Does L1 transfer influence Chinese speakers' intuition of adjective ordering in English

Huang, Ruoyu

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/98394 Copy

Description

Title

Does L1 transfer influence Chinese speakers' intuition of adjective ordering in English

Author(s)

Huang, Ruoyu

Issue Date

2017-07-17

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Ionin, Tania

Committee Member(s)

Yan, Xun

Department of Study

Linguistics

Discipline

Teaching of English Sec Lang

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Adjective ordering
• L1 influence
• Universal grammar
• Chinese English as a second language (ESL) learner

Abstract

"L1 influence on second language acquisition has been shown by linguists in many areas. This study is to look into the L1 influence on English adjective ordering among Chinese ESL learners. We hypothesized that if there was a certain adjective ordering ""rule"" existing in both Chinese and English, it would facilitate Chinese ESL learners' performance on producing such order in English. The results of our experiment suggested that there was a statistically significant interaction between proficiency level (native vs. non-native) and adjective categories ( non-absolute + absolute vs. absolute + absolute vs. non-absolute + non-absolute). More specifically, Chinese ESL learners performed the best in the ""nom-absolute + absolute"" category that exists in both English and Chinese compared to the other two categories that only exist in English. This finding indicates that L1 influence may play a role in second language acquisition of adjective ordering."

Graduation Semester

2017-08

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/98394

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2017 Ruoyu Huang

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