An analysis of narrative communication strategies used by Japanese-as-a-foreign-language learners

Abstract

This study examines discourse strategies in personal narratives told by Japanese-as-a-foreign-language (JFL) learners. Both JFL learners and native Japanese speakers were asked to talk about any injury-related experience that they wished. Compared to intermediate JFL learners, advanced learners (1) told longer narratives using more words, a greater variety of words, and more onomatopoetic expressions, (2) switched to their first language less frequently and used fewer message replacements, repetitions, and confirmations, and committed fewer errors, and (3) used reported speech and onomatopoeias more frequently. A comparison of narratives told by JFL learners with those produced by native Japanese speakers revealed that while intermediate learners used rising intonation more frequently than did native Japanese speakers, advanced learners tended to use more words when using reported speech even when judged by native Japanese speakers’ norm. Overall, in the examination of JFL learners’ narrative discourse patterns with particular attention to the length of their stories and the discourse strategies they employed, the study suggests that JFL learners do not necessarily follow native-style narrative patterns, even after their language skills are relatively highly developed. The study instead implies the possibility of either U-shaped patterns of behavioral growth or the strong influence of L1 discourse strategies on L2 narratives (or a combination of both).