A processability approach to the L2 acquisition of Chinese syntax

Abstract

This study explores L2 Chinese acquisition at syntactic level with Processability Theory (PT) (Pienemann, 1998b; Pienemann, Di Biase, & Kawaguchi, 2005) as its theoretical framework. The research aim was to document the acquisition process of L2 Chinese sentence structures ranging from basic word order (declaratives and interrogatives), to word order variations (adjunct and object topicalization/fronting), and to complex structures (passive, existential and causative). They were six word order patterns: SVO, ADJUNCTTOPIC+SVO, NPTOPIC+SVO, OSV, SOV and SOBAV, and three structures with complex lexical operations: passive, existential and causative. The documentation was conducted under the guidance of PT. Two PT-based processing principles, i.e. information exchange (Pienemann, 1998b) and the mapping of three parallel levels of structure (argument structure, constituent structure and functional structure) (Pienemann, Di Biase, & Kawaguchi, 2005) were employed to propose two processing hierarchies respectively for the acquisition of word order and complex structures. The study aimed to address two research questions: (1) what were the observed sequences for the acquisition of word order and complex structures; (2) whether the observed sequences were consistent with the two proposed PT-based processing hierarchies.

To achieve the research aims, a longitudinal investigation over one academic year was conducted on the acquisition sequence of the targeted sentence structures by six Chinese L2 learners of different language backgrounds and of three different proficiency levels (beginning, intermediate and advanced). The six learners were enrolled in a Chinese language program in a Chinese university. Interviews with each of the six informants were conducted on a regular basis to record their learning progress through free conversations with supplementary communicative elicitation tasks. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and segmented into sentences for grammatical tagging. Following PT an emergence criterion was adopted to decide the acquisition status of the targeted structures.

The results showed that the acquisition of the targeted sentence structures proceeded successively from basic word order to word order variations and complex structures. The observed orderly acquisition sequences were consistent with the two hypothesized PT-based processing hierarchies. Not every structure at the same stage emerged on time. However, only the stage of a lower level of processing procedures had been reached before the stage of a higher level was reached. The study contributes to the research of acquisition sequence of Chinese syntax as a second language. The observed acquisition sequences can serve as a reference for the design of teaching syllabus and classroom instruction, to improve teaching and learning efficiency. The study also provides further empirical support for the predictive and explanatory power of Processability Theory in the acquisition of L2 syntax.