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The Transition from Topic-Prominence to Subject-Prominence in Chinese Learners' Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language.

Record Type:	Language materials, manuscript : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	The Transition from Topic-Prominence to Subject-Prominence in Chinese Learners' Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language./
Author:	Zhang, Limei.
Description:	1 online resource (134 pages)
Notes:	Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-05, Section: A.
Contained By:	Dissertations Abstracts International85-05A.
Subject:	Foreign language instruction. -
Online resource:	click for full text (PQDT)
ISBN:	9798380851589

The Transition from Topic-Prominence to Subject-Prominence in Chinese Learners' Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language.
Zhang, Limei.

The Transition from Topic-Prominence to Subject-Prominence in Chinese Learners' Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language. - 1 online resource (134 pages)

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-05, Section: A.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--State University of New York at Albany, 2023.

Includes bibliographical references

The present study investigates the transition from topic-prominence (TP) to subject-prominence (SP) in Chinese EFL learners' acquisition of English syntactic structures. Chinese and English are categorized as typologically different languages, Chinese being a topic-prominent language and English being a subject-prominent language. Previous research suggests that Chinese EFL learners' English syntactic production is characterized with Chinese TP features, which constitute a major source of production errors, and that these features tend to decrease while the English SP features increase as learners' proficiency levels go up. However, the questions of how these TP features develop in the acquisition process and what factors might influence their developmental process remain under-researched. The present study addresses the research gaps by employing the mixed methods that involve a cross-sectional study which compares the performances of a pre-intermediate group and an advanced group, a longitudinal study which examines performances of the pre-intermediate level learners throughout one academic year, and individual interviews with longitudinal group participants. The study addresses the developmental process with the socio-cognitive approach to communication and second language acquisition and employs the noticing hypothesis as a theoretical framework to explore the factors that influence the transition. Findings of the study show that there is a general descending trend of the TP-SP transition, and that the various TP features exhibit different developmental paths. Factors that affect the transitional process include awareness and motivation, frequency of exposure, instructional strategies and task demands, perceptual salience, and skill level. The study aims to contribute to the understanding of Chinese EFL learners' acquisition of English syntactic structures and the improvement of EFL curriculum and instruction in Chinese universities.

Electronic reproduction.
Ann Arbor, Mich. :
ProQuest,
2024

Mode of access: World Wide Web

ISBN: 9798380851589Subjects--Topical Terms:

1241370
Foreign language instruction.
Subjects--Index Terms:

Topic-prominenceIndex Terms--Genre/Form:

554714
Electronic books.

The Transition from Topic-Prominence to Subject-Prominence in Chinese Learners' Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language.
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