English Vocabulary Acquisition by Chinese Learners.docx
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EnglishVocabularyAcquisitionbyChineseLearners
TheChineseVocabularyAcquisitionofSLA
[Abstract]
[Keywords]
1.Introduction
Introductionofthethesis
Reviewsofthetopic
2.Thestatusofproblemsexistedinvocabularyacquisition
Mechanicalmemorization
Mixedstyles
Smallquantityofvocabularyinput
3.ThedifferenceofvocabularyacquisitionbetweenL1andL2
Theaverageageoflearners
Thequantitiesoflanguageinputs
Thelanguageenvironmentandacquisitionways
4.L1transferonL2vocabularyacquisition-ChinesetransferonEnglishvocabularyacquisition
ThepositivetransferofL1
ThenegativetransferofL1
5.Thestrategiesofvocabularyacquisition
Readingandvocabularylearning
Contextsandvocabularylearning
Dictionariesandvocabularylearning
6.Conclusion
[References]
EnglishVocabularyAcquisitionbyChineseLearners
ZengShaomanAdviser:
HuMingliang
Abstract:
Vocabularyacquisitionisaneternalcognitiveprocess.SinceSecondLanguageAcquisitionisdifferentfromone’smothertongueacquisition,therearealsovariousdifferencesbetweenvocabularyacquisitionofL1andofhissecondlanguage.Theproblemofhowtodealwithvocabularyinforeignlanguageteachinghasbecomemoreandmoreobvious.Moreover,asChineseisourfirstlanguage,theremustbemanytypicalcharacteristicsofourL2vocabularyacquisitioncomparedwiththatofL1.ThispaperisgoingtodiscussseveralproblemsexistinginourChineselearnersinL2vocabularylearning,focusontheinteractionofL1andL2,includingdifferencesandtransfer,andproposethreeeffectivestrategiesonvocabularylearningforChineselearners.
KeyWords:
Vocabularyacquisition,Difference,Transfer,VocabularyLearningStrategies
I.Introduction:
WhatisVocabularyAcquisition?
VocabularyisoneofthemainhindrancesofmostL2learners.Thereasonisthatdenotativemeaninghadbeenemphasizedtoomuchintraditionalteaching,throughcontrastandtranslation,whileotheraspects,suchasconnotativemeaningandwordcollocationhadlongbeenneglectedfordecades(Hedge,2002).Inspiteofthis,recentyearshaveseenagreaterawarenessofvocabularylearningbyresearchers,materialdesigners,andteachers.Vocabularyisnolongeravictimofdiscriminationinsecondlanguagelearningresearch,norinlanguageteaching.Afterdecadesofneglect,wordsarenowrecognizedascentraltoanylanguageacquisitionprocess,nativeornon-native.
Whatisvocabularyacquisition?
Doeslearningawordmeanyouhaverecognizedhowitisformedandgraspeditsbasicmeaning?
MostChineseL2learnershavebeenpuzzledbysuchquestionsforyears.MostresearchesonSLAaredonefromtheviewofmorphologyandgrammar,whilefewarefromvocabulary(Cook,2000).So,itisveryimportantforourL2learnerstomakecleartheconnotativesignificanceofvocabularyacquisition.
Clearly,knowingthewordisonething,buthowthatknowledgeisacquiredisanother.Inlearningtheirfirstlanguage,thefirstwordsthatchildrenlearnaretypicallythoseusedforlabeling,thatis,mappingwordsontoconcepts(Cook,2000),sothattheconcept,e.g.,ofdoghasaname,dog,ordoggieinEnglish,and狗inChinese.Butdodogand狗indicatethesamething?
Areallfour-leggedanimalsdogs?
Somemaybecats.So,thechildthenhastolearnhowfartoextendtheconceptofdog,soasnottoincludecats,buttoincludeotherpeople’sdogs,toydogs,andevenpicturesofdogs.Inotherwords,acquiringavocabularyrequiresnotonlylabelingbutcategorizingskills.
Finally,thechildneedstorealizethatcommonwordslikeappleanddogcanbereplacedbysuperordinatetermslikefruitandanimal.Andthatanimalcanaccommodateotherlowerorderwordssuchascat,horseandelephant.Thisinvolvesaprocessofnetworkbuilding--constructingacomplexwebofwords(SchmittandMcCarthy,2002),sothat,itemslikeblackandwhite,orfingersandtoes,orfamilyandbrotherareinterconnected.Networkbuildingservestolinkallthelabelsandpackages,andlaysthegroundworkforaprocessthatcontinuesforaslongasweareexposedtonewwords(andnewmeaningsforoldwords),thatis,fortherestofourlives.
ReviewsoftheTopic
Theresearchofvocabularyacquisitionbeganinthe1980s,whichattractsmoreandmoreattentionthroughouttheworldasyearsgoby.Byfar,thesystemofvocabularyacquisitionhasbecomeevenmorematurethaneverbefore.
