The meaning of negation in the second language classroom: evidence from 'any'

TY - JOUR

T1 - The meaning of negation in the second language classroom

T2 - evidence from 'any'

AU - Gil, Kook-Hee

AU - Marsden, Heather Lynn

AU - Whong, Melinda

N1 - © The Author(s) 2017. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

PY - 2019/3/1

Y1 - 2019/3/1

N2 - This article brings together an experimental study involving L2 knowledge of negation in English and an analysis of how English language textbooks treat negation, in order to consider whether textbook explanations of negation could better exploit linguistic insights into negation. We focus on the English negative polarity item any, whose distribution is contingent on negation, whether through the explicit negator not or through lexical semantic negators (e.g. hardly). Our experiment compares Chinese-speaking learners with existing data from Arabic-speaking learners, finding lower accuracy on any with lexical semantic negators in both groups. Our textbook analysis reveals an approach to negation that is limited to form, focusing on the explicit negator not without explicit treatment of other types of negation. We propose that emphasizing the meaning of negation, with explicit treatment of the full range of negative forms could facilitate more complete acquisition across a range of grammatical properties where negation plays a role.

AB - This article brings together an experimental study involving L2 knowledge of negation in English and an analysis of how English language textbooks treat negation, in order to consider whether textbook explanations of negation could better exploit linguistic insights into negation. We focus on the English negative polarity item any, whose distribution is contingent on negation, whether through the explicit negator not or through lexical semantic negators (e.g. hardly). Our experiment compares Chinese-speaking learners with existing data from Arabic-speaking learners, finding lower accuracy on any with lexical semantic negators in both groups. Our textbook analysis reveals an approach to negation that is limited to form, focusing on the explicit negator not without explicit treatment of other types of negation. We propose that emphasizing the meaning of negation, with explicit treatment of the full range of negative forms could facilitate more complete acquisition across a range of grammatical properties where negation plays a role.

KW - EFL

KW - generative SLA

KW - negation

KW - negative polarity

KW - textbook explanations

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85053862021&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/1362168817740144

DO - 10.1177/1362168817740144

M3 - Article

SN - 1362-1688

VL - 23

SP - 218

EP - 236

JO - Language Teaching Research

JF - Language Teaching Research

IS - 2

ER -