Chinese L2 Research Articles

Item repetition matters: methodological considerations in bilingual language control research

ABSTRACT Language switching experiments often vary in stimuli list sizes, leading to differences in item repetition frequency and potentially obscuring our understanding of bilingual language control. This study addresses how item repetition frequency affects switching costs and the reversed language dominance effect (i.e. better performance in a non-dominant language in mixed language naming) among bilinguals with varying L2 proficiencies, and how these effects evolve as the task progresses. Two experiments were conducted with 29 low- and 36 high-proficiency Chinese-English bilinguals using a picture naming task. One experiment presented a low-repetition stimuli list, and the other a high-repetition set. Results showed that switching costs remained regardless of item repetition frequency. However, the influence of L2 proficiency and language dominance on switching costs was only evident in the low-repetition list. Notably, as the task progressed, switching costs decreased in L1 Chinese but increased in L2 English, regardless of item repetition frequency or proficiency. These findings highlight the importance of methodological considerations in language control experiments. Understanding how these factors influence the experiments’ outcomes is crucial for accurately interpreting bilingual language control and avoiding undesirable confounds.

Investigating the Role of Word Knowledge Components in Chinese L2 Writing Ability

Investigating the Role of Word Knowledge Components in Chinese L2 Writing Ability

Orthographic and Meaning Processes in Reading Chinese Compounds: Comparisons Between L1 and L2 Reading.

Research on alphabetic reading presents conflicting findings concerning the timing of orthographic and meaning processes in reading morphologically complex words. Chinese characters offer distinct visual cues for morphemes, enabling straightforward manipulations to examine orthographic and meaning processes. Guided by the Character-Word Dual Function model, we report four priming experiments that test how a reader's lexical quality impacts the emergence of orthographic and semantic priming effects in reading Chinese compounds. We conducted comparisons between native Chinese speakers and Chinese L2 learners, who vary in their quality of lexical representations. By manipulating the semantic transparency of prime-target pairs, we distinguished meaning from orthographic effects. The emergence of these effects was revealed by varying prime exposure durations. Orthographic effects emerged at shorter exposures for both L1 and L2 readers. However, meaning effects appeared at longer exposure durations only for L1 readers. These results confirm the generality of the orthography-first emergence of morphological effect in reading Chinese and suggest that readers' access to morphological meaning relations increases with experience.

Understanding CFL Learners’ Perceptions of ChatGPT for L2 Chinese Learning: A Technology Acceptance Perspective

Abstract While ChatGPT has received increasing attention in the age of artificial intelligence, little effort has been made to investigate Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners’ acceptance of ChatGPT use for Chinese learning. This mixed-method study aims to unpack CFL learners’ intentions and perceptions of leveraging ChatGPT for learning purposes by integrating the technology acceptance model and social cognitive theory. To this end, quantitative data were collected from 120 CFL learners by using questionnaires tapping into perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, behavioral intention, facilitating conditions, and growth mindset, and analyzed by partial least squares structural equation modeling. Quantitative data were supplemented by qualitative data in the form of learners’ responses to an open-ended question. Quantitative results indicated that perceived usefulness, growth mindset, and facilitating conditions were significant antecedents of learners’ intention to use ChatGPT, while perceived ease of use was not. The qualitative findings revealed students’ varied perspectives on integrating ChatGPT into the Chinese learning process. The study sheds light on the underlying mechanisms of CFL learners’ behavioral intention to use ChatGPT and provides context-specific and nuanced insights into CFL learners’ perceptions of ChatGPT-assisted language learning.

