한국 영어학습자들의 before절과 after절의 문장 내 위치에 대한 분석

Abstract

This paper examines how Korean EFL learners position temporal before-clauses and after-clauses in relation to main clauses in English sentences. The previous studies show that English native speakers tend to postpose before-clauses and after-clauses and that they prepose after-clauses denoting a prior event more often than before-clauses in line with the principle of iconicity. In this study, 231 before- and after-clauses in 65 college students’ English writings were analysed in terms of clause ordering. The results showed that 135 before- and after-clauses (58.4%) preceded the main clause while 96 (41.6%) followed the main clause. This suggests that Korean EFL learners tend to prepose these two temporal clauses, which can be interpreted to be the effect of L1 transfer. Sixty-eight before-clauses (56.2%) preceded the main clause in a total of 121 before-clauses, and 67 after-clauses (60.9%) preceded the main clause in 110 after-clauses. This implies that Korean learners of English may apply the principle of iconicity to their use of before- and after-clauses.