Chinese L2 Learners Research Articles

Visual Context Modulates L2 Long‐Term Structural Priming for the Chinese Ba Construction

AbstractThis study investigates how visual context influences second language (L2) long‐term structural priming for the Chinese ba construction. The experiment consisted of a baseline phase, an exposure phase, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest. L2 Chinese learners (N = 120) were assigned to 1 of 4 groups for the exposure manipulation. The 3 experimental groups were exposed to simultaneous text and audio stimuli using the ba construction, accompanied by different visual contexts: a TV episode for the video group, isolated pictures for the picture group, and no nonlinguistic context for the text group. The picture and the video groups showed a greater increase in production of the ba construction from the baseline to the immediate posttest than the text group, but only the video group continued producing higher rates of the ba construction in the delayed posttest after a 3‐day interval. The production of the ba construction remained unchanged for the control group throughout the experiment. We conclude that visual context enhances L2 structural priming and that the continuous video context can support long‐term priming effects. This is the first study to directly compare the magnitude of L2 long‐term structural priming in different visual contexts, shedding light on the mechanism by which context facilitates L2 learning.

Morphological Processing of a Korean Nominal Suffix -tul by Korean Speakers and Chinese L2 Learners

The comprehension and production of second language (L2) is a key factor in understanding the course of L2 development. Several accounts have been posited to explain the differences in the L1 and L2 processing, including the minimum involvement of morphological parsing and the L1 interference. However, the evidence is not sufficient to be conclusive. This paper investigates and compares L1 and L2 processing of a Korean nominal suffix -tul by Korean L1 speakers and Chinese learners of Korean. Masked and cross-modal priming experiments were performed to examine L1 speakers

An Investigation into the Attitudes and Perceptions of Non-English Major Undergraduate Students and Their Teachers in Six Chinese Universities Towards the Development of Speaking Skills and Implications of the Findings for the Classroom

This dissertation aims to examine the perspectives of non-English major students and their teachers towards the development of speaking skills in six Chinese universities. The study begins with a detailed literature review of the features of effective speaking. Then, Chinese L2 learners’ difficulties in learning English, specifically with regard to developing speaking skills, are discussed. Based on the difficulties identified, methods for improving speaking skills, including both teaching strategies and actual classroom activities are suggested. A survey is conducted by using questionnaires and interviews. To ensure maximum representation of their respective groups, 100 non-English major students and 4 English teachers with differing academic levels, based at six Chinese universities (China Youth University for Political Sciences, North China Electric Power University, Tianjin University of Finance & Economics, Henan University, Shandong University, Northeastern University) were selected from different geographic regions. In addition, the interviews with student participants are analyzed objectively in order to check whether their perceptions of their English proficiency match reality. Data is analyzed and recommendations on how to develop speaking skills for non-English major students will be made. The major findings of the study are briefly summarized as follows: the students and teachers who participated in the survey hold positive attitudes towards the teaching of speaking skills; teachers and students both had unrealistic expectations of their counter parts; although the students did not recognize it, pronunciation is a key cause of students’ problems with spoken English. To some extent, it is necessary to teach spoken grammar because it can affect fluency; Listening materials can be an effective resource, which can contribute to teaching speaking skills; Many other recommendations about how to develop speaking skills can be found in the discussion.

L2 Chinese Learners' Lexical and Grammatical Development of Result-state Resultative Verb Compounds: A Usage-based Corpus Study

L2 Chinese Learners' Lexical and Grammatical Development of Result-state Resultative Verb Compounds: A Usage-based Corpus Study

The influence of L1 script directionality and L2 proficiency on Hanzi learning among Arabic and English learners of L2 Chinese

Abstract The present research investigates the role of L1 script directionality and L2 proficiency on the learning of Hanzi (Chinese characters) by pre-intermediate and intermediate adult Arabic (right to left) and English (left to right) learners of L2 Chinese who studied at their home country. The tasks included reading Hanzi for pronunciation, writing Hanzi according to Pinyin and meaning, and naming pseudo-Hanzi to examine phonetic radical application skills. The results showed that (1) L1 script directionality background only predicted the performance in Hanzi writing, (2) L2 proficiency was a significant predictor in Hanzi reading and Hanzi writing, and (3) L2 proficiency interacted with L1 script directionality background in phonetic radical application skills. These findings suggest that L1 script directionality background and L2 proficiency play different roles in the development of Hanzi literacy skills and orthographic awareness. The theoretical implications for the influence of L1 writing system on L2 learning and the threshold level for the development of orthographic awareness in Hanzi, and the practical implications for Hanzi instruction are discussed.

