Ho Ki. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-145). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Background of the research --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1 --- Some principles of syntax --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- The anatomy of the ergative construction in English --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Properties of the ergative construction --- p.8 / Chapter 2.3 --- The anatomy of the passive construction in English --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Properties of the passive construction --- p.11 / Chapter 2.4 --- Problems in learning the ergative construction --- p.12 / Chapter 2.5 --- Different approaches to the learning of English ergative construction --- p.16 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- Differences in L1 and L2 acquisition --- p.16 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- The Subset Principle and the learning of ergative construction --- p.19 / Chapter 2.5.3 --- The role of negative evidence in L2 acquisition --- p.20 / Chapter 2.6 --- Some theoretical issues in SLA --- p.22 / Chapter 2.6.1 --- Different kinds of knowledge in SLA --- p.23 / Chapter 2.6.2 --- """Focus on form"" VS ""Focus on forms"" type of instruction in SLA" --- p.25 / Chapter 2.6.3 --- The role of awareness in SLA --- p.26 / Chapter 2.6.4 --- The role of input in SLA --- p.27 / Chapter 2.6.5 --- The role of output in SLA --- p.32 / Chapter 2.7 --- Issues under investigation --- p.34 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Methodology --- p.37 / Chapter 3.1 --- Subjects --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2 --- Experimental Design --- p.38 / Chapter 3.3 --- Research instruments --- p.44 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Formal grammar teaching materials --- p.45 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- The interpretation task --- p.46 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- The production task --- p.49 / Chapter 3.3.4 --- The grammaticality judgement task --- p.50 / Chapter 3.3.4.1 --- The grammaticality judgement task in the pretest --- p.51 / Chapter 3.3.4.2 --- The grammaticality judgement task in the posttests --- p.54 / Chapter 3.3.5 --- Free production task --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4 --- Scoring Method --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- The grammaticality judgement task --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- The interpretation task and production task --- p.59 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- The free production task --- p.59 / Chapter 3.5 --- Statistical procedures --- p.60 / Chapter 3.6 --- Presentation of results --- p.62 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Results: Key findings --- p.64 / Chapter 4.1 --- Overall results --- p.66 / Chapter 4.2 --- Results by subtype of ergative --- p.69 / Chapter 4.3 --- Detailed results of grammaticality judgement task --- p.73 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Detailed results of the interpretation task groups (with grammar lesson) --- p.74 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Detailed results of the interpretation task group (with grammar lesson) compared with the mere interpretation task group --- p.79 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Detailed results of the production task groups --- p.81 / Chapter 4.3.4 --- Detailed results of the interpretation task group compared with the production task group --- p.84 / Chapter 4.4 --- Analysis of key findings of the grammaticality judgement tests --- p.86 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Differences between the treatment groups (the interpretation task group) and the other groups (the no task group and the control group) --- p.86 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Differences between the interpretation task group and the mere interpretation task group in the posttest --- p.88 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Differences between the interpretation task group and the production task group in the second posttest --- p.89 / Chapter 4.5 --- Free production task results --- p.89 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- The free production task results of the interpretation task groups and the production task group --- p.90 / Chapter 4.5.2 --- The free production task results of the interpretation task group (with grammar instruction) compared with the production task group --- p.92 / Chapter 4.6 --- Summary --- p.92 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Results: Further observations --- p.95 / Chapter 5.1 --- The discrepancy in students' response towards the verbs which belong to the same verb category --- p.95 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Paired ergatives (Judgement data) --- p.96 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Paired ergatives (Error analysis) --- p.97 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Unpaired ergatives (Judgement data) --- p.98 / Chapter 5.1.4 --- Unpaired ergatives (Error analysis) --- p.100 / Chapter 5.2 --- Failure of the students in learning the unpaired ergatives --- p.102 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Judgement data for unpaired ergatives --- p.102 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Error analysis for unpaired ergatives --- p.104 / Chapter 5.3 --- The treatment effects in School A and School B --- p.107 / Chapter 5.4 --- Results of the interpretation task and the production task --- p.111 / Chapter 5.5 --- Summary --- p.113 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Discussion --- p.115 / Chapter 6.1 --- The effect of the interpretation task (with grammar instruction) vs. the interpretation task (without grammar instruction) --- p.117 / Chapter 6.2 --- The effect of the production task --- p.119 / Chapter 6.3 --- The effect of interpretation task vs. the production task --- p.121 / Chapter 6.3.1 --- Students' performance in the grammaticality judgement task in the pretest-posttest comparisons --- p.121 / Chapter 6.3.2 --- Students' performance in the free production task in the posttest --- p.126 / Chapter 6.3.3 --- The role of the interpretation task in L2 acquisition --- p.128 / Chapter 6.4 --- Further observations --- p.131 / Chapter 6.4.1 --- Inconsistency of grammaticality judgement within a verb category --- p.131 / Chapter 6.4.2 --- The discrepancy in the performance of students in School A and School B --- p.132 / Chapter 6.4.3 --- The degree of difficulty of interpretation task VS. production task --- p.135 / Chapter 6.5 --- Limitations of the present study --- p.137 / Chapter 6.6 --- Summary of findings --- p.138 / Chapter 6.7 --- Conclusion --- p.139 / References --- p.141 / Appendix I Results tables for Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 --- p.1 / Appendix II The interpretation task --- p.12 / Appendix III The production task --- p.19 / Appendix IV Teaching material --- p.25 / Appendix V The grammaticality judgement task --- p.29 / Appendix VI The free production task --- p.32 / Appendix VII Results tables --- p.35 / Appendix VIII Mean scores of students in the grammaticality judgement tasks --- p.55