Chinese Language Research Articles

“Saying ‘thank you’ or something more than lip service”: a variational analysis of the influence of gender and social status on responses to congratulations on Chinese WeChat

Abstract Existing studies on responses to congratulations to date have displayed a general culturally-bound finding that Chinese speakers prefer to take a detour approach. However, the effect of social constraints on response strategies have not received the attention it deserves. Drawing on a variational pragmatic approach, this study explores the constraints of gender and social status on the pragmatic variation of Chinese WeChat users’ responses to congratulations. Building upon an integrative data set of congratulatory interactions in actual online messages, the findings suggest that gender and social status overlap in complex ways, but with a clear tendency: both men and women significantly tend towards an acceptance strategy when responding to congratulations on WeChat, while social status influences the sub-strategies used in accepting congratulations across both male and female groups. The findings challenge previous stereotypes about Chinese language variation in responses to congratulations. The current results suggest that Chinese speakers have already made a transition from following the Modesty Maxim to using the Agreement Maxim, and have also incorporated the Obligation Maxim. Chinese speakers also consider rapport and reciprocity when responding to kind congratulatory remarks.

HSK TEST ANXIETY OF CHINESE LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Anxiety can affect the foreign language learning process negatively. Chinese language as one of the developed foreign languages in Indonesia faces this problem too. In the Chinese language, there is language testing called HSK or Hanyu Shuping Kaoshi. Test Anxiety is one of the students’ problems. Test anxiety in the Chinese language influence in student's learning process and achievement. This research aims to find and analyze students’ Chinese language test anxiety of HSK. The research method is descriptive quantitative and the procedure will be using a questionnaire that gives to the students—the anxiety measurement using Sarason TAS (Test Anxiety Scale). The result is anxiety level belongs to TAS moderate level with data mean 20, 43 points.

Interactivity, humanness, and trust: a psychological approach to AI chatbot adoption in e-commerce

This study aims to investigate the impact of interactivity and perceived humanness on trust toward AI chatbots in the e-commerce setting. Moreover, this study also aims to examine the mediation effect of trust toward AI chatbots in the relationship between interactivity and intention to adopt AI chatbots for e-commerce as well as in the relationship between perceived humanness and intention to adopt chatbots for e-commerce. This study used a time lag approach to collect the data from 343 customers from the southern region of China. The data were collected online through a questionnaire designed in Chinese language using a survey firm. The findings of this study indicated that there is a significant impact of interactivity and humanness on the trust toward chatbots. Moreover, the findings of this study indicated that there is a significant mediating effect of trust toward chatbots in the relationships of interactivity and perceived humanness to adopt chatbots for e-commerce. In addition, this study found a significant moderating influence on the perceived enjoyment of using chatbots in e-commerce settings. This study provides a unique perspective of expectation-confirmation theory for adopting emerging technologies for online shopping and also provides insights for designers and business firms to develop businesses to facilitate the AI chatbot feature for e-commerce.

Chinese Folk Songs Can Facilitate Chinese Language Learning - A Pilot Study.

While previous research has demonstrated the beneficial role of pop music in foreign language learning, there is a lack of studies exploring the potential impact of Chinese folk songs on Mandarin language acquisition. This study aimed to investigate whether a curriculum based on Chinese folk songs enhances the outcomes of Mandarin Chinese learning in foreign speakers. International students in a university in Beijing who were attending regular Mandarin courses were allocated into two groups: the group receiving an additional Chinese folk song-based curriculum (intervention) and the group not (control). Mandarin proficiency after one and two semesters between the two groups was assessed using the Chinese Proficiency Test (i.e., Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, HSK) by the Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) analyses. 16 international students were analysed (intervention: 8; control: 8). After adjusting for time, the intervention group showed a significantly higher HSK score in listening section (adjusted β = 7.86, p = 0.015) than that of the control group. In conclusions, Chinese folk song-based curriculum has the potential to enhance Mandarin listening among foreign speakers.

