Multiple factors in the L2 acquisition of English unaccusative verbs

Abstract

Various accounts of overpassivization errors in the L2 acquisition of English unaccusative verbs have been proposed, but different studies have examined different factors (movement, transitivization, discourse, L1 influence) and some findings are in conflict. This study examines the factors of discourse (external causation), semantics (animacy) and L1 morphological influence (verb alternation), which were tested on 99 Chinese and 117 Korean students of English at four proficiency levels. The study shows that the effect of each factor varies depending on the L1s and the proficiency levels of L2 learners. An L1 morphological factor is the most strong and persistent for L2 English learners when their L1 morphology differs from the target language, and the discourse factor is stronger than animacy. Taken together, the findings suggest that a multi-faceted approach to SLA provides a broader perspective on SLA research and leads to a deeper understanding of SLA.