A Study On The Status Of Undergraduates’ English Chunk Recognition In Science And Engineering Universities

Chunk acquisition is a necessary component of second language acquisition,and chunk recognition is the initial stage in chunk acquisition,particularly for second language learners.Current research on the chunk recognition and its individual differences are missing.This thesis using chunks as an entry point elucidates the criteria for recognizing English chunks in second language learners and the foundation and content of the English chunk recognition mechanism,by means of which the thesis examines the overall status and individual differences of undergraduates’ English chunk recognition in science and engineering universities.This thesis composes Wray’s(2013)working and theoretical definition of the chunk,and redefines the chunk as a prefabricated complex that is relatively fixed in form,can be stored and retrieved in its entirety in language use,and has syntactic and communicative functions.Based on the redefinition of chunk,the specific recognition criteria are determined,and the English recognition mechanism is developed.This mechanism consists of three dimensions: intuition judgment,form-meaning complexus judgment and occurrence frequency judgement.The intuition judgment is a constant psychological process and basic identification for recognizing English chunks.Form-meaning complexus judgment filters the chunks in terms of form and meaning respectively.Occurrence frequency judgement is a quantitative criterion that can be used to supplement the mechanism for chunk recognition.The operation of the English recognition mechanism produces three pairs of qualitative indicators and eight presentation forms.Based on the English chunk recognition mechanism,this thesis finally selects English chunks for the questionnaire.In this thesis,168 undergraduates from Harbin Institute of Technology,Harbin Engineering University,and Harbin University of Science and Technology were selected as subjects.According to the English chunk recognition mechanism,the recognition status of three types of English chunk(structural chunk,semantic chunk,pragmatic chunk)among medium and high level students,male and female students,liberal arts and science students was investigated by questionnaire survey and interview.The results show that the overall chunk recognition ability of undergraduates in science and engineering universities is low,and the recognition degree of structural chunk is high,the recognition degree of semantic chunk is low,and the recognition degree of pragmatic chunk is in the medium.The individual differences of chunk recognition are as follows: the average value of chunk recognition for female students is higher than that for male students,and the recognition degree for semantic chunk is higher for female students,while the recognition degree for pragmatic and structural chunk is lower for female students.Male students have higher recognition of structural and pragmatic chunk,but lower recognition of semantic chunk.The average value of chunk recognition of liberal arts students is higher than that of science students,and the recognition degree of semantic and pragmatic chunks is higher than that of structural chunk.Science students have higher recognition of structural chunk.The language level has an effect on the overall chunk recognition.