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Chinese version of the Trauma Resiliency Scale (tRS-18)

BackgroundTrauma is a prevalent issue in public health, where individuals who experience physical injuries are also at risk of compromised mental health. Psychological resilience is considered a positive indicator that can predict the prognosis of trauma patients throughout their traumatic experiences. Currently, there is a lack of tools in China for measuring the psychological resilience of trauma patients. The aim of this study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt the Trauma Resiliency Scale (tRS-18) into Chinese and to test its reliability and validity in China.MethodsThe Trauma Resiliency Scale (tRS-18) was translated into a Chinese version suitable for the Chinese language environment using the Brislin translation model. A convenience sampling method was used to select 588 trauma patients as study subjects. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, 14-day test-retest reliability, and split-half reliability. Validity was examined through the content validity index, structural validity, and convergent validity. Structural validity was specifically evaluated through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).ResultsThe total variance explained by the single-factor model in the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the Chinese version of the tRS-18 was 62.048%, and the factor loading of each item exceeded 0.4. The results of the CFA indicated that the model demonstrated a favorable fit index (X2/df = 1.620; RMSEA = 0.046; SRMR = 0.026; NFI = 0.945; CFI = 0.978; GFI = 0.927; TLI = 0.975; IFI = 0.978). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the reliability index was 0.963, the test-retest reliability was 0.970, and the split-half reliability was 0.964, which were all within the reference value range.ConclusionThe Chinese version of the tRS-18 has good validity and reliability and can be used as an assessment tool for trauma resilience in trauma patients.

Trish Morita-Mullaney: Lau v. Nichols and Chinese American Language Rights: The Sunrise and Sunset of Bilingual Education

Trish Morita-Mullaney: Lau v. Nichols and Chinese American Language Rights: The Sunrise and Sunset of Bilingual Education

Innovation and integration: Analysis of research hotspots and frontiers in "Chinese + vocational skills" education—based on bibliometric analysis visualized by citespace

The "Chinese + Vocational Skills" education is a new form of education merging international Chinese education with vocational training. This paradigm has emerged as a focal point in research on international Chinese language education. This article is aimed to effectively dissect the developmental patterns and prevailing research topics on "Chinese + Vocational Skills", by employing CiteSpace, a tool for visualizing scientific data, to analyze pertinent literature spanning the last decade (2013–2023). The analysis offers insights into the overall landscape and evolutionary trajectory of research in this field. The findings therefrom indicate the followings: (1) Research on "Chinese + Vocational Skills" exhibits certain interdisciplinary characteristics, with an overall trend of rapid growth in research literature, but a relatively small volume of high-quality core literature. (2) "International Chinese Language Education", "Vocational Education", "Chinese + Vocational Skills", and the "Belt and Road" are current research hotspots in this field. "Chinese +",Chinese for Specific Purpose, demand analysis, and vocational skills serve as important turning points for research on "Chinese + Vocational Skills". (3) Research topics related to "Chinese + Vocational Skills" mainly concentrate on four aspects: international Chinese language education, vocational education, talent cultivation, as well as regions and countries, yet disparities of research endeavors exist across these fields. (4) The research frontier of the field mainly focuses on international Chinese language education, "Chinese + Vocational Skills", international vocational education on Chinese language in vocational colleges, and internationalization of Chinese language. Addressing contemporary demands, research in "Chinese + Vocational Skills" needs to align with global economic trends, cater to the actual needs for talent with such skills, and further enhance understanding from various perspectives including educational models, national demands, and internationalization efforts, thus fortifying the capacity of "Chinese + Vocational Skills" education to serve the development of industries.

A Case Study of a Chinese English Language Learner: Effective English Language Learning Through Interaction

Abstract: This article examines the English learning process of Mei, a 20-year-old Chinese university student, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods. Qualitatively, semi-structured interviews and natural observations explored Mei's learning experiences and social language use. Quantitatively, her English proficiency was assessed through CEFR-standard language assessment tests. The study found that: 1) Mei demonstrated high cultural and linguistic sensitivity in social English, effectively using slang and humor; 2) While her vocabulary and syntax skills were sufficient for daily and academic conversations, her vocabulary depth was lacking in complex contexts, potentially due to native language interference. These findings have significant implications for second language acquisition teaching, highlighting the importance of cultural knowledge and suggesting personalized teaching methods to enhance learners' language communication and cultural understanding.