An exploration of CFL learners’ metaphor use in second language writing: Effects of genre and topic

This article investigates the effects of genre and topic on the metaphors used by Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners’ writing. Using Conceptual Metaphor Theory as the theoretical framework, our study analyzed 900 essays, which include three genres (argumentative essays, narrative essays, and letter writing) and six topics, extracted from the HSK Dynamic Essay Corpus. The results show that both genre and topic influence the use of metaphors by CFL learners, but their effects manifest in different ways. Genre influences the frequency of metaphor due to differences in pragmatic purposes. Specifically, we found that argumentative essays and narrative essays exhibit a notably higher frequency of metaphor use than letter writing. Argumentative essays have a higher frequency than narrative essays. Topic not only affects the frequency of metaphor use but also influences the selection and frequency of classic source domains. Additionally, differences in metaphor frequency across topics are more pronounced in genres with higher metaphor frequency (argumentative essays and narrative essays) and insignificant in a genre with the lowest metaphor frequency (letter writing). Our findings contribute to the further development of conceptual metaphor theory, as well as to the teaching of genre and metaphor in Chinese L2 writing.

Researching the Use of L1 (Chinese) in Junior EFL Classes in China (Focusing on Listening Tasks)

This article studied the influence of using L1 in junior high school English classes. Two teachers and five students from a public middle school in China were interviewed. Through communication with them, the author found that neither teachers nor students pay as much attention to listening teaching as grammar reading. The two teachers the author interviewed have different ideas about using L1 in English class according to their own teaching experience. But their ultimate goal is to improve students' English scores and abilities. Students agree with the teacher's rational use of L1 in class. They also put forward some advantages of using L1. However, the listening teaching is mainly based on the teacher's requirements, and the main task is to complete the listening training questions. Only one student suggested that if English-based teaching environment can help them improve their English listening level and other abilities.

Longitudinal interactions of L2 learners’ motivations and strategic behavior in strategies-based writing instruction

Abstract Strategic behavior for self-regulated learning (SRL) is crucial for academic success in L2 writing. Yet little is known about how learners’ motivation-related factors develop as their strategic behavior progresses during classroom instruction in L2 writing contexts. Informed by SRL theory, this longitudinal case study adopted multiple assessment approaches to explicating the development trajectories of two Chinese L2 writers’ motivational factors relating to expectancy, value, and goal orientation (i.e., self-efficacy, task value, and goal orientations) and strategic behavior in the classroom ecology of self-regulation strategies-based instruction. Participants were one high-proficiency writer and one low-proficiency writer who were enrolled in the self-regulation strategies-based writing course. They voluntarily participated in this study and completed semi-structured interviews and reflective journals at the beginning (T1), the middle (T2), and the end of the instruction (T3). Field notes were used to complement the primary data sources. The qualitative analyses revealed both students’ limited understanding of SRL strategies at the initial stage. Their strategic behavior progressed with the social and metacognitive scaffolding at T2, but only the high-proficiency writer sustained active engagement at T3. With different goal orientations and linguistic self-efficacy at the initial stage, both students reported noticeable increases in their intrinsic goal orientation, task value, and self-efficacy in classroom performance at T2 and T3. Their motivational states were also affected by linguistic proficiency, metacognitive scaffolding, and social interactions during the instruction. This study is expected to provide insights into how L2 writers’ strategic behavior progresses with their changes in motivations.

Examining how topicality impacts pronoun resolution in second language processing.

In research on second language (L2) processing, the processing of reference has been highlighted as a domain of particular difficulty, but the source of the difficulty is not well understood. The present study examines whether differences in the pronominal systems of the first language (L1) and L2 impact processing. We take a novel approach, testing a group of intermediate-advanced L2 learners in both their L1 (Mandarin Chinese) and L2 (English), allowing us to directly examine whether L2 learners show similar or different patterns when processing the L1 and L2. We also test a group of L1 English speakers. The study focused on two topicality-related factors, subjecthood and pronominalization, that have been shown to increase the prominence of an entity in the discourse, making it more likely that an entity in subject position (subjecthood) or an entity that has been referred to with a pronoun (pronominalization) will be considered as an antecedent for a subsequent pronoun. We developed a picture verification task with visual-world eye-tracking in both English and Chinese. This task provides a measure of both pronoun interpretation and online processing. Results showed subtle differences in how subjecthood and pronominalization are weighted in English and Chinese as L1s: pronominalization played a stronger role in L1 Chinese than in L1 English both in the interpretation measure and in the eye-movement data. The results for the L2 English learners showed an interesting pattern in which their results were more similar to the L1 English results on the measure of pronoun interpretation, but were more similar to the L1 Chinese results in the eye-movement data. These results show successful use of discourse cues in L2 pronoun interpretation but differences between L1 and L2 speakers during processing. It is proposed that decreased sensitivity to morphosyntactic information that is not present in the L1 (case on pronouns) leads to differences in L2 referential processing, in line with proposals that L2 learners face challenges with integrating different kinds of linguistic information online, particularly morphosyntactic information.

