Chinese Learners’ Acquisition Of English Locative Construction

English locative construction is common in English. Chinese learners frequently misuse English locative construction patterns. In order to probe into the reason and to enhance learners’ English locative construction proficiency, the present dissertation, based on reviews of theoretical studies and empirical researches on English locative construction, designed an English locative construction acquisition model and applied it into practice. The empirical study showed that acquisition model successfully enhanced Chinese learners’ English locative construction proficiency.Researches on English locative construction are mainly carried out in Generative Grammar and Construction Grammar frameworks. The representative character that works in Generative Grammar framework is Pinker, while the main characters in Construction Grammar framework are Goldberg, Boas and Iwata. Therefore, there would be three approaches to English locative construction research, namely, Pinker’s Generative Grammar approach, Goldberg’s Construction Grammar approach, Boas and Iwata’s lexical-constructional approach.The core question in English locative construction research is which one (type) of locative verbs can occur in figure pattern or (and) ground pattern. Pinker and Goldberg offered a satisfactory answer for which type of locative verbs could occur in figure pattern as well as ground pattern. However, neither of them answered the question of which type of locative verbs could only occur in either type of patterns. Pinker proposed that when a locative verb could occur in both patterns, a pattern was the basic one, while the other pattern was the derivative one. Goldberg proposed that a locative verb could occur in both patterns due to the participant roles of the verb could fuse with the argument roles of the caused-motion construction and the causative-plus-with adjunct construction respectively. However, they did not illustrate which type of locative verbs could only occur in figure pattern or ground pattern.Boas and Iwata’s lexical-constructional approach is considered better in answering the core question in English locative construction research. Lexical-constructional approach proposed that each locative verb was a mini-construction, which possessed a motion-filling frame or (and) a motion-placing frame. While a locative verb possessed two frames, it could occur in both figure and ground patterns; while it possessed a motion-filling frame, it could occur in ground pattern; while it possessed a motion-placing frame, it could occur in figure pattern.Based on Pinker’s classification of English locative verbs, the dissertation reclassified144locative verbs into nine classes, namely, spread class, load class, spray class, pour class, wind class, attach class, cover class, block class and adorn class.Some researchers have done locative construction acquisition researches in non-English speaking environment. Among them are Sawyer who made research on Japanese English learners, Choi who took Korean English learner as participants, Juffs and Li Hong who took Chinese English learners as participants. The findings of previous researches include:1) Acquisition of locative construction positively related to English proficiency.2) Learners could easily acquire English locative constructional meaning, namely, the movement of the object and the change of state.3) Learners failed to acquire locative verbs. They did not have a clear idea which locative verb could occur in which type of patterns.The previous researches have the following deficiency:1) Participants are not representative enough.2) Locative verbs in the test are not enough.3) Research results are contradictory.4) The acquisition process of locative construction is not revealed.5) The failure of learners’acquisition of locative verbs is not explained.The present dissertation based on the previous researches carries out an empirical study. In Construction Grammar framework, the dissertation designs English locative construction acquisition model. The model consists of five sectors, namely, corpus presentation, construction meaning acquisition, locative verb meaning acquisition, the fusion of construction meaning with verb meaning, and instance production. In corpus presentation sector, researchers present learners with materials containing three types of locative verbs. In construction meaning acquisition sector, learners generalize locative construction meaning. In locative verb acquisition sector, learners generalize semantic roles and syntactic roles of locative verbs. In fusion sector, learners learn how to use locative verbs in locative construction. In instance production, learners produce figure and ground patterns.The number of participants in the empirical study is293, including30English native speakers,133non-English majors and130English majors. The research questions are:1) What kind of proficiency does participants possess?2) Can participants acquire locative verbs?3) Do participants who received the training have higher locative construction proficiency?4) Does locative construction acquisition model have a long-term effect on learners?5) Can Chinese learners reach native speakers’ locative construction proficiency?The participants took three proficiency tests in three-month experiment. The main findings are:1) Chinese participants have low English construction proficiency, especially about locative verbs.2) Participants who received acquisition model training performed better in the test, and possessed similar locative construction proficiency with native speakers.3) The delayed test showed that experimental group had significantly higher locative construction proficiency than controlled group.The dissertation consists of seven chapters:Chapter One serves as the introduction. In this chapter, the author introduces briefly the notion of English locative construction, construction meaning, the classification of locative verbs, the previous researches home and abroad, and the research design and the structure of the dissertation.Chapter Two discusses three approaches on English locative construction research. Researches on English locative construction are mainly carried out in Generative Grammar and Construction Grammar frameworks. There are three approaches to English locative construction research, namely, Pinker’s Generative Grammar approach, Goldberg’s Construction Grammar approach, Boas and Iwata’s lexical-constructional approach.Chapter Three introduces the empirical researches. They are Sawyer’s research on Japanese English learners, Choi’s research on Korean English learner, Juffs’ and Li Hong’s researches on Chinese English learners.Chapter Four designs English locative construction acquisition model. The model consists of five sectors, namely, corpus presentation, construction meaning acquisition, locative verb meaning acquisition, the fusion of construction meaning with verb meaning, and instance production.Chapter Five investigates the current acquisition of English locative construction. The participants include30native speakers and263Chinese English learners.Chapter Six performs acquisition model training for127experimental group members. After the training, a timely test and a delayed test were taken to investigate the effect of acquisition model.Chapter Seven serves as the conclusion and discussion. The major conclusions and limitations are summarized, the implication for construction teaching and suggestions for further research are provided.