Role of attachment style, acculturation orientation, and social support in the acculturation of international students in China

Herein, we examined the impact of attachment style, acculturation orientation, and social support on psychological distress and sociocultural adaptation difficulties among international students in China. This study was based on an online survey that involved 229 international students [117 (51.05 %) Asians, 105 (45.46 %) Africans, 3 (1.74 %) Europeans, 1 (0.44 %) Oceanian, and 3 (1.74 %) from the Americas]. Our sample’s average [Standard Deviation (SD)] GHQ-12 and Sociocultural Adaptation Scale (SCAS) scores were 0.906 (0.477) and 2.240 (0.746), respectively. Furthermore, hierarchical regression analysis revealed that our predictors could account for 25.4 % and 14.3 % of the explained variance in international students’ psychological distress and sociocultural difficulties, respectively. In such instances, Chinese language proficiency correlated negatively with both psychological distress and sociocultural adaptation difficulties. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between attachment avoidance/anxiety and psychological distress, as well as between attachment anxiety and sociocultural adaptation difficulties. Moreover, heritage culture orientation and co-national support correlated negatively with psychological distress. Besides providing valuable insights for policymakers in education, our findings could also aid international students in quickly and effectively adapting to new environments.

Aesthetics and Creativity: A Preliminary Exploration of Modern Poetry Teaching in Primary School Chinese——Taking Ai Qing’s Teaching of “Green” as an Example

Among all literary works, the language of poetry is the most concise, unique, and timeless, and its expression of emotions is particularly rich. Learning poetry can enhance one’s ability to appreciate various literary works. The way to enhance the aesthetic understanding of poetry itself is closely related to quality education in Chinese language teaching. Undoubtedly, it is particularly important for classroom teaching to guide students in creating poetic scenarios, inspiring them to explore the artistic conception of poetry, and guiding them to appreciate the unique expression of poetry. Teaching students the general method of self-reading and self-understanding modern poetry can be seen as a way to make poetry teaching twice the result with half the effort. Based on this, this article takes Ai Qing’s “Green” as an example to explore the teaching path of modern poetry in primary school Chinese for reference.

Language learner well-being in heritage language learning: conceptualisation, measurement, and a pathway to flourishing

ABSTRACT This paper reports on the process of developing an original framework for conceptualising and measuring language learner well-being within the context of heritage language (HL) learning. Drawing on a quantitative validation study with 545 young Chinese heritage language (CHL) learners, aged 7–18, in the UK, this paper presents an empirically validated model alongside a self-report instrument designed to measure learner well-being. A comprehensive development and validation process yielded a 24-item Language Learner Well-being Scale, exhibiting robust psychometric properties, including face, content, construct validity, and internal reliability. Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses uncovered a four-factor model of language learner well-being – enjoyment, connectedness, meaning, and competence – which represent the key pillars of flourishing among CHL learners. This multi-dimensional model provides potential pathways through which flourishing can be actively promoted in HL learning, with implications that are applicable to wider second/foreign language learning contexts. By exploring what constitutes well-being and developing an effective measure, the study also sets the stage for meaningful interventions in the future to optimise students’ language learning experience.

The visual construction of the people’s country and the Chinese nation: political aesthetics in the Ethno-documentaries of New China

