Volume 5, Issue 2 -

The goal of this study is to examine the processing of Chinese relative clauses (RCs) through a self-paced reading task and to determine whether the learning environment plays a role in the second-language (L2) acquisition of RCs. We investigated two types of RCs (subject vs. object RCs) along with two positions in which a RC can occur (modifying a matrix subject noun phrase [NP] vs. a matrix object NP). Eighteen native speakers of Chinese and twenty-one L2 learners at an intermediate proficiency level participated in the study. Ten learners were students learning Chinese in the US (i. e., in a foreign-language context), whereas the other eleven learners were students studying Chinese in China (i. e., in a study-abroad context). The comprehension of sentences containing a RC and reading times (RTs) on the RC and the head noun (the segment immediately following the RC) were analyzed. The results show distinct patterns for the learners and the native speakers. The accuracy data reveals that the L2 learners in China performed better than the L2 learners in the US. Additionally, the L2 learners in China exhibited a processing speed advantage to the L2 learners in the US. The RT data highlighted important asymmetries in the L2 learners in the US and the native speakers, while the results were flat for the L2 learners in China. Specifically, L2 learners in the US took longer to read object RCs than subject RCs while the opposite pattern was obtained for the L1 speakers. Moreover, matrix-object-modifying RCs revealed shorter RTs than matrix-subject-modifying RCs for L2 learners in the US, whereas the opposite pattern was found for the L1 speakers. These findings are discussed in light of the Linear Distance Theory and the Structural Distance Theory (e. g., O’Grady 1997. Syntactic development . Chicago: University of Chicago Press). Overall, these results seem to provide support to the assumption that changes in syntactic processing happen as a result of exposure to the language environment (Cuetos et al. 1996. Parsing in different languages. In Manuel Carreias, Jose E. Garcia-Albea & Nuria Sebastien-Galles (eds.), Language processing in Spanish , 145–187. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum; Frenck–Mestre 2002. An on-line look at sentence processing in the second language. In Roberto Heredia & Jeanette Altarriba (eds.), Bilingual sentence processing , 217–236. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers.).

This article examines the use of situation-bound utterances ( qíngjìng zhuānyòngyǔ 情境专用语) in five mainstream Chinese foreign language textbooks in order to survey, categorize, and discuss their use therein. Kecskes (2000a. A cognitive-pragmatic approach to situation-bound utterances. Journal of Pragmatics 32(5). 605–625) defined Situation-bound utterances (hereafter SBUs) as “highly conventionalized, prefabricated pragmatic units whose occurrences are tied to standardized communicative situations” (2000a: 606). SBUs are prevalent in Modern Chinese and in several ways represent Chinese culture. Many Chinese foreign language textbooks, however, underestimate the importance of SBUs. Based on information culled from five textbooks ( Integrated Chinese 中文听说读写, First Step 中文起步, Basic Spoken Chinese 基础中文：听与说, Practical Audio-Visual Chinese 实用视听华语, and New Practical Chinese Reader 新实用汉语) a Chinese SBUs database has been generated. One hundred seventy-eight Chinese SBUs are identified, and they are categorized into ten speech act categories. Among these, the three most common speech acts are: (1) greetings/daily conversation, (2) polite request, and (3) inquiry. These speech acts represent and reflect the concept and practice of politeness in Chinese culture. Basic Spoken Chinese provides the most detailed and clearest explanations of SBUs, and explains the most appropriate contexts for use of SBUs. As for repeated use of SBUs, both Basic Spoken Chinese and Integrated Chinese outperformed the other textbooks. None of the textbooks examined, however, adequately explain the use and importance of SBUs in Modern Chinese. The purpose of this study is to fill this lacuna.

This study compared language learning strategies used by Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners in Australia and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in China through Oxford’s (1990. Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know . Boston: Heinle and Heinle.) Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL) questionnaire survey. Two cohorts of learners, namely Australian CFL learners (N=101) and Chinese EFL learners (N=100), participated in this study. It was found that the most frequently used strategies by the Chinese EFL learners were compensation strategies and the least frequently used strategies were memory strategies while the most frequently used strategies by the Australian CFL learners were social strategies and the least frequently used strategies were affective strategies. Australian female learners used slightly more strategies than male learners, but no difference was found in the strategies used by the Chinese EFL male and female learners. No significant difference was found either in the strategies used by learners of different grade levels, regardless of whether they were Chinese EFL or Australian CFL learners. Scores of some individual categories significantly differed between the three levels of the Australian CFL learners and the four levels of the Chinese EFL learners. In general the Chinese EFL learners used more strategies when compared with those used by the Australian CFL learners. Pedagogical implications of the findings were also discussed. This study contributes to the research in language learning strategies in that it considers the typological distance between learners’ L1 and the target language for the first time. It also has clarified the seemingly inconsistent findings in the literature in terms of memory strategies use by Asian learners (Chinese learners in this case): when compared with other categories of strategies, memory strategies were used the least frequently by the Chinese EFL learners; when compared with learners from other cultural backgrounds such as the Australian or American, the Chinese EFL learners used memory strategies more frequently.

提要 汉语语法的特点是形态少，语法编码主要依靠语序和虚词。本文在强调语序之重要性的基础上，指出决定语序的两个最基本的动因：空间性的 “语义距离象似性” 和时间性、语用性的 “可别度领先象似性”，并对这两个动因的种种引申用法做了初步梳理。这两个动因的广泛存在表明，人类最基本的两个感知范畴，空间感知和时间感知，在语言机制中也发挥了决定性作用。

提要 本文以 735 个高频动词为对象考察现代汉语动词句完句形式。通过对动词句位 “直接成句” 和动词句位 “完句形式成句” 两种情况的考察，得出 “动词句位成句规则”：自足小句可分为过程句和非过程句。当句法配置对句位中除动词外的其他成分无特殊要求时，非过程句的实现主要决定于动词的意志类型：由自主动词和非自主属性动词形成的句位可直接成句；由非自主变化动词形成的句位不能直接成句。过程句的实现主要决定于动词内部过程结构：无论自主动词、非自主属性动词还是非自主变化动词，其句位均不能直接成句，它们都需要使用完句形式；使用什么样的完句形式则取决于动词内部过程结构。文章还对由非自主属性动词和自主动词形成的非过程句分别进行了分类考察并讨论了七种完句形式的作用范围。

提要 本文的目的是为了使学生能够更快更好地提高阅读理解的能力，能够利用好汉越词来理解汉语词语。论文考察了汉越词对越南学生在阅读汉语对越南学生的帮助和常常由此引起的偏误，并得出了影响的原因，进而针对这些问题提出了一些教学对策。论文界定了有关汉越词的一些概念，进而在《成语辨析词典》、《汉语俗语词典》、《汉语歇后语辞典》中，随机抽样成语、俗语、歇后语作为引例进行分析。同时，也从《汉语水平词汇与汉字等级大纲》里随机抽样词语来当例句而进行研究和分析汉语词语与汉越词在语义、篇章方面的对应关系。然后，考察了越南学生在阅读汉语过程中，汉越词对汉语词语理解的帮助以及存在的偏误。论文对那些帮助和偏误产生的原因进行了具体分析，并针对这些原因提出具体的教学对策。本文还对利用汉越词在阅读汉语教学以及教材编写方面提出一些建议。希望通过本文的研究和分析可以提高对越南学生的汉语阅读教学效果，提高越南学生学习阅读的效率。本文的研究结论在汉语阅读教学工作中，无论是在课堂教学还是教材编写方面，都会有一定的参考价值。