The influence of L1 script directionality and L2 proficiency on Hanzi learning among Arabic and English learners of L2 Chinese

Abstract The present research investigates the role of L1 script directionality and L2 proficiency on the learning of Hanzi (Chinese characters) by pre-intermediate and intermediate adult Arabic (right to left) and English (left to right) learners of L2 Chinese who studied at their home country. The tasks included reading Hanzi for pronunciation, writing Hanzi according to Pinyin and meaning, and naming pseudo-Hanzi to examine phonetic radical application skills. The results showed that (1) L1 script directionality background only predicted the performance in Hanzi writing, (2) L2 proficiency was a significant predictor in Hanzi reading and Hanzi writing, and (3) L2 proficiency interacted with L1 script directionality background in phonetic radical application skills. These findings suggest that L1 script directionality background and L2 proficiency play different roles in the development of Hanzi literacy skills and orthographic awareness. The theoretical implications for the influence of L1 writing system on L2 learning and the threshold level for the development of orthographic awareness in Hanzi, and the practical implications for Hanzi instruction are discussed.

Online processing of the grammatical aspect marker by L2 Chinese learners

The perfective aspect marker in Chinese is partly functionally similar to inflectional suffixes in Indo-European languages but is non-inflectional and lexical in nature, lying thus at the semantics–syntax interface. This provides us with the opportunity to compare directly the syntactic and semantic constraints during second language (L2) sentence processing. The present study explored how L2 Chinese learners with Indo-European languages as their first languages (L1s) process the Chinese perfective marker. The Competition Model prioritizes syntactic processes entailed by cross-linguistic transfer from the participants’ L1s, but this prediction might be challenged by the concurrent functioning of semantic processes. In an event-related potentials (ERP) experiment, 22 European language-speaking L2 Chinese learners with low to intermediate proficiency level and 20 native Chinese speakers (i.e. the control group) participated. An aspectual agreement paradigm was used for materials. Results showed that in the aspect marker mismatch condition, L2 Chinese learners with a shorter learning experience were more likely to show a P600-like component, indicating a morpho-syntactic routine, supporting thus the predictions of cross-linguistic transfer based on the Competition Model. Those with a longer L2 learning experience were more likely to show an N400-like component similar to native Chinese speakers. This shift from P600 to N400 for more advanced learners suggests that L1–L2 syntactic similarity may exert much stronger influence than semantic constraints for learners with shorter L2 experience.

Testing the Topic Hypothesis

The Topic Hypothesis (Pienemann, Di Biase, and Kawaguchi, 2005) predicts that L2 Chinese learners must go through three stages in the processing of L2 syntax (Stage 1: SVO; Stage 2: ADJ+SVO; Stage 3: OSV). The current study investigated whether properly organized instruction (Concept-based Instruction/Systemic Theoretical Instruction) could allow learners to process and produce two stages of grammar structures at the same time. Two beginning Chinese learners at Stage 1 received concept-based instruction that taught both OSV and ADJ+SVO structures in the same instructional session. Learners’ spontaneous speech indicate that both learners were capable to process and produce the two newly taught grammar structures after one instructional session. Post-test and delayed post-test show that both grammar structures were processable by the two learners. This study highlights the importance of instruction to shape cognitive development, which echoes Vygotsky’s (1986) notion that good instruction shall lead development.

Proficiency and pragmatic production in L2 Chinese study abroad

This study documented the development of pragmatic production and proficiency of L2 Chinese learners in a study abroad context and explored the relationship between proficiency and L2 pragmatic development. The participants were 129 learners of Chinese who attended a 15-week study abroad program in China. At the beginning and end of their program study, all participants completed a Chinese proficiency test and a Chinese simulated oral proficiency interview. The results showed that the learners’ pragmatic production and proficiency both improved from the pretest to posttest, but the pragmatic improvement did not relate to their proficiency development in study abroad. The findings might be explained by varying levels of development in learners’ proficiency and pragmatic production during study abroad.

Acoustic analysis of Chinese tone production by Thai-speaking learners of L2 Chinese

Abstract This article reports on an empirical study of Chinese tone production in various contexts by Thai-speaking learners of L2 Chinese. Comparisons are made between Thai students and Chinese native speakers. The acoustic data are analyzed in terms of pitch register, pitch contour and duration, which show that the main problems of Thai students are: (1) T1 is lower in sentence-mid and sentence-initial positions; (2) T2 is less rising or even exhibits a falling-rising contour at a lower register; (3) T3 cannot approximate a full falling-rising contour in isolated characters and at sentence-final position; (4) T4 is too long and the falling slope is too strong. Our results suggest that Thai students should make efforts in both pitch and rhythm control and pay attention to context variations. It is also suggested that similar research methods can be applied to L2 Chinese learners with different first languages (L1s).

