Corpus Study of Passive Construction Errors by Chinese EFL Learners

1. A Corpus-based Study of the Passive Construction ErrorsMade by Chinese EFL Learners Li Rui

2. 1．Significance of the Present Study • 2．Literature Review • 3．Research Questions • 4．Theoretical Framework • 5．Methods and Results • 6．Conclusion

3. Significance of the Present Study • Making errors is natural and inevitable in language learning, particularly in L2 /FL. As common phenomenon of language acquisition and learning, language errors always arouse the great interest and attention of language researchers and teachers. Consequently, the study of errors has ling been conducted in SLA with a view to uncovering the process of learning and exploring the causes for making errors in the course of L2 /FL. • The present study focuses on three types of English passive construction errors committed by Chinese EFL learners, aims to reveal the developmental pattern of the interlanguage of Chinese EFL learners reflected in the typical patterns of passive construction errors, and hopefully shed some light on English language teaching.

4. Researchers and time Studies Subject Methods Zobl 1989 the structure of unaccusative verbs used by FL learners 114 university-age FL learners (90 Japanese) of variety of L1 background in Canada and the United states analyzing the compositions produced by the learners Yip 1995 Unaccusative verbs and learnablility 20 advanced English learners with Chinese L1 (the learners come from Taiwan) grammaticality-judgment 2. Literature Review The achievements of the previous studies are the good point of departure of the present study; the limitations of previous studies justify the necessity for further research in the present study

5. Hirakawa 1995 The usage of English unaccusative verbs in Japanese-speaking learners 22intermediate English learners with Japanese L1 and 14 English native speakers Grammaticality-judgment Oshita 2000 The phenomenon of passivized unaccusative structures and the causes for it Longman Learners’ Corpus (a database of written English produced by learners with a variety of L1s) Corpus-based approach Montrul 1999 Causative errors with unaccusative verbs in SL A group of SL learners with Spanish L1 Error analysis 蔡金亭 2000 The usage of unaccusative verbs in the interlanguage of Chinese EFL learners 25advanced and 25 intermediate English majors in the PLA Foreign Language Institute Error analysis; grammaticality-judgment; interview

6. limitations: (1) in terms of subjects (2) in terms of study perspectives (3) in terms of approach

7. 3. Research Questions (1) What is the overall presentation of the Three types of passive construction errors committed by Chinese EFL learners? (2) What are the typical patterns of errors in terms of under-used , over-used and malformed passives characterized by Chinese EFL learners from the description of three types of passive errors? (3) What might be the causes for different types of errors committed by Chinese EFL learners

8. 4. Theoretical Framework (1) The theoretical foundation in terms of IL and EA (2) The theoretical foundation in terms of English passive construction (3) The theoretical foundation in terms of Chinese passive construction (4) Unaccsative verbs and English passive construction

9. 5. Methods and Results (1) Corpus-based approach data——sub-corpus St3, St4, St5 and St6 in CLEC

10. Version ——error-tagged version of CLEC Error type——Vp7 (errors in the usage of voice) Tool——Mancintosh ConcApp（2.0 version）

11. (2) Procedures and findings [1]Retrieving data from computer <1> Opening the file ST3

12. <2> Running the concordance

13. <3> Making concordance selection

14. <4> Creating the concordance

15. Vp7 errors Vp7 errors Group Group G1 (ST3) G1 (ST3) G2 (ST4) G2 (ST4) G3 (ST5) G3 (ST5) G4 (ST6) G4 (ST6) Total Total Frequency Frequency 121 108 119 108 63 76 58 55 374 334 <5> Frequency of Vp7 errors in initial analysis <6> Frequency of Vp7 errors in re-analysis

16. Vp7 G1 G2 G3 G4 Total Vp7-O 25 38 25 15 103 Vp7-U 76 59 25 29 189 Vp7-M 7 11 13 11 42 108 108 63 55 334 <7> The raw frequency of each type of passive errors

