The Acquisition Of Chinese "Shi...De" Structure By English-speaking L2 Learners Of Intermediate And Advanced Level

"Shi …de" structure in mandarin Chinese has been one of the heated topics in the field of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.Based on the characteristics of native English-speakers of intermediate and advanced level during acquisition of "shi...de",especially in terms of semantics and pragmatics,this study concludes some regular rules,hoping to provide some suggestions of teaching "shi...de" structure.This study combining questionnaires with oral interviews conducts a survey on English-speaking L2 learners of intermediate and advanced level in order to solve these three questions.Question one:Can English speakers fully acquire "shi...de" structure as native speakers?Question two:Whether imbalances appearaces will take place or not during their acquisition of interface of syntax-semantics?Where are the difficult points of their learning?Question three:How should we do when we teach "shi...de" construction to English-speaking learners?In many cases,"shi...de" structure in mandarin Chinese overlaps with it cleft-sentence,which may easily give rise to errors during acquisition.Under certain semantic and pragmatic environment,"shi...de" structure can perfectly match it cleft-sentence.In other words,it requires L2 learners acquire not only pure syntax,but also interfaces of syntax-semantics and syntax-pragmatics.Interface hypothesis as a hot topic in recent years can help us better investigate the acquisition of "shi...de" structure by English speakers.First of all,this study illustrates the importance of "shi...de" structure and the meaning of this study.Subsequently,this paper reviews major research achievements in terms of syntax,semantics,pragmatics,acquisition study and teaching research.Domestic research goes first,abroad study follows which mainly elaborates interface hypothesis.This paper analyzes the acquisition of "shi...de" structure from the choice of subject,the determination of the scope of this study and the design of questionnaire in detail.Acceptance judgement and translation practice aim to look into the acquisition of interface of syntax-semantics.Oral interview is aimed at the investigation of the acquisition of interface of syntax-pragmatics.By predicting possible errors in advance,this paper can be targeted to focus on some characteristics.And the results show that the acquisition of pure grammar actually precedes the acquisition of interfaces between syntactic-semantics and syntactic-pragmatics.At the same time,"shi...de"structure can be fully acquired,but it is a slow process.Some can be acquired first and some be acquired later.Based on the characteristics that reflect in the questionnaire,this paper will work out a teaching design.The teaching sequence of "shi...de" structure is suggested,and a simple teaching plan will be put forward.This paper,based on single English background,conducting survey on the acquisition characteristics of semantics and pragmatics,makes up for present study.However,this study is conducted in an ideal condition.More teaching cases and teaching practice are needed to support this study.