EXPLORING THE DEEP PROCESSING STRATEGIES OF CHINESE AS SECOND - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

EXPLORING THE DEEP PROCESSING STRATEGIES OF CHINESE AS SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Linda Tsung Peiru Tong Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences The University of Sydney 28th May 2020

WHAT ARE DEEP LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES?

Language learning strategies (LLS) that require greater depth of processing and cognitive involvement, such as metalinguistic awareness and systematic grouping, are more likely to facilitate learning.

Deep processing strategies: Oxford’s (1990) memorisation strategies:

Memorisation strategies Creating mental linkages Applying images and sounds Using key words and semantic mapping Reviewing and employing actions

LITERATURE REVIEW

Research on the LLS of Chinese

• Chinese learners create idiosyncratic stories by themselves to

remember the shapes of the characters.

McGinnis (1999)

• While Chinese learners also use generic strategies proposed by

Oxford (1990), they also use strategies that are more specific to Chinese, e.g., associating the sound of the character with its shape or meaning.

Shen (2005)

• Based on Oxford (1990) and Shen (2005), the researchers found

that the boundary between generic strategies and Mandarin- Chinese-specific strategies is not clear-cut.

• The complexity of the graphic features of Chinese characters

may require learners to refine their existing strategies used to learn roman scripts.

Grenfell & Harris (2015)

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

To fill the gap, this study will take into account the strategies of learning Pinyin and tones in addition to the learning of Chinese characters.

Research questions:

1

• What strategies are commonly used by the students for learning

Pinyin and Chinese characters? 2

• Are there any differences between students with different

demographic backgrounds? 3

• How to facilitate students’ strategies for learning Pinyin and

Chinese characters?

SURVEY DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION

Framework for questionnaire design Oxford’s (1990) four levels of memorisation strategies: creating mental linkages, applying images and sounds; using key words and semantic mapping [relating to familiar contexts]; reviewing and employing actions Items reworded and adjusted for Pinyin and character learning respectively

SURVEY DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION

The questionnaire consists of: Part 1: Demographic information - gender, first language(s); other language(s); heritage background; class level. Part 2: Pinyin learning strategy scale (11 items); two open-ended questions. Part 3: Chinese character learning strategy scale (17 items); two open-ended questions. Part 4: One open-ended question asking for students’ suggestions on Pinyin and Chinese characters instructions.

SURVEY DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION

Questionnaire Validity and Reliability Face validity and construct validity were reviewed by professionals. A small number of students (N=18) were asked to fill in the questionnaire and check the clarity of expressions. The responses provided by this group of students had high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha = .812).

SURVEY DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION

Participants: 117 Chinese learners in an Australian university volunteered to participate

• 84 from the beginners’ class, had learned Chinese for 1 year;
• 33 from intermediate classes, most of whom had learned Chinese for

2-3 years. Time: End of Semester 2, 2019 Test on internal consistency reliability: High reliability level (Cronbach’s Alpha = .807) Handling missing data: 19 items had missing values

• 18 students missed 1 item; 1 student missed 2 items
• another 1 student missed 3 items; 1 student missed 8 items

DATA ANALYSIS

• A. Principal Axis

Factoring: Exploring the dimensions of learning strategies

• B. Independent-Samples

T T est: Comparing the means of learners with different demographic backgrounds C. Thematic analysis of

• pen-ended question

responses: Emergent strategies in student responses

KMO and Barlett’s Test results of both scales indicated that it was appropriate to conduct factoring analysis: Pinyin learning strategy scale: Character learning strategy scale:

• A. PRINCIPAL AXIS FACTORING

Pinyin strategy scale result:

• Two factors extracted explaining 46.636% of

variance.

• Both factors survived the internal consistency

reliability test (Cronbach’s Alpha > 0.6).

Factor 1: Visualising the sound (through image & gesture) Factor 2: Creating mental linkages (through grouping & linking a sound to a familiar sound)

• A. PRINCIPAL AXIS

FACTORING

Character learning strategy scale

result:

• Four factors extracted explaining 39.854% of

variance.

• All factors survived the internal consistency

reliability test, however, the forth factor had comparatively low Cronbach’s Alpha score of 0.535).

Factor 1: Focusing on particular parts and shapes of a character Factor 2: Grouping by same or similar components Factor 3: Memorising and applying the whole character Factor 4: Applying external resources

• A. PRINCIPAL AXIS FACTORING

Descriptive statistics of the

factors

1 = Strongly agree; 5 = Strongly

disagree

The strategies more commonly

used have smaller mean scores.

Shaded rows indicate Pinyin

learning strategy factors; unshaded rows indicate Character learning strategy factors.

