A Study On Selective Fossilization Of English Unaccusatives In EFL Learners In Chinese EFL Learners

In the process of learning second language, fossilization,as a pervasive phenomenon,influences the language development of EFL learners greatly. Fossilization hypothesis has been a core and heated problem in second language acquisition, which arouses a furious discussion.Aiming at solving some of these disputes, Han (2009) put forward Selective Fossilization Hypothesis, taking two main factors into account, LI markedness and L2 input robustness, to account for and predict when and why fossilization happens.Because the overpassivization of unaccusatives is very widespread among second language learners, this thesis takes it as a hitting-point to study selective fossilization. The Grammaticality Judgment Test from Balcom(1997) is adopted in this research. By comparing the data from L2 learners in three different levels with those from English-speakers, the author tries to explore three main research questions:(1)Is there any relationship between English proficiency and the acquisition of unaccusatives? (2) Does selective fossilization happen on the acquisition of unaccusatives among Chinese L2 learners? (3)If fossilization happens, what is the cause?With the help of SPSS, the author gets conclusions as following:with the improvement of English proficiency, Chinese L2 learners’acquisition of unaccusatives gets better; the progress rate for the acquisition of unaccusatives is not straight upward,and it slows down when L2 learners’proficiency reach around intermediate level and then increases again;even for L2 learners in high level having accepted at least 15 years of English education, their acquisition of unaccusatives is obviously different from that of native speakers; externally caused events influence L2 learners’use of unaccusatives, but this influence is not obvious; compared to non-alternative unaccusatives, alternative unaccusatives pose greater challenges to L2 learners.By combining the conclusions with theories and hypothesis, the author attempts to probe into the causes leading to fossilization. L1 unmarkedness and L2 input robustness might be one of the reasons for selective fossilization.In addition,other factors may result in selective fossilization as well,such as the modular nature of fossilization, cognitive factors of L2 learners, the characteristics of unaccusatives and so forth.The research results can provide a reference to pedagogical practices and theoretical studies.