Mechanism of Internalizing Input in Learning English : Relationship between the Input and the Output in the Acquisition of English Vocabulary and Grammar by Japanese Junior High School and High School Students

本研究旨在探讨二语习得中输入与输出之间的关系。本研究针对日本初中生和高中生的英语词汇和语法习得情况进行研究。本研究基于我们在2001年至2002年间进行的关于日本初中生英语词汇习得的研究(探索性研究助学金13878038)的结果。为了获得语言输出数据，由ALC和美国外语教学委员会联合开发的标准口语测试(SST)被试接受了测试。测试中的所有话语都被转录下来进行分析。大约10%的受试者使用的词汇被判断为首次出现在高中教科书中。然而，进一步的分析表明，它们中的许多被用作固定语境中的公式化表达，并且它们可能在初中英语课堂上被使用过。重点分析了初中所学的五个语法项目(to-不定式、被动语态、比较级(比较级和最高级)、现在完成时和关系代词)和两个在高中学习的语法项目(关系副词和虚拟语气)。分析表明，在初中阶段学习的语法项目被试使用的频率更高。

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the input and the output in second language acquisition. The present study is targeted on the acquisition of English vocabulary and grammar by Japanese junior high school and high school students, based on the results of our previous research conducted in 2001-2002 (Grant-in-Aid for Exploratory Research 13878038), which focused on the acquisition of English vocabulary by Japanese junior high school students.The lexical input data was collected from the textbooks used by the subjects of this study. In order to obtain the language output data, the Standard Speaking Test (SST), jointly developed by ALC and the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages, was administered to the subjects. All the utterances in the test were transcribed for analyses. About 10 percent of the words used by the subjects were judged to have been first introduced in high school textbooks. However, further analyses showed that many of them were used as formulaic expressions in fixed contexts and that they might have been used in EFL classes in junior high school.Acquisition of grammar was analyzed focusing on five grammatical items covered in junior high school (to-infinitive, passive voice, comparison (comparative and superlative), present perfect, and relative pronoun) and two grammatical items learned in high school (relative adverb and subjunctive mood). Analyses revealed that grammatical items learned in junior high school were more frequently used by the subjects.