An exploratory study into Chinese and English speaking children's visual perception and their spatial and geometric conceptions in Piagetian tasks

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mun-yee Lai
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Chinese And English

scholarly journals A Contrastive Analysis of Chinese Humor and English Humor in Intercultural Communication

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1595
Author(s):  
Sha Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Transcultural Communication ◽  
Figure Of Speech ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Chinese And English

Humor plays an important role in daily life and also quite useful in interpersonal communication. Nowadays, the cross-cultural communication between the English-speaking countries and China becomes more and more frequent while some humor is difficult to appreciate with diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore, this paper aims at analyzing the Chinese and English humor from their similarities, like the use of ambiguity and figure of speech, as well as differences, especially in functions, topics and ways of expression. Related causes are further discussed the differences. Hopefully, the findings will help to reduce the obstacles in understanding humor in different culture and promote transcultural communication in a delightful manner.

scholarly journals Grammatical Positions of Focuser Like Among Native English-Speaking Undergraduate Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Basim Alamri
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
Midwestern University ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Native English Speaking

Discourse markers (DMs) are used in everyday conversations to serve different meanings and functions. The present exploratory study investigated grammatical positions of focuser like among 60 undergraduate native-English-speaking students at a midwestern university in the United States. Students were asked to read and place focuser like in this sentence: “We have to read five chapters for the final exam”. Then students were required to indicate a degree of acceptability of the placement of like at every possible position in sentences that contained the discourse marker like in 10 different grammatical positions. The results showed that students preferred inserting the DM like before a noun phrase, at the beginning of a sentence, and before a verb phrase, respectively. In terms of gender, females frequently posited focuser like before a sentence, whereas males placed it before a noun phrase. Also, the discourse marker like does not occur within auxiliary. Finally, this study draws conclusions about different grammatical positions and broader usages of discourse marker focuser like among younger students. 

scholarly journals Learning-Oriented Assessment, Critical Thinking and English Language Speaking Skills: Exploratory Study of Saudi EFL Learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Mansoor S. Almalki
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
English Language ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Speaking Proficiency ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
English Speaking

This exploratory study uses the theoretical underpinnings of Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA) to investigate Saudi EFL learners’ perceptions as well as their progress in the comparative analysis of an LOA group of students and a traditional control class at Taif University English Language Centre (TUELC). The study uses both quantitative and qualitative techniques to assess how learners in the LOA group improve their English speaking proficiency during the course. The data shows that LOA proved to be a successful resource in the whole process. Answering three research questions, the study concludes that LOA may prove to be a daunting task for teachers due to their excessive monitoring responsibilities, yet it plays a vital role in improving the learners’ critical thinking, their abilities for self and peer assessment and improving their overall English language skills.

Parental numeric language input to Mandarin Chinese and English speaking preschool children

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALICIA CHANG ◽  
CATHERINE M. SANDHOFER ◽  
LAUREN ADELCHANOW ◽  
BENJAMIN ROTTMAN
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Mathematical Performance ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Language Input ◽  
Chinese And English ◽  
Syntactic Frames ◽  
Preschool Aged Children

ABSTRACTThe present study examined the number-specific parental language input to Mandarin- and English-speaking preschool-aged children. Mandarin and English transcripts from the CHILDES database were examined for amount of numeric speech, specific types of numeric speech and syntactic frames in which numeric speech appeared. The results showed that Mandarin-speaking parents talked about number more frequently than English-speaking parents. Further, the ways in which parents talked about number terms in the two languages was more supportive of a cardinal interpretation in Mandarin than in English. We discuss these results in terms of their implications for numerical understanding and later mathematical performance.

scholarly journals When speech is ambiguous, gesture steps in: Sensitivity to discourse-pragmatic principles in early childhood

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
WING CHEE SO ◽  
ÖZLEM ECE DEMIR ◽  
SUSAN GOLDIN-MEADOW
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Referring Expressions ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Null Arguments ◽  
Information Status ◽  
Third Person ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Referential Expressions ◽  
Chinese And English

ABSTRACTYoung children produce gestures to disambiguate arguments. This study explores whether the gestures they produce are constrained by discourse-pragmatic principles: person and information status. We ask whether children use gesture more often to indicate the referents that have to be specified (i.e., third person and new referents) than the referents that do not have to be specified (i.e., first or second person and given referents). Chinese- and English-speaking children were videotaped while interacting spontaneously with adults, and their speech and gestures were coded for referential expressions. We found that both groups of children tended to use nouns when indicating third person and new referents but pronouns or null arguments when indicating first or second person and given referents. They also produced gestures more often when indicating third person and new referents, particularly when those referents were ambiguously conveyed by less explicit referring expressions (pronouns, null arguments). Thus Chinese- and English-speaking children show sensitivity to discourse-pragmatic principles not only in speech but also in gesture.

