This study investigates how Chinese logogriphs are comprehended by learners of Chinese as a foreign language(CFL)with different Chinese proficiencies and cultural backgrounds.Eighty-eight CFL learners from four cultur...This study investigates how Chinese logogriphs are comprehended by learners of Chinese as a foreign language(CFL)with different Chinese proficiencies and cultural backgrounds.Eighty-eight CFL learners from four cultures(South Koreans,Southeast Asians,Western Caucasians and Arabs)were divided into two Chinese proficiency groups according to their HSK scores,and 15 L1 Chinese speakers also took part in the experiment as a control group.The participants were asked to write down how they interpreted Chinese logogriphs in questionnaires.An ANOVA analysis was conducted to examine the effects of Chinese proficiency and cultural background on logogriph comprehension.The results indicate that the accuracy of logogriph comprehension and the frequency of adopting logogriph-solving strategies positively correlated with the learners’Chinese proficiency,and that those with higher proficiency used more linguistic and cultural knowledge of the target language.As for cultural influence,Western Caucasians tended to think more visually than the other three cultural groups,and South Koreans and Southeast Asians were better at activating Chinese semantic knowledge.The closer the CFL learners’culture is to Chinese culture,the more similar strategies they adopted to those of L1 Chinese participants.Moreover,the participants’Chinese proficiency and cultural background show an interactive effect on their logogriph comprehension,with the former factor having a greater influence than the latter in this process.展开更多
With a growing number of foreign language studies on proficiency outcomes,it is imperative to address the challenge of measuring students’proficiency development in a language program where standardized proficiency t...With a growing number of foreign language studies on proficiency outcomes,it is imperative to address the challenge of measuring students’proficiency development in a language program where standardized proficiency testing is not readily available.This article reports administering a Chinese elicited imitation test(EIT)by an instructor to track students’global oral proficiency development in a small language program in a mid-size U.S.public university.The test results from the EIT of second language(L2)Chinese suggest that this tool can provide the instructor with valuable insights into students’oral proficiency.This study also discusses the potential practical value of using this EIT in a language program with limited resources for standardized proficiency assessment.The hope is that this study will encourage language educators who are not already doing so to start using empirical evidence from a valid and reliable proficiency measurement tool to reflect on,improve,and guide their instructional practices.展开更多
文摘This study investigates how Chinese logogriphs are comprehended by learners of Chinese as a foreign language(CFL)with different Chinese proficiencies and cultural backgrounds.Eighty-eight CFL learners from four cultures(South Koreans,Southeast Asians,Western Caucasians and Arabs)were divided into two Chinese proficiency groups according to their HSK scores,and 15 L1 Chinese speakers also took part in the experiment as a control group.The participants were asked to write down how they interpreted Chinese logogriphs in questionnaires.An ANOVA analysis was conducted to examine the effects of Chinese proficiency and cultural background on logogriph comprehension.The results indicate that the accuracy of logogriph comprehension and the frequency of adopting logogriph-solving strategies positively correlated with the learners’Chinese proficiency,and that those with higher proficiency used more linguistic and cultural knowledge of the target language.As for cultural influence,Western Caucasians tended to think more visually than the other three cultural groups,and South Koreans and Southeast Asians were better at activating Chinese semantic knowledge.The closer the CFL learners’culture is to Chinese culture,the more similar strategies they adopted to those of L1 Chinese participants.Moreover,the participants’Chinese proficiency and cultural background show an interactive effect on their logogriph comprehension,with the former factor having a greater influence than the latter in this process.
文摘With a growing number of foreign language studies on proficiency outcomes,it is imperative to address the challenge of measuring students’proficiency development in a language program where standardized proficiency testing is not readily available.This article reports administering a Chinese elicited imitation test(EIT)by an instructor to track students’global oral proficiency development in a small language program in a mid-size U.S.public university.The test results from the EIT of second language(L2)Chinese suggest that this tool can provide the instructor with valuable insights into students’oral proficiency.This study also discusses the potential practical value of using this EIT in a language program with limited resources for standardized proficiency assessment.The hope is that this study will encourage language educators who are not already doing so to start using empirical evidence from a valid and reliable proficiency measurement tool to reflect on,improve,and guide their instructional practices.
