中学英语学习者名词性从句习得顺序研究.doc

2011年毕业论文 A Study on the Acquisition Order of Nominal Clauses of
Middle School English Learners

石河子大学
毕业论文

课题名称： 中学英语学习者名词性从句习得顺序研究
A Study on the Acquisition Order of Nominal
Clauses of Middle School English Learners
学生姓名： 石 婷 婷
学 号： 2007051220
学 院： 外 国 语 学 院
专业、年级： 英语专业20072
指导教师： 骆 北 刚
职 称： 讲 师
毕业论文(设计)起止时间：
2010年7月1日至2011年6月4日

Contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………...…...
Key words………………………….……………………….....……...
I. Introduction………………………………………….………………...
A. Research purpose………..……….....…..……………….............
B. Research significance………………………………………………..
II. Literature Review………………..………………………………..
A. Clauses…………………………………………………………......
B. Previous studies about SLA…………………………………………
C. Previous studies about relative clauses……………………………….
III. Research…………………………………………………………….
A. Research questions………………………………………………….
B. Research subjects……………………………………………………
C. Research instruments……………………………………………….
D. Research method……………………………………………………
E. Research design……………………………………………………
F. Data………………………………………………………………
G. Data analysis……………………………………………………….
IV. Conclusion………………………………………….…………........
A. Summary
B. Limitations
C. Expectations
Reference…………………………………………………………………

A Study on the Acquisition Order of Nominal Clauses of Middle School English Learners

Abstract

In recent years, scholars researched relative clauses acquisition from different perspectives, but studies conducted about the acquisition of nominal clauses is inadequate. The present research will adopt the corpus of research method to explore the acquisition order of the nominal clauses for middle school English learners, trying to reveal the acquisition rule of nominal clauses. Through this research, make teachers and students have reflections on teaching and learning strategies and provide suggestions for teachers’ teaching activities design, material selection and method design.
Key words: acquisition order; nominal clauses; middle school English learners

摘要

近年来国外学者从不同角度对各类关系从句的习得情况进行了研究，但很少关注到名词性从句。本文将采用语料库的研究方法，以中学英语学习者为研究对象，来探讨中国英语学习者名词性从句的习得顺序问题，试图揭示中国学习者名词性从句的习得规律。通过本研究，反思教学中教和学策略，并为教师教学活动设计、方法设计提供建议。
关键字：习得顺序；名词性从句；中学英语学习者

I. Introduction

A. Research purpose
Sentence is the highest level of grammatical structure, also is the basic language unit of the text. The sentence that has two or more subject-predicate structure is called complex sentence. A dependent clause (also subordinate clause) is a clause used in conjunction with the independent clause (also main clause), augmenting or attributing it. Dependent clauses cannot stand alone as a sentence; instead, they always modify the independent clause of a sentence. Although a dependent clause contains a subject and a predicate, it sounds incomplete when standing alone. If the role of the clause in the sentence is equivalent to a noun, it is called the nominal clauses.
The sentences in actual use always appear in certain context. It's always interrelated and interconstraint between sentence and sentence or sentence and context. It’s this relation that decides the communication of a sentence. That is, it can be said that nominal clauses play a vital part in people’s communication.

B. Research significance
Recently, for syntactic aspects, scholars both at home and abroad study relative clauses acquisition from different angels. Judging from what is known, syntactic types and lexical semantics is considered affecting relative clauses processing and acquisition difficulty of important factor. When it comes to syntactic type factors, the researchers, taking the perspectives of syntactic function, syntactic transfer and cognitive processing of syntactic structures, conduct some explorations and propose some theoretical assumptions. About lexical semantic factors, the researchers mainly from the noun attributes and types of relative clauses to explore the influence of lexical semantic on clause acquisition difficulty.
When tracing the history of SLA, the studies conducted about the acquisition of nominal clauses are inadequate. Therefore, we need further research on it. The present research will explore English learners’ acquisition order of nominal clauses. It aims to answer the acquisition order, make teachers and students have reflections on teaching and learning strategies and provide suggestions for teachers’ teaching activities design, material selection and method design.