17. [2] Data-analysis and results <1> General study and findings Making the inter-group comparison and the intra-group comparison a. inter-group comparison (raw frequency counts/ words of the corpus)×100000 = normed frequency counts per 100000 words (Biber et al., 2000:263)

18. Vp7 G1 G2 G3 G4 Vp7-O Raw Frequency 25 38 25 15 Normed Frequency 11.5 17.9 11.7 6.6 Vp7-U Raw Frequency 76 59 25 29 Normed Frequency 36.4 27.7 13.2 11.9 Vp7-M Raw Frequency 7 11 13 11 Normed Frequency 3.4 4.2 6.1 4.9 The raw and normed frequency of each sub-type of passive errors under the inter-group comparison

19. General tendency of each type of passive errors

20. Vp7 G1 G2 G3 G4 Total F P F P F P F P F P Vp7-O 25 23.1% 38 35.2% 25 39.7% 15 27.3% 103 30.8% Vp7-U 76 70.4% 59 54.6% 25 39.7% 29 52.7% 189 56.6% Vp7-M 7 6.5% 11 10.2% 13 20.6% 11 20% 42 12.6% 108 100% 108 100% 63 100% 55 100% 334 100% b. intra-group comparison The distribution of three types of passive errors in each group

21. General distribution of three types of passive errors 1 = Vp7-O 2 = Vp7-M 3 = Vp7-U

22. Vp7 Sub-type Vp7-U Vp7-O Vp7-M Tokens 189 103 42 Total 334 <2> Specific study and finding

23. Vp7-U G1 G2 G3 G4 Total Corpora Vp7-U1 10 (13%) 4 (7%) 1 (4%) 1 (3.45%) 16 (8%) Vp7-U2 63 (83%) 45 (76%) 15 (60%) 27 (93.1%) 150 (79%) Vp7-U3 3 (4%) 10 (17%) 9 (36%) 1 (3.45%) 23 (13%) 76 (100%) 59 (100%) 25 (100%) 29 (100%) 189 (100%) a. Frequency counts and relate percentages of specific errors in under-used passives (1) Under-used passivization happens when the verb shares both intransitive and transitive features. This type of error is labeled as Vp7-U1. (2) Under-used passivization appears when the passivable transitive verb is not passivized. This type of error is labeled as Vp7-U2 (3) Last, errors of under-used passives occur in semi-passives, which is labeled as Vp7-U3.

24. Vp7-O G1 G2 G3 G4 Total Corpora Vp7-O1 10 (40%) 16 (42%) 10 (40%) 3 (20%) 39 (38%) Vp7-O2 13 (52%) 19 (50%) 15 (60%) 10 (67%) 57 (55%) Vp7-O3 1 (4%) 3 (8%) — 2 (13%) 6 (6%) Vp7-O4 1 (4%) — — — 1 (1%) 25 (100%) 38 (100%) 25 (100%) 15 (100%) 103 (100) b. Frequency counts and relate percentages of specific errors in over-used passives (1) The passivization of unaccusative verbs is labeled as Vp7-O1. (2) The passivization of well-formed actives is labeled as Vp7-O2 (3) The passivization of non-passive expressions is labeled as Vp7-O3 (4) Vp7-O4 means that in BE(link verb)+PP.(adj.) structure, the link verb be is wrongly passivized.

25. Vp7-M G1 G2 G3 G4 Total Vp7-M1 2 2 4 5 13 Vp7-M2 2 5 9 6 22 Vp7-M3 3 4 — — 7 7 11 13 11 42 c. Frequency counts of specific errors in malformed passives the omission of auxiliary be (Vp7-M1); the omission of the morphological change in the past participle (vp7-M2); the simplification of BE+PP. (vp7-M3).