‘SV的O’형식의 분열문 특성 및 의미-화용기능

Based on the differences of semantic and pragmatic functions in "(是)...的" structure, this paper specifies two kinds of cleft sentences ("SV的O", "SVO的"), and analyzes the actual functions of "SV的O" in context. "SV的O" is one of the most challenging grammatical constructions for L2 learners of Chinese. We discussed how "SV的O" structure is used at the conversation, and what motivates the choices of "SV的O". The information of cleft sentence "SV的O" can be analyzed as "presupposition+assertion(focus)", it functions to present or contrast the focus element as new information about the already mentioned in the precedent sentence. "SV的O" consists of a copular "(是)" plus "的", which is both a nominalization marker, the construction can present an entity-like situation. They are conceptualized as an entity by cognitively overlooking. This paper also deals with "是SV的 O", with a contrastive focus in it, when the speaker uses this structure, he/she assumes the hearer feels conflicts between the new information and the information from his or her expectation from the previous context or its related common knowledge.

Acquisition of Japanese relative clauses by L1 Chinese learners: Evidence from reflexive pronoun resolution

This article investigates whether first-language (L1) Chinese-speaking learners of Japanese as a second language (L2) can acquire the knowledge that the reflexive pronoun jibun ‘self’ within the head noun phrase of Japanese relative clauses cannot refer to the relative clause subject. Successful acquisition would suggest that learners are able to acquire the underlying syntactic knowledge that the head noun phrase of Japanese relative clauses is base-generated external to the relative clause. A truth value judgment experiment was conducted and the findings suggest that L1 Chinese learners can indeed acquire the target syntactic knowledge in Japanese relative clauses, which argues against the Representational Deficit hypotheses and supports the Full Functional Representation hypotheses of L2 acquisition.

Diagnosing reading problems for low-level Chinese as second language learners

Reading in a second language (L2) consists of lower-level linguistic processing and higher-level meaning integration. The lower-level processing has posed great challenges for beginning readers whose L1 (alphabetic language) is drastically different from their L2 (morphosyllabary Chinese). Diagnostic assessment is designed to identify readers’ weaknesses in lower-level processing and allows language teachers to detect learners’ reading problems and to conduct targeted remediation. However, few appropriate diagnostic tools are available for L2 reading and research on these tools’ diagnostic effectiveness is scarce. The present study investigated the applicability of word reading, word segmentation, and text reading as diagnostic instruments for alphabetic-language-speaking, low-level Chinese L2 learners (n = 70). Results showed that all three instruments effectively identified weak readers, diagnosed reading problems, and pinpointed individual’s difficulties. These findings offered empirical support for the three instruments as effective diagnostic tools in Chinese low-level L2 reading instruction and suggested the importance of developing lower-level processing skills.

An Examination of Corrective, Reflective, and Rule-based Feedback in Chinese Classifier Acquisition in a CALL Environment

To facilitate effective learning in a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environment, it is essential for the system to aid learners to not only pinpoint correct answers, but also identify the right process of learning so as to efficiently overcome various levels of difficulty with optimized practicing items. This study investigates how and to what extent different types of feedback from the CALL system may promote the grammatical knowledge learning for L2 learners of Chinese. Students in the Elementary Chinese program at the Carnegie Mellon University participated in the experiment of the computer assisted language tutoring for learning Chinese classifiers. Three kinds of feedback, namely corrective feedback, reflective feedback, and rule-based feedback, were designed and the relative effectiveness of each on the learning of the planned grammatical knowledge was assessed with pre and posttests. The results show that participants in the rule-based feedback group surpassed those in reflective and corrective feedback groups in an immediate posttest, but participants in the reflective feedback group outperformed the other two groups in a two-week delayed posttest. It is concluded that reflective feedback can more effectively promote self-explanation and memory retention in Chinese classifier acquisition in a CALL environment. The findings provide important insights for the construction of a dynamic, interactive Chinese learning courseware with adequate task design and optimal feedbacks.

L2 acquisition of thebeipassive in Mandarin Chinese: A constructionist approach

AbstractA major claim in the constructionist approach to language acquisition is that grammar is learned by pairings of form and function. In this study we test this claim by examining how L2 learners of Mandarin Chinese acquire thebeipassive construction, a construction that is associated with the meaning of adversity. Our goal is to find out whether L2 learners make the association between the passive and adversity. Participants performed a sentence choice task under four conditions: an adversative context with an adversative verb, an adversative context with a neutral verb, a neutral context with a neutral verb and a positive context with a neutral verb. In each context participants were asked to select either thebeipassive construction or its active counterpart. We found that high-level learners consistently chose thebeipassive significantly more in adversative contexts than in non-adversative contexts regardless of the connotations of the verbs, while low-level learners made the distinction half of the time. In addition, while low-level learners did not yet associate adversity with the form of the construction, high-level learners did. We conclude that L2 learners do learn thebeipassive construction as a form-meaning pair. The constructionist approach is supported.

Word Learning in L2 Chinese: from Perspectives of Learner-Related and Language-Related Factors.

