A Study On The Acquisition Of English Manner Expressions Of Motion Events By Chinese College Students

Motion event is one of the most basic cognitive events, which has been one of the reasearch foci in second language acquisition both at home and abroad. Most of the studies focus on the effects of typologically different languages on thinking, translation of English and Chinese motion events, lexicalizaion patterns and the acquisition of motion events. However, hardly has any research been devoted to a systematical analysis of how Chinese college learners acquire English manner expressions of motion events. Both English and Chinese are rich in manner expressions, but there are still some differences between them.It is common for Chinese EFL learners to use manner expressions improperly, even when they are of advanced level of English proficiency.Based on Talmy’s typological framework and Slobin’s thinking for speaking hypothesis, the study tries to explore how Chinese college students at different level of English proficiency acquire English manner expressions, and to what extent English proficiency influences their acquisition. Specifically, two questions have been elaborated as follows:1. How do Chinese college learners acquire the English manner expressions of motion events?2. To what extent does English proficiency influence the acquisition of English manner expressions of motion events?The data were respectively elicited from two groups of Chinese college learners at different level of English proficiency, by means of the translation task and on-line task. Moreover, the data were elicited, and then coded and analyzed.The findings showed that Chinese college learners used a relatively limited number of Manner verb types which mostly belong to first-tier motion verbs. With proficiency, the increases of the type and token of Manner verbs were significant. A significant difference also existed in the use of Manner verbs and the descriptions of alternative manner expressions, but not in the adverbial manner expressions. English proficiency influenced the use of manner expressions. Learners at the lower level preferred adverbial manner expressions and tended to use them to modify Manner verbs or Motion verbs. The findings revealed that Chinese college learners have acquired the typical features of English manner expressions, but remained to be influenced by Chinese thinking for speaking. The study enriches the motion event research and has both theoretical and pedagogical implications.