Volume 5, Issue 1 -

Although the Aspect Hypothesis has been tested in many European languages, it has not been investigated extensively in Chinese. The present study tested the Aspect Hypothesis in relation to two predictions: the Association Prediction, which predicts that perfective aspect (in Chinese, –le ) will be associated with telic verbs and progressive aspect ( zai ) with activity verbs, and the Developmental Prediction, which predicts that such associations will be stronger at early stages of development. The study employed a controlled experiment, which elicited learners’ judgments on perfective –le and progressive zai in obligatory, incorrect, and optional contexts. The results show that the Association Prediction is only partially supported and that the Developmental Prediction is not supported, in that higher-level learners associate lexical aspect more strongly with the grammatical aspect marker. The results are more consistent with the Default Past Tense Hypothesis (Salaberry 1999. The development of past tense verbal morphology in classroom L2 Spanish. Applied Linguistics 20. 151–178), which we propose to be extended to the Lexical Insensitivity Hypothesis.

Contrary to common belief, there is a place for grammar teaching in task-based language teaching (TBLT). It is still an unresolved debate, however, what the most effective timing of grammar teaching is around a task. Citing theory, some methodologists argue against grammar in the pre-task phase (e. g., Willis 1996. A framework for task-based learning . Harlow: Longman; Willis and Willis 2007. Doing task-based teaching . Oxford: Oxford University Press), while others argue for it (e. g., DeKeyser 1998. Beyond focus on form: Cognitive perspectives on learning and practicing second language grammar. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition , 42–63. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Lightbown 1998. What have we here? Some observations on the influence of instruction on L2 learning. In R. Phillipson, E. Kellerman, L. Selinker, M. Sharwood Smith & M. Swain (eds.), Foreign language pedagogy research: A commemorative volume for Claus Faerch , 197–212. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters and Nunan 2004. Task-based language teaching . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Still other methodologists have suggested that a pre-task grammar explanation renders TBLT more culturally appropriate in Confucian-heritage teaching contexts (e. g., Carless 2007. The suitability of task-based approaches for secondary schools: Perspectives from Hong Kong. Schools: Perspectives from Hong Kong. System 35. 595–608; Luk 2009. Preparing EFL students for communicative task performance: The nature and role of language knowledge. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching 19. 67–90). None of these claims have been tested empirically. The present paper attempts to contribute to that gap by reporting on a case study that took place in a Chinese as a foreign language classroom in the United States. We examined how a Chinese teacher’s grammar teaching in the pre- versus post-task phase differentially affected the task outcome, as well as the teacher’s and learners’ beliefs of which was most effective. One Chinese teacher and 12 learners participated in the study. Results showed that the task outcome was comprised of more language production, accuracy, and modified output, as well as 15 times more interactional turns, when the grammar was explained in the post -task phase. However, the teacher overwhelmingly valued a grammar explanation in the pre -task phase. Learners were equally divided. We discuss how the methodological timing of grammar shaped discourse differently for the pragmatic ends of tasks, and make suggestions for Chinese teachers new to TBLT.

This study examines the acquisition of Mandarin tones by American English speaking second language (L2) learners. Three types of tone sequences, namely, compatible tone sequences, conflicting tone sequences, and other tone sequences, were used. The analysis of tone errors in different tone sequences showed that, while learners seemed to have acquired the Tone 3 and its sandhi, they tended to over-apply the sandhi rule in inappropriate contexts and produced tone errors. More importantly, the low and rising tones, which are generally difficult for L2 learners to produce, were the most frequent tones produced to replace other tones. More specifically, the low tone errors tended to occur at the phrase-medial position, while the rising tone errors tended to occur at the phrase-initial position. The low and rising tone errors were attributed to the difficulty in quickly changing tone targets and F0 direction in tone production, which is the product of the superimposition of English prosody.

