小学校英語学習経験者の中学入学以降の文法習得

抄録

Written output produced by twelve junior high school students exposed to English in elementary school were descriptively analyzed at two times in their first year from the perspective of grammatical development. The results showed a wide difference in grammatical development among the participants, indicating that some learners benefit from the exposure to English in elementary school whereas others do not. Three higher achievers in the first term also excelled in the third term, and three lower achievers in the first term also maintained their status. However, six learners in between in the first term went in different directions in the third term, one showing improvement, four remaining middle achievers, and the other showing deterioration. The results were interpreted along with their scores of language learning aptitude tests as well as by the comments provided by their junior high school teacher. The results suggest that aptitude, attitude, and the first language ability can be variables as important as, or more important than, the age of the initial exposure to English.