Effects of Oral Repetition on Learners’ Japanese Word Accentuation

Authors

  • Kayo Yoshida
  • Atsushi Fukada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17161/iallt.v44i1.8533

Abstract

Japanese word accentuation is a problematic area for learners
unfamiliar with a pitch accent system. Since accent locations are
unpredictable, learners are typically told to memorize them by rote,
which is a time-consuming, tedious, and demanding task. It would
certainly be ideal for learners to learn correct accentuation without
explicit instruction as they learn new words. This article reports on a
preliminary study that examined effects of a computer-based online
word repetition exercise on the learning of Japanese word
accentuation. 41 students in their 10th week and 17 students in their
12th week in a 2nd-year 1st-semester Japanese course took a pretest,
followed by computer-based online word repetition practice on the
Speak Everywhere system, a posttest immediately after the practice,
and a delayed posttest after one week (class-and-computer condition).
Out of the same group of students now in a 2nd-year 2nd-semester
course, 22 students took a pretest, followed by two posttests in their 5th
week (class-only condition). A paired t-test (two tailed) performed on
13 overlapping subjects found a significant difference between the two
conditions (t=5.58, p<.001, Cohen’s d =1.9309). The online word repetition practice produced a significant gain in accentuation scores without explicit instruction, while classroom instruction alone was not sufficient to produce a significant gain.

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Published

2014-04-15

How to Cite

Yoshida, Kayo, and Atsushi Fukada. “Effects of Oral Repetition on Learners’ Japanese Word Accentuation”. IALLT Journal of Language Learning Technologies, vol. 44, no. 1, Apr. 2014, pp. 17-37, https://doi.org/10.17161/iallt.v44i1.8533.