An Empirical Study On The Acquisition Of EMVC From The Perspective Of Cognitive Reference Point-based Action Chain Model

English middle voice construction (abbreviated to EMVC) serves as a significantgrammatical phenomenon, and therefore has attracted much attention of a largenumber of researchers. Previous studies on EMVC are mainly conducted theoreticallyfrom perspectives of Transformational-Generative Grammar, Systematic FunctionalGrammar, and Cognitive Linguistics. However, empirical studies on EMVCacquisition are still insufficient. In view of this, the current thesis attempts to conductan empirical study on acquisition of EMVC by Chinese learners of English from theangles of Prototype Theory (abbreviated to PT) and Cognitive Reference Point-basedAction Chain Model (abbreviated to RACM) so as to provide some revelation.Considering that the incompleteness of classification of EMVC in previousstudies, this thesis attempts to make a reclassification of EMVC according to PT.Meanwhile, analysis of cognitive mechanism of formation of EMVC and acquiredfeatures of EMVC will be conducted from a new prospect of RACM. Ninety-eightjuniors from the International Relations School in Sichuan Studies University arechosen to be as participants of the study. They are divided into three groups on thebasis of their TEM4scores and are expected to take an EMVC test in normal classtime. By collecting and analyzing the collected data, the thesis tries to answer thefollowing questions:Question1: Is there a degree of difficulty in the acquisition of prototypical andnon-prototypical EMVC by Chinese Learners of English?Question2: Is there a positive relationship between the acquisition of EMVC byChinese Learners of English and their English proficiency levels?Question3: Does there exist a degree of difficulty in the acquisition of themiddle verb, the adverbial modification and the implicit agent ofEMVC by Chinese Learners of English?This paper finds that there is a degree of difficulty in the acquisition of the six types of prototypical and non-prototypical EMVC by Chinese learners of English. Theeffect of EMVC acquisition presents a positive correlation with English proficiency ofChinese learners. This positive relationship mainly exists between the intermediateand lower level learners, and between the advanced and lower level learners. There isno significant difference between the advanced and intermediate level learners. Inaddition, there indeed exists a degree of difficulty in acquisition of the threecomponents of EMVC with a sequence of "the adverbial modification> the middleverb≈the implicit agent".("≈" means that the degree of difficulty in acquisition of themiddle verb and the implicit agent is almost the same)Based on the above problems of EMVC acquisition, the current thesis suggestsEMVC should be taught as an independent construction which is different from theactive and passive constructions. Meanwhile, EMVC teaching should be conducted asa continuum gradually from the prototypical one to non-prototypical one. Finally, thethree components of EMVC are supposed to be stressed accordingly, in order toenable students to have a better command of EMVC.