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The Influence of Crosslinguistic, Semantic, and Input Factors on The DOCUMENT RESUME ED 390 305 FL 023 508 AUTHOR Sjoholm, Kaj TITLE The Influence of Crosslinguistic, Semantic, and Input Factors on the Acquisition of English Phrasal Verbs: A Comparison between Finnish and Swedish Learners at an Intermediate and Advanced Level. REPORT NO ISBN-952-9616-56-2 PUB DAIE 95 NOTE 306p. AVAILABLE FROMSchildts Forlags Ab, P.O. Box 86, FIN-02271 Esbo, Finland. PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143) Books (010) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC13 Plus Postage. DE:3CRIPTORS Comparative Analysis; Contrastive Linguistics; Cultural Context; *English (Second Language); *Finnish; Foreign Countries; *Language Patterns; Language Proficiency; Language Resc,arch; Language Usage; Multiple Choice Tests; Native Speakers; Second Language Learning; *Semantics; *Swedish; Testing; Uncummonly Taught Languages; *Verbs ABSTRACT A study investigated certain mechanisms underlying the acquisition of.phrasal verbs in English as a Second Language. Subjects were native Finnish- and Swedish-speaking students in Finland, most aged 16-25 years. The subjects were.administered a multiple-choice test with each item containing two correct alternatives, a phrasal verb (preferred by native speakers) and a synonymous one-part verb, and two distractors. Results show that both language groups tended to avoid or under-use English phrasal verbs, but Finns significantly more than Swedes in early stages of learning. The choice pattern among Swedes also reflected a native language pattern. It is argued that both these patterns are indirectly due to first-language influence, but also to the semantic properties of the phrasal and one-part verbs. The data also indicate that the difference 'n choice pattern found here between Swedes and Finns was evened out with learners who had received considerable natural language input, and that these subjects also showed the most native-like performance in English. Contains 23 tables, 20 figurt!s, and 310 references. (Author/MSE) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are thc best that can be made * * from the original document. * U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION car. ri 1- 1 fr, LetEj improvemt FDU TIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) document has been mprodur ed as efelved from the person or oreanrIaboo originating rt 0 Minor i Ranges have been Mad," to improve reproduction quairty Points ot view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OE RI position or pohcy Kaj Sjöholm The Influence of Crosslinguistic, Semantic, and Input Factors onthe Acquisition of English Phrasal Verbs A Comparison between Finnish and Swedish Learners at an Intermediate and Advanced Level -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCETHIS MATERIAL HAS BEENGRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONALRESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER(ERIC).- BEST COPY AVAILABLE Kaj Sjöholm Born in Dragsfiard in 1946. Matriculation examination in 1967 (Abo). Studies at Aho Akademi University. M.A. in 1976. 'leacher education in 1982. Licentiate degree in 1987. Assistant in Education at Abo Akaderni (1974-1984). University Lecturer in Education at Abo Akademi since 1988. Acting Associate Professor in language methodology at Abo Akademi since 1993. Published a number of articles in second language acquisition. Covet : Ttive Ahlkick AIm Akademi University Press Kaskisg. 2 C 14, FIN-20700 Abu, Finland m.t 358 21 2654477, fax +398 21 2654490 Distribution: Schildts Fiit lags Ab PO, Box 86, FIN-02271 ksho, Finland t 358 0 8(143 188, fax +398 () 8043 267 THE INFLUENCE OF CROSSLINGUISTIC, SEMANTIC, AND INPUT FACTORS ON THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH PHRASAL VERBS The Influence of Cross linguistic, Semantic, and Input Factors on the Acquisition of English Phrasal Verbs A Comparison between Finnish and Swedish Learners at an Intermediate and Advanced Level by Kaj Sjöholm ABO 1995 ABO AKADEMIS FORLAG - ABO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY PRESS C1P Cataloguing in Publication Sjohoim, Kaj The influence of crosslinguistic, semantic, and input tactors on the acquisition of Enghsh phrasal verbs : a comparison between Finnish and Swedish learners at an intermediate and advanced levelby Kaj *holm. - Abo : Aho Akademi Universib. Press, 1945. Diss. : Abo Akademi University ISBN ti,2-gril 6-56-2 UDC 372.88 (480) 802 1480) ISBN cA2-q616-56-2 Abo Alsademi PrintingPITS'. Abo 6 Acknowledgements A work such as this would probably not be what it is today without the advice and support of other people. I would therefore like to express my thanks to my colleagues and especially to the library staff in Vasa who have given me constant encouragement and practical help, thus ensuring that the Department of Teacher Education was a most congenial place in which to work. My thanks are also due to the heads of the Faculty of Education and the Department of Teacher Education for their supportive attitude towards my research. I am especially indebted to the Abo Akademi English