earticle

영어

This study investigated variation in the choice of relativizers by Korean middle school and college learners in an English as a Foreign Language setting. In addition to the textbook analysis, two versions of an acceptability task were conducted with 57 Korean middle school students and with 42 college students to investigate the variation pattern in the choice of the relativizers in learners’ interlanguage at two different developmental stages. The target materials included the who/whom alternation and the which/that/null alternation in restrictive object relative clauses. The results revealed that the middle school students lacked pragmatic competence in judging an inappropriate form in informal contexts. Although the college learners showed sensitivity to formality in the pattern of the relativizer judgements, they also exhibited a minor divergence from the target language pragmatics. Based on the findings, a pedagogical implication was suggested to enhance learners’ multi-faceted competence.