An Alignment-Based Approach to L2 Learning of Chinese Numeral Classifiers

This study investigated the efficiency of learning the Chinese numeral classifiers by L2 Chinese learners by means of an alignment-oriented task. Participants were a total of 96 intermediate learners of L2 Chinese, who were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group, with each group consisting of 32 participants. The continuation task used in this study consisted of a picture-based Chinese text depicting a room with an array of objects, which necessitates the use of classifiers. The two experimental groups were both required to first read the text and then write to describe their own rooms in comparison with the one in the text. One group was instructed to use the classifiers from the text as much as possible in their writing, whereas the other was not required to do so. Participants in the control group were first given the picture to look at in the absence of the text and then asked to describe their own rooms. The results showed that the continuation task significantly enhanced participants’ retention of the Chinese numeral classifiers, suggesting that the alignment-based approach is an effective way to learn difficult linguistic categories such as the Chinese classifiers.

Effect of Interaction Intensity on Alignment and EFL Learners’ Oral Production in the ReadingSpeaking Integrated Continuation Task

This study aims to uncover the relationship between interaction and alignment in a readingspeaking integrated continuation task, especially focusing on whether an increase in interaction intensity can lead to stronger alignment and further generate positive effects on L2 learning. To this end, 31 participants were asked to perform reading-speaking integrated continuation tasks under three different conditions featuring low, medium and high interaction intensity respectively. The results showed that 1) alignment existed in the reading-speaking integrated continuation task;2)increasing interaction intensity generated stronger alignment at both linguistic and situational levels;3) growing interaction intensity contributed to more coherent and accurate L2 oral production. These findings not only proved the workings of mind-body-world alignment, but also testified that increasing interaction intensity could bring about a stronger alignment effect(Wang,2010), which then contributed to better L2 oral performance. These findings confirm again the role of interaction in L2 learning and suggest that alignment could possibly be a mediating factor that links interaction and L2 development. Pedagogical implications for teaching and learning L2 speaking are discussed.

“不”与“没有”的母语习得

本文通过四个实验,具体探讨现代汉语"不"与"没有"的母语习得。实验结果表明,儿童在两岁半左右对"没有"表示"否定物体的存在"已基本掌握;对"不"表示"对心理状态、意愿或可能性的否定"以及"没有"表示"否定动作行为的发生或完成"这样的语义特征随着年龄的增长而逐步习得;但已习得"不"与"没有"用于形容词之前的用法。实验结果还表明,两岁左右的儿童已基本掌握了诸如"完成"、"意愿"、"状态"、"动作"等概念。

A Quantitative and Network Approach to Alignment Effects in L2 Continuation Tasks

The present study employed a quantitative and network approach to detect alignment effects in second language(L2) continuation tasks designed on the xu-argument(Wang, 2016). The materials used in this study were 6 sub-corpora consisting of two selected input stories and two groups of L2 written production based on two continuation tasks. During continuation, the participants were required to continue in English a story with its ending removed, with one group reading and continuing the Chinese version and the other group the English version, and then switching their roles in the two tasks. Results show that the alignment effect differs across the two versions of continuation. Specifically, compared with the Chinese-version continuation, L2 learners produced more use of unigrams and bigrams similar to the input story in terms of lexical items, frequency and ranking correlations in the English-version task;on the other hand, the English-version continuation can facilitate generating linguistic networks that are much closer to the native English networks. Moreover, this research corroborates that written production in L2 continuation tasks can be influenced by input content.

Discursive Constraints of Teasing:Constructing Professionality via Teasing in Chinese Entertainment Interviews

Teasing can be approached as a linguistic resource for examining the interpersonal issues of im/politeness and face,or as a discursive strategy for displaying relationships or constructing social identities.However,studies have underestimated the discursive constraints of teasing in specific contexts.Meanwhile,a majority of teasing studies were based on Western cultures and did not pay sufficient attention to the variety of teasing across cultures.By collecting data from two Chinese entertainment interviews,where the interviewer employs teasing frequently for performing institutional roles,this study examined how teasing functions to assist the interviewer to complete communicative goals,and explored the discursive constraints of teasing in media context.Data analysis exemplified how teasing helped the interviewer to manage an interview event,obtain the guest’s disclosure and seek audience involvement,helping to construct the interviewer’s professionality.Implications for understanding the discursive features of teasing in the Chinese media context were addressed.

Interdiscursivity and Promotional Discourse:A Corpus-Assisted Genre Analysis of About Us Texts on Chinese University Websites

The debate on the marketization of discourse in higher education has sparked and sustained interest among researchers in discourse and education studies across a diversity of contexts.While most research in this line has focused on marketized discourses such as advertisements,little attention has been paid to promotional discourse in public institutions such as the About us texts on Chinese university websites.The goal of the present study is twofold:first,to describe the generic features of the university About us texts in China;and second,to analyze how promotional discourse is interdiscursively incorporated in the discourse by referring to the broader sociopolitical context.Findings have indicated five main moves:giving an overview,stressing historical status,displaying strengths,pledging political and ideological allegiance,and communicating goals and visions.Move 3,displaying strengths,has the greatest amount of information and can be further divided into six sub-moves which presents information on campus facilities,faculty team,talent cultivation,disciplinary fields construction,academic research,and international exchange.The main linguistic and rhetorical strategies used in these moves are analyzed and discussed.

Discourse Marker Na(那)as an Interpersonal-Level Compensatory Strategy in Clinical Interviews

Discourse markers(DMs) are characterized by multifunctionality in different contexts.This study addressed the use of the Chinese DM,na(那),as a solution to topical divergence,during clinical interactions with right-hemisphere-damaged(RHD) patients.Drawing on data collected from clinical interviews between psychotherapists and RHD patients,this study examined the functions of na in response to RHD topical divergence,focusing on the topic and attitudinal aspects.It was found that na was mainly employed by psychotherapists to mark a reproffer of interview topics(i.e.,an attempt to return to earlier topics),and a display of disalignment and disaffiliation with RHD topical divergence.These functions of na reflect the psychotherapists’ attempts to overcome communicative problems arising from RHD topical divergence,so as to ensure the achievement of the communicative goal.Thus,na can be interpreted as a compensatory strategy for dealing with RHD topical divergence on an interpersonal level.These findings not only expand our knowledge about the function spectrum of na,but also offer insights for RHD patients’ interlocutors to enhance conversational communication with RHD patients via the compensatory strategy.