The Effect of Language‐Specific Characteristics on English and Japanese Speakers' Ability to Recall Number Information

Abstract

The current paper presents two experiments investigating the effect of presence versus absence of compulsory number marking in a native language on a speaker's ability to recall number information from photos. In Experiment 1, monolingual English and Japanese adults were shown a sequence of 110 photos after which they were asked questions about the photos. We found that the English participants showed a significantly higher accuracy rate for questions testing recall for number information when the correct answer was “2” (instead of “1”) than Japanese participants. In Experiment 2, English and Japanese adults engaged in the same task as in Experiment 1 with an addition that explored reasons for the results found in Experiment 1. The results of Experiment 2 were in line with the results of Experiment 1, but also suggested that the results could not be attributed to differences in guessing patterns between the two groups or the type of linguistic constructions used in the test situations. The current study suggests that native language affects speakers' ability to recall number information from scenes and thus provides evidence for the Whorfian hypothesis.

Utterance variation and its stylistic features in Japanese language education using the dominant relevance approach

“…For this reason, Japanese teachers need to actively study Japanese culture, deeply understand the differences and similarities between Chinese and Japanese cultures, and explore excellent teaching modes to infiltrate them into the process of Japanese language teaching, establish the relationship between language and culture, so that the students can master the scientific way of learning Japanese, and improve the effectiveness of Japanese language learning [5][6]. At the same time, constantly innovate teaching concepts and methods while explaining theoretical knowledge, create a relaxed and open classroom environment, encourage students to use oral expression, and organize a variety of forms of Japanese communication and practice activities to provide students with a wealth of opportunities to express themselves, to strengthen the Japanese oral skills, and to understand the impact of cultural differences on language expression in practice [7].…”