The Acquisition Process of Yes/No-questions by ESL Learners and Its Pedagogical Implications

The Acquisition Process of Yes/No-questions by ESL Learners and Its Pedagogical Implications

This study examined ESL students' yes/no-question development with reference to do/be confusion phenomenon prevalently displayed in Lee (2002)'s study. Sixteen ESL students' data revealed that they experienced the do/be confusion stage as Korean EFL students did. There was no difference among various Ll groups. The results indicated that do/be confusion was a developmental phenomenon of English question formation rather than Ll influence. The complicated characteristics of English do -support questions might cause the confusion between do and be. However, the analysis showed the considerable difference between younger group and older group in the percentage of do/be confusion. The older group showed even higher frequency of do/be confusion than the younger group. The difference was explained by the students' language learning strategies. Two practical implications were presented.