taura

Retention of L2 Receptive Vocabulary in Japanese High School Returnees

(Article in Japanese only)

Taura Hideyuki

Fukui Medical University

Language attrition research has shown that the L2 receptive lexicon is resistant to deterioration in elementary school children and adults who have acquired their L2 in naturalistic environments but then leave the L2 linguistic surroundings. The purpose of this study is to examine if the same phenomenon is also observed in teenagers' L2 receptive vocabulary retention. An English vocabulary test was administered to 80 Japanese junior and senior high school returnees (ages 12 - 18) who received L2 literacy education in an L2 speaking country for an average of almost four years.

The results suggest that their vocabulary proficiency is retained during their first two years back in Japan in a type of "plateau" effect and then begins to show improvement during the following four years at such a pace that the gap in receptive lexicon between Japanese returnees and their North American peers is retained at a level of about one grade below peer norm. An additional finding is that even after almost four years of literacy education in their original English-speaking L2 environments before returning to Japan, the returnees' receptive lexicon rose only to a level of about one grade below their American counterparts. Plausible reasons suggested for the these results include the rich language environment and EFL lessons provided at the "super English" international high school at which the students were studying, the high motivation to retain their L2 shown by these returnees, and their high L2 literacy proficiency prior to relocation to Japan.