Cross-language facilitatory and inhibitory effects in the naming of Japanese words by Chinese-Japanese bilinguals

Abstract This study investigates the effects of orthographic and phonological overlaps between the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) during word naming by adult Chinese-Japanese bilinguals, in the light of the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis which posits that the processing of printed words depends on the extent of grapheme-phoneme correspondence in the language. We compared their naming performance of L2 Japanese words written in moraic hiragana which is not used in their L1 Chinese, morphosyllabic kanji utilized in L1, and a mixed condition. Results indicated a longer latency for naming L2 Japanese words with kun-reading which has no phonological overlap with L1, particularly when written in kanji, which has orthographic overlap with L1. Consistent with the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis, participants performed better for words in hiragana as a shallow orthography than for words in kanji as a deep orthography. Furthermore, this study examined the priming effect of L2 Japanese translation equivalents on L1 Chinese targets. We found more accurate and faster naming of L1 words semantically exposed by L2, suggesting that L2 semantic representation facilitates L1 translation equivalence.

L2 acquisition of Japanese null arguments

Abstract Adopting the anti-agreement hypothesis that argument ellipsis is allowed in languages lacking φ-feature agreement, the present study investigates whether second language (L2) learners of φ-feature agreement languages (L1-English L2 learners of Japanese; ELJs) and L2 learners of anti-agreement languages (L1-Mandarin Chinese L2 learners of Japanese; CLJs) can access sloppy interpretations of Japanese null arguments. The results concerning null subjects indicate that both L2 groups behaved similarly to Japanese native speakers (JNSs) by allowing the sloppy reading of null subjects. However, further analysis by L2 proficiency revealed distinct patterns. Intermediate ELJs exhibited L1-transfer of φ-feature agreement, assigning null subjects the strict reading, while the advanced ELJs were able to discard the φ-feature, allowing the sloppy reading. In contrast, CLJs accepted the sloppy reading from the intermediate level, indicating that the absence of the φ-feature functioned as positive transfer. Regarding the results with null objects, both L2 groups performed like JNSs, allowing the sloppy interpretation. Assuming that deleting a feature present in L1 is more difficult than adding a feature absent in L1 to L2, we will explain the results in terms of L1 transfer.

As an International Chinese Teacher, the Application of Emoji and Gesture in Chinese L2 Online Lesson

As an International Chinese Teacher, the Application of Emoji and Gesture in Chinese L2 Online Lesson

Writing performance and discourse organization in L2 Chinese: A longitudinal case study

The present study explored the development of writing performance and discourse organization in Chinese as a second language (L2) writing, focusing on the effects of genre and learning context. Tracking an L2 Chinese learner’s written production in two genres (i.e., narrative and argumentative) across four learning contexts (i.e., pre-study abroad, study abroad, post-study abroad, and delayed post-study abroad) longitudinally over four years, this study revealed that holistic ratings and discourse organizational devices showed distinct patterns in different genres and across learning contexts. Narrative essays generally received lower ratings than argumentative essays. Ratings of narrative essays remained relatively stable across four learning contexts, whereas those of argumentative essays displayed an omega-shaped pattern over the four-year period. Among six discourse organizational devices, subordinate clauses, textual connectives, and grammatical metaphors were used more in argumentative essays, but coordinate clauses and topic-prominent constructions were used more in narrative essays. The six discourse organizational devices exhibited discrete developmental trends throughout the four years of learning. This study provides a deeper understanding of writing performance and discourse organization in L2 Chinese development.

