Chinese-speaking Learners Of English Research Articles

A referential/quantified asymmetry in the second language acquisition of English reflexives by Chinese-speaking learners

There has been considerable research that investigates whether reflexives in interlanguage grammars (ILGs) are constrained by Principle A of the Binding Theory. These earlier studies focused on the role of sentence type, including both finite and non-finite test sentences; they did not examine the role of antecedent type, namely distinguishing between quantified antecedents and referential antecedents in the test sentences. This study explores Chinese learners’ acquisition of the locality constraints on the binding of English reflexives from a developmental perspective, focusing both on the role of sentence type and the role of antecedent type. A story-based truth-value judgment task was administered to three proficiency levels of Chinese-speaking learners of English. It was found that the finite/non-finite asymmetry in the learners’ long-distance (LD) judgments was strongest for the intermediate participants but much weaker for the beginners and advanced participants; the referential/ quantified asymmetry in the learners’ LD judgments was strongest for the advanced participants but much weaker for the beginners and intermediate participants. Implications of these findings are discussed.

The potential influence of L1 (Chinese) on L2 (English) communication

A major issue in the field of L2 acquisition is the role that language learners’ L1 plays in the acquisition of an L2. This article shows some of the salient linguistic features of Chinese that may present communication challenges for Chinese-speaking learners of English as an additional language. Instructors’ awareness of such features will better inform their teaching and help learners develop effective communication strategies to counter potential interfering linguistic influences from the learners’ L1 during communication in English.

Forced-Choice Analysis of Segmental Production by Chinese-Accented English Speakers

This study describes the development of a minimal-pairs word list targeting phoneme contrasts that pose difficulty for Mandarin Chinese-speaking learners of English as a second language. The target phoneme inventory was compiled from analysis of phonetic transcriptions of about 800 mono- and polysyllabic English words with examples of all the vowels, diphthongs, and syllable onsets and codas of the language. The Mandarin-specific minimal-pairs list derived from the phonetic transcription analyses contains 190 items. Tape recordings were made of 8 Mandarin speakers reading a randomized version of target items from the minimal-pairs list and a set of 20 sentences. Listeners who were native American English speakers judged the words in a forced-choice task and wrote down what they understood of the sentences. Correlations between listener responses on the forced-choice task and the sentence intelligibility scores showed differences in the strength of the relationship with sentence intelligibility across categories of minimal-pairs contrasts. Multiple regression analysis found listener responses on the minimal-pairs task to account for approximately 76% of the variance in speakers' sentence intelligibility scores, showing that performance on the minimal pairs of the probe list does predict connected speech intelligibility. Analyses of individual contrasts indicate target phonemes most often misperceived by native listeners.

Relevance mapping: a study of second language learners’ processing of syntactically ambiguous sentences in English

Forty adult Chinese-speaking learners of English and 20 native speakers of American English participated in a study of second language learners’ interpretation of syntactically ambiguous sentences involving that-clauses that could potentially be interpreted as complements or as relative clause. Two sentence interpretation tasks suggest that the principle of relevance constrained the interpretations. The learners showed a preference for interpreting the that-clause as a complement in the first task, using fewer syntactic nodes because it involved less processing effort. In the second task, however, the learners showed a preference for the relative clause reading, suggesting that the procedural information encoded by preceding referential sentences had the effect of reducing the overall processing effort required and of guiding the second language (L2) learners towards the intended contextual effects.

Sex and language proficiency level in color‐naming performance: an ESL/EFL perspective

This study investigates sex and language proficiency differences in the color‐naming performance of Chinese‐speaking English learners at the university level. Data were obtained on color terms used by 40 females and 40 males in naming 40 color stimuli. An interest‐related variable, have demographic factors, and seven language proficiency indices were introduced as coefficients in this study. The results confirm the findings discovered in relevant studies: (1)women possessed a larger color vocabulary than men, (2)their color repertoire also displayed a wider aesthetic range, and (3)they were more accurate in color naming and left fewer colors unidentified. A significant correlation was found between learners’ color‐coding performance and some of their exam scores. Color‐related interests and demographic factors also correlated with subjects’ color‐coding ability. Women’s superiority in color‐naming ability is discussed in relation to physiological and cognitive research on color perception.

Learnability and the Lexicon: Theories and Second Language Acquisition Research

This book provides a critical review of recent theories of semantics-syntax correspondences and makes new proposals for constraints on semantic structure relevant to syntax. Data from several languages are presented which suggest that semantic structure in root morphemes is subject to parametric variation which has effect across a variety of verb classes, including locatives, unaccusatives, and psych verbs.The implications for first and second language acquisition are discussed. In particular, it is suggested that different parametric settings may lead to a learnability problem if adult learners do not retain access to sensitivity to underlying semantic organization and morphological differences between languages provided by Universal Grammar. An experiment with Chinese-speaking learners of English is presented which shows that learners initially transfer L1 semantic organization to the L2, but are able to retreat from overgeneralisations and achieve native-like grammars in this area. Suggestions for further research in this rapidly developing area of theory and acquisition research are also made.