Doctoral Dissertation Research: Aspect and Event Cognition in the Acquisition and Processing of a Second Language

博士论文研究：第二语言习得和处理中的方面和事件认知

• 批准号: 2337763
• 负责人: Bonnie Schwartz
• 金额: $ 1.69万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-03-01 至 2026-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2337763&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Aspect; Event

In everyday conversations, people often talk about things happening over time or in an instant. For example, one might say "John is building a house" for an event that happens over time" or "John is crossing the finish line" for an instantaneous event. Different languages express time in events differently. To talk about ongoing events in English, speakers use the same -ing form in "John is building a house" and "John is crossing the finish line". In other languages, by contrast, different grammatical markers indicate whether an ongoing event happens over time or instantly. Such differences in how time in events is expressed can be tricky for English speakers learning such languages. This doctoral dissertation project examines difficulties that native English speakers may have when learning how to express time in events in a second language that encodes such differences in the grammar. The study focuses on two things: how the grammar and meanings of such grammatical markers express time in events, and how use of these markers connects to real-world situations. In addition to the training of a graduate student, this research is expected to be beneficial to second-language teachers and inform textbooks. The project provides insights into the challenges speakers face in learning and using different grammatical markers.Three experimental studies investigate knowledge, production, and comprehension of grammatical aspect markers. Study 1 explores whether second language learners know the ways that an aspect-marking language expresses time in events by having them judge the naturalness of sentences with time-in-event markers. Study 2 looks at how these same participants express time in events by having them continue the beginning of written sentences that include a variety of such markers. Study 3 examines how these same learners link spoken sentences containing time-in-event markers to pictures representing events in the world. By comparing results from these studies, the study sheds light on what makes such grammatical markers challenging to learn and use for second language speakers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在日常对话中，人们经常谈论随着时间的推移或瞬间发生的事情。例如，对于随着时间推移发生的事件，人们可能会说“约翰正在建造一座房子”，或者对于瞬时事件说“约翰正在跨越终点线”。不同的语言对事件中的时间表达方式不同。用英语谈论正在进行的事件相比之下，在其他语言中，说话者在“约翰正在建造一座房子”和“约翰正在跨越终点线”中使用相同的-ing形式，不同的语法标记表明正在进行的事件是随着时间的推移还是立即发生。对于英语来说，如何表达事件中的时间可能很棘手这个博士论文项目研究了以英语为母语的人在学习如何用第二语言表达事件中的时间时可能遇到的困难，该第二语言编码了这种语法差异。这些语法标记表达了事件中的时间，以及这些标记的使用如何与现实世界的情况联系起来。除了对研究生的培训之外，这项研究预计还将有益于第二语言教师并为教科书提供信息。该项目深入了解说话者在学习和使用不同语法标记时面临的挑战。三项实验研究调查了语法方面标记的知识、产生和理解。研究 1 通过让第二语言学习者判断带有事件时间标记的句子的自然程度，探讨了第二语言学习者是否知道体标记语言表达事件时间的方式。研究 2 着眼于这些参与者如何通过让他们继续包含各种此类标记的书面句子的开头来表达事件中的时间。研究 3 研究了这些学习者如何将包含事件时间标记的口语句子与代表世界事件的图片联系起来。通过比较这些研究的结果，该研究揭示了为什么这些语法标记对于第二语言使用者来说学习和使用具有挑战性。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。