Multi-word verbs are perceived as notoriously difficult for learners of English as a
second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) because they are semantically noncompositional,
very often polysemous, and syntactically more flexible than other
types of phraseological patterns (e.g. variation of particle positions and pronoun or
noun insertions are possible in multi-word verbs.) Previous empirical studies have
repeatedly found that, regardless of their L1 background, learners tend to avoid
using multi-word verbs when a single-word verb alternative is available (Dagut &
Laufer 1985; Hulstijn & Marchena 1989; Laufer & Eliasson 1993; Liao & Fukuya
2004; Schmitt & Redwood 2011). However, learner corpus studies show a more
complex picture of learners’ use of multi-word verbs, with some learner populations
using multi-word verbs very frequently in writing while others tending to use fewer
in comparison with their native counterparts (e.g. Waibel 2007; Gilquin 2011).
This study explored Chinese university students’ use of two types of multiword
verbs, namely, phrasal verbs (e.g. take up, turn out) and prepositional verbs
(e.g. begin with, come across), in comparison with their American and British
counterparts. Multi-word verbs in a learner corpus of English compiled by the
author were compared with those in four native corpora of two English varieties and
two genres (argumentative and academic writing). In addition to the comparison
between the learner and native novice writing, intra-individual comparisons were
also made to track the learners’ multi-word verb development at different stages of
their undergraduate studies. In order to do so, the learner corpus was divided into
three sub-corpora each representing a level of their first three years of studies (i.e.
year 1, year 2 and year 3).
Data analyses were carried out from both quantitative and qualitative
perspectives. The quantitative analysis aimed to ascertain: 1) whether the Chinese
students avoid using multi-word verbs as previous empirical studies suggested; 2)
whether there is a difference between the American and British novice writers
regarding multi-word verb use in terms of numbers; and 3) whether the Chinese
students use more multi-word verbs as their language proficiency improves. The
qualitative analysis focused on the correctness and appropriateness of multi-word
verbs in the learner and native novice writing by examining their stylistic, semantic
and collocational behaviour.
Results from the quantitative analysis first show that it is difficult to state
whether the Chinese EFL learners overuse or underuse multi-word verbs in writing
because a more striking difference emerges between the British and American
students. The American novice writers tend to use many more multi-word verbs in
both genres than their British counterparts and they also show a greater variety of
multi-word verbs in their writing. The overall frequencies of multi-word verbs in the
learner corpus do not reveal a fundamental difference between the Chinese EFL
learners and the British novice writers; however, the learner-native writer gap exists
between the Chinese learners and the American students.
Analysis of the distribution of multi-word verbs in the five novice corpora
reveals another difference between the American novice corpora and their Chinese
and British counterparts. Multi-word verbs in the Chinese learner corpus and the
British novice corpora are evenly distributed across individual writers, while this is
not the case in the American novice corpora.
Notwithstanding the considerable differences, certain similarities were found
between the American and British novice writers. After dividing multi-word verbs
into the two sub-categories, i.e. phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs, it was found that both the American and British students tend to use fewer phrasal verbs in
academic writing than in argumentative writing. Prepositional verbs, on the other
hand, show the reverse, i.e. fewer prepositional verbs in argumentative writing than
in academic writing. This result is in line with previous research findings that
phrasal verbs are informal in style and are often avoided in formal academic writing,
while prepositional verbs are highly frequent in language use in general and
especially prominent in academic writing (Biber et al., 1999).
Although the learner writing does not reveal a numerical difference from the
British novice writing regarding multi-word-verb use, the learner-native gap is
revealed by qualitative analysis. First, analysis of the stylistic behaviour of multiword
verbs in the five novice corpora reveals that more informal multi-word verbs
are used in the learner corpus than in most of the native novice corpora. Second, an
obvious difference is also found between the learner writing and the native novice
writing in terms of the semantic behaviour of multi-word verbs. Although a majority
of the multi-word verbs in the learner corpus are used figuratively, the proportion of
multi-word verbs (especially prepositional verbs) used literally in the learner writing
is higher than that in the native novice writing.
As for the collocational behaviour of multi-word verbs, differences exist
within the native novice writers as well as between the learners and their native
counterparts. However, the learner-native difference is more considerable. For some
multi-word verbs, the learners tend to use certain collocations very frequently, while
such tendencies do not show in either the native novice writing or in general English
reference corpora (the BNC and COCA).
A number of deviations in multi-word verb use were found in both learner
and native novice writing, but the proportion of deviant use in the learner writing is
much higher than that in the native novice writing. The three major types of deviations in the learner writing are: deviations in particle, syntactic deviations and
non-native like choice of a MWV or its collocations.
Results from the longitudinal analysis show that phrasal verbs are more
problematic for Chinese EFL learners than prepositional verbs. First, little increase
in the use of phrasal verbs was found in their third-year writing. Moreover, an
unexpected drop in phrasal verb use was observed in their second-year writing.
Their use of prepositional verbs, in contrast, grew steadily. Second, the learners did
not show much progress in their stylistic knowledge of phrasal verbs until the third
year. However, their stylistic knowledge of prepositional verbs developed
considerably. In the third year of their study, the proportion of the academic high
frequency prepositional verbs in the learner writing even surpassed that in many
native novice corpora. Yet it is worth noting that non-native-like use of prepositional
verbs still exists in the learner writing. Prepositional verbs are not problem-free for
the learners.
The findings from this study indicate that the acquisition of multi-word verbs
may not be as difficult as previous studies proposed; the learners do not show an
obvious intention to avoid using multi-word verbs in their writing. The number of
multi-word verbs in the learner corpus shows little difference from that in the British
novice corpora. Difficulties do exist, however. Multi-word verbs in the American
novice corpora indeed considerably outnumber those in the learner corpus. More
importantly, the learners might be able to produce a sufficient number of multi-word
verbs, but the semantic complexity is still a big barrier for them. To fully master
multi-word verbs, the learners also need to know more about stylistic and
collocational behaviour of multi-word verbs and learn to use them in an idiomatic
way. The results also show that L2 acquisition is never a simple and linear process, it
often involves great progress at certain times yet stagnation or even recession at others. These findings are of great importance for multi-word verb learning and
teaching in and outside China.
Differences and similarities between the American and British novice
corpora reveal an important methodological implication for learner corpus research.
Various factors such as first language variety and genre are of equal importance in
the selection of native reference corpora in learner corpus research. None should be
left out in the analysis. Neglecting these factors when one chooses a native reference
corpus may lead to distorted results.
| Date of Award | 14 Feb 2014 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | - City University of Hong Kong
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| Supervisor | John FLOWERDEW (Supervisor) |
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