Studies On Different Uses Of Pronoun IT In Cross-Sectional Learner Corpora

According to the CEFR,the acquisition of pronoun "it" serves as a criterial feature for distinguishing one proficiency level from the other.Under the framework of Dynamic Systems Theory,this study investigated the frequency and use distribution of pronoun it in the writings by Chinese EFL learners across eight-year developmental stages,represented by three main uses of it:referential it,prop it,and anticipatory it.The occurrences were further processed using multivariate statistics to find out the factors associated with the production of three major uses of it.The major findings of the present study are:1)As the learning stages grow,the normalized frequency has shown a fluctuating downward tendency.2)In terms of the range,the use of it in students' writings has become more and more diverse as their grades develop,with students in the beginning stage focusing on use of reference,and more experienced students turn to more diverse xuse of it,especially in the use of anticipatory it.The average trend and individual trajectories have shown a complex and constantly changing tendency of the whole system across different learning stages.3)Considering the features that influence the use of it,the graphic representations using the Clustering Analysis and Correspondence Analysis have shown that group,essay type,the animacy type of referent subject,and theme are also associated with the preference of using certain types of it.A higher anticipatory it usage rate was detected in argumentative type essays compared with a narative essay.Referential it often appears in the context to refer to the concrete or abstract thing and concrete state,while the anticipatory it is more common in sentences denoting abstract state of affairs.As for the factor of "theme",anticipatory it is associated more with the issue at social level,like social problems,while referential it occurs in the writings about music,books,films and other social events.Facilitated by the confirmatory Logistic Regression Analysis,the findings have confirmed the previous studies on the criterial feature of the pronoun it,and thus offer some pedagogical implications for L2 writing.