●1. Learners' Native Language Attributes and Research ID
The research targeted learners and native speakers of Japanese. The overseas target group consists of Japanese learners of JFL environment. The target group within Japan consists of learners of JFL and JSL environment. Native Japanese speakers were also included in the target group as a comparison.
Language categories, research ID of learners' native language, and research ID were as follows:
Table 1 Native Language, its Category, Research ID of the Targeted Learners in Overseas Research
| Native Language | Language Category | Research ID | |
| 1 | Indonesian | Austronesian languages | IID |
| 2 | Spanish | Indo-European languages--Italic (branch of languages) | SES |
| 3 | Thai | Kham Tai (family of languages) | TTH |
| 4 | Turkish | Altaic (family of languages) | TTR |
| 5 | German | The Indo-European language family - Germanic languages | GAT
GDE |
| 6 | Hungrian | Uralic (family of languages) | HHG |
| 7 | French | Indo-European languages--Italic (branch of languages) | FFR |
| 8 | Vietnamese | Mon-Khmer (family of languages) | VVN |
| 9 | Russian | Indo-European language family - Slavic languages | RRS |
| 10 | English | The Indo-European language family - Germanic languages | EAU
EGB ENZ EUS |
| 11 | Korean | unknown | KKD
KKR |
| 12 | Chinese | Sino-Tibetan (family of languages) | CCH
CCM CCS CCT |
Table 2 Learning Environment of Learners within Japan and Research IDD
| Research Area | Research ID | |
| 1 | Learners of Classroom Environment | JJC
JJE |
| 2 | Learners of Natural Environment | JJN |
※Two IDs of classroom environment learners are based on the different research time and do not belong to any special categories.
Table 3 Research ID of Japanese native speakers within Japan
| Research Area | Research ID | |
|
1 |
Japanese native speakers | JJJ |
●2. Research Content
The tasks done, category of the data collected, etc. of this study are as follows. FS and 12 tasks of 7 different categories, 2 different kinds of PC research.
Table 4 Collected Data and Task Symbols
| Task Categories | Task Symbols | Data Categories | ||
| Preliminary Research | face sheet | － | － | |
| 【Optional】 Research on Compositions |
①Email message (3 tasks) | m1、m2、m3 | Written Data | |
| ②Essay (1 task) | e | |||
| In-person Research | Story-writing (2 tasks) | ST1、ST2 | Oral Task Data | |
| Interaction | I | |||
| Role Play (2 tasks) | RP1、RP2 | |||
| Description (of illustrations) | D | |||
| Story-writing (2 tasks) | SW1、SW2 | Written Data | ||
| PC Research | SPOT（TTBJ） | ― | Japanese language proficiency test for level judgement | |
| J-CAT | ― | |||
The content of each research is as follows:
・FS: Collect background information regarding the learner's language use
・Story-telling: The learner narrates a story based on the illustrations of the 4 and 5 columns.
・Interaction: A natural conversation between learner and researcher is carried out for about 30 minutes.
・Role play: The learner is asked to play a given role, according to a scene that is set up in advance.
・Description: The learner is asked to explain an illustration
・Story-writing: The learner is asked to input two kinds of tasks, which are the same as story-telling, into the computer
・Composition - essay: Write an essay of about 600 letters, based on the given theme
・Composition - email message: Write an email message, responding to the email sent in advance.
・SPOT/J-CAT: The tests to judge the Japanese language proficiency