Cowan (2010: 411) observed that Korean speakers of English often ungrammatically create passive phrases out of ergative verbs. Ergative verbs are useful in everyday speech but their usage taught in a classroom setting appears to be a mere byproduct of over-passivation. This is because the over-passivation of ergative verbs is learned along the same line as passive structures. Korean students therefore are led to think that ergative verbs should be used in a passive form. Most perceive the process of turning ergative verbs into passive form as difficult. But to native speakers, ergative verbs sound more natural in the active form used with the object. There is no need to complicate the process by turning the phrase into a passive one. Korean students, however, do not recognize such a difference.
This paper researches effective teaching methods by reviewing the activity of ergative verbs, their patterns, and forming process as well as the related syntax structures. Analysis of Korean middle and high school textbooks and American elementary school textbooks, revealed that ergative verbs appear most frequently in lower-level textbooks and less so in higher-level ones. In addition, American textbooks employed a larger variety of ergative verbs.
As in the aforementioned findings, ergative verbs have lower frequency in textbooks, potentially causing learners or instructors to think less importantly of constructions with ergative verbs. Because EFL learners have less exposure to ergative verb structures, however, the area demands more attention from the instructor. More practice and education are needed also because EFL learners tend to commit the error of using ergative verbs passively.