Japanese Proficiency of JSL Children Born/Raised in Japan

Differences in Producing Basic Japanese Verbs Compared to Monolingual Children

Abstract

In this study, 924 monolingual children and 124 JSL children completed picture questionnaires that were developed to test their ability to produce 31 basic Japanese verbs. Quantitative analyses revealed statistically significant differences between the monolingual and JSL groups. Although there were individual differences within each group, the JSL group had a higher proportion of children in the lowest group. A close examination of errors revealed the JSL children's limited competence with verbs that are not frequently used in the school context. Further, some errors were ascribed to misunderstanding of the semantic scope of the verbs, as well as L1 influence.