ERIC Number: EJ1382446
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 34
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1048-9223
EISSN: EISSN-1532-7817
Not All English Resultative Constructions (ERCs) Are Equal: The Acquisition of ERC by Spanish Speakers
Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, v30 n2 p105-138 2023
The English Resultative Construction (ERC) is a satellite-framed structure with no identical equivalent in Spanish. In a series of studies, we analyzed and compared recognition (acceptability judgment task) and comprehension (sentence comprehension task) of three ERC subtypes with the English Depictive Construction (EDC) (which has a Spanish counterpart) by Spanish speaker learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Results showed that: 1) EDCs were better recognized than ERCs by L2 learners, but highly proficient participants were closer to English native speakers' performance, 2) Less proficient EFLs comprehended EDCs better than those ERC subtypes that were further from Spanish (ERC Property and Fake Reflexive). We interpret our findings in terms of an interlinguistic distance gradient, where those constructions present (EDC) or closer (ERC-Path) to L1 are more readily acquired. This effect seems more prominent at lower EFL proficiencies, and fades as proficiency increases, evolving towards a more native-like pattern.
Descriptors: English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Spanish, Spanish Speaking, Decision Making, Task Analysis, Language Processing, Native Speakers, Contrastive Linguistics, Language Proficiency, Grammar, Sentence Structure, Language Classification, Language Tests, Scores, Foreign Countries, Accuracy, English
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Argentina
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A