Usage-based Approach To Argument Structure Constructions Acquisition In Novel Phrasal Constructions

Second language acquisition has been going through a paradigm shift since21st century.Under the usage-based theories, second language acquisition research gets seriouslyconcussed by lots of linguistic and language acquisition theories, schools and models, such ascognitive linguistics, construction grammar, emergentism and social-cultural theory etc. TheAssociative-Cognitive CREED, as one of the new theories in this field, aims at describing andexplaining the developmental process of second language acquisition. As to the studies athome and abroad, theoretical exploration are much more than experimental investigationwhich mainly includes computer simulation, corpus study and a little experimental research.However, studies in the context of foreign language are quite scant.Based on the usage-based approaches to language acquisition and associative-cognitiveCREED, the current thesis focused on one of the most important concepts–argumentstructure constructions, and aimed to confirm that learners can not only understand each otherin communication but can also produce language themselves, all of which verified theproposal that language acquisition derives from language use. In the current study,178Chinese EFL learners, who were all non-English majors from a university in Shandongprovince, were chosen to participate in the two experiments, with the data analyzed by SPSS16.0. According to the two research questions, the major findings of the present study aresummarized as follows:(1) The argument structure constructions can be acquired from the perspective ofcomprehension, and can last for a certain period. In the current study, it can last at least forone week.(2) The argument structure constructions can be quickly acquired from the perspective ofproduction and can also be correctly used.Thus, the current study provides empirical evidence for the viewpoint that languageacquisition derives from language use and testifies to the effective path of languageacquisition: interaction–comprehension–cooperation–production–acquisition. The resultsare equipped not only with theoretical significance for the usage-based approaches tolanguage acquisition but also with practical implications for foreign language teaching andlearning.The thesis is composed of five parts. Chapter1is the introduction that describes thebackground, purpose and significance of the study and the organization of the thesis. Chapter 2defines two key terms used in the thesis and provides a literature review on the usage-basedapproaches to language acquisition and associative-cognitive CREED of second languageacquisition, as well as studies of argument structure constructions at home and abroad.Chapter3describes the research methods, which include research questions and hypotheses,the two experiments and their respective participants, concrete operation, research instruments,and data collection and analysis. Chapter4presents the research results and discussions, andthen, based on the research questions, the results get described and illustrated. Chapter5describes the research conclusions and implications. After summarizing the main findings anddiscussing the significance both from the perspective of theory and practice, limitations arepointed out and future research directions are suggested.