II. Literature Review

SLA has already developed into an independent edge-crossed discipline over 30 years development, in recent years the second language acquisition areas continue to expand. Considering this topic of the research, the related literature review includes three aspects:

A. Definition and categories of clause
In grammar, a clause is a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in some languages and some types of clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase. It may instead be marked on the verb (this is especially common in null subject languages). The most basic kind of sentence consists of a single clause. More complicated sentences may contain multiple clauses, including clauses contained within clauses.
Under this classification scheme, there are three main types of dependent clauses: noun clauses, adjective clauses, and adverb clauses, so-called for their syntactic and semantic resemblance to nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, respectively.
A noun clause can be used like a noun. It can be a subject, predicate nominative, direct object, appositive, indirect object, or object of the preposition. Some of the words that introduce noun clauses are that, whether, who, why, whom, what, how, when, whoever, where, and whomever. Noun clauses include four types: subject clause (SC), object clause (OC), apposition clause (AC), predictive clause (PC). For example:
How this happened is not clear to anyone (SC)
That we shall be late is certain. (SC)
The seller demanded that payment should be made with 5days. (OC)
She asked me which I liked best. (OC)
The fact that the money has gone does not mean it was stolen. (AC)
The suggestion that the new rule be adopted came from the chairman. (AC)
The trouble is that I have lost his address. (PC)
That is what he meant. (PC)

B. Previous study about SLA
1. Studies abroad
Currently, SLA research will understand the essence of second language acquisition from theoretical level about 3 aspects: 1) How does Cognitive mechanism make learners transfer from mother language to second language? 2) Why does language transfer have not an influence on mother language acquisition, but have a great influence on SLA. 3) Why do second language learners differ in level of acquiring language? Based on these major theoretical subjects, the second language acquisition research made the following theoretical achievements.
a. On second language learners ability: Canale pointed out that second language
learners in the process of learning a second language have formed three abilities: language ability, communicative ability, strategy ability (L. F. Wang 1). Li Xiaoju called it language ability, textual ability, pragmatic competence (35).
b. About the study of interlanguage : At present, the learner-centered
interlanguage study has been already widely acknowledged. But, corpus-based studies have not received enough attention. In recent years, Professor S. Granger, in Louvain university of Belgium, established International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) and International Corpus Spoken English Interlanguage (ICSEI) (He 76-77).
c. On the SLA language transfer: Language transfer problem has always been
the focus of the study of scholars both at home and abroad. Migration is a kind of communication strategies, also a kind of learning strategies.
d. About SLA modularization and cognitive mechanism: SLA researchers have
been exploring the modularization and the cognitive mechanism issues, that is, modular mechanism that formed by language rules. Some scholars think that the acquisition of second language rules relies on internal modules and universal grammar (UG) acquisition mechanism.
2. Studies at home
Second language acquisition is a complex cognitive activity, and language acquisition process is the cognitive process of language. The review mainly states domestic SLA cognitive study from following two aspects:
a. Language Acquisition Hypothesis;
The early 1970s to the 1980s, Klashen establishes and develops a complete set of second language acquisition theories (also called “Monitoring model”). The theory framework has five hypotheses: acquisition and learning hypothesis, monitory hypothesis, natural order hypothesis, input hypothesis, filter hypothesis (Y. Wang 70).
b. Cognitive psychology study of SLA;
Wu Qianlong presented a brain's attention and working memory as the center of the model through perspectives of cognitive psychology to analyze SLA process. He thinks that cognitive psychology analysis may have inspiration to us in materials design, language materials input aspects (290-292).
For second language knowledge system of cognitive construction, Liu Liming explores interlanguage phenomenon from the perspective of cognitive psychology. He thinks, interlanguage is produced by learners autonomy of creativity when they build target language psychological syntactic system. Dai Weidong thinks that the occurrence of interlanguage receives the restriction of language, psychological and social cognitive and intermediary language system itself. Therefore, interlanguage must follow its own constructing rule, and the establishment of the rule is based on the interaction between mother tongue and second language.
Cognitive research on SLA will improve people’s view of the nature of language.
And the research’s direct significance lies in the improvement of language teaching effect. Domestic cognitive study on SLA be sure to promote domestic SLA theory research, thus providing further inspiration for language teaching.

