Abstract
The present study aims to inquire current linguistic approaches to the Tough Construction (TC) and examine how Korean EFL learners comprehend the TCs. Taking interdisciplinary approach to the TCs, the present study investigates how the Korean EFL learners acquire the TCs and whether their comprehension develops as a result of English proficiency development. Since Korean EFL learners at the age of 13 or 14 are likely to be first exposed to TCs according to the national curricula, 180 middle school students participated in this study. The findings indicate that Korean learners of English with low proficiency demonstrate two interpretations of the TC whereas learners with high proficiency performs in a target-like way only. The findings provide some useful pedagogical implications for teaching and learning English in general and specific structures in particular for English learners of different language proficiency levels. (Jijok Middle School, Kongju National University)
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