Dissertation
An investigation in acquiring Chinese relative clauses by advanced Chinese L2 learners
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Spring 2023
DOI: 10.25820/etd.007210
Abstract
The present study was focused on the acquisition of Chinese relative clauses (RCs) by second language (L2) learners and whether this acquisition was influenced by RC linguistic features, learners’ Chinese proficiency levels, and their first language (L1). Data were gathered via a Chinese reading comprehension test, a grammaticality judgment task, a sentence combination task, a sentence formation task, and post-task interviews.
An analysis of 46 Chinese learners’ and 22 native speakers’ performances on these tasks and 15 learners’ perspectives from the interviews revealed that the acquisition of RCs was challenging for learners, particularly with the use of the RC marker de. Furthermore, the types of RC and Chinese proficiency levels significantly impacted the learners’ acquisition of RCs. The results indicated that learners could comprehend both subject RCs (SRCs) and object RCs (ORCs) with comparable accuracy, but they produced more correct sentences with ORCs than with SRCs. Additionally, learners’ L1 influenced their acquisition of Chinese RCs, which was evident from the errors made with de as an RC marker and the production of Chinese RCs with English word order. The interview data confirmed that learners’ perceptions of Chinese RCs played a role in the L1 transfer effect on their acquisition.
The results of the current study have implications for teaching Chinese RCs and suggest the need for frequent input on RCs in classroom instruction. Task-based language teaching activities and multimodal input can provide more meaningful and engaging input to learners and improve their accuracy and fluency in using RCs. Explicit instruction to explain the syntactic features of RCs to learners is also recommended. RC instruction should start with SRC and then proceed to ORC. Teachers are encouraged to communicate with students about their perceptions of the differences and similarities between RCs in their L1 and the target language to further analyze their errors and learning strategies.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- An investigation in acquiring Chinese relative clauses by advanced Chinese L2 learners
- Creators
- Dexin Dai
- Contributors
- Helen Shen (Advisor)Chuanren Ke (Committee Member)Yumiko Nishi (Committee Member)Lia Plakans (Committee Member)Walter Vispoel (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Second Language Acquisition
- Date degree season
- Spring 2023
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.007210
- Number of pages
- xiii, 162 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2023 Dexin Dai
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 04/24/2023
- Date approved
- 05/03/2023
- Description illustrations
- tables
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 120-148).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
- This study was focused on challenges that second language learners face in acquiring Chinese relative clauses (RCs) and whether their acquisition is influenced by factors such as RC linguistic features, Chinese proficiency levels, and first language (L1). Measurement tasks included reading comprehension, grammaticality judgment, sentence combination, and sentence formation, followed by post-task interviews. The findings suggest that learners struggle with the RC marker de and extraction sites and that Chinese proficiency levels significantly affect their acquisition of RCs. Additionally, results revealed that learners’ L1 influences their acquisition of Chinese RCs, impacting their use of de and word order as well as emphasizing the need for frequent input and explicit instruction to improve learners’ accuracy and fluency in using RCs. The author recommends teaching subject RCs before object RCs and communicating with students to analyze their errors and learning strategies.
- Academic Unit
- Second Language Acquisition
- Record Identifier
- 9984425390202771
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