A Study On Chinese EFL Learners’ Acquisition Of Dative Alternation Based On Logistic Regression Model

The English dative alternation refers to the shift between two semantically similar constructions, namely the double-object construction(DO) and the prepositional-object construction(PO). Previous studies have explored the English dative alternation in the theoretical frameworks of projectionist, constructionist and informational approaches. The projectionist approach focuses on classifying ditransitive verbs into alternating ones and non-alternating ones and is accused of leaning towards the reductionist(Hu, 2011, p. 35). The constructionist approach concentrates on drawing the refined semantic distinctions between PO and DO, while a considerable number of PO and DO share overlapping meanings(Bresnan et al., 2007, p. 75). The informational approach argues that argument realization is related to their informational features and consequently examines these features of recipient and theme. The informational approach is compatible with the recently developed model of allostructions, which proposes that PO and DO share the same semantic representation and are the specific realization forms of the “super-category” ditransitive construction in concrete contexts(Perek, 2015, pp. 154-158).An increasing number of the first language acquisition studies on the English dative alternation have been carried out under the informational approach, which has turned out to be a superior theory due to its multi-factorial explanation and compatibility with the alternative relation. Yet second language acquisition studies have lagged behind for studies on Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of the English dative alternation at home mainly focus on the verbal influence with the role played by nominal arguments being excluded. Based on the allostructions model and from the informational perspective, the present study explores the mechanism driving Chinese EFL learners’ choices of one ditransitive variant over another in the cases of PO and DO with an alternating verb. With the verbal influence being neutralized, this study provides a systematic and detailed examination on the information-related features of recipient and theme by probing into the parallel relations between Chinese EFL learners’ input and output, the discrepancies between Chinese EFL learners with different English proficiency levels, and the disparities between high proficient Chinese EFL learners and English native speakers.Three hypotheses are made as follows: 1) Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of the English dative alternation is driven by experience; 2) Second language proficiency exerts an impact upon Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of the English dative alteration; 3) High proficient Chinese EFL learners fail to achieve the native proficiency in the acquisition of the English dative alternation due to the negative first language transfer. Research questions are as follows:1) Are low proficient Chinese EFL learners sensitive to multiple cues(i.e. information-related features of recipient and theme) present in their input? If yes, are there parallels between their output and input in both the kinds of predictive cues and the strengths assigned to each cue?2) Are high proficient Chinese EFL learners sensitive to more cues than low proficient learners? Does the acquisition sequence of cues indicate their strength in predicting the choice of ditransitive variants?3) Do high proficient Chinese EFL learners, at their end-state of L2 learning, fall short of native-like proficiency in the acquisition of the English dative alternation? Does L1 transfer exert an impact upon the salience of cues perceived by Chinese EFL learners?The output data of low proficient and high proficient Chinese EFL learners are collected respectively from the two sub-corpora in Chinese Learner English Corpus(CLEC), st2 and st6, which separately consist of Chinese high school students’ English compositions and junior/senior English-major undergraduates’ English compositions. Low proficient learners’ input data are collected from the textbook corpus built by my supervisor’ research team, while high proficient learners’ input is not taken into consideration in this study. English native speakers’ data are gathered from the online corpus BNC-BYU. 150 PO and 150 DO with the eight high-frequency alternating verbs(i.e. give, show, send, bring, tell, offer, teach, sell) are retrieved from the above four corpora, and recipients and themes are analyzed in terms of the six information-related features(i.e. definiteness, pronominality, accessibility, animacy, concreteness, and weight). The binary logistic regression model is employed to measure the relative influence strength of each predictor(i.e. the examined information-related features) over the rest. After detailed and scientific research, the research findings are presented as follows:1) The animacy is weighed as the most influential feature by both low and high proficient Chinese EFL learners and native speakers. The definiteness, the pronominality and the accessibility, are found out to be significantly correlated in all groups. Asymmetries exist in terms of the influence strength between the same feature of different arguments(e.g. the animacy of recipient vs. the animacy of theme) and between the different values of the same argument’s same feature(e.g. the animate recipient vs. the inanimate recipient).2) Parallels exist extensively and exquisitely between low proficient Chinese EFL learners’ input and output, which confirms the experienced-driven view of the usagebased approach to SLA. The parallels range from the rankings of shared predictors given their relative influence strengths to more specific asymmetries in the discriminative role played by different values of the same predictors and the neutral values for the lengths of recipients and themes. The input-output parallel is also found in the frequency distribution of occupants in the recipient slot of DO. Low proficient learners are sensitive to the input frequencies of specific tokens occurring in the slot, and mirror the Zipfian type-token frequency distribution in their input by taking the same path-breaking exemplar “me” in the recipient slot of DO.3) A usage-based continuity is found in Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of the dative alternation at their different L2 proficiency levels. High proficient learners are consistent with low proficient learners in two aspects, namely, the same rankings of the influence strengths of five shared predictors, the same asymmetries in the influence strengths between different values of the same predictor and between the same predictor of different arguments. Meanwhile, great improvement has been achieved. High proficient learners are more inclined to employ subordinate clauses to express complex concepts and express abstract and conceptual transfer between animate or inanimate participators.4) The acquisition order of predictors does not directly indicate their influence strengths. The earlier-acquired predictors do not necessarily exert stronger influence upon the choice of ditransitive variants than the later-acquired predictors. Due to the ubiquitous and complex interplay among predictors, the recruitment of a new predictor will lead to the re-measurement of the influence strengths assigned to all sensitive predictors, so their strengths are in dynamic change.5) High proficient Chinese EFL learners’ knowledge of the dative alternation is similar to that of native speakers in the sorts of sensitive predictors, rather than the strengths of sensitive predictors. The pragmatic feature of accessibility is weighed as the more influential predictor than the syntactic feature of definiteness by native speakers, but high proficient learners think the other way around. The definiteness in English, as an explicit and classifiable linguistic category, is less problematic for Chinese EFL learners to acquire. When co-occurring with the pure syntactic feature of definiteness, the accessibility, as a more complicated syntax-pragmatics interface, is overshadowed and blocked from being perceived as a predictive cue. The long-standing influence of blocking leads to high proficient Chinese EFL learners’ undervaluation of the influence strength of accessibility.The above findings have theoretical implications in three aspects. In the first place, grammatical rules, like end-weight and given information preceding new information, reflect the likelihood of a particular expression, and should not be mistaken as categorical constraints. Second, the allostruction model is supported by present findings, which suggests that like the allophones of one same phone used in different contexts, the two ditransitive variants are better taken as the specific realized forms of the ditransitive construction in different contexts, where recipient and theme act as the micro-context. Finally, the extensive and exquisite parallels existing between low proficient learners’ input and output reveal the input-driven and dynamic nature of SLA.