Avoidance of the Use of English Participial Reduced Relative Clauses among L1 Thai Learners

Abstract

The research examined avoidance behavior; that is, the phenomenon where L2 learners avoid producing either a difficult L2 structure or a TL form which is non-existent in their L1 (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 2002). By semi-replicating Klienmann’s (1978) tests, the study aimed to determine whether L1 Thai learners would avoid producing the English participial reduced relative clause structure (PRRC). It was hypothesized that L1 Thai learners’ difficulty with the PRRCs which was caused by differences between their L1 and the L2 led them to underproduce the reduced adjectival clauses. The research participants, twenty Thai undergraduate students, were given a comprehension test to ensure their knowledge of the PRRC structure, followed by two indirect preference assessment tasks. Two tasks, i.e., a cloze test and a Thai-English translation test, were employed to investigate the participants’ preference between PRRCs and relative clauses (RCs). The results showed that the L1 Thai participants tended not to avoid the PRRC structure. It is assumed that three possible factors were involved: the L2 learners’ familiarity with the PRRC structure, simplicity of the reduced adjectival clause, and the nature of the tasks. The Factors of L2 Non-Avoidance Hypothesis (FNAH) was proposed to account for the subjects’ tendency of L2 non-avoidance. The essence of the FNAH is that, even though features in L1 and L2 are different or L2 features are non-existent in L1, it does not necessarily mean L2 avoidance will occur. Other factors have to be taken into consideration.