Effects of Instruction on Japanese Discourse Marker N Desu

• Author / Creator

  Katayama, Akemi

• The present study investigated the effects of explicit and implicit instruction on the acquisition of pragmatic knowledge of the Japanese discourse markers n desu and its variant n desu ka. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with pre-, post-, and delayed posttests. The explicit group received instruction including explanations about when the discourse markers are used or not used. The implicit group received instruction that lacked this explanation and requested participants to discover the pragmatic rules of the discourse markers. The results of a discourse completion posttest showed that both explicit and implicit instruction had an immediate positive effect on learning of the target pragmatic features. However, this positive effect did not last until the time of a delayed posttest. The study also found no significant differential effects between explicit and implicit instruction. In addition, the effects of instruction varied depending on the functions of the discourse markers.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Effects of instruction
  • N desu

• Graduation date

  Spring 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3TM75

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.