2007 Cilt 20 Sayı 2

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When it does not fit into the schema
(Uludağ Üniversitesi, 2007) Can, Abdullah; Uludağ Üniversitesi/Eğitim Fakültesi/Eğitim Bilimleri Bölümü.
Second Language Acquisition research has indicated that English ergative verbs, a special sub-class of intransitives, pose acquisition problems for language learners and to some extent for native speakers as well. Studies on the topic have revealed that non-target passivisation of these verbs seems to be the most remarkable problem for learners from various mother language backgrounds. The ultimate cause of this unique interlanguage structure has always been within the concern of English language teaching. Considering the nature of the problem, which is language universal rather than language specific, and learners’ consistent tendency to the passive structure, this study tries to shed light on the cause of the problem in connection with the schema theory. Detailed review of the evidence presented by previous studies under the light of cognitive procedures of sentence production process shows that expected sentence structure with ergative verbs is not consistent with learners’ existing knowledge about the grammatical organization of prototypical sentence. Besides, the non-target passivized structure emerges as an alternative way that fits into their current or past knowledge.