The Acquisition of the Japanese Oral Narrative Style by Native English-Speaking Bilinguals

“Yoshimi Maeno’s research helps us think about all these issues – how culturally and linguistically specific stories are, but also how important it is to learn to produce stories accessible to native speakers of our second languages, and to understand stories told by second language speakers of our native languages. Stories play too many important roles in our lives, in our memories, in our communication with each other about matters of critical importance, to be left unexamined and ineffective in meeting their goals. Second language learners rely too much on their stories as a way of making their way in their new surroundings to be left without the most effective possible instruction in how to tell them and how to understand them. Maeno’s book opens up this crucial and fascinating area of research; it also exemplifies the standards of rigor and insight in approaching these questions that we hope future research into related topics can meet. This research tells a powerful story.” – Professor Catherine Snow, Harvard University

“This work investigates an intriguing issue, one that is challenging for teachers and researchers…..The analyses in this research focused on both linguistic features and cultural features of narratives. There are implications and recommendations for teachers and students of languages, who may do well to attend in more detail to culturally appropriate oral narrative skills…..There is much in this book for both teachers and researchers of foreign language instruction.” – Professor Terrence Tivnan, Harvard University

Table of Contents:
Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Study I
3. Study II
4. Implications for Reading and Writing
5. Conclusion and Educational Implications
Epilogue
Appendices
Bibliography
Index