The Input of L2 English Unaccusative Verbs: EFL Textbooks and Teachers' Knowledge

Abstract

Several studies have reported that L2 learners of English have great difficulty learning English unaccusative verbs and several learner-internal factors have been investigated regarding this difficulty: UG (linking rules and passive rules) (Balcom, 1997; Ju, 2000; Oshita, 1997; Yip, 1995; Zobl,1989) and L1 influence (Hirakawa, 1995; Montrul 2000). It was also reported that overpassivization of uanaccusative verbs is fossilized (Han 2006) and that Korean EFL learners have more difficulty with such verbs than other L1 EFL learners (Chung, 2011). On the other hand, there have been only a few studies on learner-external factors affecting the L2 acquisition of these verbs (Juffs, 1998; Toth, 2000). This study investigates two major learner-external factors, EFL textbooks and teachers' knowledge of the verbs. It finds that the textbooks used in the Korean secondary schools do not supply balanced input for the verbs and do not contain any instructions regarding verb alternation. Moreover, Korean EFL teachers do not have enough knowledge of the verbs. The findings suggest that the verbs and verb alternation should be dealt with in Korean secondary school textbooks and in the curricula for EFL teachers to reduce the learner-internal difficulty.