Faculty Publications and Conference Presentations

This paper reports on two preliminary studies of L2 knowledge of the polarity item any. Any is ungrammatical in most declarative affirmative contexts, but it can be licensed exceptionally by negative implicature (*I said anything v. I regret that I said anything). The studies aim to shed light on what facilitates acquisition of the distribution of any, examining the roles of (i) negative evidence in the form of explicit instruction, and (ii) L1 transfer. Initial findings are that L1 transfer facilitates acquisition of where any is ungrammatical. However, learners failed to acquire the exceptional licensing of any by negative implicature, regardless of L1 and instruction. Proposals for further collaborative research with language educators are put forward.

教育改革是一个非常复杂并涉及异常多因素的过程。假如勉强作简单的分析：它可以从不同的层次、对象和学问出发作了解。不同层次可包括社会制度、学校、课室、个人；不同对象可包括不同层次的政策制定者、政策执行者、校长、教师和学生；不同的学问可包括教育哲学、教育经济学、教育社会学、教育心理学、教育行政学、课程学、学校改进学等。