earticle

영어

The notion of language transfer would enable us to set up a reasonable hierarchy of difficulty in learning. It is presumed that instances of positive transfer would lend themselves to easier mastery than those of negative or zero transfer. With respect to generative grammar that regards grammar as a set of rules, we can predict the degree of difficulties inherent in the types of language transfer by focusing our attention on the nature of rule choices in each language and comparing them. In this regard, this paper aims to propose a hierarchy of difficulty of English consonant acquisition for Korean native speakers. To do this, the definition of language transfer in learning theory is reviewed in Section 2. The nature of rule choices and the types of those corresponding between English and Korean are investigated, and crucial factors affecting a hierarchy of difficulty is discussed in Section 3. On the basis of the types of rule choices, the consonant system of Korean is compared to that of English, and the hierarchy of difficulty of English consonant acquisition for Korean native speakers is presented in Section 4. Finally, in Section 5, some reasonable factors not studied in this paper are referred to in brief, and might be interesting topics of study in the future.