한국인 일본어 학습자의 일본어 악센트 습득의 개별 요인 분석

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between the listening ability and the pronunciation ability by analyzing the results of experiments on Japanese accent production and accent perception by Korean learners of Japanese. The present work also analyzed the effects of taking a Japanese pronunciation course, the duration of learning Japanese, and their Japanese proficiency on the acquisition of Japanese accent. The results are as follows: 1) The mean score of advanced learners of Japanese was higher than that of beginning learners in listening and pronunciation tests. This result suggests that the difference in their Japanese proficiency level affects their acquisition of Japanese accent. 2) The present study has verified that the duration of learning Japanese affects Japanese learners’ acquisition of Japanese accent: the longer they have learned Japanese, the more their pronunciation accuracy and listening ability have improved. The degree of improvement, however, was not directly proportional to the duration of learning Japanese. Therefore, it is conjectured that when Japanese learners have more active interest in Japanese accent and make more efforts to learn it, then they can achieve better results. 3) The present experiment has found that taking a course in Japanese pronunciation has a positive effect on the acquisition of Japanese accent. It matters whether learners of Japanese have taken a pronunciation course or not, but the results can be maximized when Japanese accent is acquired systematically and effectively in those pronunciation courses. 4) The present work has found that the relationship between listening and pronunciation was considerably low: the percentage of learners whose listening score and pronunciation score were both higher than the average score was 30 percent for advanced learners, and 18 percent for beginning learners. That is, the number of learners who acquired both the perception and pronunciation of Japanese accent in a stable manner was low. In addition, there existed a number of learners whose perception of Japanese accent was good, but their ability of pronouncing it was poor, and vice versa. These facts suggest that the interrelationship between Korean learners’ pronunciation of Japanese accent and their perception of it is not strong.