A processability approach to the L2 acquisition of Chinese syntax
Date
2015
Authors
Liu, Bo
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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.
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second language acquisition, Chinese syntax, word order, processability
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