A Study Of Understanding English Middle Construction In Light Of Noticing Hypothesis

As a special grammatical item, English middle construction is active in form and passive in meaning, which makes it difficult to teach / learn in EFL teaching. This thesis proposes to make a study, in the light of Richard W. Schmidt's Noticing Hypothesis, of the important role of arousing EFL learners'attention to the nature of English middle construction.Sixty second-year art students from Jilin Provincial Experimental School are chosen to participate in this experimental study. Four tests are designed and administered according to the three levels of Schmidt's Noticing Hypothesis, i.e. perception, noticing and understanding. The data collected are analyzed with SPSS 14.0.The following findings have been generated. First, most Chinese learners of English can't identify the existence of English middle construction very well even after they have grasped the surface structure of English middle construction. Second, Chinese learners make mistakes with English middle construction in various ways due to the differences in their proficiency level of English. Third, arousing Chinese learners'attention to the nature of English middle construction strengthens their understanding. It is therefore suggested that EFL teachers should go in line with the three levels of Noticing Hypothesis to arouse the learners'attention and understanding of English middle construction step by step and the learners should pay due attention to the nature of English middle construction.