L2 Learners’ Resolution of PRO in English Control Constructions

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper explores how Korean-speaking English learners comprehend control constructions in English. Specifically, it aims to look at how they resolve different types of PRO: PRO in adjunct control (e.g., John met Mary after tripping on the sidewalk), PRO in subject control (e.g., Tom promised Bill to join the club), and PRO in object control (e.g., Kelly told Wendy to leave the room). A total of one hundred and five L2 learners participated in a multiple-choice task, in which they were asked to choose the antecedent of the null infinitival subjects in English control constructions. The results revealed that the learners showed a fairly good performance on all types of PRO, while the best performance was shown for object control sentences, followed by adjunct control and subject control sentences where there was no difference between the two. These findings are discussed in terms of interference effects observed in first/second language acquisition and processing as well as the influence of the learners’ first language, Korean.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Literature Review
• 3. Method
• 4. Results
• 5. General Discussion
• References