A list number recall test in English (L2) was administered to both Japanese (L1) students with beginning-level English proficiency who attended evening high school and Japanese college students with intermediate-level English proficiency. The major findings were that, only for the high school group, the small numbers 1 and 2 in middle positions of…

This study compares second-year Japanese university students' strategies to write kanji by hand with their strategies to produce the kanji characters on a computer, taking into account factors such as accuracy in writing, the amount of kanji used, the complexity of the kanji used, as well as how the characters used compare with the sequence…

This study developed an original instrument that measures pragmatic comprehension in Japanese as a foreign language (JFL). It examined the ability to comprehend implied meaning encoded in conventional and nonconventional features and the effect of proficiency on comprehension. There were 63 college students of Japanese at 2 proficiency levels who…

Two native and one non-native (Japanese) instructors of English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) corrected free compositions written by a Japanese college graduate with a degree in English. Analysis of the corrections revealed marked differences in type and number, with the non-native speaker most frequently indicating difficulty with articles, word…

A study used error analysis to examine and compare the English language proficiency and language learning patterns of two native Japanese speakers, aged 15 and 17. Data were elicited verbally from the subjects, with more elicited from the older, and analyzed for error patterns. Results indicate striking similarities in error patterns; however, a…

Discusses how second-language learners whose first languages contain an article system differ in their acquisition of English articles from learners whose first languages do not contain such a system. Reviews the approach of Mizuno's (1988) interlanguage analysis for uncovering the process in second-language acquisition, and summarizes findings of…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of interlanguage development in Japanese adult learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) in acquisition-poor environments. A total of 353 subjects were divided into 9 groups based on their level of English proficiency and tested to determine: (1) what types of errors Japanese adult ESL…