Osato Shiki

Major research activity

My research centers on how a second language (L2) is learned and acquired by university students in Japan, especially though reading instruction. I have currently been exploring the following aspects of L2 reading acquisition: fluency development and automaticity of L2 reading skills and effects of shadowing training on reading fluency. When a learner uses a foreign language fluently, various aspects of language processing have been automatized. However, how to improve automaticity has not yet been explained clearly. The main goal of my research is to find out how automaticity of L2 reading is enhanced among EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners of Japanese and how EFL reading instruction can help students improve such automaticity. Research has shown that fluency of reading skills depend largely on the efficiency of phonological processing. Therefore, "shadowing" training which has been considered as one of the effective way to improve phonological processing skills may improve reading fluency in English among Japanese university students. This is what I would like to explore in my research.

Major relevant publications

1. O. Shiki, Hase. N, "Exploring the Relationship between Lexical Access Speed Measured by CELP test and Reading Ability", Journal of the Japan Society for Speech Science, 13, 2012, 65-78.
2. O. Shiki, "Exploring the Relationship between Shadowing Instruction and L2 Reading Comprehension among Japanese University Students", Kwansei Gakuin University Humanities Review, 15, 2011, 51-64.
3. O. Shiki, Y. Mori, S. Kadota, S. Yoshida. "Exploring Differences between Shadowing and repeating practices: An analysis of reproduction rate and types of reproduced words", ARELE, 21, 2010, 81-90.