Air Writing as a Technique for the Acquisition of Sino-Japanese Characters by Second Language Learners

This article calls attention to a facet of the expertise of second language (L2) learners of Japanese at the intersection of language, memory, gesture, and the psycholinguistics of a logographic writing system. Previous research has shown that adult L2 learners of Japanese living in Japan (similarly...

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Published inLanguage learning Vol. 65; no. 3; pp. 631 - 659
Main Author Thomas, Margaret
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2015
Wiley-Blackwell
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Accuracy
acquisition of L2 Japanese orthography
adult learners of Japanese
Adult Students
air writing
Chinese languages
Comparative Analysis
Correlation
Japanese
Japanese language
Language acquisition
Memorization
memorization of kanji
motoric memory
Native Speakers
Nonverbal Communication
Orthographic Symbols
Psycholinguistics
Psychomotor Skills
Second Language Instruction
Second Language Learning
Statistical Analysis
Writing Instruction
Written Language
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Summary:This article calls attention to a facet of the expertise of second language (L2) learners of Japanese at the intersection of language, memory, gesture, and the psycholinguistics of a logographic writing system. Previous research has shown that adult L2 learners of Japanese living in Japan (similarly to native speakers of Japanese) often spontaneously produce highly articulated movements of the fingertips or hands when learning or recalling Sino‐Japanese orthographic characters (kanji). These movements, known in Japanese as kūsho (air writing), trace out representations of kanji, or parts of kanji, presumably as a kinesthetic aid to learning and recall. The current study tests that presumption with respect to learning, by comparing the accuracy with which adult L2 learners of Japanese (N = 75) memorize the shapes of complex, novel kanji under three different learning conditions. Results show that kūsho is associated with a small but statistically significant advantage in accuracy of recall, compared to either passive visual inspection or the conventional technique of memorizing the shapes of kanji by iterative paper‐and‐pen copying.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-45KV9QQ5-V
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ArticleID:LANG12128
Language Learning
Finally, my sincere thanks go to the 75 learners of Japanese who shared their knowledge with me, especially those who agreed to let me display their expertise in the accompanying video files, and to the late Hamako Ito Chaplin of Yale University, an enduring inspiration.
I am grateful for the generous support of the Japan Foundation, which allowed me to gather these data. I also deeply appreciate Waseda University and my official host, Professor Fusa Katada, who helped me forward in many ways. Also instrumental to this research for both professional and personal assistance are Professors Kazuko Tanabe of Japan Women's University, Makiko Hirakawa of Bunkyo University, Yahiro Hirakawa of Tokyo Institute of Technology, Michael Carroll and Kevin R. Gregg of Momoyama Gakuin University, and Shoko Ikuta of Meiji Gakuin University. In addition, I acknowledge Yumi Iizuka of Sophia University, Sarah Castricum, Keith Chan, Matt Gregas, Helen Haskin, Kazuko Oliver, Junho Song, Ritsuko Sullivan, the organizers of ICPLJ8, and the editors and three anonymous reviewers for
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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content type line 23
ISSN:0023-8333
1467-9922
DOI:10.1111/lang.12128