李志远（东北电力大学外国语学院132012）

Inputand Outputin Second Language Acquisition

李志远（东北电力大学外国语学院132012）

Input and output are two major terminal actions in second language acquisition. For these two actions scholars have carried out a great number of researches.Among them the most famous are Krashen’s Input Hypothesis and Output Hypothesis.

input，output，second language acquisition

ⅠIntroduction

It was not until the late twentieth century that second language acquisition was regarded as an independentdiscipline，with the development of which arose a lot of theories.In the midst，Krashen’s Input Hypothesis and Swain’s Output Hypothesis are the most influential ones.In the 1980s，the American applied linguist Stephen Krashen put the forward the famous Input Hypothesis.However，in his Input Hypothesis，Krashen over-concentrated on the role of input and neglected the role of output. In order to complement this theory，a lot of researchers on second language acquisition began to examine the role of output in SLA.One of the most outstanding one is Swain who put forward the Output Hypothesis.In her theory，Swain clearly pointed out the positive role of outputin SLA.

ⅡKrashen’s Input Hypothesis and Swain’s Output Hypothesis

Input Hypothesis which is“completely different from the former language teaching methods”.[1]Krashen insisted thatlanguage was acquired through the exposure of a series of comprehensible input，which means the fluency of language can notbe taught but“is a kind of ability which can be formed through natural absorption of the comprehensible input”.[2] Krashen claimed that“simplified input can only help those who are in the beginning stages of language development，while comprehensible input is the most important factor for language development”.

Output Hypothesis was put forward by the Canadian linguist Merrill Swain in 1985.Based on her research on the French immersion students’language ability，Swain challenged the reliability of the Input Hypothesis.By testing，Swain found that though these students’ability on listening comprehension，language fluency，and discourse functions were good，yet，their grammatical accuracy was not that satisfactory. That is to say，though these learners had been immersed in comprehensible language for quite a long time，they stillcan not produce accurate language.As a result，Swain proposed the“Comprehensible Output Hypothesis”.

ⅢEnlightenments of Inputand Output in Assisting Second Language Acquisition

In the first place，comprehensible input should be given enough emphasis.As language learners in the non-target language country，we should try our best to get comprehensible input.Only we get enough input，can we produce output.As English learners in China，we lack of enough input for quite a period of time. Before，most English learners can only read and listen to English in class.With the development of economy，materials for English input have been flourishing.Now we can listen to English radio programs and watch English TV programs and can also get access to various foreign book and magazines.Besides，more and more English teacher are beginning to use English in class.These are all good sources of our English input.

In the second place，output should not be neglected.Input only is far from enough to internalize our second language.Output not only enhances our language fluency butalso increases our language accuracy.Therefore，in order to have a good command of our second language we must pay enough attention to output which can be either oral or written.In the outputprocess，we should notonly pay attention to the style but the content of the output and we should always try our best to pick out the new language that we have got in our input to internalize thatknowledge.

In the third place，we should make the time from input to output as short as possible. Input and output are terminal behaviors which can be observed from the learners.The time of the whole process differs from each individual. However，we can try to make the process as short as possible.We all know that children learn their mother tongue faster than adult learning second language.The reason is that they can use what they have learned in their daily dialogues.Thus shorten the time from inputto output.In this direction，reciting can serve as a good tool.From reciting，we can internalize some fixed structures in the targetlanguage and then learners can produce language on their own will.

Finally，we should make our input to outputinto an automatic process.Language input contains two factors，which are stimulus and response.And through imitation，learners can set up connections between these two factors.“When this stimulus and response are connected by some consistent rules，automation is achieved”.[1]As a result，constant exercise can make the automation process become faster; thus learners’language fluency can be enhanced.For us，second language learners，enough exercise is necessary for our automation of grammar rules.And accordingly，our aim of language fluency and accuracy can be achieved.

ⅣConclusion

In recent years，foreign language learning becomes hotter and hotter in China.Among the researchers and researches，the most famous ones are Krashen’s Input Hypothesis and Swain’s Output Hypothesis.Actually，both inputand output are essential to second language acquisition and we should make full use of these two factors and get as much as input as wellas output as possible to make our language acquisition faster and more accurate.

Works Cited：

[1]郑银芳.二语习得中的输入与输出[J].广州大学学报（社会科学版）.2003（2）.67-69，85.

[2]谭志敏.输入，输出与情感过滤理论在大学听力教学中的应用研究[D]，北京：北京第二外国语学院，2008.

[3]柏能云.实践中的输入与输出假说—高校英语教学的方法与技巧[J].中国科技信息，2007（18）.233-235.

（责编张景贤）

李志远（1985—），男，吉林省吉林市人，文学硕士，讲师，研究方向：应用语言学、翻译与跨文化研究。