This study aims to investigate access to Universal Grammar by Korean EFL learners in Second Language Acquisition. This study hypothesizes that L2 learners possess the innate linguistic knowledge called ''Universal Linguistic Unit features'' which are the ability to recognize linguistic presences. Moreover, this study proposes a ''UG driven model of SLA'' focusing on the dominancy between Interlanguage and the L1 grammar of L2 learners'' mental condition.
In particular, this study examined how Korean EFL learners acquire reflexive pronouns in English with five experiments. The participants of these experiments consisted of three groups: a group of 7-year-old Korean children(n=184), a group of Korean middle school students(n=103), and a group of Korean college students(n=153).
Experiment 1 examined whether 7-year-old Korean children(n=164) understand the meaning of caki, casin and caki-casin(''-self'') in L1 and use them correctly. The results of the experiment show that 70.12% and 90.85% correct responses are in the two tests of comprehension and production respectively. This indicates that most 7-year-old Korean children acquired caki, casin and caki-casin correctly in Korean.
Experiment 2 investigated whether 7-year-old Korean children(n=20) acquire English reflexive pronouns. The participants have already been instructed in English lessons for more than a year. The participants are able to recognize English reflexive pronouns with ease. Even though the 7-year-old Korean children are not taught explicitly, they can translate caki, casin and caki-casin corresponding reflexive pronouns in English. The frequency of participants'' the exposure to two reflexive pronouns (e. g. ''himself'' and ''herself'') was also the same as follows: The words ''himself'' and ''herself'' were presented two times each in a story(a total of six times each for ''himself'' and ''herself'' in three stories). Moreover, there was no skewed effect; thus, the two English reflexive pronouns(''himself'' and ''herself'') were presented in three stories.
Experiment 3 observed how accurate Korean middle school(n=103) and college(n=153) students grammatically comprehend English reflexive pronouns using a grammatical judgment test. The mean scores for the middle school and college students are 6.36(SD 2.06) and 7.00(SD 2.60)(t=2.19, p=0.29*) respectively.
Experiment 4 investigated whether Korean English learners(middle school & college students) are under the influence of corresponding L1 knowledge while they are performing a task to identify the antecedent of reflexive pronouns in English using a story based truth value judgment test. The mean scores of the middle school and college students are 4.66(SD 2.51) and 5.69(SD 2.17)(t=3.48, p=.001**) each.
Experiment 5 examined whether Korean learners(middle school & college students) completely acquire English reflexive pronouns like native speakers using a elicited imitation test. According to Lust, Flynn & Foley(1996), learners(L1 or L2) can only successfully imitate sentences that are analyzable by their current grammar. The mean scores for comprehension of meaning are 14.05(SD 3.75) and 16.48(SD 2.26)(t=7.69, p=.000***) & for compositions are 1.45(SD 2.23), 4.12(SD 3.01)(t=7.69, p=.000***) for middle school and college students respectively.
The findings of these five experiments have the following implications.
First, Korean English learners seem to have access to the feature of "proximity" part of features of the universal linguistic unit features in the acquisition of English reflexive pronouns. They can acquire English reflexive pronouns using the innate knowledge of their "proximity" feature. Moreover, they steadily go through the process of parameterization which gets the proper feature value in L2 grammar.
Second, Korean English learners go through similar developmental stages learning in English reflexive pronouns to those stages of native speakers. In the initial stages of the acquisition of reflexive pronouns in English, Korean English learners are likely to have either "clause-mate" or "non-clause-mate" antecedents. In the next stage, although Korean learners still have a tendency to have "non-clause-mate" antecedents for reflexive pronouns in English, they begin to identify "clause-mate" antecedents more frequently in L2. In the final stage, they select almost solely "clause-mate" antecedents for English reflexive pronouns just as native speakers of English(L2) do.
Third, the results of experiments 3, 4 and 5 for middle school and college students support the Subset Principle that the transition from subset to superset is natural in SLA; the opposite acquisition direction is rare and unnatural. In turn, this means that Korean EFL learners are innately endowed with the knowledge of Governing Category Principle(GCP). In other words, the mean scores of the grammatical judgment test(Ex.3) are 6.36(SD 2.06) and 7.00(SD 2.06), and the mean scores of the story based truth value judgment test(Ex.4) are 4.66(SD 2.51) and 5.69(SD 2.17). Moreover, the mean scores of the elicited imitation test(Ex.5) are 14.05(SD 3.75) and 16.48(SD 2.26) for comprehension of meaning and 1.45(SD 2.23) and 4.12(SD 3.01) for compositions, respectively. The extent to which the test scores of middle school and college students differ explains the process of their acquisition of reflexive pronouns in English in accordance with the parameterization of English.
Fourth, Korean English learners are strongly affected by L1 interference in early stage of L2 acquisition. However, by developmental stages of acquiring reflexive pronouns in L2, the L1 interference becomes gradually weaker in Korean English learners.
This dissertation proposes a UG driven model to account for how Korean English learners acquire reflexive pronouns in English. This model shows the ''relation of conflicts(dominancy) between Interlanguage and L1 grammar''. In the initial stage, the L1 grammar of Korean English learners is far more dominant than their Interlanguage. Over stages, the dominancy of their Interlanguage gets much stronger than that of their L1 grammar. To be more specific, Korean learners'' Interlanguage prominently overrides their L1 grammar, when they are performing linguistic tasks in the target language(English). The L1 grammar indirectly operates in the performance level in SLA. In other words, L1 grammar does not make any direct contribution to the content of the Interlanguage grammar.