I-Ling Huang | Swansea University (original) (raw)

Papers by I-Ling Huang

Research paper thumbnail of What are the roles of Chinese sentence-final particles and how to use them in Chinese conversation?

For Chinese native speakers, using sentence-final particles is nothing could be more natural. It ... more For Chinese native speakers, using sentence-final particles is nothing could be more natural. It could be argued that Chinese native speakers might not be aware of what sentence-final particles they use when talking, but people may be conscious of the speaker’s intention and emotion naturally through sentence-final particles. However, for non-native speakers who are not immersing in the Chinese environment and don’t have many opportunities to talk with native speakers, how to use these sentence-final particles properly in the conversation, no matter in oral speech or written form such as social network on web sites, and how to understand or distinguish the unexpressed meaning or connotation and emotion behind the words might not be easy and natural, and sometimes might even be confused, especially for beginners. This is quite understandable because sentence-final particles in Chinese are very complicated and elusive. Depending on individual emotional state, tone of voice and the situation when speaking, sentences marked with different sentence-final particles may have various effects and meaning. If non-native speakers use these words inappropriately, the sentence would sound odd and would not express the speaker’s emotion accurately. Despite of the fact that the semantic and pragmatic functions of sentence-final particles may elusive (Li & Thompson, 1989). This study still attempts to examine the roles of Chinese sentence-final particles in communication and discuss the usage and collocation.

Research paper thumbnail of Comparing two kinds of software for distinguishing Chinese words: the challenges of technology in analyzing modern Chinese lexical units

Defining what a ‘word’ is in Chinese might not be an easy task for linguists according to differe... more Defining what a ‘word’ is in Chinese might not be an easy task for linguists according to different views and criteria (Packard, 2000). Recently, two Chinese Annotation online tools have been developed to demarcate Chinese word boundaries, which are ‘Chinese Annotation Tool’ (designed by Mainland of China) and ‘A Chinese Word Segmentation System with Unknown Word Extraction and POs Tagging’ (Chinese Knowledge and Information Processing, created by the Institute of Information Science and the Institute of Linguistics of Academia Sinica in Taiwan). However, can technological analysis distinguish Chinese lexical units accurately? Are there any ambiguities when analyzing Chinese words via software? By comparing the outcomes of processing texts from online tools, this study aimed to examine the limitations and difficulties when analyzing Chinese text through these online resources and discuss what the challenges of technology are. Furthermore, this study attempt to outline possible solutions for these defects.

Research paper thumbnail of What are the roles of the textbook, the teacher, and informal activities like reading outside the classroom in learning a foreign language lexicon? How much vocabulary can be learned from these sources of input?

No matter what purpose of learning a second language is, vocabulary seems to be the basic and als... more No matter what purpose of learning a second language is, vocabulary seems to be the basic and also the most important element, as Wilkin’s (1972:11) saying: “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (as cited in Konstantais & Alexiou 2012: 36). Despite the fact that some scholars (Harris & Snow, 2004; Ellis, 1994) propose that there is no necessary to teach vocabulary, Milton’s research (2009) had disproved this theory. Since vocabulary is so crucial for approaching fluent communication, then how and where we can acquire a foreign language lexicon from? Schools, which provides foreign language curriculums seem to be the formal way. Those second language courses aim to equip students with adequate knowledge and competence in terms of communicating with native speakers fluently and further, increase learners’ competitiveness at work or even live in abroad in the future.
In this sort of formal education system, textbooks usually be employed as a tool by teachers. Ideally, as Gairns and Redman (1986:66, cited in Milton, 2009) recommend that 8 to 12 new vocabulary items per lesson is reasonable input. Scholfied suggests 9 new words per contact hour in imaginary course. In the realistic experiment, Vassiliu suggests that learners can “acquired 6.5 to 8 new words per contact hour” (2001, cited in Milton, 2009: 206). It seems that learners do learn something from textbooks. However, from recent research (Alsaif & Milton, 2012; Konstantakis & Alexiou, 2012; Tschichold, 2012) in respect of the uptake of vocabulary in school course books indicate that if textbooks were not organized appropriately and systematically, then they might inhibit the progress of learners.
If the textbook cannot be perfect, then teacher might assist students learn more vocabulary. Donzelli’s research indicates that “the teacher produces nearly twice the amount of vocabulary” (Donzelli, 2007: 113), but in terms of the nature of lexicon, several evidence demonstrates that the lexical richness of the classroom environment is poor. (Meara, Lightbown and Hlter 1997; Tang & Nesi, 2003)
Actually, learning can also occur outside the classroom. If learners have basic vocabulary size, they can do self-learning through different material such as word cards, comic books, multiple media – songs and films, for example, and even study abroad to immerse themselves in the target language if they can afford it. Several studies (Fitzpatrick et al., 2008; Garnier, 2013; Milton, 2008; Milton et al., 2012; Horst & Meara, 1999) show that this informal learning actually promotes much more words can be acquired.

