The purpose of this study is to explore the degree of Chinese learners’ acquisition of the usage and alternation of particles in locomotive verb constructions. Learners’ selection of markers in locomotive verb constructions were examined vis-a-vis...
The purpose of this study is to explore the degree of Chinese learners’ acquisition of the usage and alternation of particles in locomotive verb constructions. Learners’ selection of markers in locomotive verb constructions were examined vis-a-vis their proficiency levels, and elicit pedagogical implications are recommended to address the difficulties learners faced.
Korean locomotive verb constructions were classified into five types: arrival locomotion, path locomotion, departure locomotion, spatial locomotion, and special locomotion. In order to examine learners’ degree of understanding of the alternation between adverbial particles and objective particle, sentences containing each construction type except special locomotion were divided according to the potential for alternation between adverbial and objective particles. A multiple response task was employed to examine whether Chinese learners are able to select accurate markers in specific construction types and alternate the adverbial markers and objective marker depending on the situation.
Chapter II established the theoretical basis for the usage and alternation of particles in locomotive verb constructions and the theory of second language acquisition by researching the related literature. While reviewing previous studies discussed from the perspective of linguistic typology, it was confirmed that the arrival expression is unmarked when constructed with a verbal phrase, and the departure expression is unmarked when constructed with a prepositional phrase. Chinese expressions of arrival and departure follow these unmarked rules; however in Korean, it is more common to construct them using adverbials. In Chapter III, based on the contents of Chapter II, multiple response task questions were developed to examine learners’ selection of particles in locomotive verb constructions, and experimental procedures and data analysis methods were presented. In Chapter IV, the results of the experimental studies conducted according to the procedures in Chapter III were analyzed according to the construction types and alternation situations.
The experimental results of this study are as follows. The average overall accuracy rate appeared in the order of ‘Native speakers > Chinese upper group > Chinese lower group’, which means Chinese learners were not able to approach the level of native speakers, but their performance improved with increased proficiency. When it comes to the selection of particles according to the alternation situations, both groups of Chinese learners showed low accuracy in situations where alternation is possible. Furthermore, in comparison to proficiency level, the rate of increase of the selection of the objective particle (-eul/leul) was also lower than that of situations where alternation is impossible, indicating that learners find it difficult to alternate between adverbial markers and objective marker in Korean locomotive verb constructions. This is in line with the uniqueness principle mechanism, which states that it is difficult to acquire target language grammar for which a second form exists in. When it comes to the selection of particles according to the construction types, both groups of Chinese learners showed the lowest accuracy in expressions of spatial locomotion, but when a limited adverbial of time occurs in the sentence, the case where only the use of the objective particle is possible, the upper group learners showed a fairly high accuracy and high use of the particle –eul/leul. This can be seen as a positive transfer from the mother language. In addition, in the situations where alternation is possible, the rate of selecting –eul/leul according to the construction types varied depending on the degree of proficiency. Lower group learners had the lowest selection of –eul/leul in expressions of arrival locomotion. but their selection of –eul/leul was quite high in expressions of departure locomotion. Contrastingly, the upper group’s rate of selecting –eul/leul in expressions of arrival locomotion was as high as that of the departure locomotion. This can be explained by the Markedness Differential Hypothesis, which claims that the more marked a specific grammar item of the target language is, the more difficult it is to acquire. It is easier for Chinese learners to acquire departure expressions as adverbial structures, which is unmarked typologically and common both in Chinese and Korean. Expressing arrival locomotion with adverbial structure, which is marked typologically, is much more common in Korean, but the use of such a marked form is uncommon Chinese This explains why it is difficult for Chinese learners to acquire the accurate usage of markers in expressions of arrival locomotion. In addition, Chinese learners, especially those in the lower group, appeared to be very confused about the usage of the adverbial particles, and both groups need to strengthen their knowledge of fixed expressions where only –eul/leul is available, as in "시집을 가다".
Pedagogical implications for Chinese learners’ acquisition of Korean locomotive verb constructions were derived based on the results of learners’ selection of particles and the view that markers in locomotive verb constructions should be taught and learned within a construction. In addition, the atypical use of the objective marker in Korean locomotive verb constructions should be strengthened by explicit teaching or increasing the frequency of exposure to related input data. It is also possible to take advantage of the positive transfer from the mother language appropriately.