A Corpus-based Investigation Of Chinese EFL Learners’ Use Of Phrasal Verbs

The present research adopts a corpus-based approach to investigate the Chinese EFL learners’use of phrasal verbs.Unlike the previous researches which are primarily conducted by experimental method, the present study is a corpus-based one which analyzes and describes the effect of the three independent variables (transitivity, separability and semantic transparency) on PVs’correct and incorrect use of learners at each level on the basis of the data collected form Chinese Learners English Corpus (CLEC) database. Based on the data obtained from CLEC assisted by computer and combined with a manual data-analysis, the present study puts forward the following research questions:What is the distribution of PVs under investigation in sub-corpora St2 and St4?Are there any similarities in the use of PVs’between two levels of learners? If yes, what are they?Are the effects of three independent variables on the correctness of PVs’use statistically significant in each sub-corpus St2 and St4? If yes, which contributes most to the correctness of PVs’use?The present thesis consists of six chapters: Chapter One gives a brief introduction to the objective, the background, the significance and the research questions of the present study. Chapter Two presents a general literature review for the present study, including studies on phrasal verbs, compounds, semantic transparency and compounds. Chapter Three introduces the theoretical framework for the study in the aspects of interlanguage and error analysis, and chunking theory. Chapter Four is devoted to the research methods for the present study, which includes subject selection, corpus data collection and the procedures of choosing the phrasal verbs for investigation. The standards for data collection are explained and the procedures of building a small corpus for investigation are discussed Chapter Five focuses on the discussing the major findings of the present research with the aim of exploring possible characteristic of PVs used by Chinese EFL learners. Chapter Six serves as a conclusion of the present study by providing a brief summary, pedagogical implication as well as limitations of the present research.The major findings are: 1) The meanings that the two levels of learners intend to convey by the same PV tend to be restricted to one or two entries (often very similar to each other) of the PV, and PVs chosen by lower English proficiency learners tend to be restricted to a few ones; while with the improvement of English proficiency, PVs chosen by learners tend to be more diversified. 2) There are great similarities in PVs’use between learners in sub-corpora St2 and St4. For one thing, the number of transitive and inseparable PVs is greater than that of intransitive and separable PVs in both sub-corpora; for another, the number of semi-transparent PVs is the greatest among opaque, semi-transparent and transparent PVs in both sub-corpora. In either sub-corpora St2 and St4, the largest proportion of incorrect use is due to the factor of semantic transparency, which is followed by transitivity. And then separability takes the third place. 3) In both sub-corpora, the effects of transitivity and semantic transparency on PVs’correctness are statistically significant, and the effect of semantic transparency on PVs’correctness is stronger than that of transitivity. 4) All the three independent variables impose great learning difficulties on Chinese learners of English language, particularly the semantic transparency. 5) Some opaque and semi-transparent PVs are not stored as chunk in the learners’mental lexicon; that is to say, they are decomposed during the lexical processing. This result does not correspond with the discovery of compounds concerned with semantic transparency.The present study is significant in a number of ways. First, the learners’use of phrasal verbs shown in this study are reliable because they are generalizations based on the data obtained from a large-scale learner corpus. Second, pedagogical remedies proposed in light of the use of phrasal verbs shown in corpus analysis are more effective because they present a realistic picture of how an English expression develops in the Chinese EFL learners. It is believed that the findings in this study are helpful for our understanding of Chinese EFL learners’use of phrasal verbs.