Word Associations of Inexperienced and Experienced Learners of English and Japanese: Toward a Fuller Understanding of Lexical Storage and Retrieval in Second Language Learning and Teaching

The present research uses McCarthy’s (1990) word association task (WAT) to examine how English and Japanese speakers organize words in their mental lexicons, both in their first language (L1) and second language (L2). Drawing on word association (WA) research and some original classifications, this study categorizes 720 associations of 18 participants into lexical categories, followed by examination of WA behavior across languages and L2 ability levels. The results revealed that younger native English speakers’ associations were more meaning based in both their L1 and limited L2, while younger native Japanese speakers inexperienced in English gave more position-based associations in both languages. Older, L2-experienced participants’ associations were more balanced but overall more position based. These trends diverge from WA research that has been limited to English WATs and student participants, prompting discussion of L2 influence on older participants’ lexical relations, as well as the influence of significantly different methods of L1 vocabulary instruction in English versus Japanese educational environments. 本論は、McCarthy(1990)