Date of Award

12-1-2023

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Education Theory and Practice

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Istvan Kecskes

Subject Categories

Language and Literacy Education

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study investigates the transition from topic-prominence (TP) to subject-prominence (SP) in Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of English syntactic structures. Chinese and English are categorized as typologically different languages, Chinese being a topic-prominent language and English being a subject-prominent language. Previous research suggests that Chinese EFL learners’ English syntactic production is characterized with Chinese TP features, which constitute a major source of production errors, and that these features tend to decrease while the English SP features increase as learners’ proficiency levels go up. However, the questions of how these TP features develop in the acquisition process and what factors might influence their developmental process remain under-researched. The present study addresses the research gaps by employing the mixed methods that involve a cross-sectional study which compares the performances of a pre-intermediate group and an advanced group, a longitudinal study which examines performances of the pre-intermediate level learners throughout one academic year, and individual interviews with longitudinal group participants. The study addresses the developmental process with the socio-cognitive approach to communication and second language acquisition and employs the noticing hypothesis as a theoretical framework to explore the factors that influence the transition. Findings of the study show that there is a general descending trend of the TP-SP transition, and that the various TP features exhibit different developmental paths. Factors that affect the transitional process include awareness and motivation, frequency of exposure, instructional strategies and task demands, perceptual salience, and skill level. The study aims to contribute to the understanding of Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of English syntactic structures and the improvement of EFL curriculum and instruction in Chinese universities.

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