Examining the native speakers’ understanding of communicative purposes of a written genre in modern standard Chinese

1997 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhu Yunxia
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Business Writing ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Writing Practice ◽  
Modern Standard

Abstract This study aims to examine the different attitudes of the native speakers in understanding a written genre of Modern Standard Chinese—sales letters. The examination mainly focuses on the use of formulaic components as they appear in real Chinese sales letters and to compare these with the prescribed advice given in textbooks. To do this, 100 business students and 100 managers were surveyed for their views on appropriate business writing. The divergence of the views of these two groups of native speakers indicates that there is a gap between business teaching and business writing practice. The managers had a good understanding of the communicative purposes of the sales letters, while the students lacked this kind of understanding, which indicates the gap between business teaching and business writing practice.

scholarly journals BECOMING A BUSINESS WRITER: OMANI ESP STUDENTS’ SELF-PERCEIVED WRITING CHALLENGES, NEEDS AND WANTS

2022 ◽  
pp. 753
Author(s):  
Peter Heckadon ◽  
Victoria Tuzlukova
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Business Writing ◽  
Sultan Qaboos University ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Writing Analysis ◽  
Writing Practice

Today, effective English writing is one of the most valuable professional skills for growth and development in the world of entrepreneurship. In spite of the prominence of English as the leading language of business and business education, writing is still one of the biggest challenges that business students face. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that explored Omani business student-perceived challenges, needs and wants in writing. The study used an online survey involving seventy students from Sultan Qaboos University who were asked to share their perceptions in regard to these three dimensions specifically related to the skill of business writing. Analysis of the data was conducted using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. Findings reveal that business students place effective writing skills high in terms of their perceived necessity. They also indicate that in spite of interesting and engaging writing activities contextualized in Oman’s world of business, students’ overall enjoyment level of writing is moderate on average due to perceived challenges throughout learning, and lacks in perspectives pertaining to how the writing tasks and assignments could be developed and implemented, including providing more guiding writing practice, more feedback, more interesting topics and more real-world topics and tasks. These student challenges, needs and wants analysis’ findings can direct further developments, leading to a successful English business writing syllabus and teaching practice.

scholarly journals Linguistic Temporality, Logical Meaning and Narrative Perspectives: Adverbs /zai/ and /you/ in Modern Standard Chinese

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-38
Author(s):  
Jens KARLSSON
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Information ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Conceptual Analogy ◽  
Semantic Encoding ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Decompositional Analysis ◽  
Modern Standard ◽  
Temporal Adverbs

In this paper is presented an inquiry into some aspects of the meaning and usage of two temporal adverbs zai (再) and you (又) in Modern Standard Chinese. A decompositional analysis of the semantic encoding of the adverbs is conducted, aiming to better explain their recorded differences in usage. First, a sketch of some of the fundamental features of linguistic temporality is provided in order to model the structure of temporal semantic information encoded in the adverbs. Non-temporal (logical) meaning such as assertion and inference is also shown to be an important aspect of the semantic content of the adverbs. Adverbs zai and you are shown to encode the same semantic content except for a difference in viewpoint; the first being prospective, the second retrospective. Concrete linguistic examples reflecting the intrinsic semantic encoding of the adverbs are raised and discussed. It is then argued that through combining the decompositional analysis with ideas concerning conceptual analogy, some issues raised by Lu and Ma (1999) regarding the usage of zai and you in past and future settings may be resolved.

Textual cohesion in modern standard Chinese

1989 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ellen Okurowski
Keyword(s):  
Textual Cohesion ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Modern Standard

Encoding dot-like events in Modern Standard Chinese

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Federica Cominetti ◽  
Raffaele Simone
Keyword(s):  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Modern Standard

scholarly journals Pronunciation Problems among Palestinian English Major Students in Hebron University

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Consonant Clusters ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
English Major ◽  
Arabic And English ◽  
Modern Standard

The purpose of this research is to identify few common pronunciation mistakes among Palestinian English major students in Hebron University and the factors that cause these problems. The paper discusses selected phonetic and phonological problems related to specific consonants and vowels besides problems related to pronunciation of consonant sequences. The participants of this study were 120 English major students from Hebron University. The instruments used for collecting the data were a questionnaire and a recorded pronunciation test. In addition to the previous instruments, interviews were conducted with eight students and two instructors. The findings of the study revealed that Hebron University English major students have difficulties in pronouncing English consonants that are not part of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) such as [ŋ], [p], [ɫ], [ɹ], [ʒ], [tʃ] (though some consider [ŋ], [ɫ], [ʒ], [tʃ] as allophonic variants and are used in the different dialects of Arabic), problems in consonant clusters(epenthesis), silent letters, and vowels that have more than one pronunciation. During the interviews, the interviewees pointed various reasons for their errors and suggested some solutions to some of these pronunciation problems. Among the mispronunciation reasons mentioned are: interference from Arabic and the lack of correct models, exposure to native speakers, and practice. The researchers concluded that learners' errors are caused by several linguistic factors, such as the disparity between Arabic and English sound systems, the effect of spelling on pronunciation, the influence of the first language (L1) on the second language (L2), and English vowel inconsistency. Finally, ideas to overcome some of the pronunciation problems are suggested.

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