• Marked Theme in the Reading Comprehension of Advanced L2 English Learners

    Author(s):
    SLS Working Papers (view group) , David Martínez-Prieto
    Editor(s):
    Mostafa Papi, Ji-Hyun Park
    Date:
    2014
    Group(s):
    SLS Working Papers
    Subject(s):
    Applied linguistics, Reading, Second language acquisition
    Item Type:
    Online publication
    Tag(s):
    english as a second language
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/ty9y-bf59
    Abstract:
    According to Barzegar (2013), the way we arrange words in different positions of the clause is essential to communicate in any language. In other words, word order is highly important when creating meaning. Second language learners usually aim to have a clear understanding of how and where to place words, so they can achieve successful communication in the target language. Kessler (2004) found that native speakers and advance language learners of English have a similar level of syntactical knowledge, especially in terms of word order. However, this word-order knowledge does not seem equally applied to different structures and languages. In this regard, Jin (2008) discovered that English speakers have much difficulty in learning marked structures in Chinese. Similarly, Solís Hernández (2006) demonstrated that L2 English learners usually struggle with structures that do not follow the same pattern at all times, especially in relation to adverb placement. She described that most students did not clearly understand the reasons why adverbs in English are placed in different positions of the clause. In my experience, I have noticed that small differences in clause constructions (e.g., “I saw him yesterday” and “Yesterday I saw him”), can be confusing to L2 learners. This is not only because of the syntactic order, but because sometimes it is difficult for learners to understand the reasons that have motivated a speaker or a writer to select a less common word order construction to communicate a specific message.
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Online publication     Show details
    Pub. URL:
    https://hcommons.org/groups/sls-working-papers/
    Publisher:
    SLS Working Papers
    Pub. Date:
    2014
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 years ago
    License:
    Attribution
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