Variation in the Relative Clause of Japanese Learners

The research reported in this paper examines interlanguage variability
in the comprehension and production of English relative clauses by
Japanese second language learners.1 Seven different instruments were
used to elicit data from 75 students in a university English Language
Institute in Hawaii, 15 from each of five L1 backgrounds: Japanese,
Chinese, Korean, Samoan, and Tongan. Significant contextual variability
was found in the relative clause performance of the Japanese students.
While their performance was lower than other L1 groups on an aural
comprehension test and an oral picture test, they performed more accurately
than others on a written sentence combining task. The findings are
interpreted as being supportive of a multiple competence model of SLA,
and the implications of such a model for second language teaching and
testing, are discussed.