The effectiveness of the provision of input on verb patterns to native Chinese undergraduates

The study’s aim was to determine if, as has been widely claimed, including for native Mandarin speakers, there should be input on the grammatical issue of verb patterns in the language classroom to prevent errors being generated when using this potentially problematic feature. Consequently, native Chinese undergraduate learners were provided with extensive supplementary input to promote linguistic competence and communicative effectiveness. This took the form of an authentic text, which included numerous examples of the target language, to illustrate how language operates in the real world, and how grammar works at the textual level, to maximise the probability of acquisition taking place. In the input, elicitation was used to promote the internalisation and retention of the language, and, therefore, accurate future use, with production, an integral stage, taking the form of a peer interaction task. The result was an ability to produce written language with greater accuracy than peers who had not received such input, including learners who had received language input for an academic year longer. Consequently, to improve learners’ accuracy, the provision of input on this grammatical feature is recommended.