Abstract—This study explored how Japanese learners of
English understand the verbs of perception in English with
reference to auditory verbs. 61 Japanese college students, who
participated in this study, were divided into three groups
according to their TOEIC scores in a placement test. A set of
three questionnaires were devised in order to examine 1) their
ability to choose the right verb in context, 2) their awareness
about the formulaic expressions using listen and hear, and 3)
their sensitivity to the well-formedness of expressions using
listen and hear. The overall results of the study showed that
Japanese learners generally have trouble in handling even these
basic verbs. It was also found that there are level-sensitive
trouble areas.
Index Terms—Auditory verbs, lexical core, lexical selection,
search-translation-equivalent strategy.
Masanobu Sato is with Keio University, Japan (e-mail:
kizuna238@yahoo.co.jp).
Cite: Masanobu Sato, "A Study on the Meaning and Usage of Auditory Verbs in English by English Learners," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 6, no. 8, pp. 626-632, 2016.