A tree in the wood A review of research on L2 Chinese acquisition.pdfVIP

Second Language Research / A tree in the wood: A review of research on L2 Chinese acquisition Yang Zhao Second Language Research published online 29 July 2011 DOI: 10.1177/0座机电话号码1417836 The online version of this article can be found at: /content/early/2011/07/28/0座机电话号码1417836 Published by: Additional services and information for Second Language Research can be found at: Email Alerts: /cgi/alerts Subscriptions: /subscriptions Reprints: /journalsReprints.nav Permissions: /journalsPermissions.nav Downloaded from at CHINESE UNIV HONG KONG LIB on August 22, 2011 second language research Second Language Research Review article: A tree in the 1–14 ? The Author s 2011 Reprints and permission: sagepub. wood: A review of research co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0座机电话号码1417836 on L2 Chinese acquisition Yang Zhao Peking University, China Abstract There has been considerable research in Chinese as a second language L2 in recent years, particularly in its morphological and syntactic aspects. This article reviews research in these aspects with reference to the broader discipline of second language acquisition SLA and suggests that L2 Chinese research has contributed to SLA through verification, modification or posing challenges to research findings in the L2 acquisition of other languages. On the basis of these studies, the author points out the limits of current L2 Chinese research and discusses the prospects for future development, arguing that L2 Chinese is to be investigated against hypotheses based on other L2s so that theoretical contributions can be made to the discipline of SLA. Keywords second language acquisition of Chinese, linguistic theory, theory construction, linguistic research on Chinese I Introduction There has been considerable research in second language L2 Chinese morphosyntax, especially in the interfaces between morphology, syntax and semantics, despite little s