Word learning in a second language (L2) is a complex process, which is affected by learner-related (e.g., morphological awareness) and language-related (e.g., word semantic transparency) factors. Morphological awareness is learners' sensitivity to the morphological structure of printed words, and semantic transparency is the degree to which word-internal morphemes contribute to the whole words' meanings. However, little is known regarding how these morpheme-related factors jointly function in L2 word learning. Thus, this study focuses on how learners' morphological awareness and word semantic transparency affect word-meaning retention in L2 Chinese, particularly the extent to which semantic transparency shapes the contribution of learners' morphological awareness. Thirty-four L2 Chinese learners from an American university participated in this study. All the participants received a 40-min learning session and five paper-pencil measures. The main findings showed that (1) L2 learners' morphological awareness contributed to their word-meaning retention beyond L2 linguistic knowledge; (2) L2 learners performed better when recalling semantically transparent words than opaque words after learning sessions; and more importantly (3) learners with higher morphological awareness performed better than those with lower morphological awareness when recalling semantically transparent words, but the learners in both groups had similar performances when recalling opaque words.

Nontransparent Compound Character Learning in L2 Chinese: Does Radical Awareness Always Work?

Chinese character learning requires various reading subskills, such as radical awareness and character knowledge. Radical awareness refers to learners’ ability to identify, analyze, and apply semantic radicals in compound characters. Previous studies have shown that radical awareness and character knowledge facilitate learning semantically transparent characters. Yet, little is known regarding whether radical awareness plays an active role in the meaning retention for nontransparent characters. The meanings of transparent characters, such as “河” (river) containing the radical “氵” (water), are related to the semantic category of the radicals within the characters, whereas the meanings of nontransparent characters, such as “淑” (kind and gentle) with the same radical “氵,” are not directly related to the radicals. To fill these gaps, this study included 39 L2 Chinese learners at one American university. They completed one character-learning session, and five radical-related and character-related tasks. The results suggested that radical awareness did not positively affect the meaning retention for nontransparent characters when learners’ character knowledge was controlled. In addition, character knowledge was a moderator, which shaped the relationship between radical awareness and character retention. Pedagogical implications for the understanding of L2 Chinese compound character learning are discussed.

Differentiation of radical processing strategies in character decoding by L2 learners of Chinese according to L1-type

Abstract This study investigates the productive use of semantic and phonetic radicals for Chinese character decoding by Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners at different levels of L2 proficiency, focusing on the application of radical knowledge according to the learners’ L1 language families. Using a pseudo-word test developed by Williams, Clay. 2014. The development of intra-character radical awareness in L1 Chinese children: Changing strategies. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 49(2). 1–26 to measure subject preference for semantic versus phonological decoding processes, subjects are asked to match a provided definition and pronunciation with a character in a multiple choice format which included two pseudo characters designed with radicals which corresponded with the provided definition or pronunciation, respectively. The results demonstrate that reliance on semantic or phonological radicals for character identification varies according to the L1 of the CFL learners; subjects whose L1 is relatively orthographically transparent predominantly make use of phonological processing strategies at all levels of proficiency, whereas those whose L1 are more orthographically opaque demonstrate more malleable processing preferences, with relatively strong semantic radical reliance in the early stage of their language learning, and considerable variability between semantic and phonological processing at intermediate and advanced proficiency levels. The findings suggest that developmental trends of using radical decoding strategies differ among CFL learner groups with varying L1 literacy strategy preferences.

Task Sensitivity in L2 English Speakers' Syntactic Processing: Evidence for Good-Enough Processing in Self-Paced Reading.

Native (L1) and second-language (L2) sentence processing can sometimes be shallow. A Good-Enough approach suggests that speakers may engage in shallow processing if the task permits. This study tests English native speakers and native Chinese L2 learners of English to explore whether different task demands affect their sentence processing. In a self-paced reading task, participants read globally or temporarily ambiguous sentences with relative clauses preceded by a matrix clause containing two noun phrases (NPs). Comprehension questions modulated task difficulty: Half the participants received comprehension questions that probed their interpretation of the relative clauses whereas the remaining half received superficial questions unrelated to the relative clauses. Task difficulty affected reading times at the point of disambiguation for both L1 and L2 participants. Additionally, participants’ attachment choices for globally ambiguous sentences were consistent with reading times of the disambiguating region in both L1 and L2 readers. The results suggest that both L1 and L2 syntactic processing is modulated by the task at hand. We argue for a similar treatment of shallowness for L1 and L2 speakers in models of sentence processing, along the lines of the Good-Enough approach to language processing.

"중국인 한국어 학습자의 어순 습득에 대한 종적 연구 - 통사 및 담화 층위의 발달 양상을 중심으로 -"

"중국인 한국어 학습자의 어순 습득에 대한 종적 연구 - 통사 및 담화 층위의 발달 양상을 중심으로 -"