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Article published In: Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報)
Vol. 58:1 (2023) ► pp.23–60

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Acquisition of three Chinese de structures by English-speaking learners

 | Kennesaw State University
 | University of Connecticut
 | University of Rhode Island
 | University of Rhode Island
Published online: 21 September 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.22016.jin
Abstract
This study examines English speaking learners’ acquisition of three Chinese de structures, including Nominalization, Cleft, and Relative Clause. Our findings reveal different acquisition patterns for the three structures and identify several major factors such as structural similarities and differences between the native and second languages, feature configurations, native language transfer, memory factors such as the storage and integration cost, learner avoidance strategy, and motivation as role players in the learning process. This study presents new data and perspectives on the understanding of the second language acquisition of Chinese de structures, reveals the acquisitional effects of the identified major factors, proves the validity of Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (FRH) and Storage and Integration Resources Accounts (SIRA) as potential universal principles that affect the processing and acquisition of the second language, and provides theoretical and pedagogical implications for the fields of Chinese as a second language and second language acquisition in general as well.
摘要
本文考察了以英语为母语的汉语学习者对三种“的”字结构的习得，包括名词化、焦点结构和关系从句。 我们的研究结果揭示了三种结构的不同习得模式，并确认了习得过程中起作用的几个主要因素，例如母语和第二语言之间的结构异同、特征配置、母语迁移、存储和集成成本等记忆因素、学习者回避策略和动机。这项研究为我们理解汉语“的”字结构的二语习得提供了新的数据与视角，揭示了主要确认因素在习得过程中的影响，证明了特征重组假设（FRH）和存储与集成资源理论（SIRA）作为影响第二语言处理与习得的潜在普遍原理的有效性，并为二语汉语领域以及一般的第二语言习得提供了理论与教学意义。
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The three Chinese de structures: Nominalization, cleft, and relative clause
    • 2.1Nominalization
    • 2.2Cleft
    • 2.3Relative clause
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Subjects
    • 3.2Data
      • 3.2.1Sentence completion
      • 3.2.2Grammaticality judgment
      • 3.2.3Multiple choice
      • 3.2.4Structure recognition
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1General accuracy patterns
    • 4.2Error patterns
      • 4.2.1Sentence completion and grammaticality judgment tasks
      • 4.2.2Multiple choice task
        • Nominalization
        • Cleft
        • Relative clause
      • 4.2.3Structure recognition
        • Nominalization
        • Cleft
        • Relative clause
    • 4.3Relevant factors from the questionnaire
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (43)
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