C. Previous studies about relative clauses
Recently, for syntactic aspects, scholars both at home and abroad study relative clauses acquisition from different angels. Judging from what is known, syntactic types and lexical semantics are considered the important factors affecting relative clauses processing and acquisition difficulty.
1. Syntactic types
Keenan & Comrie put forward “Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy Hypothesis, NAPH” (146). According to antecedent’s function in the clause, they get accessibility hierarchy: subject > direct object > indirect object > prepositions object > compare object. In this level it means that antecedent as subject is most accessible, then direct and indirect object, while comparative object is the least one.
Sheldon proposes “Parallel Function Hypothesis, PFH” (56). He considers antecedents’ syntactic function between main clause and clause, also assumes when its function is different between main clause and subordinate clauses, which will increase the difficulty of processing. Conversely, it will decrease. So that the difficulty in order: SS/OO > OS/SO (the first S/O refers to antecedent functions as subject or direct object in main clause; the latter S/O refers to antecedent functions as subject or direct object in relative clause ).
MacWhinney and MacWhinney pose “Perspective Shift Hypothesis, PSH” (147). The assumption thinks perspective can be the subject of the sentence in psycholinguistics. When perspective and the process of master-slave compound sentence are contacted, perspective may produce change, or transfer, or leave. The sentences that left perspectives are more easily processed than those transfer perspectives. If transfer more, processing is more difficult. Thus the difficulty order: SS > OS/OO > SO.
From the Angle of working memory, scholars raise “PDH” and “SOHH”. They found that different types of relative clauses have different demands for memory capacity. If increasing pressure to peoples’ working memory, it will increase the process difficulty of relative clauses.
Kuno proposes “Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis, PDH”, basing on the function of the antecedent in the main clause (147). He thinks that the relative clause embedded into the subject of the main clause discontinues peoples’ analysis process of the main clause and increases the burden of the people’s working memory, so it is more difficult to deal with. While one embedded into the object of the main clause doesn’t influence the analysis of the main clauses. Therefore, the acquisition order should be: OS/OO>SS/SO.
Hamilton, according to processing discontinuity times that caused by accessibility and embeddedness, puts forward “SO Hierarchy Hypothesis, SOHH”, that is OS>OO/SS>SO the first S/O refers to antecedent functions as subject or direct object in main clause; the latter S/O refers to antecedent functions as subject or direct object in relative clause ) (147). He thinks that the more processing discontinuity the brain gets, the more pressure to memorize, the more difficulties to acquire the relative clause.
2. Lexical semantics
When some scholars study the difficulty sequence of relative clauses acquisition, focusing on examining the influence of syntactic type, but in recent years, some scholars try to find new influence factors, for example, to explore processing of relative clauses from semantic factors. Main representatives have Gordenetal, Maketal, Traxleretal, etc. The most important semantic factors include: the animation of the noun, the reference of the noun, the similarities between central noun and noun in relative clauses. Research shows that the influence of animation lies in the difference of two terms. When the main clause subject is a lifeless noun and the central word functions as object, the output of relative clauses is easy. While Gordeneta.L assumes if the attributes of central noun and noun as subject in the relative clause are the same, such sentence is more difficult to process than a sentence with different attributes. But, the meaning of the similarity that they put forward is still not clearly defined, and their experiment cannot be completely verifying their assumption. Therefore, the research based on the semantic factors needs further explore. At home, Li Jingman, Wang Tongshun and Hou Jiandong also discuss the semantic factors (Huang and Song 147).
Through the above literature retrieval, it can be found that studies on SLA relates to lexical and relative clauses. But the studies in syntactic aspects ar