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的关系。本研究是基于我们在2001-2002年进行的研究结果，针对日本初中生和高中生的英语词汇和语法习得进行的（探索性研究补助金13878038），本研究主要研究日本初中生的英语词汇习得情况，词汇输入数据来自所使用的教科书被本研究的受试者。为了获得语言输出数据，由ALC和美国外语教学理事会联合开发的标准口语测试（SST）对受试者进行了测试。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认为是高中教科书中首次引入的。然而，进一步的分析表明，其中许多都是在固定的语境中作为公式化表达使用的，它们可能已经在初中英语课堂上使用过。语法习得分析主要集中在初中英语教学中涉及的五个语法项目上（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）和高中学过的两个语法项目（关系副词和虚拟语气）。分析发现，初中学习的语法项目被使用的频率更高。

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.