Number Attraction in Subject-Verb Agreement Production among Chinese EFL Learners
This study employed an oral production task to investigate number attraction effects in the subject-verb agreement production by Chinese EFL(English as a Foreign Language)learners.Two experiments were conducted,manipulating both the grammatical number and the notional number of nouns in a preamble.In Experiment 1,40 participants engaged in an oral sentence production task under conditions where the head noun and the local noun in the preamble either matched or mismatched in number.Results revealed a significant number attraction effect,with lower production accuracy in mismatch conditions,confirming the presence of the number attraction effect.In Experiment 2,another 40 participants completed a sentence production task under different conditions of notional number.The results indicated that subject-verb agreement production was not influenced by markedness,notional number,or language proficiency.The study proposes that the number attraction effect arises from overshadowing and blocking of native language cues and memory retrieval processes.In terms of pedagogy,it is crucial to enhance learners'understanding of subject-verb agreement constructions and develop their sensitivity to the controllers of this grammatical structure in diverse contexts.This adjustment in cognitive systems,primarily influenced by native language experience,is essential for effective language learning.
number attraction effectsubject-verb agreementmarkednessL2 language proficiency
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
