学習者のインターアクション場商{接触場弱}が多麓4とすると、学習者畠身が、雪辱進
根を管JW，し、問題を処砲する能力{学審者ストラテジー)の使用も饗4とする.薪しい宮本
語教育を考える場合、こうした飽織はますます軍要になってくるであろう.本研究誌、屋
郵接触場而の変化に伴う学習者ストラテジーの使用の変化を社会ストラテジーを中心に、
H 豪Z か習で調悲した一年間の縦断的研究である.分析の紡娘、社会ストラテジーの控用
法、必ずしも持本での滞窃期間に比例せず、むしろ減少することがわかった.これは、イ
ンターアクションのタイプの器定詑と関係があるのではないかと撒擦できる.また帰国接
は、ほとんどの学習者K. 関本で捜われていた社会ストラテジーが硝寵されず、維持に問
題があることがわかった。
The interactive contact situations experienced by japanese language learners
tend to become more intercultural as their learning proceeds. It can be
hypothesized that social strategies (Oxford, 1990) play an important role in
order to make the most of real life interactions in intercultural contexts. Few
attempts, however, have been made to empirically explore what types of social
strategies are used when learners are immersed in such situations. This paper
reports on a longitudinal study of the changes in the use of social strategies by
nine Australian university students during and after stays in japan, and aims to
examine previously unidentified issues of acqUisition and maintenance of
language learning social strategies.
The research was conducted over a one-year period in japan and Australia.
The data included a questionnaire administered prior to the students' stays in
japan, learning diaries maintained by students during and after their stays, and
four follow-up interviews on the contents of the diaries, conducted every two
months in Japan and six months after the students returned to Australia. The
data were analyzed following Oxford's (1990) list of six types of social strategies:
asking for clarification or verification, asking for correction, cooperating with
peers, cooperating with proficient users of the L2, developing cultural
understanding, and becoming aware of others' thoughts and feelings.
The data revealed that learners consciously applied and acquired social
strategies while inJapan, confuming the assumption that learning inJapan helps
JSL learners' use of social strategies. The length of stay and the use of strategies,
. however, seem to negatively correlate. For example, one learner remarked during
a follow-up interview that she tended to talk to the same people. It is suspected
that Japanese NS become accustomed to the language used by JSL learners they
frequently contact, and that in such cases learners do not reqUire use of social
strategies for success in communication. It was also discovered that learners
were not necessarily involved in a wider variety of activities to maintain their
Japanese upon their return to Australia than they had been prior to visiting
Japan. Most students reported that this was because they were busy preparing
their dissertation and did not have many opportunities to use Japanese, which
they said resulted in a loss of confidence and subsequent hesitation to interact
with Japanese speakers in the local community. This suggests there is no guarantee
social strategies learned in an L2 situation will be maintained when learners
return to a FL environment.
The number of subjects in this study is limited. As such, the findings are
preliminary. However, we would like to suggest the following four items warrant
further investigation: 1) Empirical research is needed to develop a more
comprehensive list of social strategies; 2) The hypothesis of fossilization
(Schumann, 1978) might be applied to the acquisition and maintenance of social
strategies; 3) Interaction with host families may not always be a model for target
language production, especially after the initial settling-in period; and 4) As
language learning strategy training is thOUght to enhance autonomous learning,
study of how this can be done effectively with learners prior to their going to
the L2 environment is needed.
