A Longitudinal Study On The Use Of English Spatial Verb-preposition Constructions By Chinese College Students

The spatial category is one of the most basic cognitive categories shared by all human beings.Human experiences in the objective world always involve the perception and understanding of the spatial domain and spatial concept.As a priori form of human perception and intuition(Hickmann & Robert 2006),people from different regions have different experiences in the objective world.As language users,people always express spatial concepts and describe spatial relationships during communication.People from different regions and using different languages often adopt different linguistic coding measures and use various spatial expressions to describe the same or similar spatial relationships in the objective world(Slobin 1991,1996).The variations in spatial expressions among different languages have naturally become the focus of many language researchers(eg.Levinson 2003,etc.).In the field of L2 acquisition,it is not easy for the learners to acquire spatial expressions in a new language.Take English as an example,English prepositions,as a major linguistic means to express spatial relations,are simple in form and limited in number.However,many studies(eg.Ijaz 1986;Correa-Beningfield 1985;Munnich & Landau 2010,etc.)have found that English spatial prepositions pose great difficulties in the process of learning for EFL learners.In people's daily communication and language use,English spatial prepositions are always combined with other words such as verbs and nouns,etc.to describe the spatial relationships between different entities.However,previous studies mainly focused on how L2 learners acquire single or several English spatial prepositions,and did not take into full consideration other lexical components around these spatial prepositions.In order to fill the research gap,the present study puts the English spatial prepositions into the �verb + preposition� constructions composed of verbs,nouns and other lexical components,investigates the English verb-preposition constructions(VL and VOL verb-preposition constructions)which describe the dynamic spatial relationships,and analyzes how the Chinese EFL learners use these constructions.A longitudinal study is used to track the dynamic changes in the learners' use of these constructions with the increase of their L2 proficiency,and analyzes the dynamic influence of the objective crosslinguistic similarity and the impact of L1 linguistic transfer on learners' use of these constructions.There are three specific research questions: 1)What are the major features,in terms of the construction frequency,accuracy rates,and error rates of verbs,nouns,prepositions and articles,in learners' use of English dynamic spatial verbpreposition constructions? And how do these features change over time with the increase of learners' L2 proficiency? 2)How does the objective crosslinguistic similarity influence learners' use of English dynamic verb-preposition constructions,in terms of the construction frequency,accuracy rates,and error rates of verbs,nouns,prepositions and articles? And how does the influence change over time with the increase of learners' L2 proficiency? 3)How does L1 transfer(positive transfer and negative transfer)manifest itself in learners' use of English dynamic verbpreposition constructions? And how does it change over time with the increase of learners' L2 proficiency? How are various types of L1 transfer influenced by the objective crosslinguistic similarity? And how does the influence change over time with the increase of learners' L2 proficiency?In order to achieve the research objectives and answer the above research questions,the study uses picture stories and adopts a longitudinal design to elicit Chinese college students' English and Chinese oral data over five times during two school years.The instrument and data come from the National Social Science Fund Project of 2011 �A Longitudinal Study on L1 Transfer in Chinese College Students' Production�(11CYY021)led by Prof.Cai Jinting.Members of this project including the author of the present dissertation collected both the oral and written data of the Chinese EFL learners from 5 universities in mainland China.The present study selects the oral data of the learners from 2 universities(Luoyang Normal University and North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power).Through qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data,the following major findings are obtained.Firstly,the learners' use of spatial verb-preposition constructions is a complex process full of nonlinear variations with advances and retreats.1)The overall frequency of VL verb-preposition constructions is higher than that of VOL verb-preposition constructions.With the increase of learners' L2 proficiency,the frequency of the dynamic spatial verb-preposition constructions as a whole used by the learners does not change dramatically;the frequencies of both VL and VOL verb-preposition constructions changes nonlinearly.2)The overall accuracy rate of the dynamic spatial verb-preposition constructions used by the learners is below 60%.And the overall accuracy rate of the VL verb-preposition constructions is higher than that of the VOL verb-preposition constructions.The accuracy rate of the dynamic spatial verb-preposition constructions as a whole used by the learners does not increase linearly with the increase of learners' L2 proficiency,but shows a nonlinear trend of �rise and fall�.Nonlinear changes are also found in the accuracy rates of the two subtypes.3)The error rates of various types of errors in the dynamic spatial verbpreposition constructions(from the highest to the lowest)are: verb errors > preposition errors > noun errors > article errors.In terms of the two subtypes,the overall error rates of all types of errors in VL verb-preposition constructions are lower than those in VOL verb-preposition constructions.And the error rates do not decrease linearly with the increase of learners' L2 proficiency,but exhibit nonlinear fluctuations.Secondly,both similarities and differences are found in the dynamic influence of the objective crosslinguisitc similarity between English and Chinese on learners' use of the spatial verbpreposition constructions.1)The order of overall frequency of the verb-preposition constructions of different objective crosslinguisitc similarities(from the highest to the lowest)is: the constructions of lexical incongruity > constructions of asymmetric congruity > constructions of word-order incongruity.With the increase of learners' L2 proficiency,the frequencies of all three types of constructions above change nonlinearly but in different patterns.2)The overall accuracy rates of the three types of constructions above are around 55% and there is no statistically significant difference among them.With the increase of learners' L2 proficiency,the accuracy rate of the constructions of different objective crosslinguisitc similarities also change nonlinearly but in different patterns.3)In the five tests,from either the synchronic or diachronic perspective,the rate of verb errors(including verb selection and verb form errors)in the three types of constructions is always the highest while the error rate rankings of other types of errors are not fixed.With the increase of learners' L2 proficiency,the error rates of various errors in different constructions do not decrease linearly.Instead,they have shown the characteristics of nonlinear fluctuations.And the error rates of different types of errors have changed nonlinearly with different patterns.Thirdly,there is obvious influence of L1 transfer on learners' use of English spatial verbpreposition constructions.The dynamic changes of various types of L1 transfer are varied,with regularity and complexity being intertwined.1)The percentages of various L1 transfer in the dynamic spatial verb-preposition constructions as a whole and in its two subtypes show a certain regularity(from the highest to the lowest): positive transfer > inhibitive transfer > intrusive transfer.With the increase of learners' L2 proficiency,the percentages of all kinds of L1 transfer change nonlinearly,but their changing patterns are different.2)The percentages of L1 transfer in the constructions of three different crosslinguistic similarities also follow the regularity: positive transfer > inhibitive transfer > intrusive transfer.With the increase of learners' L2 proficiency,percentages of all kinds of L1 transfer change nonlinearly,but their changing patterns are varied.This study has some implications for the theories of L2 acquisition of English spatial prepositions and L1 transfer.1)From the perspective of Cognitive Construction Grammar,the present study,using a longitudinal research design,puts spatial prepositions in the verb-preposition constructions expressing spatial relations,investigates the dynamic changes of learners' use of these constructions and fills the gaps of previous research on the L2 acquisition of spatial prepositions.2)The main findings of the present study reflect the theoretical tenets of the Cognitive Construction Grammar and the usage-based approaches to SLA.With the increase of learners' L2 proficiency,learners' knowledge of the L2 constructions emerges through L2 use and input,and the acquisition and use of spatial verb-preposition constructions are complex and show a nonlinear process involving both progress and regression.3)L1 transfer and its dynamic changes are examined under the �comparison-induction methodological framework�.And some preliminary revisions are made to refine the framework.A �psycholinguistic model of bilingual lexical production� is used to explain the mechanism,regularity and complexity of the dynamic changes of various L1 transfer.And tentative supplements are made to the model.4)The major findings of this study also have some implications for L1 transfer research.The individual differences in L2 learners lead to the interweaving of the regularity and complexity of the L1 transfer.Studies on L1 transfer should start from the characteristics and variations of the individual learner,and follow the research route from the individuals to the learners' group in order to discover the essential attributes of L1 transfer more comprehensively.In addition,this study also has some inspirations for teaching and learning English spatial expressions and spatial prepositions.1)The instruction should emphasize the integrated use of spatial prepositions and other lexical words such as verbs,nouns and articles etc.to improve the learners' comprehensive ability to express spatial concepts and relations in English.2)Teachers and students' awareness of crosslinguistic similarity between English and Chinese should be raised to enable them to analyze the similarities and differences between English and Chinese in spatial expressions and in the use of spatial prepositions,to make full use of the similarities to promote L1 positive transfer,and to identify and suppress the differences to reduce the impact of L1 negative transfer.3)More values should be placed on high-quality L2 input and L2 use.The L2 input should be increased and its quality should be improved during the class;in the process of L2 use,English thinking should be cultivated to help Chinese college students establish a solid mapping between L2 concepts and words and eliminate negative influence of L1 at all linguistic levels.