A key index to learners’ proficiency level of a second language, the comprehension speed of sentences, is a pivotal factor that determines the choice of teaching method which may suit the second language learners in their learning of specialty courses. From the representation of inner knowledge of a second language and the character of its process, some researchers describe a quickening tendency of second language process speed during the acquisition of the language. With respect to the reason why the change of process speed occurs, however, researchers have not explained the difference between a learner’s mother tongue and second language, which may be important in practice. This study explores increasing speed of foreign students’ comprehension of Chinese sentences from the perspective of inhibition of processing. In this experiment, there are four groups of subjects, twenty in each and all paid for their participation. Three groups are native English, Japanese and Korean speakers, and the other group is Mandarin Chinese speakers selected as comparison. Ten constructions of Chinese sentences are chosen as the test materials, including three subject-verb-object constructions ( zhu dong bin ju ), subject-verb-agent construction ( shi bin ju ), two topic-comment constructions, two ba constructions, bei construction, and bei-ba compound construction. The six native Mandarin Chinese speakers, who do not actually participate in the experiment, score all the sentences in the experiment in terms of grammaticality. All the sentences, which are programmed, are presented one by one at random on the screen of a Pentium IV laptop, each followed by three possible answers about the actor of the action described in the sentence. The subjects should choose one answer among the three as accurately and quickly as possible by pressing a certain key on the keyboard. There are some sentences for pretesting before the formal experiment. In the formal experiment, reaction time and subject’s answer of each sentence are self-recorded. Reaction time and percent correct for each construction of Chinese sentences is calculated after the experiment. The post hoc multiple comparison tests are performed for the reaction time of each construction of Chinese sentences separately. SPSS analysis shows that: (1) there is a highly significant difference (P≈0.000﹤0.001) between all the groups of foreign students and the native Chinese speakers in the comprehension of all ten constructions of Chinese sentences except one of the topic-comment constructions ( zhu ling ju ) (P=0.018). (2) there is a significant difference (P﹤0.05) between the native English speakers and the native Japanese or Korean speakers in comprehending seven of the ten constructions of Chinese sentences. Compared the comprehension speed of sentences of foreign students when their Chinese knowledge is at the intermediate level with the primary level, the conclusions of this research are as follows: Firstly, the foreign students require to inhibit less and less inapposite knowledge in comprehending Chinese sentences with their improvement in Chinese knowledge, but they are less skilled than the Chinese students even if their Chinese knowledge is at the intermediate level; there is significant difference between the foreign students and the Chinese students. These results suggest that, even if foreign students’ Chinese ability reaches the intermediate level, they also require a separate organization to study. The effect would not be good if they were put together with native Chinese students to study professional courses. Secondly, when the foreign students are at the intermediate level of Chinese knowledge, their inhibition of inapposite knowledge is also related to their native languages in different typologies; there is significant difference between the students whose native language is English and those whose native languages are Japanese and Korean. But the difference between the two different categories students are diminished when their Chinese knowledge is at the intermediate level. These results suggest that, when the foreign students have a high level of Chinese, they could be organized to teach according to their actual differences, teaching content should be targeted for specific learners. The teacher should strengthen the grammar rules which are difficult for specific learners, increase the frequency of language input and practice.

This study mainly investigated cognitive methods adopted by Malay learners who were taking Chinese proficiency courses at the University of Putra Malaysia. The respondents were learners who came from an alphabetic writing background. The findings of this study revealed that three cognitive methods were adopted by these respondents to recognize and retrieve the meanings of Chinese characters. The first method was to use phonetic symbols to write down the pronunciations of Chinese characters in order to comprehend the meanings of the characters. The respondents needed to pass through the intermediary stage of the inner language to activate the meanings of the characters. This response is a normal psychological reaction from the Chinese language learners who come from an alphabetic writing background. For the second method, the respondents used the vocabulary of their mother tongue to translate the meanings of Chinese characters. The findings showed that they depended on their mother tongue when comprehending the meanings of Chinese characters. Some respondents needed to search for the equivalent vocabulary in their mother tongue to translate the meanings of Chinese characters before they could retrieve the accurate meanings of the characters. This reaction shows that the method of acquisition of the mother tongue can affect the cognition ability of learners when comprehending the meanings of Chinese characters and during the reading process of Chinese texts. The third method concerned some respondents who could master Chinese characters and obtain a high level of Chinese proficiency. They were able to retrieve the meanings of Chinese characters directly from Chinese orthography without depending on the stimulus of the inner language or translation of the mother tongue to decode the meanings of the characters. The results of the Chinese comprehension test revealed that the respondents who obtained a high level of Chinese proficiency were not hindered by the difficulties in recognizing and comprehending the meanings of the Chinese characters. Their scores in the comprehension test were the highest. The feedback from the questionnaire used showed that some respondents did not necessarily have to rely on the stimulus of the inner language as the intermediary stage to activate the meanings of Chinese characters. Most of the respondents preferred to use the vocabulary of their mother tongue to help them to retrieve the meanings of the characters. Regarding the stimulus of the inner language or the translation of the mother tongue for decoding, both these methods showed that there was interference from the mother tongue’s orthography of the respondents. However, the results of the comprehension test revealed that when the respondents were familiar with Chinese characters, they could abandon both the methods mentioned when retrieving the meanings of the characters. Finally, this study suggests some instructional practices for recognizing Chinese characters to assist Chinese language learners from the alphabetic writing background to better recognize the characteristics of Chinese orthography. These practices emphasize learning activities for standard Chinese language orthography. Emphasis also is given to the knowledge relating to the features and characteristics of Chinese characters from an ideogram language. Further stress is on the effective methods to retrieve the meanings directly from Chinese characters.

提要 本文在现有汉语和修纳语词汇研究成果的基础上，对汉语和修纳语词汇的词义进行了比较分析。本文以 Nida 的翻译对等理论为基础，将《SHONA - CHINESE, CHINESE - SHONA DICTIONARY with English glosses》作为案例，对汉语和修纳语对应词词义关系进行了对比。调查的结果显示，汉语和修纳语词汇当中存在着不对应关系现象。根据这两种语言的非对应词词义关系情况，可以预测：以修纳语作为母语的学生学习汉语时出现词汇偏误的可能性比较高。