Chinese Undergraduate Students’ Acquisition of Verb Classes and Their Features: Using the Rasch Model

The development of the second language (L2) learners’ competence in verb classes and their features is one of the most challenging aspects of language acquisition. It is strongly influenced by instruction, L1 lexical aspects, and L2 learners’ semantic cognition. This study examined the second language acquisition difficulty of the semantic aspect of six verb classes and four pairs of features within the role and reference grammar (RRG) framework based on L2 English learners’ perceptions. A total of 265 Chinese undergraduate students majoring in English participated in this study and responded to a 30-item test that required them to determine the acceptability of sentences concerning verb classes and their features. Utilizing the Rasch model, this study established an L2 English difficulty hierarchy based on lexical aspect acquisition, that is, ranging from very easy to very difficult along a continuum. The findings revealed that participants were proficient at verb classes with the features of [+dynamic] and [−punctual] and had difficulty with those with the properties of [−dynamic] and [+punctual]. This study enriches our understanding of cross-linguistic influences and the complex structures of semantic cognition in the L2 acquisition difficulty of verb classes and their semantic features. The implications for English semantic instruction are discussed; in particular, the semantic meanings of six verb classes and their features should be taught through consciousness-raising (CR) tasks as part of grammar instruction.