Inrecenttenyears,theresearchandinvestigationsinourowncountryincreaseinasteadyway.Gu(1994)tookresearchinthevocabularylearningstrategiesof850non-English-majorstudentsinBeijingNormalUniversitybyusingquestionnaires.Also,hegenerallydepictedtheirmemorizationstrategies.Wang(1998),whoinvestigated50undergraduatestudentsinNanjingUniversity,madeamorecomprehensiveresearchinthevocabularylearningstrategies,especiallymemorizationstrategies.Eveninourowncollege,Prof.Liu(2002)proposedareportonword-guessingstrategiesaftertheexperimentof50studentsinGuangdongForeignLanguageUniversity.Allthesementionedaboveshowedustherelationsbetweenvocabularylearningstrategies,orwemaysaytheacquisitionwaysandtheresultofvocabularylearning.
Forourstudents,itmustgreatlyhelpourChineseinL2learningifwefindoutthefeaturesofL2vocabularyacquisition.
II.ProblemsExistinginVocabularyAcquisition
2.1MechanicalMemorization
Inthenormalacquisitionprocess,moststudentsareinfavorof“mechanicalmemorization”accordingtomyownexperienceandtheresearchwhichhasbeendone.Thestrategiesofmechanicalmemorizationincludere-reading,re-spellingandreadingwhilewriting.SuchphenomenoniscausednotonlybytheeffectofthetheoriesandpracticesofChinesetraditionallanguage-learning,butalsobythebackwardconditionsoflearningEnglish,suchasthelimitednumberofEnglishreadingmaterialsformostofthestudents.
2.2MisusedStyles
Asmostofwhatisreadisinwrittenform,itisdifficultforstudentstowellgraspthedifferenceofvocabularystylesandtherelationshipbetweenlanguageformsandcontextfeatures.Asaresultofthis,itiscommontofindmisusedstylesinvocabularyapplication.Forexample,informalstylesmaybeusedinaformalsituation.Inanapplicationletter,youmayfindsuchasentence:
IamsendingyouthisletterbecauseIwantyoutomeetwithmeandgivemesomeinfoaboutthejobyoudo.
Obviously,itisnotsuitabletowritethissentenceinsuchaformalsituationlikeanapplicationletter,asthewordswantandinfoareoralones.Thus,itshouldbewrittenlikethis:
Iamwritingtoinquireaboutthepossibilityofaninterview.
Oneofthesereasonsofstylemixingisthat,whenteachingaword,itisseldomfortheteachertoillustratetheculturalbackgroundandthepragmaticprinciplesoftheword.Studentsfindithardtounderstandandusethelanguageexactly.
Languagehasrichandabundantconnotation.Althoughwewillfindawordinaccordancewithwhattheauthorintendstoexpress,studentsmaynotbeabletograspthesemanticmeaningandtheauthor’sidea,duetotheconnotativedifferencecausedbydifferentsocialandculturalbackgroundanddifferentthinkingways.
2.3SmallQuantityofVocabularyInput
Itmaynotbedifficulttofindoutinresearchthat,vocabularylearningtoagreatextentwillimproveone’sEnglish.Manyscholarsconsiderthatthedifficultiesinwritingarecausedbytheinsufficiencyofvocabularyaccumulation.However,thetimeforteachingatargetlanguageinclassistoolimited.Forexample,thevocabularyteachinginintensive-readingclassisconfinedtothetime,onlyincludingtheteacher’s“shortandintensive”instructionandthestudents’vocabularyexerciseafterclass.Itiscleartoseethatvocabularyinputinclassteachingisinalimitedamount.
III.TheRelationsofVocabularyAcquisitionBetweenL1andL2
Differences
Inwhatwaysisthedevelopmentofasecondlanguagelexiconanydifferentfromthatofthefirstlanguage?
Perhapsthemostobviousdifferenceisthefactthat,bydefinition,secondlanguagelearnersalreadyhaveafirstlanguage.Andnotonlydotheyhavetheconceptualsystemthatthesewordsencode,buttheyalsolearnedthecomplexnetworkofassociationsthatlinkthesewordsonewithanother.Learningasecondlanguageinvolvesbothlearninganewconceptualsystem,andconstructinganewvocabularynetwork--asecondmentallexicon(SchmittandMcCarthy,2002).However,thereisadownsidetohavingaready-madeconceptualsystemwithitsassociatedlexicon.Facedwithlearninganewword,thesecondlanguagelearnerislikelytoshort-cuttheprocessofconstructinganetworkofassociations–andsimplymaptheworddirectlyontothemothertongueequivalent.Thus,ifaChinese-speakinglearnerlearnstheEnglishwordtaxi,ratherthancreatingadirectlinkfromtaxitotheconceptof“taxi”,heismorelikelytocreatealinktohisL1equivalent的士.TheL1wordactsasasteppingstonetothetargetconcept.
Thedifferencesincludeseveralaspects:
Firstly,thelearnersofL1differfromthoseofL2.Asforone’smothertongue,thelearnersarechildren,whocannotunderstandthevocabularybecauseoftheirintelligenceandlimitedabilities.Intheprocedureofacquiringvocabulary,thereseemtobefewpossibilitiesforthemtoprocessandcategorizetheinputmaterialsintheirmind.Thus,thewayoftheiracquisitionissimply“naturalacquisition”(Thornbury,2003).Thelexiconmaterialsarestoredintheirbrainaswordforms.ButmostL2learnersaregrown-ups,whosecognitionabilitiesarequitecompleteandareabletoanalyzeandsummarizewhattheylearna