L1 Transfer in Chinese Learners' Acquisition of Japanese Basic Verbs

Abstract

This study investigates L1 transferability in the acquisition of Japanese basic verbs by Chinese native speakers (CN). L1 verbs are selected from corresponding verbs with matching Chinese character taken from the JLPT level 4. A lexicality judgment test consisting of 78 cases of correct usage and 86 cases of erroneous usage was administered to 20 advanced-level CNs. It was found that for 45 cases of correct usage, the rate of the positive transferability was more than 75%; for 18 cases of erroneous usage, the rate of the negative transferability was more than 50%. The result suggests that our approach is useful to CNs' vocabulary acquisition and to Japanese language teaching in China.