Abstract：Abstract: Based on the learner corpus data, this paper analyzes Chinese learners’ use of factual shell nouns across different stages within the framework of collostruction theory, focusing on the developmental features of their collostruction knowledge. The evidence indicates that Chinese learners’ collostruction knowledge has developed as their learning stage upgrades. However, they have demonstrated an inadequate command of the semantic features and discourse functions of shell nouns. Compared with native speakers, they are inapt at utilizing the “shell-content complex” to elaborate specific information contained in the shell nouns, so their output is weak in cohesiveness and complexity and they tend to underuse or misuse certain collostructions. These developmental features are believed to be attributed mainly to factors of learners’ inadequate knowledge of shell nouns and conceptual transfer.
