| In the process of English acquisition,the rules and usages of English non-finite verbs are complex and varied,which cause them to be difficulties for Chinese learners.In the meantime,lots of studies have proved that the English non-finite verb as one of the indexes for measuring syntactic complexity,to a large extent,can indicate learners’ language proficiency and level.In view of the learning condition of English non-finite verbs for Chinese learners and the importance of non-finite verbs in English grammar,the present study tries to investigate the features of English non-finite verb errors produced by Chinese learners with an aim to provide some implications for the teaching of English non-finite verbs.The present study adopts a spoken corpus-based approach to contrast the features of English non-finite verb errors produced by learners at three different learning stages mainly based on Language Exposure Hypothesis.The study tries to answer two research questions:(1)What are the similarities in the non-finite verb errors produced by students at three different learning stages?(2)What are the differences in the non-finite verb errors produced by students at three different learning stages? The first question aims to explore the similarities in the features of non-finite verb errors produced by learners.And the second question aims to find out the developmental features in the non-finite verbs errors produced by learners.The major findings yielded from the present study are:(1)The types of errors are the same in the three stages,including non-finite verbs misused as finite verbs(VP4a);finite verbs misused as non-finite verbs(VP4b);erroneous uses of infinitives(VP5a);the confusion between infinitives and participles(VP5b);the confusion between-ing participles and-ed participles(VP5c).VP4 a errors can reflect similar structures to learners’ L1,and other four types of errors can reflect the common cognitive processes in L2 learning.The frequency of VP4 a errors is the highest in each of the three stages,which can show that learners tend to rely on their L1 without considering the structural differences between English and Chinese.The frequencies of VP5 a,VP4b,VP5 c,and VP5 b take the second,the third,the fourth and the fifth place respectively in the three stages,which can indicate learners’ different learning condition of different English non-finite verb rules.VP4 a can be explained by L1 interference,and other types can be explained by learners’ strategies,the mutual interference within English itself and induction factors.(2)The frequency of VP4 a errors is the highest in stage I,the lowest in stage II.The frequencies of VP4 b and VP5 c errors are the highest in stage II,the lowest in stage III.The frequencies of VP5 a and VP5 b errors are the highest in stage II,the lowest in stage I.On the whole,the frequency of errors presents a downtrend across the three stages,which can support language exposure hypothesis.The developmental trend of VP4 a presents a down and up trend,and the developmental trends of other four types of errors present an up and down trend,which can also support language exposure hypothesis: the early stage of downtrend of VP4 a is due to the increasing exposure to English non-finite verbs.Learners gradually acquire the differences between Chinese and English,so their dependence on L1 decreases.The early stage of uptrend of other four types of errors is due to the insufficient exposure to English non-finite verbs,so learners cannot use non-finite verbs completely correctly.The latter uptrend of VP4 a is also due to the insufficient exposure to non-finite verbs.With the increase of age,learners are ideologically more mature,they desire to express more about their ideas and opinions,but their language level does not allow them to use English freely and fluently,so when meeting troubles in expressing meanings,in order to communicate successfully,learners tend to fall back on their L1.The latter downtrend of other four types of errors also supports language exposure hypothesis.With the increase of grades,learners will be exposed to more rules of English non-finite verbs,so their proficiency of using English non-finite verbs will be improved.In conclusion,the language exposure plays a very important role in the process of English non-finite verb acquisition. |
