Article Use within of NP in NP of NP in Korean EFL University Students’ Writing: A Usage-based Construction Grammar Approach = Article Use within of NP in NP of NP in Korean EFL University Students’ Writing: A Usage-based Construction Grammar Approach

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Construction Grammar approach has gained growing interest as a valuable framework for language study in applied linguistics. Taking a constructionist perspective, the present study sheds light on the use of articles (a/an, the, and Ø) within one of the most frequent grammatical constructions, of NP, in NP of NP in the essays of Korean EFL university students at different levels. In doing so, this study elucidates the extent to which different levels students use of NP and delves into the relationship between students’ use of articles and the semantic context of the different forms of of NP, i.e., of a/an (adj.) N, of the (adj.) N(s), and of (adj.) N(s). Ninety-three essays from low- and high- intermediate levels were analyzed. It is found that of NP arose considerably often in the high-intermediate essays compared to the low-intermediate. The high-intermediate’s accuracy rate of article use within of NP was significantly higher than that of the low-intermediate. Low-intermediate students tended to more misuse both the and Ø in the patterns of of the (adj.) N(s) and of (adj.) N(s), whereas it was Ø in of (adj.) N(s) for the high-intermediate. Both levels made more mistakes by adding the within of NP in the semantic category of support. And the low-intermediate more erroneously used Ø in the focus context. Pedagogical implications of the findings are also discussed.