Moving in L2 Chinese from childhood to adulthood: Developmental and crosslinguistic factors in bilingual event construal

Moving in L2 Chinese from childhood to adulthood: Developmental and crosslinguistic factors in bilingual event construal

Phrase Frame Use in EFL Learners’ Argumentative Essays: A Corpus-Based Comparative Study

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the features and development of multi-word formulaic sequences for foreign language learners in the field of second language acquisition. While considerable amount of research has been conducted on continuous formulaic sequences both domestically and abroad, scant attention has been rendered to discontinuous phrase frames. Adopting a corpus linguistic perspective, the current study compares and analyses second language learners from different backgrounds with native speakers, focusing on the phrase frame features identified in the argumentative essays written by Chinese and German EFL learners. With a corpus-based approach, the four-word phrase frames are extracted from the English TOEFL essay texts of Chinese and German students using AntConc 4.1.4 corpus analysis software. The top 100 most frequently occurring phrase frames are manually filtered and then classified according to their structural and functional features to identify similarities and differences in terms of overall frequency, structure, and function features of phrase frames between two groups of learners and with those of native writers. The findings reveal that L2 learners significantly employ more fixed and predictable phrase frames than their native writers, with German L2 learners using more phrase frames than their Chinese L2 counterparts. In terms of functional features, German L2 learners use more stance and discourse organizing expressions than Chinese L2 learners. Awareness of the essay genre, English proficiency, and the time-limited writing environment are contributing factors to these features. Therefore, the study suggests that the accuracy and variety of phrase frame usage are more representative of L2 learners’ acquisition and writing quality than their quantity of use. This study facilitates an understanding of different EFL learners’ phraseological competence through the lens of their p-frame use and provides pedagogical insights accordingly into teaching and learning argumentative essays in EFL contexts.

The potential trade-off between L3 Chinese proficiency and L1 Thai verbal fluency

ABSTRACT The present study investigated the potential trade-off between acquiring proficiency in a new language and maintaining verbal fluency in a previously learned language. Sixty-two imbalanced multilingual participants, whose first language (L1) was Thai, second language (L2) was English, and third language (L3) was Chinese, underwent proficiency tests in English and Chinese, and they completed verbal fluency tests in Thai and English. The results revealed that L3 proficiency was negatively correlated with L1 verbal fluency, suggesting the presence of a trade-off between languages. This interaction could manifest among individuals who are not fully proficient in languages other than their L1. By expanding upon existing research, this study contributes valuable insights to language learning and multilingualism research.

Evaluative Stancetaking in English-Medium Academic Prose: A Study of Research Article Abstracts by Russian and Chinese L2 Writers

Background: Globalization has created the academic community’s need to learn English in order to publish internationally and caused intensive research into academic prose by non-native writers with the aim of revealing prevailing culture-and discipline-specific rhetoric structures and suggesting ways of improving academic writing skills. Purpose: This contrastive study explored preferences in the employment of stance features in English-medium research article abstracts by second language writers from two different cultural backgrounds (Russia and China) assuming that variations in stancetaking are culturally shaped. Method: Hyland’s (2005b) taxonomy of stance resources was adopted for the current study as the most comprehensive one including a wide range of writer-oriented features. This taxonomy can help identify pragmatic functions of linguistic markers used for stancetaking in academic prose. The methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis were applied. Results: A contrastive analysis of the findings showed that the Russian and Chinese academic communities manifest different stancetaking preferences. The quantitative analysis revealed that Chinese-authored RA abstracts contained considerably more stance features than those written by their Russian counterparts. Most quantitative differences between the application of stance features by Russian and Chinese authors were statistically significant. It was also revealed that while the Chinese academic writers seemed to be more careful in making claims, anticipating and acknowledging, the Russian scholars chose to create an impression of certainty and assurance, instilling confidence in their readers. The differences in the employment of stance features identified in the study are likely to reflect culture-specific writing peculiarities of the Chinese and Russian academic communities which favour slightly different discursive strategies. Conclusion: The findings carry pedagogical implications for academic writing course designers and can enhance L2 writers’ familiarity with the culture-specific academic writing conventions in the knowledge domain.

