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Paper short abstract:

I extracted adverbs for Japanese reading materials and analyze the relationship with the context of sentences. I tested learners by creating questions. - Modal adverbs appear in places that act as hints in sentences. Learners who understood the effects of them understood the thinking of the writer.

Paper long abstract:

Modal adverbs are used in places that reflect the intention of the writer and are key points for Japanese reading comprehension. Knowledge and understanding about modal adverbs are considered necessary for correctly reading the context of sentences and grasping the themes. However, in reading comprehension instruction in Japanese language education, modal adverbs are treated as words to supplement parts of sentences, and when adverbs are explained as new words in Japanese textbooks, only usage at the short sentence level is introduced. And usually, reading activity uses a lot of time for studying some another grammar and keywords. By analyzing the modern adverbs of "authenticity determination" and "degree," I found that certain modal adverbs are words that possess a role in relation to the context of the sentence. In addition to these kinds, it is necessary to understand how other modern adverbs are expressed as well. In this research presentation, I shall extract modal adverbs for intermediate level reading materials and analyze the relationship with the context of sentences. The analysis frame was constructed by comparing modal adverbs of Minoru NAKAU - "authenticity determination"/"value determination" and so on, and Yasushi SUGIMURA - "possibility of realization"/"evaluation of the situation" and so on. Next, the modal adverbs in the sentences were classified and the relationships with the context were described. Furthermore, in order to investigate the relationship between the understanding of modal adverbs of Japanese learners and reading comprehension, I tested learners by creating questions that predicted the meaning modified by modal adverbs. The results confirmed that modal adverbs appear in places that act as hints to the subjects in sentences and produce irony and humor. Moreover, it was revealed that learners who understood the effects of modal adverbs not only correctly understood the sentences from the viewpoint of grammar, but also understood the thinking of the writer. These results indicate that teaching the function of adverbs correctly, enables high quality reading classes. Based on this result, I would like to examine novel methods for reading comprehension instruction in the future.