• A. PRINCIPAL AXIS

FACTORING

Summary of results:

• 1. The most commonly used types of character learning strategy were “Focusing on particular

parts and shapes of a character”, and “Memorising and applying a whole character”. This echoes to some extent with Grenfell and Harris’s (2015) finding that “Focus on the whole character” and “Focus on strokes” constituted two different factors for Character learning strategies.

• 2. The other two types of Character learning strategies were less commonly used by students,

namely, “Applying external resources” and “Grouping by same or similar components”. A possibility is that these two types of strategies might require extra or proactive efforts from students (making flash cards, using mobile device, inventing stories), or more systematic analysis of character components.

• 3. Regarding Pinyin learning strategies, “Visualising the sound” was much more commonly used

than “Creating mental linkages”. The strategy of “Visualising the sound” through image and gesture is particularly useful for learning Pinyin tones. The factor of “Creating mental linkages” scored the highest and above 3 on the scale, which means it was least commonly used by learners. The students of the current study might need instructions on grouping the sounds of Pinyin and linking them to familiar sounds.

B. INDEPENDENT

• SAMPLES

T

• TEST

Independent-Samples T Tests were performed in SPSS to compare the means between the following groups: (1) Gender (female vs. male) (2) Class level (beginners’ vs. intermediate) (3) Heritage background (Chinese background vs. non-Chinese background) (4) Languages spoken (English and other European languages vs. Asian languages) Significant differences were only found by “Class level”.

• B. INDEPENDENT
• SAMPLES

T

• TEST

Intermediate learners’ scores for Character Factor 1 “Focusing on particular parts and shapes of a character” and Character Factor 3 “Memorising and applying the whole character” were significantly lower than those of beginners, which means they used these two types of strategies much more than beginners. It is possible that higher level learners were more familiar with the radicals, strokes, and shapes of characters, but the small number of intermediate learners (N=33) may generate biased results of this

• study. Further studies are needed to determine the distinction

between lower and higher level learners.

C. THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF OPEN-ENDED QUESTION RESPONSES

Responses were grouped into existing strategy types if appropriate. Other strategies were examined for

emergent themes.

7 16 20 22 24 5 10 15 20 25 30

Rote memorisation Creating mental linkages Imitation and discrimination Visualising the sound Repetitive practice Other Pinyin learning strategies nominated by students

Count of responses

Some students specified their strategies for “Visualising the sound” (e.g., imaging the chart for tones or nodding head) and “Creating mental linkages” (e.g., relating Pinyin tones to music and their 1st language sounds). Many students just “practiced repetitively” or “memorised” the sound. Some students mentioned imitating recordings and native speakers and discriminating between different sounds.

C. THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF OPEN-ENDED QUESTION RESPONSES

Responses were grouped into existing strategy types if appropriate. Other strategies were examined for

emergent themes. Some students specified their strategies for “Applying external resources” (e.g., using Quizlet), “Focusing on particular parts or shapes of a character” (e.g., examples of imagine a shape as something), and Memorising and applying a whole character (e.g., using characters in a word or sentence). Many students just “practiced repetitively” to memorise the characters (e.g., keep writing). A few students mentioned rote memorisation (e.g., keep looking at the characters). No student specified other strategies for grouping characters by same or similar components.

5 6 24 26 27 5 10 15 20 25 30 Rote memorisation Memorsing and applying a whole character Focusing on particular parts or shapes of a character Applying external resources Repetitive practice

Other Character learning strategies nominated by students

Count of responses

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

• A. Principal Axis

Factoring: Exploring the dimensions of learning strategies

• B. Independent-Samples

T T est: Comparing the means of learners with different demographic backgrounds C. Thematic analysis of

• pen-ended question

responses: Emergent strategies in student responses

Findings: Two factors extracted for Pinyin learning strategies; Four factors extracted for Character learning strategies; Descriptive statistics demonstrated commonly and less commonly used types of strategies. Findings: Significant differences were only found by “Class level”. However, the small number of intermediate level learners might have led to biased results. Further study is needed. Findings: Students’ responses generally fell into the existing categories of strategies; Many students used repetitive practice (shallow processing) as a learning strategy; The scales can be improved by adding more items drawn from student responses.

IMPLICATIONS

• 1. Students might need instructions on the strategies for “Creating mental linkages” for learning

Pinyin, and grouping strategies for learning Chinese characters. Both types of strategies involve deep processing but were less commonly used by students.

• 2. Future studies can consider adding more items to the scales to identify more appropriate

dimensions of learning strategies for Pinyin and Chinese characters. For example, strategies related to imitating and discriminating Pinyin pronunciation were mentioned by students in open- ended question responses. Moreover, the consistency reliability of Character Factor 4 is quite low in the current scale. Further study is needed to validate this construct.

• 3. The distinction between lower and higher level learners in terms of their strategies of

“Focusing on particular parts and shapes of a character” and “Memorising and applying a whole character” can only be determined with larger and more balanced sample size.

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THANKS