Learning Japanese as a Second Language: A Processability Perspect ...

Given the invaluable nature of learning a language, the process of second language acquisition (SLA) deserves much attention. In spite of its importance, however, learning a second language is seldom an easy task. Speaking a language is one of the most complex skills human beings acquire in their lifetime (Levelt, 1989). When acquiring a first language as a child, one learns it rapidly (by 4 to 5 years of age), in a uniform way, and without much effort (Chomsky, 1988). Children around the world attain a high degree of success in their first language without instruction or corrective feedback. However, when it comes to second, third, or later language acquisition beyond adolescence, language learning tends to require much effort, and the ultimate attainment varies dramatically from one individual to the next—from bare minimum to near-native (e.g., Birdsong, 2005; Bley-Vroman, 1989; Bongaerts, 1999; Johnson & Newport, 1989; White & Genesee, 1996)—independent of learner motivation and effort expended. Therefore, it is important for us to understand the mechanism of L2 learning.

This study looks at acquisition of Japanese as a second language. Its objective is to hypothesise and test the developmental stages of Japanese L2 verbal morphology and syntax within the framework of processability theory (PT henceforth; Pienemann, 1998b). In order to achieve this objective, four longitudinal studies (of one Portuguese first language [L1], one French L1, and two English L1 learners of Japanese) were conducted, and one cross-sectional study with 28 learners was undertaken in order to check the generalisability of the results gained from the longitudinal studies.

PT is a theory of SLA that looks at language acquisition from the speech processing point of view. It references Levelt’s (1989) speech model, incremental procedural grammar (Kempen & Hoenkamp, 1987), as a formal framework of the description of the grammatical encoding process, and lexical functional grammar (LFG), a formal linguistic theory, which provides the grammatical framework. PT utilizes LFG as its grammatical formalisation because of its psychological plausibility (Bresnan, 2001; Kaplan & Bresnan, 1982; Pickering, 2000) as well as its typological plausibility.