A Study On The Second Language Acquisition Of Possible Modal Verbs In Chinese By Native English Speakers

Modality is one of the universal categories of human natural language.Modality is also an important issue which is concerned by linguistics,logic and even philosophy.Modal verbs are important means of modal expression.The acquisition of modal verbs is also the key to modal acquisition.The ontology of Chinese modal verbs has been studied for a long time with fruitful results.In recent years,it has been paid more and more attention by the academia.The spatiotemporal perspective of the study has been expanding and the related new findings have been published.Relatively speaking,the progress of second language acquisition of Chinese modal verbs is slow,the research model is relatively solid,and the research methods and perspectives have not been constantly broken through,which makes it difficult to dig out the deep problems of second language acquisition of modal verbs.This paper chooses the typical members of Chinese possible modal verbs "Ke neng,Neng,Hui,Yao,Ying gai" and native English learners as the subjects of investigation,and comprehensively examines the ontological characteristics of this kind of modal verbs.Then,on the basis of extensive quantitative analysis and in-depth interviews,typical learners are selected to conduct qualitative and diachronic follow-up studies on multiple cases.Based on the framework of interaction theory,this paper discusses in depth the acquisition of modal verbs by junior and senior learners,including acquisition approaches,speed,sequence,difficulty,process and mother tongue transfer.It reveals the basic rules of this kind of modal verbs in Chinese as a second language acquisition,outlines finely the diachronic picture of learners' second language development.At the same time,it has made a useful attempt for the study of interactive acquisition in Chinese as a second languageThis paper consists of 8 chapters.Chapter 1,Introduction.this part mainly explains the origin of topic selection,reviews the general situation of modality and modality acquisition research in academic history at home and abroad,points out the deficiencies of ontology research and acquisition research of Chinese modal verbs,and shows the academic gaps.At the same time,it explains the theoretical background,research methods and corpus sources of this study.Chapter 2,this chapter mainly introduces the definition and classification of modality itself,discusses the important position of Chinese modal verbs in modal expression and the relationship between modal verbs and modal expression,defines the important concept of "possible" from the perspectives of "possibility","possible world" and broad and narrow sense,and points out the "possibility" discussed in this paper includes "possibility" and "inevitability",and finally classifies and summarizes the modal expression types of possible modal verbs,holds that they should be subordinated to the possible cognitive modal expression.Chapter 3,this chapter mainly makes an ontological study of possible modal verbs in Chinese.According to the general grammatical features of modal verbs,word frequency statistics and the theory of family similarity of cognitive linguists,the five basic members of possible modal verbs are identified as " Ke neng,Neng,Hui,Yao,Ying gai ",and their semantic diachronic development process is investigated.The syntactic,semantic,pragmatic,textual characteristics and the subordinate classification of modal expressions in modern Chinese are examined at the synchronic level.Through the comparison between Chinese and English,this paper reveals the remarkable features of Chinese possible modal verbs in modal negation,conjunction,pragmatics and possibility dimension division of labor,and analyses the cognitive characteristics and linguistic thinking characteristics of Chinese and English modal expressions.Chapter 4,this chapter mainly introduces the theory of interaction.Firstly,the definition of "interaction" is clarified,this paper holds that "interaction" in the field of second language acquisition includes interpersonal interaction and cognitive interaction.It introduces the proposal,development and integration of interaction theory with socio-cultural theory.Secondly,it makes a necessary introduction to the core idea of "meaning negotiation" theory of interaction theory.Finally,it investigates the acquisition of English and Chinese as a second language.It points out that the study of interactive acquisition in Chinese as a second language is still at the initial stage of theoretical introduction.Chapter 5 mainly investigates the use and acquisition of Chinese modal verbs by means of corpus statistical analysis,questionnaire survey and oral corpus collection.The survey shows that the common errors of learners are omission,incorrect addition,misuse,etc.Over-production of "possible" exists in daily oral communication.In written expression,most learners can use modal verbs correctly,but they are basically confined to stylistic needs,and the expression of modal types is relatively simple.At the same time,due to the insufficient input of modal verb items in most Chinese textbooks,learners generally have interactive learning strategies with teachers or peers in the learning process;according to the overall analysis of learners' acquisition status,the linguistic characteristics of modal verbs(complexity and abstractness)and the needs of interactive teaching practice.Finally,the paper discusses the appropriateness of the study on the interactive acquisition of modal verbs in Chinese as a second language.Chapter 6,this chapter mainly conducts a multi-case study on the interactive acquisition of modal verbs by primary learners from the perspective of meaning negotiation.Four representative learners were selected to conduct a 40-week follow-up survey on interactive acquisition,and some 63000 words were obtained from the transcribed interactive corpus.Firstly,based on Marlos' s "conceptual space" theory,this paper analyses the communicative difficulties of modal verbs and the general situation of interactive negotiation resulting from them.Secondly,it examines and analyses the interactive acquisition of individual modal verbs within the framework of meaning negotiation,points out the distribution characteristics of negotiation types of different modal verbs and the starting point and focus of negotiation,reveals the learners' acquisition ways,sequence,difficulty,solidification and acquisition process of different modal verbs,and measures the learners' acquisition effect with their oral output.Chapter 7,this chapter mainly investigates the acquisition of advanced learners within the framework of dynamic assessment.Six representative learners are selected to conduct interactive tracking of 24 times per capita and 144 times in total.The whole process lasts for two years,and nearly 400,000 words of transcribed corpus are obtained.Firstly,the conversational characteristics of advanced learners in terms of communicative information types and topic control are analyzed,and the operability of the dynamic assessment of the Mediated Learning Experience(MLE)for the investigation of advanced learners' interactive acquisition is pointed out.Secondly,the process of advanced learners' mediated learning of different modal verbs is discussed separately.The core issues of dynamic assessment of learners' language proficiency diagnosis,the establishment of the latest development zone,the distribution of mediating strategies,learners' feedback,transfer of mother tongue,cognitive transformation of modal category concepts,whispering and automatic emergence are all examined,which illustrate learners' dynamic assessment after acquisition.Finally,the paper illustrates the diversity of modal expressions in spoken discourse at the later stage of acquisition,and presents a comprehensive picture of the second language development of learners' acquisition of modal meanings from related modal verbs.Chapter 8,this chapter summarizes the whole paper and forms a preliminary conclusion on the acquisition research.It summarizes the basic process and the development law of the second language acquisition of Possible Modal Verbs in Chinese by native speakers of English.At the same time,it points out the shortcomings of this study in terms of scope,level,gender and age of learners,and makes a planning outlook for future research.