Chinese Foreign Language Attrition: Investigating Aspect Marker Usage Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Paul, Michael A. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 25/09/2021 22:05:10 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/194292 CHINESE FOREIGN LANGUAGE ATTRITION: INVESTIGATING ASPECT MARKER USAGE by Michael A. Paul ____________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERISTY OF ARIZONA 2009 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Michael A. Paul entitled Chinese Foreign Language Attrition: Investigating Aspect Marker Usage and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ____________________________________________________________Date: 10/23/09 Feng-hsi Liu ____________________________________________________________Date: 10/23/09 Timothy Vance ____________________________________________________________Date: 10/23/09 Rudolph Troike ____________________________________________________________Date: 10/23/09 Matthew Christensen Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate college. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ____________________________________________________________Date: 10/23/09 Dissertation Director: Feng-hsi Liu 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Michael A. Paul 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my thanks to all my teachers of Chinese, who have patiently imparted more knowledge than I could ever absorb, as well as to my own students who have taught me more than I could ever impart to them. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee chair, Dr. Feng-hsi Liu for her patience and calming direction as I discovered, grew and progressed in the field of Chinese linguistics and pedagogy. Thank you to committee member Dr. Timothy Vance for immediately reading and providing feedback on manuscript drafts. Thank you to committee member Dr. Rudy Troike for his extremely valuable feedback, which greatly improved the research methodology used in this study. Finally, many thanks go to Dr. Matthew Christensen at Brigham Young University for volunteering to sit on the committee. His valuable insights into Chinese Foreign language attrition and pedagogy have both shaped the course of this research and my classroom teaching. Gratitude is also due to my first Chinese teacher, and now my department chair, Dr. Scott Galer; without his encouragement and faith in me inside and outside of the classroom I could never have progressed to this point in my studies and career. Thanks to my collogues in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Brigham Young University-Idaho who have continually offered encouragement while I attempted to balance a full teaching load with writing this dissertation. Additionally, thanks to the Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, Dr. John Ivers, who granted me a three-hour faculty development leave so I could finish this research. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family, whose unwavering love and support has made my quest for an education possible. To my parents Roger and Sheryl: thank you for teaching me how to work and encouraging me to find my own path in life. To my wife Carly: I’m forever grateful for your unwavering support and faith in me. My life is rich and filled with happiness because of you. Thank you for lifting me when I was down and celebrating each small success. To my children Holden, Hazel and Ruby: thank you for making the biggest sacrifice of all--evenings and weekends without a dad. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................................9 ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................13 1. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................15 1.1 Introduction to Second Language Attrition .............................................................16 1.2 Definition of Key Terms..........................................................................................18 1.3 Outline of this Study ................................................................................................18 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ...............................................................................20 2.1 Chinese Foreign Language Attrition Studies...........................................................21 2.2 Aspect Marking in Chinese....................................................................................32 2.2.1 Perfective Aspect ............................................................................................33 2.2.2 Imperfective Aspect........................................................................................35 2.2.3 Experiential Aspect.........................................................................................36 2.2.4 Delimitative Aspect ........................................................................................38 2.3 L2 Acquisition of Chinese Aspect ...........................................................................38 2.4 Memorization in the L2 Classroom .........................................................................46 2.5 Weaknesses in Prior Studies ....................................................................................53 2.6 Research Questions..................................................................................................54 3. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................57 3.1 Subjects....................................................................................................................57 3.2 Source of Data........................................................................................................59 3.3 Establishing a Baseline Attrition Score .................................................................62 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued 3.3.1 Comparing Lesson Versions.............................................................................63 3.4 Content Analysis....................................................................................................71 3.5 Median Length Analysis........................................................................................76 3.6 Aspect Marker Analysis: Number, Variety, Usage ...............................................77 3.7 List of Variables.....................................................................................................80 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION....................................................................................82 4.1 Research Question One..........................................................................................82 4.1.1 Answering Research Question One ................................................................87 4.2 Research Question Two ...........................................................................................88 4.2.1 Answering Research Question Two................................................................93 4.3 Research Question Three .........................................................................................93 4.3.1 Answering Research Question Three..............................................................97 4.4 Research Question Four.........................................................................................97 4.4.1 Answering Research Question Four .............................................................104 4.5 Research Question Five .......................................................................................105 4.5.1 Answering Researching Question Five.........................................................111 4.6 Research Question Six .........................................................................................112 4.6.1 Answering Research Question Six................................................................125