26. (3) Major causes for three types of Vp7 errors [1] causes for under-used passives a. English verbs and underpassivization verbs intransitive v. transitive v. causative v. stative v. * dical facility also improved [vp7-U1,4-] [vp1,-4] to a high level. * ls and the state will surely [vp7-U1,-1] reduce, and more other p *ss rivers and lakes polluted [vp7-U2,s-]; no more clear sky, no mo *s are possible ways to adopt [vp7-U2,-]. Supervison [fm1,-] by o

27. b. L1 Transfer and underpassivization TL---subject-prominent language (English) NL---topic-prominent language (Chinese) Chinese passive construction the bei construction the notional construction * mes legal, the problems will [vp7-U2, -1] solve. The grandmother w …… 问题将会得到解决。…… * dical facility also improved [vp7-U1,4-] [vp1,-4] to a high level. …… 医疗设施也得到很大改善…… * se works [wd3,-s] , I moved [vp7-U3,-1] to tears. But for these f ……，我感动的流下了热泪。……

28. c. Semi-passives and underpassivization • agentless passive construction: BE (auxiliary) + PP. (past participle of v.) • semi-passive construction: BE (copula) + PP. (adjectivalized –ed participle) • *re writing, we will surprise [vp7-U3,2-] to find that only a few • *een incomplete and I myself [vp7-U3,2-0] [vp6, 9-1] paralyzed. • *real friend will concern [vp7-U3,2-2] about you and give you

29. [2] causes for over-used passives a. overpassivization and unaccusative verbs intransitive verbs unaccusative v. unergative v. The vase was broken. (passive construction) The vase was broken (by the little boy). The vase broke. (unaccusative structure) *The vase broke (by the little boy).

30. The window was broken (by the little boy). • theme agent • break: (x) and <y> (transitive verb) • The window broke. • theme • break: <y> (unaccusative verb) • d days, people were suffered [vp7-O1,2-2] from warring [wd2,s-], f • * efore the class is started [vp7-O1,4-] , you have to have everyt • * and science is disappeared [vp7-O1,10-] . As an English major [ • * rld war would be happened, [vp7-O1,6-] which made me vexed beca

31. b. Overpassivization in well-formed active construction S + V + O (active construction) S + Vpass + (A) (passive construction) * S + Vpass + O * g [np6,-]reason.Tom was fail [vp7-O2,-] and went back.In his armch * day as well as zongzi. It's [vp7-O2, 1-1] originated from that pe *I will have been accumulated [vp7-O2,2-] many experiment [wd3,1-] *gs and people. I am realized [vp7-O2,s-] the importance of learn [ *students should be respected [vp7-O2,1-2] each other [sn1,s-]. A g

32. Overpassivization in non-passive expression • stative verbs and English passive cosntruction • Helacks confidence. • The coat does not fit you. • Will this suit you? • John resembles his father • *ns even if the job is suited [vp7-O3,2-] for them. My view on job- • *nd that the job isn't fitted [vp7-O3,2-] with him [pr3,s-], they'l • *o find a job which is fitted [vp7-O3,2-] himself mostly. So they c

33. [3] causes for malformed passives a. characteristics of English passive construction ---BE is influenced by grammatical conditions and has morphological changes; ---PP. occurs in either regular or irregular forms; b. characteristics of Chinese passive construction --- no morphological and syntactical devices to indicate passive *ts is quietly being practise [vp7-M2, 1-] in ill [wd7, 1-]some urb *choice is [wd6, 1-] protect [vp7-M2, 1-] by the laws. If eu *cipates [wd3,-] to respected [vp7-M1,-] by others and enter the human history? They punished [vp7-M1,s-] by people after one night

34. 6. Conclusion (1) The learning patterns shown in this study are relable because they are generalizations based on the data obtained from the large-scale learner corpus (CLEC). (2) Pedagogical remedies proposed in the light of the patterns shown in corpus analysis are more effective because they present a realistic picture of how an English construction is represented and develops in the Chinese-speaking EFL learners. (3)The findings in this study are hopefully useful for the language teaching.

35. Thank You Very Much!