Research of Language Learning
Strategies in the Context of Learning
Chinese as a Foreign/SecondLanguage
GONG Yang, Frank
3rd International Conference on Situating Strategy UseOsaka, Japan
15 October, 2019

The number of learners of Chinese as aforeign/second language
Unit: Ten thousand
300

267

250
210

196

190

200
150
111
85

100
50

36

65

50

0
Number
2010

20112

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Basicfeatures ofChineselanguage• A tonal language: four tones instandard Chinese Mandarin• Writing system: logographic, stokes,
and integral and compoundcharacters• Characters, words, and vocabulary
are different concepts• Syntactic relations: word order andfunctional words(Gong, Lyu, & Gao, 2018; Ma, Gong, Gao, & Xiang,2017)

Categories of research on teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign/second language(Gong, Gao, & Lyu, forthcoming; Gong, Lyu, & Gao, 2018; Ma, Gong, Gao, & Xiang, 2017)

1. Language pedagogy: curriculum development, classroom teaching practices, and textbooks,dictionaries and other teaching materials
2. Language learning and use: learners’ Chinese character, phonetic, lexical and grammaticaldevelopment, features of learner Chinese, and learning attitudes, motivation, awareness and strategies
3. Language policy and planning
4. Language testing
5. Teacher development

Methodological trends

Fundamental challenges
in learning Chinese• Lacking sound-tographeme correspondence• Character identification• Word segmentation• Lexical access(Shen & Jiang, 2003)

1. 鸡不吃了 (Chicks do not eat ...) and 不吃鸡了 (… do not eat chicken.)
2. 吉林省长春药店Examples

吉林省 (Jilin Province, a place name)|长春(Changchun, a place name or evergreen)|药
店 (drugstore/pharmacy)
吉林 (Jilin, a place name)|省长 (provincialgovernor)|春药 (aphrodisiac/philter)|店(store)

Research on Chinese
language learning strategies• Mostly focuses on• Chinese character learningstrategy (e.g. Grenfell & Harris, 2015;
Qian, Owen, & Bax, 2018; Shen, 2005, 2010)• Chinese reading strategy (e.g.
Lee-Thompson, 2008)• Individual learner variables
concerning language
learning strategies (e.g. Chu et al.,2015)• Questionnaire survey (prevailingly used)

Researchmethodology
currently used

• Verbal report (extensively in Chinese
reading strategy)• Case study (documenting individualstrategy use)
• Experiments (effect of students’ strategyuse)(Jiang & Cohen, 2012)• One part of a longitudinal study toexamine native-English-speakerlearners‘ experiential accounts oflearning Chinese as a foreign language
over an immersion period in China

The presentstudy• 30 learners in a six-week exchange
program in a China (15 in 2017; 15 in2018)• Weekly reflective journals, groupinterviews and online forum
discussions

One case: Allen• Allen (pseudonym)• Weekly reflective journals: six entries (about one single-spaced typewritten-pagein length) and 3,719 words in total• Group interview data
• The data were coded based on Oxford’s (1990) taxonomy• Direct: 1) Memory strategies: used to store or retrieve the target language; 2)
Cognitive strategies: selected by learners to better understand and produce thenew language; and 3) Compensation strategies: chosen by learners to make up forlack of knowledge of the new language• Indirect: 1) Metacognitive strategies: to regulate learners’ own cognitive
processes; 2) Affective strategies: to help the learner self-regulate attitudinal andemotional factors; and 3) Social strategies: to improve learners’ understanding
and enhance their production of the target language through interaction withothers

One case: Allen• Allen is a CEO of a small company in
New Zealand. His company does
business with Chinese companies andhe frequently goes to China.
• In the immersion period, Allen’sChinese language proficiency improved
a lot and he was a high and fastachiever.
• An account from Allen: “the PMSA
program has provided an in-depth
experience into China culture andsociety, enhancing my Chinese
language skills and culture experience.”Finding• Language learning strategy use
Week

DirectIndirect1

Cognitive (1)Social (2)2Metacognitive (2)Social (2)3Memory (2)Cognitive (1)Compensation (1)Metacognitive (1)Affective (1)Social (2)4Cognitive (4)Metacognitive (3)5Social (1)6Metacognitive (1)Social (1)Finding• Language learning strategy use
Direct (9, 36%)

Indirect (16, 64%)

Memory (2)Metacognitive (7)Cognitive (6)Affective (1)Compensation (1)Social (8)Summary• Allen had a very clear goal to improve his Chinese language proficiency andcultural understanding in the six-week immersion learning.
• Allen often evaluated and planned his learning first (metacognitive 7) and thenpaid efforts in the new spoken Chinese and cultural content, especially Chinese
etiquette (cognitive 6; social 8).
• Allen’s language learning strategy use was dynamic, and he usually changed hisstrategies according to learning goals, learning content, and learning process.
• Allen used few affective strategies, and he normally had a positive mind andtended to encourage himself in the learning.

References•Chu, W. H., Lin, D. Y., Chen, T. Y., Tsai, P. S., & Wang, C. H. (2015). The relationships between ambiguity tolerance, learning strategies, and learning
Chinese as a second language. System, 49, 1-16.

•Gong, Y., Lyu, B., & Gao, X. (2018). Research on teaching Chinese as a second or foreign language in and outside mainland China: A bibliometricanalysis. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 27(4), 277-289.

•Grenfell, M., & Harris, V. (2015). Memorisation strategies and the adolescent learner of Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language. Linguistics andEducation, 31, 1-13.

•Jiang, X., & Cohen, A. D. (2012). A Critical Review of Research on Strategies in Learning Chinese as Both a Second and Foreign Language. Studies inSecond Language Learning and Teaching, 2(1), 9-43.

•Lee-Thompson, L. C. (2008). An investigation of reading strategies applied by American learners of Chinese as a foreign language. Foreign Language
Annals, 41(4), 702-721.

•Ma, X., Gong, Y., Gao, X., & Xiang, Y. (2017). The teaching of Chinese as a second or foreign language: A systematic review of the literature 2005–2015.
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 38(9), 815-830.

•Qian, K., Owen, N., & Bax, S. (2018). Researching mobile-assisted Chinese-character learning strategies among adult distance learners. Innovation inLanguage Learning and Teaching, 12(1), 56-71.

•Shen, H. (2005). An investigation of Chinese-character learning strategies among non-native speakers of Chinese. System, 33(1), 49-68.

•Shen, H. (2010). Imagery and verbal coding approaches in Chinese vocabulary instruction. Language Teaching Research, 14(4), 485-499.

•Shen, H. H., & X. Jiang. (2013). Character Reading Fluency, Word Segmentation Accuracy, and Reading Comprehension in L2 Chinese. Reading in aForeign Language, 25(1), 1–25.

•Many thanks!
• frankgong@um.edu.mo