The avoidance of phrasal verbs by adult Chinese immigrants: the effective exposure to the L2 environment, language proficiency and the causes of avoidance behaviour

Authors

  • Abby Ping Wang Birmingham City University, UK

Keywords:

avoidance, phrasal verbs, social and psychological impacts

Abstract

The study reported in this paper identifies the influences of exposure to a second language (L2) environment and language proficiency on the avoidance of phrasal verbs among Chinese immigrants residing in the UK. It then discusses the social and psycholinguistic aspects of the causes behind this behaviour. Four Chinese groups and one native-speaker group (total 55 participants) took a multiple-choice test and completed a questionnaire. There were two major findings: 1) Exposure itself does not necessarily lead to non-avoidance of phrasal verbs, as the Chinese immigrants with lower language proficiency still avoid using them after a number of years residence in the UK; 2) Language proficiency affects the L2 speakers’ avoidance behaviour. The results suggest that effective exposure to the target language environment when combined with advanced language proficiency, positively reduces the Chinese immigrant participants’ avoidance behaviour when using phrasal verbs, and also confirms that avoidance behaviour is consistent with the interlanguage development framework proposed by (Liao & Fukuya, 2004).

Author Biography

  • Abby Ping Wang, Birmingham City University, UK

    Dr. Abby Ping Wang holds a PhD in education and a MA in TESOL. She is an Associate Fellow in the UK HEA (Higher Education Association) and a member of BALEAP. She currently works with Birmingham City University, UK. She is managing and running the ESAP teaching courses in reading and writing; she also conducts teacher training and professional development programmes. Her research interests include second language reading and writing, discourse analysis, language acquisition and psycholinguistics.

The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics. Volume 6, Issue 2. October 2019.

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Published

2019-11-05

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2019)

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

The avoidance of phrasal verbs by adult Chinese immigrants: the effective exposure to the L2 environment, language proficiency and the causes of avoidance behaviour. (2019). The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6(2), 118-137. https://caes.hku.hk/ajal/index.php/ajal/article/view/647