International Journal of Chinese Linguistics - Volume 12, Issue 2, 2025

Abstract

The present study investigates early acquisition of complement control by Mandarin-speaking children. We tested thirty-two Mandarin-speaking 2-month-olds in a comprehension experiment adopting the Intermodal Preferential Looking Paradigm and assessed their ability to choose the right controller of the empty subject PRO. Speech stimuli included four sentence types: subject control xiang ‘want’ sentences, covert object control rang ‘let’ sentences, overt object control jiao ‘ask’ sentences and benefactive coverb gei ‘for’ sentences. It was found that when comprehending test sentences with two potential antecedents, children’s target looking was significantly above chance by looking more to the subject picture in subject control xiang trials and non-control gei trials, and that a marginal significant difference was identified for the two minimal pairs (subject control xiang vs. covert object control rang, non-control gei vs. overt object jiao). The results also point to a stronger sensitivity to subject control than to object control. These results show that Mandarin-speaking children who have just entered their second year in life are already sensitive to control, suggesting their emerging knowledge of some basic syntactic properties of complement control.

Abstract

Despite the numerous studies on irony understanding, much remains unknown about how children comprehend unintended and unsuccessful ironies and the role of interlocutors’ social status in the recognition of ironic intention. The present study aimed to address this gap through randomly selecting 269 Chinese children in grades 3 and 6, with an average age of 9 and 12 years, respectively. The results indicate that: (1) both graders performed significantly better in the comprehension of regular irony than that of unintended and unsuccessful ironies; (2) there was no significant difference between 9 and 12 year-old children in the comprehension of unintended and unsuccessful ironies; (3) significant interaction between age and interlocutors’ social status was found in the understanding of unintended and unsuccessful ironies. 9-year-olds demonstrated a better understanding when both irregular types of irony happened between peers, while 12-year-olds showed a better performance under the teacher and students context. The above findings have valuable implications for figurative language teaching and research.

Abstract

This article reports on a study of metacognitive instruction for Chinese learners in Singapore secondary classrooms. Participants were 262 students in a Singapore secondary school who learn Chinese as their mother tongue language. They were instructed with an adapted version of the Metacognitive Awareness of Listening Questionnaire (Vandergrift, Goh, Mareschal & Tafaghodtari, 2006) on the use of metacognitive strategies while doing Chinese listening exercises. It was found that students’ performance in listening comprehension was improved significantly. Their Planning & Evaluation and Directed Attention gained significant improvement as well. Findings from this study will provide verification for previous research results. More importantly, they are expected to give implications for the teaching and learning of listening comprehension in Chinese as a second language.

Abstract

Non-cognitive factors, such as language input delivered through multimodal channels, may influence second and foreign language learning performance and learner motivation. A substantial body of research has demonstrated the facilitative role of visual aids, such as pictures and videos (Ramezanali & Faez, 2019), as well as bodily movements and gestures (Macedonia & Knösche, 2011), in vocabulary learning. These studies on language embodiment also highlight learners’ general preference for multimodal instructional materials (Lin & Yu, 2017). However, most existing research has focused on languages with alphabetic scripts, leaving open questions about how multimodal input affects learning outcomes and motivation in languages with non-alphabetic writing systems. This study addresses this gap by investigating Mandarin Chinese, one of the most widely spoken languages in the world with a logographic writing system, among adult novice learners in three instructional conditions: a traditional pinyin-only group, a picture-enriched group, and a gesture-enriched group. Preliminary findings from a sample of 20 participants reveal that participants in the picture-enriched (n = 6) demonstrated significantly greater gains in motivation from pre- to post-learning compared to those in the pinyin-only group (n = 8) (p < .05), with the gesture-enriched group (n = 6) showing marginal gains (p = .08). However, there are no significant differences across three learning conditions in word learning outcomes. These results align with previous findings on the motivational benefits of multimodal instruction and contribute to our understanding of how such approaches might be effectively integrated into L2 pedagogy for logographic scripts.

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of a Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) system designed to enhance Mandarin lexical tone acquisition among second language (L2) learners in a self-directed learning context. Drawing on automated speech recognition (ASR) technology, the CAPT system provides real-time, individualized feedback on tone production accuracy. Elementary-level Mandarin learners at an international university in China were randomly assigned to either an experimental group engaged with the CAPT system or a control group using traditional listen-and-repeat practice. Over a two-week period, participants completed pre- and post-tests evaluating their production of four Mandarin tones at the sentence level. Statistical analyses revealed that the experimental group achieved significant gains in tonal accuracy across all four tones, while the control group showed no notable improvement. Survey data further supported the CAPT system’s usability and pedagogical value, with learners demonstrating increased awareness of tone patterns and pronunciation strategies. These findings highlight the efficacy of ASR-based CAPT for supporting tone acquisition in tonal languages like Mandarin, especially in supplementing classroom instruction for pronunciation development. The study addresses the underrepresented research in CAPT for L2 Mandarin learning and introduces an effective tool for L2 Mandarin learners and instructors.

Abstract

This study presents the development and validation of a Chinese cloze test for second language (L2) learners in U.S. university-level programs, targeting proficiency levels typical of large public universities, especially those using the Integrated Chinese textbook series. Constructed using a rational deletion method, the test contains 40 blanks within a passage of approximately 400 characters and takes about 20 minutes to complete. Validation was conducted with students from a large state university and benchmarked against multiple proficiency measures, including a placement test and a final exam. Results demonstrate that the cloze test effectively differentiates between adjacent proficiency levels and correlates with both placement and final exam scores, supporting its use as a practical in-house assessment tool. The study also investigates the reliability of self-assessment as a supplementary measure of proficiency. Findings indicate that self-assessments are more accurate within proficiency levels than across them: lower-proficiency learners more accurately evaluate reading and writing skills, while higher-proficiency learners better assess listening and speaking. Framed as a curriculum-based classroom assessment project, this study offers a quick, effective, and easy-to-administer tool for both instructional and research use.

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