The 'Frog' Story In Another Language: Motion Expressions By Chinese Learners Of English

The domain of space exhibits a certain number of interesting properties.On the one hand,it is universal because all human beings share the same biological characteristics,the visual and the haptic-kinaesthetic systems in particular,which allows them to perceive and understand spatial situations in a similar way.On the other hand,irrespective of similar perception of space,it is found that the linguistic systems differ strikingly in how they encode spatial information.This paradox presents an ideal angle to examine the ‘thinking-for-speaking' hypothesis proposed by Slobin(1996)in the field of adults' second language learning: what is going on when a person learns a new language typologically different from his native language? Does L2 learners adapt to the new language by changing their ways of thinking? Does L1 thinking patterns facilitate or hamper L2 learning pace and quality?The current research aims to investigate the motion expressions of English learners of Chinese across two proficiency levels(low-intermediate vs.advanced)in ‘Frog' story narration tasks.Compared with the results in previous studies,our findings show that(1)Chinese learners of English,across proficiencies,tend to use numerous first-tier verbs modified by adjuncts or adverbials;(2)Chinese learners of English,across proficiencies,mention Ground information in their story narratives;(3)Chinese learners of English are less aware of motion event conflations in their descriptions,especially those at the low-intermediate proficiency;(4)Chinese learners of English,across proficiencies,develop a mixed pattern of allocating their attention to static physical settings and dynamic movements;(5)Chinese learners of English,in particular low-intermediate learners,tend to misuse spatial prepositions in a Chinese-like way.Generally,the present study suggests that L2 expressions of motion events by L2 learners,especially at the low-intermediate proficiency,are significantly affected by L1.Motion expressions will become more similar typologically to L2 when learners reach a higher level.However,considerable time would be required to master the target language as well as native speakers,which corroborates Slobin's(1996)‘thinking-for-speaking' hypothesis.