Development of English Copula Be in L2 Acquisition: A case study with a Korean child learner of English

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The language informant for this study is a Korean child learner of English named Grace. She began to receive formal English instruction in the U.S.A. at the age of 8;6. The researcher’s interest was: How soon and how accurately can she speak English as her L2? Primarily, her accuracy in the use of the English copula be was studied. Three semi-structured tasks were administered: monologue Role-play, Description of two Picture Books, and Reading & Conversation. Grace’s spontaneous utterances were collected from March to October, 2006 using a digital voice recorder (Model: SVR-S820). 15 sessions of Grace’s oral production were analyzed. The child's average accuracy increased from 43% in March/April performances to 61% in September/ October performances. As time went on, the correct use of copula be in Task 1 showed a pretty wide range of distribution. According to Grace's data, English copula emerged from the very beginning of her learning.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 이인, "초등학생의 영어 의사소통 능력 발달에 관한 사례 연구" 대한영어영문학회 31 (31): 147-164, 2005

2 Tresselt,Alvin, "White Snow Bright Snow" Scholastic Inc. 1947

3 Hahn, Hye-ryeong, "The status of ‘be’ in developing learner language" 5 (5): 241-151, 2001

4 Haznedar, Belma, "The acquisition of the IP system in child L2 English" 23 (23): 1-39, 2001

5 Park, Hyesook, "The Role of Interaction in Child L2 Acquisition" 59 (59): 217-238, 2004

6 No, Gyeonghee, "The Adverbial Temporal System of Elementary School English Learners" 10 (10): 355-372, 2004

7 Schwartz, Bonnie D, "Testing between UG-based and problem-solving models of L2A: Developmental sequence data" 2 (2): 1-19, 1992

8 Meisel, J?rgen M, "On determining developmental stages in natural second language acquisition" 3 (3): 109-135, 1981

9 Dulay, Heidi C, "Natural sequences in child second language acquisition" 24 (24): 37-53, 1974

10 Foster, Pauline, "Measuring spoken language: A unit for all reasons" 21 (21): 354-375, 2000

11 Kim, Jae-Hyuk, "Language Development of a Korean ESL Child: A Case Study" 9 (9): 299-224, 2003

12 Huh, Keun, "Korean Mothers’ Perspectives of Schooling in the United States" 12 (12): 337-361, 2006

13 Ellis, Rod, "Interlanguage variability in narrative discourse: Style shifting in the use of the past tense" 9 (9): 1-20, 1987

14 Vainikka, Anne, "Gradual development of L2 phrase structure" 12 (12): 7-39, 1996

15 Mayer,Mercer, "Frog On His Own" Dial Books for Young Readers 1973

16 Wode, Henning, "Developmental sequences in naturalistic L2 acquisition" 11 : 1-13, 1976

17 Bayley, Robert, "Bayley, Robert. “Interlanguage variation and the quantitative paradigm: Past tense marking in Chinese-English.” Research Methodology in Second Language Acquisition. Ed. Elaine Tarone, Susan M. Gass, & Andrew D. Cohen. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1994. 157-181"

18 Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen, "Anecdote or evidence Evaluating support for hypotheses concerning the development of tense and aspect, Research Methodology in Second Language Acquisition" NJ: Erlbaum 41-60, 1994

19 Ellis, Rod, "Analysing Learner Language" Oxford UP 2005

20 Larsen-Freeman, Diane, "An explanation for the morpheme acquisition order of second language learners" 26 : 125-134, 1976

21 Chung, Young-Cheol, "A Study of Korean Children’s Participation in American Classrooms" 11 (11): 241-266, 2005

22 Carmi, Giora, "A Circle of Friends" Star Bright Books,Inc. 2003