Markedness theory in the acquisition order of dative alternation by Turkish adult learners of English

in THESIS OF MASTER OF ARTS ABSTRACT MARKEDNESS IN THE ACQUISITION ORDER OF DATIVE ALTERNATION BY TURKISH ADULT LEARNERS OF ENGLISH Most recently the theory of Universal Grammar (UG) has led to important theoretical and empirical advances in the field of second language acquisition. Research within fields of second language acquisition suggests that UG plays an important role in adult language learning. Some researchers claim that if UG plays an important role in adult language learning, then much of our belief that forms the fundamental belief of foreign language learning should be reconsidered. To them, it is not enough to completely focus on teaching methodology, environmental factors and the learner's internal psychological states in order to specify the nature of the learning process. Nevertheless language faculty and its contributions to the learning process should be taken into account as well. This.study aims at searching this claim by studying dative alternation in English within the framework of the theory of markedness. This study tries to find an answer to the questions of which feature of dative alternation of English verbs (NP PP) or (NP NP) is unmarked for our Turkish students learning Engli-sh?, do Turkish learners of English learn (NP PP) form easily9, and do foreign language learners have more problem with the marked (NP NP) forms? To answer research questions, 70 subjects (advanced level) have been given two different data collection instruments. These included grammaticality judgment test and a production test. The findings suggest that the lexical feature (NP PP) is unmarked and the lexical feature (NP NP) is marked.