A Corpus-based Study On Lexical And Grammatical Features In Chinese Efl Learners’ Use Of Verbal "Non-finite Clauses"

Under the circumstance of the rapid development of theories and technologies inCorpus Linguistics, Chinese researchers conducted multitudinous contrastiveinterlanguage analyses to investigate learner English features. The literature, however,has not satisfactorily traced back the theoretical origins of these practices; finalinzedthe investigations at feature summarization or simple analyses without considering themultidimensional reasons behind the features; centred mainly on individual words orphrases while lacking comprehensive explorations into the form, grammaticalfunction, semantic and pragmatic features of particular grammatical categories; andalso failed in fully discussing the implications of learner feature investigations.Based on corpus analyses, the present study explores and then explains the lexicaland grammatical features of Chinese EFL learners in their use of verbal “non-finiteclauses”, aiming to answer the following3research questions. First, are there anydifferences between native English speakers and Chinese EFL learners in their use ofverbal “non-finite clauses”? What are the general characteristics of the similarities anddifferences? Second, are there any differences among Chinese EFL learners ofdifferent English proficiency? With what characteristics? Third, what are the reasonsresulting in the common features in Chinese EFL learners’ using verbal “non-finiteclauses”? In accordance with Longman English Grammar (Biber et al.,1999), verbal“non-finite clauses” are classified into “ing-clauses”,“ed-clauses” and “infinitiveclauses” so as to facilitate further explorations.The research first reviews relevant literature to demonstrate the integrity of lexisand grammar, including the overview and analysis of the Theory of Context ofSituation (Firth,1957), Lexical Grammar (Sinclair,2000), Pattern Grammar (Hunston&Francis,2000), Lexical Priming (Hoey,2005) and related theories of cognitivegrammar. The subsequent researches and explorations are conducted with a firmbelief in the wholeness of lexis and grammar to investigate the lexical andgrammatical features of Chinese EFL learners in their use of the3clauses.The empirical investigation adopts the Contrastive Interlangauge Analysis (CIA) (Granger,1996;2002), contrasting Chinese EFL learners and native English speakerswith reference to French&German EFL learners and comparing Chinese students ofdifferent English proficiency. The native corpus is selected form LOCNESS, corporaof French&German students from ICLE, that of Chinese middle school studentsfrom CLEC, those of Chinese non-English college students and lower-grade Englishmajors from WECCL2.0, and that of higher-grade English majors from CEM. Thefeatures are summarized based on the sampling, annotation, concordancing andstatistical analyses of corpus texts and further explained under the guidance of“CIA-based Multi-factorial Explanatory Model (CIA-MEM)” proposed by the presentresearch in view of the limitations of the bi-dimensional explanatory pattern of theoriginal CIA model. The empirical investigation reveals:Firstly, there are differences between native English speakers and Chinese EFLlearners in their use of verbal “non-finite clauses”, and the differences vary from verbcategories, clause types and even the particular dimensions of the same clause. In thefirst place, Chinese middle school students (CM) and non-English college students(CN) underuse the ing-clauses of verbs in general, while both the lower-grade and thehigher-grade English majors (CL&CH) use them comparatively more frequently;CM, CN&CL students underuse while CH students overuse the ed-clauses of verbsin general; CM students underuse while the other3college students overuse infinitiveclauses of verbs in general. In the second place, compared with French&GermanEFL students, the difference between Chinese EFL learners and native speakers ismore significant. In the third place, for the5most frequent verbs, all EFL learnersunderuse the non-finite clauses of BE&HAVE, verbs with both the lexicalized anddesemanticized uses while overuse or more frequently use the non-finite clauses ofTHINK, LEARN&MAKE, verbs with only lexicalized uses.Secondly, there are differences among Chinese EFL learners of differentproficiency. Generally, the extent of nativeness in their clause uses is positivelyproportional to English proficiency. The more divergent students’ proficiency is, themore significant their differences are in using verbal non-finite clauses.Thirdly, there are multiple factors affecting Chinese EFL learners’ use of verbal “non-finite clauses”. The factors are not exclusive but interrelated and overlapped toexplain particular features, including internal factors such as “theme and context”,“L1transfer”,“L2input”,“output situation” and external ones like “learnerproficiency”,“learner characteristics”,“learners’ recognition of register” and“fossilization”. The investigation of factors confirms the limitations of the bimodalpattern of the original CIA model, namely, a binary categorization of learner featuresinto “L1-dependent features” and “IL developmental features” and verifies theappropriateness of CIA-MEM model proposed in the current research.The study further discusses the application of learner feature research to languageteaching, compiling of teaching materials and language testing. The whole researchintegrates theories maintaining the wholeness of lexis&grammar, corpus-based CIAmethodology, and investigation, explanation&application of EFL features into oneunified framework, achieving “Five-in-One”, with one complementing and supportinganother. The whole research design is enlightening to other relevant researches in boththeoretical foundation and methodological implication.