Rena Yamamoto (Nagoya City University, Japan)
Tomomi Sugai (Nagoya City University, Japan)
Mayumi Kajiura (Nagoya City University, Japan)
Abstract
In this study, we compared the influence of living circumstances, particularly the amount of second-language input, on grammatical errors with a focus on article usage. We analyzed data from Japanese EFL students and international ESL students at a university in Hong Kong. Participants completed a 50-item test requiring the selection of "a," "an," "the," or zero articles to fill in blanks, targeting aspects such as proper nouns, superlatives, definite articles, uncountable nouns, and omitted articles. The findings indicate that ESL students achieved significantly higher total scores compared to EFL students. Both groups struggled with zero articles and proper nouns, but Japanese students occasionally erred with superlatives, while international students made fewer errors with definite articles. The results suggest that ESL learners benefit from extensive daily exposure to English, leading to a better implicit understanding of article usage compared to EFL learners.
Research Paper (Video; 25 minutes)
Grammar
Primarily of interest to teachers of university students
About the Presenters
Rena Yamamoto is a student at Nagoya City University, majoring in international language and culture. She is particularly interested in second language acquisition and conducts research in this area. Her interest also includes grammar, especially article usage.
Tomomi Sugai is a university student at Nagoya City University, majoring in international language and culture. She is particularly interested in second language acquisition and conducts research in this area. Her interests also include the impact of note-taking on listening comprehension across text difficulty levels in EFL learners.
Mayumi Kajiura is an associate professor at Nagoya City University, specializing in second language acquisition. Her focus is on examining listening learning from a neuroscience perspective. She is particularly interested in multimodal learning.
