Korean speakers' acquisition of the English ditransitive construction: The role of input frequency and distribution

In recent years linguists working within a usage-based theory of acquisition have proposed that language use has a direct impact on language acquisition and that language input is highly structured to facilitate the acquisition processes. This dissertation aims to investigate the role of certain aspects of language input in facilitating construction learning. In particular, the study attempts to explore whether, and to what extent, the high token frequency of a prototypical exemplar and the temporal distribution of input have an effect on the learning of the English ditransitive construction by young English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Korea.;Following a quasi-experimental design, the study manipulated the frequency of a prototypical exemplar of the ditransitive construction associated with " give" and temporal distribution of relevant input. Six intact classes were randomly assigned to either a (1) skewed frequency group where the input was skewed toward "give" while the four other verbs occurred with low frequency or a (2) balanced frequency group where the input was evenly distributed among the five ditransitive verbs. The groups were further divided into (a) massed schedule where exposure to the input was concentrated into 4 days, (b) distributed-pairs schedule where exposure to the input was distributed over 4 weeks, and (c) distributed schedule where exposure to the input was widely distributed over 8 weeks.;The study led to three major findings. Firstly, the high-token frequency prototypical exemplar did not facilitate the grammatical usage of ditransitive constructions, but it did have a positive effect on constraining overgeneralization errors. Secondly, distributed learning schedule provided the most effective input for construction formation and generalization. Thirdly, the distributed learning effects overrode the effects of skewed input, emphasizing the importance of the total amount of exposure in construction learning over the mere intensity of input exposure.;These findings suggest that frequency and temporal distribution of input could both play a useful role in construction learning in the foreign language classroom, where input is generally considered impoverished. Yet, at the same time, the current results highlight the complex and dynamic nature of input frequency, distribution and their interactions.