Insight into the structure of compound words among speakers of Chinese and English

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIE ZHANG ◽  
RICHARD C. ANDERSON ◽  
QIUYING WANG ◽  
JEROME PACKARD ◽  
XINCHUN WU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sixth Graders ◽  
Compound Word ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Compound Words ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Word Structure ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Noun Compounds ◽  
Chinese And English ◽  
Insight Into

ABSTRACTKnowledge of compound word structures in Chinese and English was investigated, comparing 435 Chinese and 258 Americans, including second, fourth, and sixth graders, and college undergraduates. As anticipated, the results revealed that Chinese speakers performed better on a word structure analogy task than their English-speaking counterparts. Also, as anticipated, speakers of both languages performed better on noun + noun and verb + particle compounds, which are more productive in their respective languages than noun + verb and verb + noun compounds, which are less productive. Both Chinese and English speakers performed significantly better on novel compounds than on familiar compounds, most likely because familiar compounds are lexicalized and do not invite decomposition into constituents.

ASYMMETRY OF NULL SUBJECTS AND NULL OBJECTS IN CHINESE SPEAKERS' L2 ENGLISH

1997 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boping Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Null Subjects ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
Null Object ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
L1 Acquisition ◽  
Chinese And English

One of the differences between Chinese and English is that the former allows both null subjects in finite sentences and null objects, but the latter allows neither. This cross-linguistic variation is believed to be related to the underspecification of I and topic drop in Chinese but not in English. This paper reports on an empirical study investigating the unlearning of null subjects and null objects by 159 Chinese learners in their L2 acquisition of English. In L1 acquisition, it has been found that English-speaking children display an asymmetry by frequently allowing null subjects but rarely null objects. The results of this study indicate that there is an asymmetry in Chinese learners' L2 English, which, however, is opposite to that found in English L1 acquisition: Chinese learners are able to reject the incorrect null subject in English, but unable to detect the ungrammaticality of the null object. It is proposed that the unlearning of null subjects by Chinese learners of English is triggered by the evidence in their input indicating the specification of AGR(eement) and T(ense) in English, and that the difficulty in the unlearning of null objects is related to the lack of informative evidence to unset the [+ topic-drop] setting in Chinese learners' L2 English.

scholarly journals Glimpses of semantic restructuring of English emotion-laden words of American English L1 users residing outside the USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 320-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Dewaele
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
American English ◽  
Statistical Analyses ◽  
The Self ◽  
Semantic Representations ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
The Usa ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Uk

Abstract The present exploratory study focuses on the effect of living outside the USA on the understanding of the meaning, the perceived offensiveness and the self-reported frequency of use of four English emotion-laden words of British origin and four English emotion-laden words of American origin among 556 first (L1) users of American English. Statistical analyses revealed that the scores of the Americans living in the UK or in non-English-speaking countries differed significantly from those of compatriots living in the USA. Positive relationships emerged between multilingualism and scores on the dependent variables for the four British words, but no link emerged between languages known and the dependent variables for the American words. This is interpreted as an indication that semantic representations of emotion-laden words originating from another variety of the L1 are relatively weaker and are more likely to shift as a result of exposure to their use in other varieties, and the knowledge of other languages.

scholarly journals Sinophiles between Flatland, Fetish, and Feuilleton

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Stember
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Studies ◽  
The World ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Chinese And English

Despite (or because of) the increasingly fraught relationship between the Chinese and English-speaking parts of the world, Chinese studies today finds itself blessed with a wealth of voices, both within academia and without. The author argues that it is this aspiration toward a plurality of perspectives, rather than the seductive illusion of One Right Answer for All and for All Time, that best encapsulates the value of Chinese studies in the Covid-19 pandemic, or in any other time.

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