Department from where I have received constant encouragement, not least through the financial support from the H. W. Donner Trust. Without this support, this work would probably never have been completed. My greatest debt, however, is to Associate Professor Hákan Ringbom, my supervisor, who has encouraged and inspired me through the years. His constructive criticism and his suggestions for improvements of earlier versions of my manuscript have been most profitable. I also wish to thank Sauli Takala, Ph.D, and Professor Kay Wikberg for making valuable comments on my typescript. I am also indebted to a great number of native speaker informants who were consulted during the test construction phase. I would especially like to mention two of them, Andrew Young, B. Sc , and Geoffrey Phillips, M.A. I also wish to thank my 'native speaker', John Shepherd, M.A., who made my English text look more native-like. Finally,I would like to express my thanks to my computer assistant Jari Sarja, M.Ed., and to the tea, hers of English who took the trouble to administer the tests in their classes. I also gratefully acknowledge that my re,40arch has been funded by grants from the Research Institute of the Abo Akademi Foundation (Stiftelsens for Abo Akademi forskningsinstitut), Ella och Georg Ehrnrooths stiftelse, Waldernar von Frenkells stiftelse, Svenska vetenskapliga centralrAdet, Svenska Osterbottens kulturfond, and Oscar Oflunds stiftelse. All these grants greatly facilitated my work in that they gave me an opportunity to do periods of full-time research. Finally, I should like to thank my wife Mariann and my children Anna-Lotta, Mattias, and Johan who all with endless patience have been looking forward to seeing this book completed. Ma lax, June 1995 Kaj Sjöholm C.") Table of contents List of tables iii List of figures 1. Introduction 1.1. Aims of the study 1.2.Theory, data, and scope 2 1.3.Layout of the study 7 2. Theoretical perspectives in second language acquisition research 9 2.1.Current theories of second language learning 10 2.2.Controversial issues in second language learning theory 16 2.3.Outline for a theory of second language learning 30 3. A lexico-semantic approach to second- language acquisition 36 3.1.L2-acquisition as an interaction between lexical and syntactic development 37 3.2.Development of meaning in single-word units 43 3.3.Fixed expressions and conventionalized language 56 3.4. Towards a characterization of instructed second language learning 67 4. Background of the empirical study 93 4.1.Rationale behind the empirical study 94 4.2. Some contrastive remarks on Finnish, Swedish, and English 98 4.3. The study of phrasal verbs 101 4.4.Problems and hypotheses 108 5 5. Method 116 5.1.General design of the study 116 5.2.Development of a data collecting instrument 120 5.3.Subjects of the study 131 5.4.Administration of tests and questionnaire 148 5.5. Some remarks on reliability and validity 150 6. Results 158 6.1. The effect of language distance 158 6.2.The effect of input 168 6.3.The effect of semantic properties of the test material 186 6.4.The influence of one-part verbs and distractors 193 7. Concluding discussion 203 7.1.Theoretical and methodological foundations of the study 204 7.2.The main results of the study 210 References 234 Appendices 254 10 List of tables Table I. Crucial characteristics of Swedish-speaking schools. 133 Table 2. Crucial characteristics of Finnish-speaking schools. 134 Table 3. Number of females and males among the Swedish- and Finnish-speaking secondary school pupils. 135 Table 4. Age differences between the Finnish- and Swedish-speaking upper secondary school pupils. 135 Table 5. Crucial characteristics of the universities from which Finnish-speaking students were recruited. 136 Table 6. Numbe'r of females and males among tlw Swedish- and Finnish-speaking university students. 137 Table 7. Age aifferences between the Finnish- and Swedish-speaking university students. 138 Table 8. ''umber of participants at four levels of proficiency. 139 Table 9. Measures of comparability of grade in English between Finns and Swedes at four levels of proficiency. 142 Table 10. Measures of comparability of Finnish- and Swedish-speaking subjects who had stayed abroad, at four levels of proficiency. 144 Tdble 11.Correlations between grade in English and scores in total test (ToT), and three subtests (OS-, OS+, TS1-). 157 Table 12. Number and percentage of errors and correct responses among Swedes and Finns in a test with English phrasal verbs 159 Table 13. Finnish- and Swedish-speaking learnerspreferences for phrasal verbs at intermediate (level 1) and advanced level (level 4) compared with native speakers' preferences (28 items). 171 Table 14.Statistical differences.,f preference for phrasal verbs between different levels of proficiency and the native speaker norm. 171 Table 15. Preferences for phrasal verbs among learners high grades (9-10) and lino grades (4-6) in English (28 items). 173 Table 16. Preferences for phrasal verbs among learners with high grades (9-10) and low grades (4-6) in English in subtest with opaque (idiomatic), non-Swedish- based phrasal verbs (05-).
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