This paper discusses the political positioning of the people and the cultural image of the Chinese nation through the lens of the Social-historical Scientific Documentary Films of China’s ethnic minorities (hereafter referred to as “the Ethno-documentaries”) by restoring the problem to the site of the investigation of humanities and social sciences and the General Surveys on (Folk) Arts in the early years of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in the 1950s. Through detailed analysis of specific Ethno-documentary films, this paper explores how the social sciences conducted its “Social and Historical Investigation of China’s Ethnic Minorities” via the medium of film to convey the advanced social concepts and ideological work of the new regime through the historical narrative of art and politics. This study highlights three key points. First, the “Chinese nation” as a modern political concept dates its origins back to the 1920s with the emergence of the “National Heritage Reorganization Movement” and the “Doubting Antiquity School.” However, it was only through the medium of the Ethno-documentaries that this concept was visually and aurally represented in films for the first time, which draws our attention to the fact that the entry point for understanding modern China lies in discerning the relationship between culture and politics. Second, when discussing the relationship between culture and politics, this study juxtaposes the Ethno-documentaries and “art for workers-peasants-soldiers,” which developed during the same period. These two forms of art focus respectively on national history and the suffering of the lower classes of society, and it is this intertextual nature of the historical narrative that jointly anchors the cultural and historical view of New China. Lastly, historical view is the core of the humanities, social sciences, and art disciplines in New China. Previous studies have mainly attributed certain phenomena to the “politicization” or “pan-politicization” of a particular historical period due to disciplinary barriers and cultural trauma and have stopped discussing such topics in depth. In contrast, the significance of the political aesthetics in the Ethno-documentaries is to have transformed classical Chinese artistic language into a modern one to represent the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. It also raises a question of re-sinicization of many modern political issues that have persisted until now: How do today’s Chinese art works vividly depict the prosperity of this country and its hardworking and courageous people?

Maximizing students’ content and language development: The pedagogical potential of translanguaging in a Chinese immersion setting

BackgroundRecent studies highlight the benefits of translanguaging for emergent bi/multilinguals (EMLs), enhancing their understanding of academic content in a new language. Despite the growth of Chinese immersion programs in the U.S., research on translanguaging and its impact on teacher and student experiences in this context remains scarce. AimsThis study aims to explore how Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teachers implement pedagogical translanguaging to support students’ learning in academic content and language within a Chinese immersion context in the U.S., and to understand the perspectives of teachers and students on translanguaging. SampleParticipants were two Chinese CLIL teachers and six of their students from a Chinese immersion school in the U.S. MethodsUsing a participatory design research methodology that combines ethnographic methods with multimodal conversation analysis, we documented the use of pedagogical translanguaging and triangulated data from field notes, classroom artifacts, and interviews. ResultsFindings reveal teachers utilized diverse communicative resources and exercised translanguaging shifts to enhance students’ grasp of advanced vocabulary and academic concepts, facilitating complex idea articulation in Chinese. Both teachers and students valued these strategies for deepening subject understanding and supporting their learning of the Chinese language. ConclusionsThe study highlights the importance of continuous professional development for CLIL teachers to effectively implement pedagogical translanguaging, supporting students’ learning in an immersion setting.

Cross-Linguistic Phonetic Variation in Bilingual Speech: Cantonese /n/ > [l] Merger in Early Cantonese-English Bilinguals.

/n/ is merging with /l/ in Cantonese, as well as in several other Chinese languages. The Cantonese merger appears categorical, with /n/ becoming /l/ syllable-initially. This project aims to describe /n/ and /l/ in Cantonese and English speech from early Cantonese-English bilinguals to better understand the status of the merger in Cantonese and its potential for cross-linguistic mutual influence. We examine early bilinguals' (n = 34) speech using the Speech in Cantonese and English (SpiCE) corpus, focusing on pre-vocalic /n/ and /l/ onsets in both languages. Items were auditorily coded for their perceived category identity, and two acoustic measures anticipated to have the potential to differentiate /n/ and /l/ within and across languages were applied. In English, bilinguals maintained a clear contrast between /n/ and /l/ in the auditory coding and in acoustic measurements. In Cantonese, however, there were higher rates of [l] for /n/ items, in line with the merger, and [n] for /l/ items, indicating hypercorrection of the pattern. Across languages, bilinguals produced language-specific /l/s, but there were no acoustic differences between Cantonese and English /n/. The participation of Cantonese /n/ in a sound change does not appear to compromise English /n/s' patterning, suggesting that Cantonese and English /n/ are maintained as distinct categories in the minds of early bilinguals.

