Topic prominence in Chinese EFL learners’ interlanguage
Loading...
Date
2014
Authors
Advisor
Editor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Zakład Filologii Angielskiej Wydział Pedagogiczno-Artystyczny Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Kaliszu
Title alternative
Abstract
The present study aims to investigate the general characteristics of topic-prominent typological interlanguage development of Chinese learners of English in terms of acquiring subject-prominent English structures from a discourse perspec- tive. Topic structures mainly appear in Chinese discourse in the form of topic chains (Wang, 2002; 2004). The research target are the topic chain, which is the main topic-prominent structure in Chinese discourse, and zero anaphora, which is the most common topic anaphora in the topic chain. Two important findings emerged from the present study. First, the characteristics of Chinese topic chains are transferrable to the interlanguage of Chinese EFL learners, thus resulting in overgeneralization of the zero anaphora. Second, the interlanguage discourse of Chinese EFL learners reflects a change of the second language acquisition process from topic-prominence to subject-prominence, thus lending support to the dis- course transfer hypothesis.
Description
Sponsor
Keywords
topic prominence, subject prominence, topic chain, zero anaphora, discourse transfer, English
Citation
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2014, vol. 4, no. 1, pp.109-125