本論文旨在以實驗方式探究台灣高中生對英文比較句的第二語言習得，進而探討母語負面干擾(L1 negative transfer)、第二語言複雜性(L2 complexity)、題型效應(methodological effect)、語言特性效應(property effect)及「有無生命」語意成分的效應(animacy effect)等議題。本實驗有三種題型: 翻譯題(translation)、文法是非判斷題(grammaticality judgment)、解讀題(interpretation)。共有八十七位台北市立中崙高中一年級的學生參與此實驗，這些學生依其在學期初之分班測驗分為高、中、低三級。
實驗結果顯示，受試者的母語及第二語言間的差異的確會對其英文比較句的習得造成負面的影響。此外，理解性題型(comprehension task) (即本文中的文法判斷題)較製造性題型(production task) (即本文中的翻譯題)簡單。而且受試者的英文程度愈高，其母語負面干擾或題型效應就愈不顯著。比較句的語言特性中，與向度相關的限制(constraints on dimension)或空詞(empty categories)相比，詞序(word order)是比較容易習得的特性。本實驗也發現「有無生命」(animacy)的語意成分是影響學習者對英文比較句主詞或受詞解讀接受程度的關鍵因素。

This thesis aims to explore Chinese senior high school students’ acquisition of the English comparative constructions by conducting an experiment with three tasks, namely the translation task, the grammaticality judgment task and the interpretation task. The experiment was designed to investigate issues in L1 negative transfer, L2 complexity, task effect, property effect, and animacy effect. Eighty-seven first-year senior high students in Zhong-Lun Senior High School in Taipei City were asked to participate in the experiment. They were generally grouped into three levels (i.e., high, mid, and low) based on their scores on an English placement test given by the school.
The results showed that the differences between the subjects’ native and target languages indeed resulted in L1 negative transfer. With respect to methodological effects, the comprehension task (i.e., the grammaticality judgment task) was found to be easier than the production task (i.e., the translation task). In addition, it has been found that when the L2 learners have reached a relatively high level of proficiency in English, less L1 transfer and methodological effects on their performance would be found. Among the various linguistic properties examined in the present study, word order (or the head parameter) was found relatively easier to acquire than the constraints on dimension and empty categories. Moreover, animacy has been found to be a crucial factor in the L2 learners’ acceptability of subject or object readings for English comparative sentences.

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