Navigating linguistic ideologies and market dynamics within China’s English language teaching landscape

Abstract This study explores the intricate interplay of linguistic ideologies, market dynamics, and linguistic habitus within the context of English language education in China. Analysis of Chinese English language teachers’ (CELTs) discourse on linguistic insecurity reveals a strong association between accentedness and incompetence, as well as between nativeness and teacher expertise. Despite dissatisfaction with nativeness-oriented criteria prevalent in the field, most CELTs reported experiencing anxiety due to the social stigma surrounding Mandarin-accented English. While certain Inner Circle English varieties are viewed as the most valuable capital, local and other non-Inner Circle varieties are considered the least valuable. Notably, Mandarin-accented English gains higher symbolic value than other perceived nonstandard English varieties beyond the teaching domain. This pricing mechanism within China’s English language teaching (ELT) landscape deviates from the price formation model of world Englishes proposed in previous work, which assigns a greater value to Outer Circle varieties than Expanding Circle varieties. By contextualizing CELTs’ experiences within broader language policies, this study illustrates how national interests, beyond the influence of Inner Circle publishers, intensify native-speakerism in China’s ELT market, thus emphasizing the intricate nature of explaining nuanced pricing patterns in the autonomous market within Expanding Circle contexts.

A Qualitative Study on Self-Regulated Learning of Chinese as a Second Language

The characteristics and challenges of learning Chinese as a second language (CSL) warrant a deeper understanding of the learning process from various perspectives to promote learning development. In the domain of second language acquisition research, the concept of self-regulated learning (SRL) has been gaining increased attention from researchers. SRL encompasses a broader and more profound connotation than previous models, as it emphasizes the strategic application of learning techniques to facilitate language development. This theoretical shift has yielded fruitful research results in the field. By investigating SRL, we can examine the dynamic and cyclical process of CSL learning from multiple dimensions and identify learning problems from the learners’ perspective, ultimately finding solutions. This study aims to conduct qualitative research on SRL among five CSL learners with different cultural and educational backgrounds, utilizing qualitative study methods. The research focuses on exploring the characteristics and patterns of SRL among CSL learners, offering insights for teaching practices. The study will employ semistructured interviews and reflective journals to gather in-depth data on the learners’ SRL processes. Key questions include how SRL impacts CSL learning outcomes, the distinctive characteristics of applying SRL theory to CSL learning, and the effective implementation of SRL strategies to enhance learning. By addressing these questions, the research aims to fill the gap in existing literature and provide practical insights for educators to support the development of autonomous, self-regulated Chinese language learners. This, in turn, will contribute to improving instructional methods and promoting better academic achievements in CSL learners.

Health Care Language Models and Their Fine-Tuning for Information Extraction: Scoping Review.

In response to the intricate language, specialized terminology outside everyday life, and the frequent presence of abbreviations and acronyms inherent in health care text data, domain adaptation techniques have emerged as crucial to transformer-based models. This refinement in the knowledge of the language models (LMs) allows for a better understanding of the medical textual data, which results in an improvement in medical downstream tasks, such as information extraction (IE). We have identified a gap in the literature regarding health care LMs. Therefore, this study presents a scoping literature review investigating domain adaptation methods for transformers in health care, differentiating between English and non-English languages, focusing on Portuguese. Most specifically, we investigated the development of health care LMs, with the aim of comparing Portuguese with other more developed languages to guide the path of a non-English-language with fewer resources. This study aimed to research health care IE models, regardless of language, to understand the efficacy of transformers and what are the medical entities most commonly extracted. This scoping review was conducted using the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) methodology on Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection databases. Only studies that mentioned the creation of health care LMs or health care IE models were included, while large language models (LLMs) were excluded. The latest were not included since we wanted to research LMs and not LLMs, which are architecturally different and have distinct purposes. Our search query retrieved 137 studies, 60 of which met the inclusion criteria, and none of them were systematic literature reviews. English and Chinese are the languages with the most health care LMs developed. These languages already have disease-specific LMs, while others only have general-health care LMs. European Portuguese does not have any public health care LM and should take examples from other languages to develop, first, general-health care LMs and then, in an advanced phase, disease-specific LMs. Regarding IE models, transformers were the most commonly used method, and named entity recognition was the most popular topic, with only a few studies mentioning Assertion Status or addressing medical lexical problems. The most extracted entities were diagnosis, posology, and symptoms. The findings indicate that domain adaptation is beneficial, achieving better results in downstream tasks. Our analysis allowed us to understand that the use of transformers is more developed for the English and Chinese languages. European Portuguese lacks relevant studies and should draw examples from other non-English languages to develop these models and drive progress in AI. Health care professionals could benefit from highlighting medically relevant information and optimizing the reading of the textual data, or this information could be used to create patient medical timelines, allowing for profiling.

PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC “BẮC GIÀN GIÁO” VÀ VIỆC ỨNG DỤNG VÀO GIẢNG DẠY MÔN KHẨU NGỮ TIẾNG TRUNG QUỐC Ở TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI

The “scaffolding” teaching method is a teaching model originating from Constructivist Theory and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) developed by Vygotsky. It offers new insights into dealing with the relationship between “teaching” and “learning”. The changing roles of teachers and students, promoting students' collaborative learning and exploration abilities, and cultivating students' independent problem-solving abilities of this teaching model have helped teachers improve their skills and enhance their educational and teaching abilities. In the process of implementing “scaffolding” teaching, we need to grasp the following key points: teachers need to clarify their roles, arrange a reasonable conceptual framework according to students’ levels, and check control interactive teaching in the student's “ZPD” and gradually reduce the role of the “scaffolder”. In this article, we would like to analyze the birth of the concept of “scaffolding”, its basic characteristics, and teaching steps. Finally, we applied it to teaching Chinese oral courses for students majoring in Chinese language at HNUE.

A novel approach to peer support for academic researchers.

Academic researchers experience high levels of stress, isolation and loneliness, which compromise their well-being. There is a particular need to address these issues amongst early career and postgraduate research staff. 'Spaces for Listening' is an initiative to increase active listening and provide peer support. To assess the feasibility, acceptability and potential impacts of Spaces for Listening in an academic setting. Early career and postgraduate researchers from a large university in the UK were invited to attend 'Academic Spaces for Listening' (ASfL). Five ASfL sessions (including in-person and Chinese language) were held. A mixed-methods study using online survey and in-depth interviews was conducted. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data were analysed using principles of thematic analysis. The qualitative and quantitative findings were integrated at the interpretation phase. A total of 25 participants attended an ASfL session, 22 of them completed the survey and 6 participants participated in semi-structured interviews. Participants were very satisfied with the session content (68%, n = 15), organization (68%, n = 15) and delivery (68%, n = 15). Four themes were identified from qualitative analysis: (i) the 'Academic Spaces for Listening' (ASfL) experience; (2) impact of ASfL; (3) potential challenges of ASfL and (4) ASfL in the future. Interpersonal connectedness was an important outcome for participants during the session. Participants showed interest in the future of ASfL. Implementing Spaces for Listening in an academic setting is feasible and was well received by participants. The initiative may fill a gap in the social interactions amongst academic researchers.

Transforming Cambodian Education: Full-Time Learning, Technology, and Language Integration for Public Schools

The Cambodian government has announced a significant educational reform to transition public schools to full-time learning by integrating computer and English or Chinese language classes. This initiative is designed to enhance the quality of education and better prepare students for the demands of the modern world. This paper compares these proposed changes by examining practices in five private schools already implementing full-time education and advanced technological and multilingual programs. By evaluating the academic performance, resource availability, and overall educational outcomes of these private schools, this study aims to provide actionable recommendations for successfully adopting these strategies in public schools. The research involved surveys of 565 respondents, including students, teachers, school administrators, parents, and policymakers, and in-depth interviews with 50 key stakeholders. Key findings include strong support for full-time education, higher levels of technology integration, and better multilingual education in private schools. These findings will inform policymakers, educators, and stakeholders about the potential impacts and necessary steps to ensure the successful implementation of these educational reforms in Cambodia's public school system.