earticle

영어

This study explores whether the usage patterns of English resultative constructions in argumentative essays written by Korean EFL learners follow the usage-based perspectives. The present study used two corpus-based analysis to investigate the usage patterns of four types of English resultatives among different proficiency levels as well as the range and frequency of verbs that learners used in the target constructions. Multiple Chi-square analyses showed that the usage of both transitive and intransitive resultative constructions gradually increases as learner's proficiency increases. Also, it is indicated that EFL learners were more likely to produce the resultatives denoting change of property with increasing proficiency. In addition, results showed that as learners’ proficiency was higher, they employed less frequent and more varied types of verbs in the target construction. The overall results obtained from the current study suggest that L2 development of English resultative constructions reflects a usage-based developmental tendency similar to that of L1 children.