Korean EFL Learners’ Use of Unless-clauses

This paper aims to examine how Korean EFL learners use unless-clauses in terms of their position and boundness related to main clauses. Based on Chafe (1984), unless-clauses are divided into four types: Type A (preposed bound), Type B (postposed bound), Type C (preposed free), and Type D (postposed free). The previous studies have shown that English native speakers tend to postpose unless-clauses and that Type B is the most typical unless-clauses. In this study, 93 unless-clauses in 57 college students’ English writings were analysed based on the four types. The results showed that 61 unless-clauses (65.59%) are used as Type C and that 25 unless-clauses (26.88%) are used as Type B. Native speakers used 66(66%) Type B unless-clauses in written English in Park (2020). This result may represent that L1 transfer had effects on learners’ use of unless-clauses because conditional clauses precede main clauses in Korean. Based on the results, this study suggests that it is required to teach the use of Type B (postposed bound) unless-clauses for Korean EFL learners.