The acquisition of Mandarin dative constructions by L2 and heritage learners

Abstract This study examines the acquisition of Mandarin dative constructions by second language (L2) and heritage learners of Mandarin Chinese. Three groups of speakers (L2, heritage, and native, 20 in each group) participated in this study by completing a questionnaire consisting of sentence translation and grammaticality judgment tasks on Mandarin dative constructions. In both tasks, native speakers outperformed the heritage learners, who in turn outperformed the L2 learners. The variance of performance in the two tasks across groups can be attributed to several factors, including linguistic universal, first language (L1) transfer, and individual difference. This study shows that L2 acquisition is a complex system and no single factor can fully explain or predict L2 learning outcomes. The findings of this study also have important pedagogical implications for L2 Chinese teaching.