Transfer of Discourse Function: Passives in the Writings of Esl and JSL Learners

Abstract

Eine umfangreiche Fehleranalyse von Aufsätzen, die Studenten mit Englisch bzw. Japanisch als Zweitsprache geschrieben haben, hat ergeben, daß fortgeschrittene Lernende in diesen beiden Sprachen in bezug auf das Passiv noch viele Fehler machen. Diese Fehler sind teilweise formaler, vor allem aber funktionaler Art. Die Analyse zeigt, daß die Lernenden irrtümlicher-weise annehmen, daß die Formen in der Fremdsprache, die denen in der Muttersprache vergleichbar sind, auch dieselben Funktionen wie in der Muttersprache haben. Insofern handelt es sich um einen speziellen Fall von muttersprachlicher Interferenz beim Fremdsprachenerwerb.Une analyse extensive de fautes commises dans des compositions dues a des etudiants ayant anglais et japonais respectivement comme deuxieme langue a montro que meme des otudiants avances de ces deux langues commettent encore de nombreuses fautes, notamment dans leur emploi du passif. Ces fautes sont en partie formelles mais surtout de caractere fonctionnel. II ressort de l'analyse que les etudiants commettent l'erreur d'identifier la forme dans la langue etrangere avec celle de la langue maternelle en attribuant aux deux la meme fonction. Dans ce cas, il s'agit d'un cas special d'interference entre la langue maternelle et la langue etrangere.

Secret Agents and Innocent Patients: The Mysteries of the English Passive Voice and its Use (and Misuse) in EFL Writing in Japan

“…English, where, as was noted earlier, intransitive verbs do not have a passive form). So, in Japanese, there is what Watanabe et al (1991) refer to as an "adversity passive", where an intransitive verb is used passively to show that the subject of the passive sentence has been adversely affected by some event (p. 119). For example:…”

“…This is especially so for the core be + -ed passive that was discussed previously. Indeed, correctly forming this archetypal passive structure is generally not a major problem for most Japanese EFL students, despite the non-existence of an equivalent modal be in Japanese (Oshita, 2000;Watanabe et al, 1991). However, getting to grips with transitivity and also agentless passive constructions represent two of the Paul Mathieson key stumbling blocks for Japanese EFL learners when trying to produce passive structures in written English.…”

“…Japanese EFL learners are often able to produce fluent, accurate passive structures in English, especially when the agent and patient are clearly identified. However, many Japanese EFL learners struggle with agentless passives in English -whereas in Japanese agents are almost always specified (Watanabe et al, 1991), the agent is often omitted in written English. This can lead to L1 transfer, the (incorrect) iteration and fossilisation of novel passive constructions.…”

“…The second key point of divergence is that Japanese passive sentences are almost always agentive (Chino, 2000;Watanabe et al, 1991). This may stem from the notion of affectedness which underpins most Japanese passive constructions, and the associated inclination to highlight the agent which brings about that affectedness.…”

Input, triggering and poverty of the stimulus in the second language acquisition of Japanese passives

“…5 For L2 studies on the acquisition of Japanese passives by English learners, see Watabe et al, 1991;Tanaka, 1992;1993;Hara, 2002;Hara and Ma, 2004;by Chinese learners, see Feng, 1993;Yang and Akahori, 1998;Hara and Ma, 2004. For L2 studies on acquisition of the English passive by Japanese learners, see Watabe et al, 1991;Masuko, 1996;Izumi and Lakshmanan, 1998; by Chinese learners, see Han, 2000. 6 Following Jackendoff (1990 and Emonds (2000), this article adopts the analysis that the difference between the be and the get passives is introduced at the Phonetic Form level.…”