An Analysis of the Frequency of Noun Phrase Structures in Japanese Senior High School English Textbooks

Abstract

It is important for second language (L2) learners to acquire the knowledge of noun phrase (NP) structures in overall L2 development. The purpose of the current study is to examine to what extent Japanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners are exposed to NP structures in their input, by analyzing Japanese senior high school English textbooks. The results indicate that certain types of NP structures (e.g., NPs postmodified by prepositional phrases) appear in the textbooks more frequently than other types of NP structures (e.g., NPs postmodified by object relative clauses). Additionally, the frequency information obtained from the current analysis is discussed with the results of previous studies investigating Japanese EFL senior high school students’ acquisition of NPs. The discussion shows that the frequency data might be able to explain parts of the differences in the degree of acquisition. Some pedagogical implications toward Japanese EFL classrooms are also discussed.