A Corpus-based Study On The Modal Auxiliaries Used By Chinese Learners

Because of the peculiar functions and characteristic complexity possessed by modal auxiliaries, this dissertation constitutes an attempt to present a panoramic view about the way in which modal auxiliaries are used by Chinese learners of English.Based on the authentic data collected in CLEC and LOB which are produced by Chinese learners of English and native speakers respectively, a macro perspective which studies modals as a whole by means of error analysis, and a micro perspective which focuses on the comparative study of the meaning distribution of three selected modals must, should and could under the help of Microconcord are adopted. Finally, the present research yields the following findings:(1) Among the nine central modals, can, must, should and will are generally overused by Chinese students while modals such as might, shall and would tend to be not to Chinese students'liking. Despite the overuse and underuse of the above seven modals, there are also two modals which have nearly the same frequencies of occurrences in both LOB and CLEC, and they are could and may.(2) Four types of errors are found in Chinese learners'use of modal auxiliaries. Type 1:Co-occurrence of modal auxiliaries and auxiliary verbs. Type 2: Inappropriateness of the forms of verbs after modal auxiliaries. Type 3: Disagreement between the tense of the modal auxiliaries and the discourse. Type 4: Incorrectness in the choice of modal auxiliaries. Moreover, data also reveal that Chinese students are more likely to be erroneous when they use can, will, must and should.(3) The distribution of the root meanings carried by must which expresses modality of high value and should which expresses modality of median value outnumbers their epistemic meanings in both CLEC and LOB. However, Chinese learners tend to overuse root meanings carried by them. While could which expresses modality of low value proves to be used in similar meaning distribution by Chinese learners as native speakers.(4) It is the overuse of the root meanings carried by modals that result in the Chinese learners'overuse of certain modals and the occurrence of error type 4.