English has long been a global language and it is also a compulsory subject in primary and middle schools and colleges and universities in Mainland China. Yet, with the deepening of China’s reform and opening up, the demand for new second and third foreign languages has considerably increased. Given Mainland China’s increasingly harmonious relations with Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the demand for German-speaking talents has been growing. Correspondingly, the (Chinese) National Entrance Examination for Postgraduates has included a German test as one of the foreign language tests, and the Chinese Ministry of Education has included German in the high school curriculum since early 2018. As learning English is compulsory in Mainland China, most German learners have studied English for at least six years before learning a second foreign language and most German learners are college students. Yet, because of the differences between the Chinese language and the English and German languages, the college students encounter more difficulties than the Indo-European language speakers do while learning English and German. Furthermore, foreign language learners in Mainland China often find reading and writing easier than listening and speaking.
Table of Contents
1. Research Hypothesis and Objectives
2. Literature Review
2.1 Third Language Acquisition
2.2 Phonetic and Phonological Similarities
2.3 Lexical Similarities
2.4 Grammatical Similarities
3. Research Methodology and Design
3.1 Comparison
3.2 Corpus-based
4. Research Schedule (Research Milestones)
Research Objectives and Focus
This study investigates how prior English language learning influences the acquisition of German among college students in Mainland China, specifically focusing on the positive transfer of skills in speaking competence. The research explores the linguistic parallels between English and German to determine if and how these similarities facilitate a more effective learning process for trilingual students.
- Analysis of phonetic, phonological, lexical, and grammatical similarities between English and German.
- Evaluation of the impact of English proficiency on German speaking performance.
- Comparative study across different university types (Double First-class vs. non-Double First-class).
- Establishment of sub-corpora using student recordings and test reports.
- Development of pedagogical paths to enhance German speaking competence.
Excerpt from the book
Phonetic and Phonological Similarities
The English and German consonant systems are similarly structured and feature a number of phonemes that share the same descriptions. Both the English and German langauges have, as Alfred Charles Gimson (1994) and König Ekkehard and Volker Gast (2009) state, twenty-four consonantal phonemes. Yu Bo (2017) compares the vowels, consonants, accents, and intonations of the two languages and concludes that they have great similarities in phonetics, especially in terms of vowels and consonants which are beneficial to learning the pronunciations of the two languages. However, he is also worried that these similarities can also easily cause confusion to German learners, because they may obscure the fact that differences exist as well.
Usha Gosawami (2005) asserts that, within alphabetic languages, spelling-to-sound consistency can differ dramatically. The English and German languages are very similar in their phonological and orthographic structure but not in their consistency. Thus, it is often argued that reading acquisition has a reciprocal effect on phonological awareness (pp. 345-365). Ester Grabe (1998) argues, based on a cross-linguistic corpus analysis, that English and German speakers may, in identical contexts, produce highly similar intonation patterns and that these may be represented as having the same underlying tonal structure.
Summary of Chapters
1. Research Hypothesis and Objectives: Defines the core assumption that English proficiency positively impacts German acquisition and outlines four specific research objectives.
2. Literature Review: Provides a theoretical foundation by discussing third language acquisition models, trilingualism, and the phonetic, lexical, and grammatical overlaps between English and German.
3. Research Methodology and Design: Details the empirical approach, including the selection of student cohorts for comparison and the construction of sub-corpora from performance data.
4. Research Schedule (Research Milestones): Outlines the project timeline from 2021 to 2025, detailing the progression from data collection to thesis writing and defense.
Keywords
Third Language Acquisition, German-learning, English learning, Language transfer, Speaking competence, Mainland China, Phonetic similarities, Lexical similarities, Grammatical similarities, Trilingualism, Corpus-based research, Applied linguistics, Foreign language acquisition, Pedagogical paths, College students
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research?
The research examines the effective paths to improve the speaking competence of German-learning college students in Mainland China, specifically looking at the role of prior English language knowledge.
What is the central research hypothesis?
The hypothesis states that English language learning exerts a positive influence on the speaking competence of students who are learning German as a third language.
What research methodology is employed?
The study utilizes a comparative and corpus-based methodology, analyzing recordings and test reports from students at various universities to track phonetic, lexical, and grammatical transfers.
Which linguistic similarities are analyzed?
The study covers phonetic and phonological similarities (consonants, vowels, intonation), lexical similarities (vocabulary origin and affixes), and grammatical structures (sentence order and inflections).
Who are the subjects of this study?
The subjects are college students in Mainland China, specifically those majoring in German and English, sampled from both "Double First-class" universities and non-affiliated institutions.
What are the key thematic pillars of the work?
The core themes include Third Language Acquisition theory, comparative linguistics of English and German, the concept of positive language transfer, and empirical analysis of language performance data.
How does the "Double First-class Initiative" influence the study?
The study uses university affiliation (Double First-class vs. others) as a variable for comparing student performance across different educational environments in China.
Why is the "order of acquisition" significant?
The research emphasizes that learning English first, followed by German, allows for potential positive transfer, provided that the learner understands both the similarities and the unique differences between the two Germanic languages.
- Citation du texte
- Master of Art Bailing He (Auteur), 2021, A Study on the Effective Paths of Enhancing the Speaking Competence of German-learning College Students in Mainland China, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1167512
