Use of That-Clauses After Reporting Verbs in Asian Learners’ Speech and Writing: Frequency, Verb Type, and That-Omission

Abstract

That-clauses after reporting verbs (VTHAT) are widely used in L2 and L1 English. Previous studies have examined their frequency, common reporting verbs, and omission of the complementizer, but how varied learners use VTHAT in their writing and speech and how they differ from native speakers in usage of VTHAT has not been wholly elucidated. Therefore, using the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE), we compared the uses of VTHAT by six groups of Asian learners of English (ALE) at different L2 proficiency levels and English native speakers (ENS). Our analyses have revealed that ALE use VTHAT less often than ENS, omit the complementizer more often both in speech and writing, and tend to use reporting verbs such as “think,” “believe,” “agree,” and “know.”