Aspect in L2 English

Abstract

Our study reports on data collected on three separate occasions over a period of 12 months from four Japanese child returnees who had lived in the U.S. between 8 and 12 years before returning to Japan. Their English proficiency was assessed by TOEIC and C-test scores, and they were each asked to complete an Acceptability Judgment Task (AJT). Results show very little change across Test sessions 1, 2 and 3. Initially, we expected to find differences over the course of 12 months as the returnees' exposure and daily use of English decreased substantially since returning to Japan. Some slight L2 attrition of English was found in the domain of aspect for one returnee. We believe our results overall indicate that rather than L2 language loss, the returnees have managed to maintain their competence in the L2 aspectual domain.

Attrition and Reactivation of a Childhood Language: The Case of Returnee Heritage Speakers

“…So far, the most investigated languages in the context of returnees are German (based on returnees from Germany or Switzerland to Turkey, Daller, , and Kuhberg, , and to Portugal, Flores, , , ); and English (based on returnees from the United States to Japan, e.g., Hansen, ; Kubota, ; Snape, Matthews, Hirakawa, Hirakawa, & Yosoi, ; Taura, ; Yoshitomi, , and to Berman & Olshtain, ; Olshtain, ; Seliger, ). These studies differ substantially regarding not only the methods of data collection, but also the analyzed linguistic domains and the participants’ bilingual profile.…”

The Effects of Environment Change on Third Languages

“…A further variable that distinguishes the different returnee populations studied so far is the language of the host country. Many studies report on bilingual returnee children who return from English-dominant environments (Berman & Olshtain, 1983;Yoshitomi, 1999;Taura, 2008;Tomiyama, 2008;Snape et al, 2014;Kubota et al, 2020a) and thus speak English as their L2, while bilingual returnees in the European context often speak other European languages (such as German or French) as their 2L1/L2. Given that English is a high-prestige language and is taught as one of the main subjects in schools worldwide, it is not surprising that the Japanese families make greater effort and are highly motivated in maintaining their children's English ability.…”

“…Most L2 attrition studies involving child returnees are case studies with a reduced number of participants (see Flores, 2019 for an overview; an exception are Kubota's studies on Japanese returnees). Similarly to the two L3 attrition studies, several L2 attrition studies on child returnees present longitudinal analyses of the attrition trajectory in the L2 from the moment of return until some months (and no longer than two or three years) later (Kuhberg, 1992;Reetz-Kurashige, 1999;Tomiyama, 1999Tomiyama, , 2000Yoshitomi, 1999;Snape et al, 2014;Flores, 2015). They focus on lexical knowledge, morphosyntax, semantics or, more recently, processing costs and cognitive function (Kubota, 2019;Kubota et al, 2020aKubota et al, , 2020bKubota et al, , 2020c.…”

Cross-Linguistic Influence on L2 Before and After Extreme Reduction in Input: The Case of Japanese Returnee Children

“…Tomiyama concluded that the inappropriate use of the s-genitive is an indicator of L1 CLI, since the genitive form in Japanese resembles the linear order in the s-genitive in English. Moreover, studies from Yoshitomi (2007); Snape et al (2014) reveal that aspectual domain in L2 English showed some signs of attrition after 8−12 months of returning to Japan.…”