An Empirical Study Of The Acquisition Of Articles By English Learners In China In Light Of Interface Hypothesis

Non-target like variability and indeterminate forms commonly exist among the output of Chinese learners of English.Recent linguistic researchers state that the challenges derive from language acquisition concerning interfaces of a variety of information.This study has continued this interpretation via examining the causes of difficulties in the process of English article acquisition experienced by Chinese learners.Using the elicited production task(EPT)and the forced-choice elicitation task(FCET),this study tapped the acquisition difficulties caused by the syntax-semantics and the syntax-pragmatics interface of English articles,which were exhibited by 82 Chinese learners of English at three different English proficiency levels.The article uses attained from these two tasks were then analyzed separately regarding generic interpretation at the syntax-semantics interface,and various pragmatic contexts at the syntax-pragmatics interface.The result of the present study can be summarized as follows:(1)Due to the influence of the first language(L1),the beginners still could not master generics,whereas intermediate to advanced learners succeeded in interpreting generics at the syntax-semantics interface.(2)All three groups had difficulties at the syntax-pragmatics interface,even for the high-level proficiency learners.The factors that appeared to influence learners' performance in article selection were identified as:language proficiency of second language(L2)learners,the influence of native language,processing strategies and the acquisition of interface knowledge.The findings revealed that the difficulty of syntax-semantics interface lay in L1 transfer,while syntax-pragmatics interface lay in cognitive processing.The data obtained in this study shed light on the value of experimentally testing English articles,coupled with the testable predictions of Interface Hypothesis(IH).And positive suggestions could be found for classroom instructions.