Discourse domains and interlanguage development: Mandarin-speaking English learners' oral production in alternative contexts

This study investigated the influence of context on second language (L2) learners' interlanguage (IL) production, with a focus on the effects of discourse domains. Specifically, it examined the effect of familiarity of discourse domain on participants' verbal accuracy, as well as the relationships among degree of familiarity, interest level, and frequency of use for a given topic on accuracy in L2 learners' IL verbal production. It also considered possible evidence of first language (L1) transfer to L2 through an analysis of the transcripts of a subset of eight participants' conversations on the two given topics.;Ninety Mandarin-speaking college students were interviewed in English by a native English speaker on two self-selected topics in familiar and unfamiliar domains. Participants' accuracy in production of verb tense and form as well as lexical choice and frame were analyzed quantitatively. The results showed that participants demonstrated higher verbal accuracy when responding to questions concerning their most familiar domain than their least familiar domain.;In addition, familiarity led to considerably higher accuracy in verb tense and lexical choice, though there were no significant correlations among familiarity, interest level, and frequency of conversing on a given topic. Additionally, the transcripts obtained from a subset of eight participants were analyzed qualitatively to examine possible L1 transfer in L2 learners' IL variation in English. The findings revealed possible evidence of L1 transfer on participants' IL production in English, though extent of transfer was not sensitive to familiarity of discourse domain.