Based on the previous studies, this thesis attempts to analyze Chinese English learners’ (Grad 5 and 6 in primary schools) acquisition of plural forms. A comparative study is going to be carried out to see whether pupils of different grades have the same tendency in the acquisition process.

3. Research method

3.1 Method of data collection

The participants consist of two classes of pupils from Grade 5 and 6 in Xuejun Primary School in Hangzhou city. The pupils have 3 English classes per week, 40 minutes in each class. They began to learn English in primary school from Grade 3 and they can understand the requirement in the tests and accomplish the questions on their own. The two groups of pupils will have two kinds of tests inpidually so within each group the participants nearly have the same learning condition, which can ensure the internal validity of this research.