The Acquisition of English Function-chains: With a Focus on Japanese Junior High School Students

Fujiwara Yoko

広島大学大学院教育学研究科紀要. 第二部, 文化教育開発関連領域

Bulletin of the Graduate School of Education, Hiroshima University. Part. II, Arts and science education

This study investigates junior high school (JHS) students' process of development in acquiring English function-chains ' (the addressee's response to the speaker's utterance). Although numerous attempts have been made by researchers to investigate the comparative distribution of certain functions in English textbooks, little is known about the learners' process of development in acquiring the function-chains. This study attempts to shed light on that developmental process by focusing on how well JHS students recognize the appropriateness 2 of function-chains used in spoken English. A two-way layout analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine the interaction of two variables (l.the students' level of proficiency in grammar and 2. the types of function-chains) and the main effect of each variable. As a result, it was found that the type of function-chain used does have some effect on students' recognition of appropriateness; and further, that students with greater grammatical proficiency did better than less-skilled students in that particular area.

function-chains

appropriateness

second language acquisition (SLA)

Education [ 370 ]

eng

広島大学大学院教育学研究科

国立情報学研究所

[ISSN] 1346-5546

[NCID] AA11618725