Examining the reliability of processability theory-based procedure for use in Japanese SLA assessment

Abstract

This study explains the method of examining the interrater reliability of a procedure for assessing the stage of acquisition of Japanese as a second language (JSLA) of adult learners of Japanese. The assessment model was based on an application of processability theory (PT) of grammar acquisition introduced by Pienemann (1998) and developed for Japanese SLA by Preston (2004, 2008). The assessment targeted the emergence of 12 morphosyntactic procedures in the spontaneous speech samples of second language (L2) learners of Japanese. After designing a brief, task-based elicitation procedure to collect speech samples from eleven JSL learners residing in Japan, the researcher performed a detailed linguistic investigation of the grammar in the speech samples based on distributional analyses. Next, a workshop on processability theory was offered to adults enrolled in language pedagogy courses in a large city in Japan. The participants listened to audio recordings of eight L2 Japanese learners and simultaneously judged the stage of acquisition of each sample based on the 12 target Japanese grammar criteria derived from the PT study. Results indicated a strong correlation between the rater assessments and the results of the PT-based detailed linguistic research analyses (Tc=.919, p≤.001). Judith Preston Ishigami