The Effects Of Input Enhancement And Output On Noticing And Acquiring Of Relative Clause By L2ers

The acquisition of English relative clause is an important part of SLA. However, it is difficult for most L2 learners (L2ers) to acquire it. In the current SLA research field, more researchers begin to pay close attention to how the L2ers can notice the target forms in the input material, and if the induced noticing facilitates the acquisition of target forms. In this situation, some researchers mentioned the effects of input enhancement and language output on noticing and acquisition of the target forms. The target forms they applied are past hypothetical conditional or passive voice, and few studies on the relative clause are carried out. The current study is based on the research of Izumi in 2002, and regards Krashen's (1985) "Input Hypothesis", Swain's (1995) "Output Hypothesis" and Schmidt's (1990) "Noticing Hypothesis" as theoretical bases. The aim of the study is to test whether input enhancement and language output can promote noticing of relative clause, and whether the induced noticing can facilitate the acquisition of relative clause.The author proposes three research questions in the present study:1) Does output (finishing the required output tasks) promote noticing and acquisition of relative clause for L2ers?2) Does input enhancement (receiving the enhanced input) facilitate noticing and acquisition of relative clause for L2ers?3) Does the combination of the two affect noticing and acquisition of relative clause for L2ers positively?There are all together 51 non-English major freshmen participating in the current study. All the participants are divided into five groups randomly:four treatment groups and one control group. The four treatment groups are+O+IE group (with required output task and enhanced input),+O-IE group (with certain output task and without enhanced input),-O+IE group (without output task and with enhanced input) and-O-IE group (with neither required output task nor enhanced input). All the participants take part in the pretest which is to examine their language competence of relative clause before the experiment.In the experiment, the output groups are required to take down the useful notes and reconstruct the input text each time after receiving the input for twice. The enhanced groups have to finish different sets of extension questions which are based on the input and the relative clause appeared in the input after obtaining it for twice. While the four groups finish their own tasks, all the participants take part in the posttest which is to check whether there is any improvement in acquisition of relative clause.After the analysis of all data by SPSS 17.0, the results are as follows:1) Output can significantly promote noticing and acquisition of relative clause for L2ers.2) Input enhancement can promote acquisition of relative clause, and has some effects on noticing of relative clause to some extent or in a certain situation.3) The combination of the two shows great effects on noticing of relative clause with no doubts, however, it cannot promote the immediate output task and the acquisition of relative clause.