The Pragmatic Competence of Chinese L2 Learners of Different L1s: In Reference to the Modal Auxiliary Neng Verb Group
Issue: Vol 1 No. 1 (2015)
Journal: Researching and Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language
Subject Areas:
Abstract:
Research studies have shown there is growing attention on the importance of developing the learners’ L2 pragmatic competence. The article focus mainly on discussion how L2 learners of Chinese understand and use Chinese modal auxiliary verbs (Neng Verb Group) to achieve related pragmatic functions. It contains results and analyses from a quasi-survey of elicitation tasks designed for 70 college level Chinese second-language learners from three language backgrounds (English 19, Japanese 25 and Korean 26), all are at different Chinese language proficiency levels. The results show that the learners from different L1s have different patterns of Appropriateness and Replacement uses. There is significant difference between the learners’ Chinese language levels, which is there are significant differences between the basic level and the intermediate level, between the basic level and the advanced level, but not between the intermediate level and the advanced level. This “plateauing” provides insights from pedagogical perspective on how to interwoven the pragmatic knowledge into the language teaching.
Author: Wen Xiong
References :
Altman, R. (1990). Giving and taking advice without offense. In R. Scarcella, E. Andersen, and S. Krashen (eds) Developing Communicative Competence in a Second Language, 95–106. New York: Newbury House.
Basham, C., and Kwachka, P. (1989). Variation in modal use by Alaskan Eskimo student writers. In S. Gass (ed.), Variation in Second Language Acquisition Volume 1: Discourse and Pragmatics. Bristol: Mutilingual Matters Ltd.
Celce-Murcia, M., and Larsen-Freeman, D. (1983). The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher's Course. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers.
Chen, Y. H. (2002). Hanyu nengyuan dongci ‘keyi’ zhi jiaoxue yufa (The Pedagogical Grammar of Chinese Modal Auxiliary Verb ‘keyi’). Unpublished MA Thesis. National Normal University of Taiwan.
Erbaugh, M. S. (1982). Coming to Order: Natural Selection and the Origin of Syntax in the Mandarin Speaking Child. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis. University of California, Berkeley.
Erbaugh, M. S. (1992). The acquisition of Mandarin. In D. I. Slobin (ed.), The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition, Vol. 3: 375–455. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Fillmore, C. (1974). Pragmatics and the description of discourse. In Charles J. Fillmore, George Lakoff, and Robin Lakoff (eds) Berkeley Studies in Syntax and Semantics, 1: 1–21. Berkeley, CA: University of California.
Fletcher, P. (1979). The Development of the Verb Phrase. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Guo, J. S. (1994). Social Interaction, Meaning, and Grammatical Form: Children’s Development and Use of Modal Auxiliaries in Mandarin Chinese. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis. University of California, Berkeley.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1975). Learning How to Mean: Exploration in the Development of Language. London: Edward Arnold. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-443701-2.50025-1
Hill, T. (1997). The Development of Pragmatic Competence in an EFL Context. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis. Temple University, Tokyo.
Ji, Y. X. (1986). Hanying qingtai dongci de duibi (Contrastive Studies of Chinese Modal Auxiliary Verbs and Their English Counterparts). Yuyan Jiaoxue Yu Yanjiu (Language Teaching and Researching), 3: 67–77.
Kecskes, I. (2014). About bilingual pragmatic competence. Modern Foreign Languages, 37 (1): 1–22.
Kärkkäinen, E. (1992). Modality as a strategy in interaction: Epistemic modality in the language of native and non-native speakers of English. Pragmatics and Language Learning, 3: 197–216.
Kasper, G. (1979). Communication strategies: Modality reduction. Interlanguage Studies Bulletin 4: 266–283.
Kasper, G. and Rose, K. R. (2002). Pragmatic Development in a Second Language. Melden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Lakoff, R. (1972). The pragmatics of modality. Chicago Linguistic Society Papers, 8: 229–249.
Lee, Y. (2011). Comparison of politeness and acceptability perceptions of request strategies between Chinese learners of English and Native English speakers. International Journal of Language Studies 5 (3): 27–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v7n8p21
Major, D. (1974). The Acquisition of Modal Auxiliaries in the Language of Children. Paris, Mouton.
Papafragou, A. (1998). The acquisition of modality: Implications for theories of semantic representation. Mind and Language 13 (3): 370–399. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0017.00082
Papafragou, A. (2000). Issues in the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface. Amsterdam; New York: Elsevier Science.
Palmer, F. R. (1989). Modality and the English Modals. London; New York: Longman.
Palmer, F. R. (2001). Mood and modality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139167178
Peng, L. Zh (2007). Xiandai Hanyu Qingtai Yanjiu (The Study of Modals in Modern Chinese). Beijing: China Social Study Press.
Perkins, M. (1983). Modal Expressions in English. London: Frances Pinter.
Richards, B. J. (1990). Language Development and Individual Differences: A Study of Auxiliary Verb Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511519833
Wells, C., G. (1979). Learning and using the auxiliary verbs in English. In V. Lee (ed.), Language Development. New York: Wiley.
Salsbury, T., and Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2000). Oppositional talk and the acquisition of modality in L2 English. In B. Swierzbin, F. Morris, M. Anderson, C. A. Klee and E. Tarone (eds) Social and Cognitive Factors in Second Language Acquisition. 56–76. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Takahashi, S. (2001). The role of input enhancement in developing pragmatic competence. In K. R. Rose and G. Kasper (eds) Pragmatics in Language Teaching, 171–199). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tao, L. (1991). Xiandai hanyu zhudongci taolun (Discussion on Modal Auxiliary Verbs in Modern Chinese). Paper presented at the 4th Symposium of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, Beijing.
Xiong, W. (1996). Hanyu ‘neng’ lei zhudongci he yingyu qingtai zhudongci ‘can’ leide duibi yanjiu (Comparative Study on Chinese Modal Verb ‘neng’ Group and English Auxiliary Verb ‘can’ Group). In conference proceeding. The 5th National Symposium of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. 288–309. Beijing: Beijing Language University Press.
Xiong, W. (2008). The pragmatic functions of the Chinese Modal Auxiliaries: In reference to the Neng Verb Group. Chinese Studies Review, 3: 30–48.