Form-Meaning Mapping In Chinese EFL Learners' Vocabulary Acquisition

Form-meaning mapping (FMM), one of the essential links of the language use and acquisition, occupies a crucial position in both L1 and L2. Despite much effort devoted to the research on it in L1, it has always been assumed rather than treated as a central topic for investigation in the SLA study. By means of the empirical description, the present research sets out to investigate, within the framework of form-meaning mapping, the question of what features can be found with the meaning in the form-meaning mapping of Chinese EFL learners'second language vocabulary acquisition.This thesis is divided into seven chapters. Chapter One is a brief introduction, which illustrates the research background, and the significance of the study. Chapter Two concerns itself with the literature review from the perspectives of the bilingual mental lexicon and the second language vocabulary development. In the third chapter, the theoretical framework about the form-meaning mapping in the classroom setting is presented. This theoretical framework is proposed based on the modification of Jiang Nan's (2000) three-stage lexical representation model via introducing the concept of meaning restructuring and the division between receptive and productive word knowledge.Chapter Four elaborates the issues concerning research design and the methodology. Illuminated by the previous studies and Saussure's view on linguistic signs, 5 instruments including the proofreading test, the meaning recognition test, the meanings–sentences production test, the collocations acceptability judgment test, as well as the elicited collocations production test were developed to approach the research objective from both the syntagmatic and the paradigmatic perspective. Among them, the proofreading test adopts the paradigmatic view while the tests on collocations stand for the syntagmatic angle. And the comparisons and contrasts made between three groups'performances on these tests are used to reveal the dynamic aspect of the meaning features.Chapter Five constitutes the main body of this thesis, in which the results got from the data analyses are reported. The major findings yielded from the present study are enumerated as follows: (1) in second language vocabulary acquisition, the Chinese EFL learners map the L2 word forms onto the meaning that mainly comes from the L1 (Chinese). Learners experience great difficulty in telling the subtle differences between the same-translation L2 words. The Chinglish expressions not only make up a large share in learners'output, but also receive relatively high acceptability. (2) Learners do not import the L1 meaning system wholesale. While they rely heavily on the existing L1 meaning system to help them to establish the connection between the L2 words and their meanings, L2 input exposure and instruction, the L2 chunks in particular, also shape the meaning features. In learners'receptive word knowledge, the L2-specific elements exist and the learners can successively map the L2 word forms onto the meanings that are not shared by their L1 counterparts. That is to say, learners make use of the L1 meaning system selectively. L1 parasite is only a part of the picture. (3) Form-meaning mapping in SLVA is not done once for all and the meaning features are not immutable to alterations. With the increase of the L2 proficiency, the L1 dependence tends to lessen while the L2 semantic autonomy is gradually strengthened. Chinese EFL learners recognize and reject more and more Chinglish expressions. Lots of L2-specific meanings and collocations without the corresponding representation in production are emerging in their receptive word knowledge. The fact that the advanced learners still produce some unidiomatic expressions under the influence of L1 suggests that the shrinking of the L1 influence, however, does not mean complete disappearance. L1 parasite, to some extent, is the long-lasting feature of second language vocabulary acquisition.Chapter Six deals with the general discussion. All the findings are discussed within the theoretical framework and the related literature. We hold that the first feature we found has direct bearing on the cognitive economy and the semantic equivalence hypothesis. The second and third feature are the demonstration of the meaning restructuring that is driven by the L2 input exposure and the explicit learning (instruction). The meaning restructuring which begins with the recognition and acceptance of the L2-specific elements is a slow and long process whose final accomplishment cannot be achieved before a long period. In addition, the meaning features presented by the FMM have something to do with the learners'lexical learning strategies and their belief on the distance between the meaning systems.Finally the thesis winds up with the conclusion, implications and the suggestions for further studies that are pointed out in Chapter Seven. The present research proposes that the studies on FMM in SLVA should be carried out from different perspectives and the triangulation of the data can therefore be achieved. And with regard to the second language vocabulary instruction, it suggests that teachers should guide the learners to use the L1---the cognitive resource reasonably, and try to create the opportunities for learners to reform the existing meaning system and finally realize the meaning restructuring.