comprehensionand competence in conversationalChinese and Japanese.


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2.2 Procedure

Focusing on the circumstances surrounding the languageacquisition process, changes in language ability andenvironmental consciousness were investigated over a five-year period. The participants were divided into three groups

based on their levels of second language development.


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3. Development of the study

Type Characteristics of change Raw numbers(percentage total) Age atarrival

1 Progress in both languages: BothChinese and Japanese language abilityincreased with age

5 (42%) 5, 7, 12, 14,14

2 Progress in only one language: Japaneselanguage ability decreased or remainedconstant

4 (33%) 1, 3, 6, 10

3 Decrease in both languages: Bothchinese and Japanese language abilitydecreased ith age

3 (25%) 1, 7, 13


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In the examples above, an overall increase in secondlanguage ability was seen in accordance with the number ofyears lived in Japan. Those who came to Japan at the age of12 or above show a higher level of bilingual development

than those who were not. Thus, the consciousness oflanguage environment for older participants in characterizednot bu the age of arrival, but rather but the opportunity tocome into contact with Japanese people and actively makeJapanese friends.In general, change in bilingual ability is related to "motivationto learn", "life course", and "frequency of bilingual contactand friendships in everyday life".


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The general trend across all four cases in for Japaneseability to increase and Chinese ability to decrease or remainunchanged, as students grow older. Consciousness oflanguage environment is marked by a greater importance

placed on Japanese than Chinese, and a higher degree ofcontact with Japanese than with Chinese. Furthermore, thecases reveal an active or positive association with Japanesefriends, and a reluctance to form Chinese friendships.According to the self-evaluations, the amount of time using

Chinese was small and there was a low frequency of contactwith the Chinese language in everyday life.


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A decrease was found in "motivation to learn", "frequency oflanguage use", and "frequency of bilingual contact ineveryday life", all of which are factors in languageenvironment consciousness.


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4. Results

The results indicate that the degree of languagedevelopment differs based on changes in one'sconsciousness of her language environment. Changes inbilingual ability were connected to one's "motivation to learn",

"life course", and "frequency of bilingual contact andfreidnships in everyday life". Students with increasingbilingual ability displayed positive changes in theirenvironmental consciousness when their language abilityincreased. However, students whose bilingual ability

decreased displayed negative changes in environmentalfactors. Students whose Japanese abilities increasedrevealed a trend towards a lower frequency of contact withand reduced desire to preserve the Chinese language.

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Environmental factors affecting chinese and Japanese language Acq