Chinese as a Second Language. The journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA - Volume 55, Issue 1, 2020

Abstract

Chinese compounds consist of two to four characters but function as single word. If the compounds are semantically opaque and contain unfamiliar characters, learners will resort to learning them individually by rote. However, given the large number of Chinese compounds, rote learning can place an excessive burden on memory. To facilitate L2 learning of opaque Chinese compounds, the present study proposes a method called elaborative encoding. In this study, L2 learners were given a booklet with 26 two-character opaque compounds. With elaborative encoding, participants learned the English meanings of the compounds through short metaphorical explanations. With rote memorization, participants learned the compounds’ English meanings without any explanation. To test the effects of elaborative encoding, a Chinese-to-English translation task was conducted immediately after training, five days later, and 14 days later. The results showed elaborative encoding was superior to rote memorization in retaining the meanings of the opaque compounds.

Abstract

This study aimed to determine whether learners of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) could more easily acquire Mandarin metaphors in vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehension, and essay writing tasks after enhancing their metaphor awareness. Experiment 1 divided CSL participants into three groups and received three types of instructions on metaphors. The results showed that there was no effect of enhanced metaphor awareness across the three kinds of instructions in the vocabulary, reading, and writing tasks, while a marginally significant effect of enhanced metaphor awareness in the writing task. Experiment 2 aimed to determine whether the discourse-based or the sentence-based presentation of metaphorical expressions would affect the CSL learners’ writing performance. The results showed that the paragraph group achieved significantly higher writing scores and frequency of metaphors produced compared with the sentence group. And, the paragraph group produced more new and creative metaphors in their essays compared with the sentence group. To conclude, the two experiments demonstrated that enhancing the CSL learners’ metaphor awareness was beneficial in the writing tasks, but not in the vocabulary and reading tasks. Furthermore, when the metaphorical expressions were presented in discourse to facilitate the connection of semantic relationships between metaphors, this resulted in more coherent essays. This study has practical implications for CSL teachers designing classroom activities involving the learning of Chinese metaphors.

Abstract

After the change of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to People’s Republic of China, Mandarin has become increasingly important in Hong Kong society. However, it is observed that many native Cantonese speakers have problems mastering Mandarin tones despite the less complex tonal system. This study attempts to investigate the Mandarin tonal error patterns made by Hong Kong learners and the possible causes for these errors. A reading aloud test and a follow-up interview were designed to collect the data. The findings of the study show that a large number of students were confused about Mandarin tones and found them difficult to master, especially between tone 1 and tone 4 and tone 2 and tone 3. All the participants made these two mistakes in the test. This study hypothesizes that L1 negative transfer is the key factor that helps Cantonese speaking learners’ ability to establish a new tone in the L2. However, the reason for participants’ tonal mistakes is not due to one single cause; instead, the errors are caused by multiple factors, including lack of tonal knowledge, incomplete tonal acquisition, and tonal errors explained by the Speech Learning Model.

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