Conceptual fluency in second language learning: Chinese ESL learners' production of OUT and UP particles in English verb particle constructions.

摘要

Differences in conceptualization induce linguistic differences across languages. It is thought that learners of a second language (L2) often rely on their L1-way of conceptualizing the world, causing their L2 productions to sound conceptually inappropriate to the ears of the native-speakers of the L2.; This study uses the production of verb-particle constructions (VPCs) that contain either “out” or “up” as particles by Cantonese-speaking advanced learners of English in Hong Kong to provide empirical evidence of learners' reliance on L1 concepts in the following way: the concepts related with the English “out” and “up” particles are first contrasted with the concepts of the particles' Cantonese counterparts, and then a learners' English-production corpus and a native-speakers' corpus are compared to show the resemblance of the Cantonese concepts in the learners' uses of the English VPCs.; This study of the VPCs opens up a broader discussion of pedagogical implications in the last two Chapters, where the present writer argues for a conceptually-based approach to language teaching and learning. A major challenge for learners of a foreign or second language is that they not only need to know the vocabulary and grammar rules of the language, but also have to learn to conceive the world in the way that the native speakers of the language do. In other words, they need to acquire L2 “conceptual fluency”, so that they reorganize their L1-based conceptual structure into one that includes the L2-based conceptual structure, and are able to fluently employ this L2-based conceptual structure in their use of the L2.; Discussion is not limited to the teaching and learning of the VPCs, but also a more radical shift to attending the conceptual basis of learners in the teaching of other language items as well in areas such as the lexicon, grammar and discourse. A teaching methodology called the “6A's approach” (aware, assemble, apply, avoid, assimilate and act) is also discussed as a possible way to administer such teaching.