基于语料库的中国英语学习者表示“确定”的副词的使用情况研究-外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文.docxVIP

PAGE PAGE 10 combination between modal auxiliaries and adverbs (Hoye, 1997) and small-scale studies of concrete adverbs of certainty, such as surely (Downing, 2001) and certainly and definitely (Simon-Vandenbergen, 2008) and the latest monographs on adverbs of certainty (Aijmer et al., 2007). It seems that research on adverbs of certainty by native English speakers has become active and productive, but few related studies have been published in China. Although Xu’s study (2002) mentions some certainty adverbs, such as certainly, obviously, surely, indeed, and definitely, it is restricted to the area of academic writing, with special reference to the use of authorial stance markers by Chinese advanced learners of English at the doctoral level and native or near-native English expert writers. Research on certainty adverbs used by Chinese EFL learners is still few. In practice, however, learners do need to develop the ability to understand and use adverbs of certainty, so as to properly interpret the speakers’ attitudes and express their own attitudes toward the idea to be communicated in various contexts. It is hoped that the present study can pave the way for the study of certainty adverbs used by EFL learners, and also provide some useful references for further research in this field. Research aims and questions The present study aims to investigate how Chinese EFL learners use adverbs of certainty in comparison with ways native speakers use the same adverbs. The central focus of the study is to explore similarities and differences between them. More specifically, the purpose of the present study is to answer the following questions: What are the overall frequencies of adverbs of certainty used by Chinese EFL learners compared with those used by native speakers? What are the properties of some high frequency certainty adverbs used by native speakers? What are the properties of the high frequency certainty adverbs used by Chinese EFL learners? And what are the