How Do Chinese EFL Learners Perceive English Relative Clauses?

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 139-160
Author(s):  
Chen Li ◽  
Seung-Man Kang
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
English Relative Clauses

scholarly journals The Comprehension of English Relative Clauses by Arabic-Speaking EFL Learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 192
Author(s):  
Sofia Sabahat Khan ◽  
Lubaba Abdul-Salam Al-Namer
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Relative Pronoun ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Arabic Speaking ◽  
English Relative Clauses

This study investigates the extent to which 50 Arabic-speaking EFL learners comprehend English relative clauses (RCs). It also aims to test which relative pronoun among the seven pronouns we are investigating is the easiest to comprehend and which is the most problematic. Furthermore, it aims to measure whether the English proficiency level of the participants affects their performance on the test. Therefore, a multiple-choice test was administered in order to examine their comprehension of this complex syntactic structure.  The participants were asked to choose the correct answer out of four choices. The results demonstrate that Arabic-speaking EFL learners may not be fully aware of English relative clauses (total percentage= 48.5%). The t-test shows that the English proficiency level affected the participants’ performance on the test. Consequently, there is a significant difference between the answers of the advanced learners (ALs) (61.3%) and those of the intermediate learners (ILs) (35.6%). Moreover, the results reveal that the easiest relative pronoun to comprehend is the pronoun when, and the most difficult one is the pronoun whom. This study accounts for these difficulties and concludes with pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research. 

Study on Chinese College EFL Learners' Comprehension and Production of English Relative Clauses: Testing Three Hypotheses

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Tiehua
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Shanxi Province ◽  
First Year ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
First Year College ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Perceptual Difficulty ◽  
Combination Test ◽  
First Year College Students ◽  
English Relative Clauses

AbstractThis study considers both comprehension and production of the English restrictive relative clauses (RC) by EFL learners in Chinese context. Different tests were employed respectively in data collection, namely a sentence combination test and a grammaticality judgment test, aiming to test the hypotheses about the acquisition of English relative clauses. The participants were 30 first-year College students randomly selected in a university of Shanxi province. The results showed that Chinese EFL learners do not follow the Orders of RC acquisition predicted by any of the three hypotheses, Parallel Function Hypothesis (PFH), Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis (PDH), and Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy Hypothesis (NPAHH). They also showed that the participants performed better in the sentence combination test than in the grammaticality judgment test, and in both tests the easiest type of RC is O-DO, and the most difficult ones are O-OPREP and S-IO.

scholarly journals Promoting EFL students’ accuracy and fluency through interactive practice activities

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-395
Author(s):  
Kim McDonough ◽  
Masatoshi Sato
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
English Relative Clauses

This study examined the effectiveness of interactive activities at facilitating EFL students’ production of English relative clauses. Thirty-seven EFL learners in Chile carried out interactive activities designed to elicit relative clauses. Pre- and posttests were used to examine whether carrying out the activities facilitated the students’ production of relative clauses. All interactions were audio-recorded and the transcripts were analyzed to determine how accurately and fluently the students produced relative clauses before, during, and after the practice activities. Whereas accuracy was defined as errors involving relative clause formation, fluency was operationalized in terms of the number of pauses, false starts, and self-corrections that occurred within relative clauses. The results showed that the students produced significantly more accurate relative clauses on the posttest; however, their production of dysfluencies remained unchanged. Implications for the use of interactive activities are discussed.   

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