ETHNOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF ORAL PERFORMANCES OF JAPANESE AS FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Abstract

This paper presents an ethnographical discourse analysis of the oral performances of advanced learners of Japanese in an American university.  Two tape-recorded oral presentations were assessed by utilizing the concepts of framing (Johnson, 1996), situational relevancy (Johnson, 1996), textual sphere (Johnson, 1994, 1996; Johnson & Evans, 1995), and contextual sphere (Johnson, 1994, 1996; Johnson & Evans, 1995).  The analysis reveals that learners are successful in displaying competent performances, drawing on textual and contextual spheres.  However, the analysis also reveals that learners are not consistent in framing and maintaining situational relevancy.  It is shown that the concepts utilized in the present study provide a valuable means of describing and evaluating dynamic processes of oral performances of second language learners.