Research paper thumbnail of What are the roles of Chinese sentence-final particles and how to use them in Chinese conversation?

For Chinese native speakers, using sentence-final particles is nothing could be more natural. It ... more For Chinese native speakers, using sentence-final particles is nothing could be more natural. It could be argued that Chinese native speakers might not be aware of what sentence-final particles they use when talking, but people may be conscious of the speaker’s intention and emotion naturally through sentence-final particles. However, for non-native speakers who are not immersing in the Chinese environment and don’t have many opportunities to talk with native speakers, how to use these sentence-final particles properly in the conversation, no matter in oral speech or written form such as social network on web sites, and how to understand or distinguish the unexpressed meaning or connotation and emotion behind the words might not be easy and natural, and sometimes might even be confused, especially for beginners. This is quite understandable because sentence-final particles in Chinese are very complicated and elusive. Depending on individual emotional state, tone of voice and the situation when speaking, sentences marked with different sentence-final particles may have various effects and meaning. If non-native speakers use these words inappropriately, the sentence would sound odd and would not express the speaker’s emotion accurately. Despite of the fact that the semantic and pragmatic functions of sentence-final particles may elusive (Li & Thompson, 1989). This study still attempts to examine the roles of Chinese sentence-final particles in communication and discuss the usage and collocation.

Research paper thumbnail of Comparing two kinds of software for distinguishing Chinese words: the challenges of technology in analyzing modern Chinese lexical units

Defining what a ‘word’ is in Chinese might not be an easy task for linguists according to differe... more Defining what a ‘word’ is in Chinese might not be an easy task for linguists according to different views and criteria (Packard, 2000). Recently, two Chinese Annotation online tools have been developed to demarcate Chinese word boundaries, which are ‘Chinese Annotation Tool’ (designed by Mainland of China) and ‘A Chinese Word Segmentation System with Unknown Word Extraction and POs Tagging’ (Chinese Knowledge and Information Processing, created by the Institute of Information Science and the Institute of Linguistics of Academia Sinica in Taiwan). However, can technological analysis distinguish Chinese lexical units accurately? Are there any ambiguities when analyzing Chinese words via software? By comparing the outcomes of processing texts from online tools, this study aimed to examine the limitations and difficulties when analyzing Chinese text through these online resources and discuss what the challenges of technology are. Furthermore, this study attempt to outline possible solutions for these defects.

Research paper thumbnail of What are the roles of the textbook, the teacher, and informal activities like reading outside the classroom in learning a foreign language lexicon? How much vocabulary can be learned from these sources of input?

No matter what purpose of learning a second language is, vocabulary seems to be the basic and als... more No matter what purpose of learning a second language is, vocabulary seems to be the basic and also the most important element, as Wilkin’s (1972:11) saying: “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (as cited in Konstantais & Alexiou 2012: 36). Despite the fact that some scholars (Harris & Snow, 2004; Ellis, 1994) propose that there is no necessary to teach vocabulary, Milton’s research (2009) had disproved this theory. Since vocabulary is so crucial for approaching fluent communication, then how and where we can acquire a foreign language lexicon from? Schools, which provides foreign language curriculums seem to be the formal way. Those second language courses aim to equip students with adequate knowledge and competence in terms of communicating with native speakers fluently and further, increase learners’ competitiveness at work or even live in abroad in the future.
In this sort of formal education system, textbooks usually be employed as a tool by teachers. Ideally, as Gairns and Redman (1986:66, cited in Milton, 2009) recommend that 8 to 12 new vocabulary items per lesson is reasonable input. Scholfied suggests 9 new words per contact hour in imaginary course. In the realistic experiment, Vassiliu suggests that learners can “acquired 6.5 to 8 new words per contact hour” (2001, cited in Milton, 2009: 206). It seems that learners do learn something from textbooks. However, from recent research (Alsaif & Milton, 2012; Konstantakis & Alexiou, 2012; Tschichold, 2012) in respect of the uptake of vocabulary in school course books indicate that if textbooks were not organized appropriately and systematically, then they might inhibit the progress of learners.
If the textbook cannot be perfect, then teacher might assist students learn more vocabulary. Donzelli’s research indicates that “the teacher produces nearly twice the amount of vocabulary” (Donzelli, 2007: 113), but in terms of the nature of lexicon, several evidence demonstrates that the lexical richness of the classroom environment is poor. (Meara, Lightbown and Hlter 1997; Tang & Nesi, 2003)
Actually, learning can also occur outside the classroom. If learners have basic vocabulary size, they can do self-learning through different material such as word cards, comic books, multiple media – songs and films, for example, and even study abroad to immerse themselves in the target language if they can afford it. Several studies (Fitzpatrick et al., 2008; Garnier, 2013; Milton, 2008; Milton et al., 2012; Horst & Meara, 1999) show that this informal learning actually promotes much more words can be acquired.