Formulaic-based English Learning Of Chinese College Students

Recently, with the development of corpus linguistics, much attention has beenpaid to the great importance of formulaic sequences in language learning. Based ontheories of cognitive psychology, this study makes an empirical research of the use offormulaic sequences as learning approach by adult English learners in their Englishacquisition. The research questions are:1) What kind of role do formulaic sequences play in language acquisition ofadult English learners?2) What kind of cognitive and psychological mechanisms are responsible formaking use of formulaic sequences in target language acquisition anddevelopment by adult English learners?Based on our data analysis, we come to the following conclusions:1) Chinese adult English learners rely on formulaic sequences in targetlanguage production, and with the increase of learners’ English proficiency level,Chinese English learners make use of more numbers of formulaic sequences.However, the use of formulaic sequences by Chinese English learners displays acomplex picture. Chinese English learners use less formulaic sequences than thenative speakers do. They tend to underuse and overuse some specific formulaicsequences. Moreover, they tend to use massively some learners’ own sequences whichare never used by or not acceptable to native English speakers. The whole picture ofusage of formulaic sequences indicates that on the one hand the usage of formulaicsequences by Chinese adult English learners is not satisfactory, on the other handChinese adult English learners have realized to make use of formulaic sequences asstrategies of learning the target language. In the process of language learning, as theimpetus, assistant and promoter, formulaic sequences play a crucial role in adult’slanguage learning.2) This study has justified that language acquisition is a dual-mode system. Theprocess of language learning and using involves the functioning and balance of this dual-mode system. The present study finds that Chinese adult English learners have atendency to rely on the rule-based analytic system for language production and ignorethe exemplar-based holistic system. This kind of unbalance is caused by two reasons.On the one hand, because of learners’ lacking of the opportunity of accessing toidiomatic formulaic sequences, adult English learners have few chances to practiceand produce formulaic sequences so that the exemplar-based holistic system isunlikely to get good development. On the other hand, adult English learners have wellequipped with the knowledge of rules so that in the process of language productionthey tend to rely more on rules to analyze and produce the language. The unbalancebetween these two systems of language is considered to be the reason why ChineseEnglish learners cannot achieve native-like use of the target language.These research findings bear significant pedagogic implications. It isrecommended in this study that English learners should make good use of formulaicsequences as an important approach to acquire the target language. Especially foradult learners, who have acquainted themselves with English grammatical rules, thefocus of their English study should be shifted from grammar to formulaic sequences.