Acquisition Of English Motion Event Expressions By Chinese EFL Learners

Motion event is central to our human experience, which explains why research on the acquisition of motion event expressions has been one of the key issues linguists and psychologists both at home and abroad pay special attention to. Most of the studies, however, focus on the L1 acquisition, trying to explore the effects of typologically different languages on thinking. In terms of L2 acquisition, it has been a rather neglected area, though some relevant research has been published recently. Moreover, the findings remain quite inconclusive as to whether and to what extent learners can acquire the L2 thinking-for-speaking patterns. In particular, hardly any work has been devoted to an in-depth analysis of how Chinese EFL learners acquire English motion event expressions.The study is based on Talmy's typological framework and Slobin's thinking-for-speaking hypothesis. Talmy (2000) has categorized languages as being either a satellite-framed or a verb-framed language according to how Path is represented in the language. Slobin (2004) proposed adding a third class of equipollently-framed languages in which Path and Manner are expressed by equivalent grammatical forms. Thinking-for-speaking hypothesis postulates that each language will provide specific choices to its native speakers to train them to attend to particular details of the motion event expressions. Such typological features, therefore, have a strong impact on the online thinking for speaking, and are resistant to restructuring in adult second language acquisition.With this in mind, the author intends to explore whether and to what extent Chinese EFL learners at different proficiency levels can acquire English motion event expressions across event types and to what extent the L1 thinking for speaking influences the acquisition. Specifically, we have addressed the following three questions:1. To what extent do Chinese learners at different levels of proficiency acquire the English motion event expressions?2. Do Chinese learners differ from English native speakers in English motion event expressions? If so, to what extent?3. Does the L1 thinking for speaking influence the acquisition of English motion event expressions? If so, to what extent?Oral narrative data were elicited from three groups of Chinese learners at different levels of proficiency by means of the frog story and video clips from cartoon programs for voluntary and caused motion event expressions respectively, in comparison to data collected from English and Chinese native speakers. The oral narrative data were then transcribed, proofread, coded, and analyzed. An examination of the habitual language use in both voluntary motion (VM) and caused motion (CM) tasks revealed some major findings, which can be summarized below.Chinese learners used a relatively very limited number of Manner and Cause verb types, mostly referring to very general, rather than specific and elaborated, first-tier motion verbs. With proficiency, they showed a steady but not significant increase of such motion verbs.Chinese learners generally provided almost as much plus-ground information as native English speakers, irrespective of event types, but exhibited a nonlinear developmental pattern. They preferred event serialization over event conflation, but showed a steady increase in using event conflation.Chinese learners allocated their attention to physical setting descriptions as well as dynamic movement, a perspective which differed Chinese learners with English native speakers remarkably. For the L1 thinking-for-speaking influence in the process of acquisition, Chinese learners carried some of the L1 typological features over into the target language, especially in terms of motion verb use, and the description of physical setting.Based on the above findings, this study concludes with answers to the three main research questions:1. Chinese learners seemed to have acquired the characteristic motion event expressions typical in English, showing not necessarily a linear developmental pattern.2. Chinese learners differed markedly with native English speakers in motion verb use and physical setting descriptions.3. Chinese learners transferred some of the L1 typological features to English motion event expressions, that is, L1 thinking for speaking existed in some perspectives, but not as strong as expected.These findings have both important theoretical and pedagogical implications. Theoretically, the study serves to better inform us of the features of acquisition by Chinese learners and it has bridged a gap in studies on motion event acquisition at home and thus enriched the relevant research. It may also shed light on second language acquisition research based on cognitive linguistics theories. Moreover, this study has tried to explore empirically the categorization of Chinese motion typology. Practically, pedagogic intervention and awareness-raising activities may prove to be significant for further acquisition of motion event expressions.