The English Speakers' Acquisition Of The Chinese Bei-construction

The bei-construction is difficult for L₂ Chinese learners.This paper reports some characteristics of the process of the English speakers' acquisition of the bei-construction. Following the recent analysis of the Chinese and English passives, we select eight typical error types caused by the differences between the Chinese and English passives. The eight typical error types are as follows: (1) the errors caused by the differences between the you -construction and bei-construction (2) the errorscaused by the differences between the 'shi......de '-construction and bei-construction(3) the errors caused by the differences between the 'N(shou)+V'-construction and bei-construction (4) the errors caused by the differences between the 'subject+adj. '-construction and bei-construction (5) the errors caused by the differences between the Chinese and English passives of the ditransitive construction (6) the errors caused by the differences of the subjects between the Chinese and English passives (7) the errors caused by the differences of the complements between the Chinese and English passives (8) the errors caused by the semantic differences between the Chinese and English passivesWe designed three tests (translation, multiple-choice and correction) with an even distribution of the eight error types. Through analyzing the distribution of the eight error types in the process of the English speakers' acquisition of the Chinese bei-construction, we have findings as follows: firstly, the differences between the Chinese and English passives really have great impact on the English speakers' acquisition of the bei-construction, but the errors will gradually disappear over time until the English speakers completely master the differences between the Chinese and English passives; secondly, the performances of the eight error types are different in the process of the English speakers' acquisition of the Chinese bei -construction, the third and the forth aspects' influence is weakest, but they last long time,it's not easy for the English speakers to master them completely; the first, the second and the fifth aspects' impact is medial; the hardest for the English speakers are the characteristics of the bei-construction,that is, the six,the seventh and the eighth aspects.The findings have direct implications for the improvement of teaching the bei-construction.