Модели доступа к русской лексической семантике у носителей китайского языка, изучающих русский язык как третий

This study aims at identifying Russian lexical semantic access for Chinese-English- Russian trilinguals using cross-language visual-modal priming paradigm programed in Psycho Py and Brain Island. Twenty-two university freshmen in China who major in Russian participated in this study. This study examined the roles of L1 Chinese and L2 English in L3 Russian lexical semantic access for Chinese-English-Russian trilinguals. The findings are conducive to the Russian L2/L3 teaching.

An island in the stream: how and why seven relocated foreign experts in Chinese universities attempted/failed to learn L2 Chinese

ABSTRACT The present study looked at what factors influenced the L2 Chinese identity and investment of relocated non-L1-English foreign experts working in Chinese universities and how. Seven professors/researchers participated in the study. This study aimed mainly to complement the literature on the enhancement of intercultural understanding and harmony by examining the engagement with learning the non-L1-English host country language on the part of international scholarly experts imported from non-L1 English countries. Despite the enlightening results and helpful suggestions that studies exploring such engagement could provide, very little (if any) research attention has been paid to it. The instrument for the current study was in-depth, semi-structured, autobiographical interviews. The major findings of the study included that there were negative changes in the trajectories of the experts’ L2 identity and investment: their initial efforts to learn Chinese lost momentum and declined. The changes were caused by factors including the perceived cross-cultural/cross-linguistic differences, the host universities’ categorical focus on work performance delivered in English, and survival using very basic Chinese words. Based on these findings, implications are discussed.

The effect of visual displays on the mastery of the forms and functions of English intonation by Chinese L2 students

This study examines the effectiveness of visual displays in improving the mastery of the forms and functions of English intonation among Chinese L2 students. Over a four-week period, two groups of learners (visual-training and auditory-training) took part in five sessions of intonation training, while a control group received no training. Each session began with a 25-minute lesson on the forms and functions of intonation, followed by a 40-minute practice session. All sentences were presented in communicative contexts. With the aid of speech visualization technology, the visual-training group was taught linguistic categories and English intonation structures, and was encouraged to imitate and practice intonation patterns using visual displays of the intonation of each sentence. The auditory-training group learned and practiced intonation by carefully listening to audio clips of each sentence. Intonation production was assessed using speech data from pre- and post-tests. Results showed that the visual-training group outperformed the other two groups, making the greatest progress in mastering the forms of English intonation (pitch accents and boundary tones) and its functions (expressing prominence and marking modality).

Exploring the effects of multiple online interaction on emotions of L2 learners in synchronous online classes

The decline in both the quantity and quality of interaction has emerged as a notable challenge in online learning. However, the definition of interaction quality remains unclear. This study clarifies it as a decrease in the breadth of interaction, which refers to interaction that can only cover a smaller number of learners. To address this, a synchronous interaction modality, termed Multiple Online Interaction (MOI), based on Zoom's interactive tools, was introduced. In a quasi-experiment involving 58 Chinese L2 learners (with 30 beginner and 28 intermediate students), emotions were assessed using the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) while real-time emotional dynamics were revealed through the analysis of 5129 facial expression images during a 35-min synchronous class. MOI participants reported higher levels of Lively and Happy but also experienced more Nervous and less Calm. These emotional dynamics, tracked through expression recognition technology, demonstrate that MOI's impact is primarily observed during the first Grammar & Practice section of the teaching. The empirical findings of this study provide practical insights for educators aiming to conduct effective online teaching in the future.