[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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This paper explores the relatively under-researched area of online dictionary usage by EFL learners. Despite the inconvenient truth that students are increasingly choosing to utilize online dictionaries over their traditional paper and handheld electronic counterparts, this shift has not been sufficiently reflected in EFL literature – particularly in terms of how such technology could be affecting incidental vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension. This paper sought to explore this line of inquiry within the frameworks of the involvement load (Laufer and Hulstijn 2001) and consultation trigger point hypotheses (Aust, Kelly, and Roby, 1993). Thirty undergraduate students studying English as a foreign language at a Japanese university completed a reading task followed by a reading comprehension test and a delayed vocabulary recall test. During the reading task, students were assigned a dictionary tool to use, either Weblio or Google Translate, with varying involvement load indexes. A battery of Mann-Whitney tests did not identify significantly different performances under the two dictionary conditions. A small to medium effect size was identified (r = -0.25), indicating that dictionary type was impacting vocabulary recall performance, albeit modestly.

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In the literature regarding pronunciation instruction, it has been argued that the suprasegmental features of language, such as rhythm, stress and word linking, lend more to intelligibility than segmental features (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010). This is especially relevant when teaching learners of English from syllable-timed or mora-timed languages like Japanese. The nature of Japanese mora-timed speech can contribute to negative L1 language transfer. Furthermore, due to the vast difference between Japanese and English speech rhythm (Koike, 2014), these speech patterns are one of the more salient features of Japanese learners' English. This article details the results of a study on the effects of pronunciation instruction on Japanese adult learners of English and explores how simple instruction can mitigate the native language interference of Japanese in their speech. It also argues that the instruction of suprasegmental features of English, primarily stress and word linking, can help to improve the intelligibility of Japanese learners of English. To quantify this study, native Japanese English students were recorded in a pre/post test format that was conducted before and after they were given instruction in suprasegmentals. Then the findings of the study will be discussed.

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