Final Project of Foreign Language Learners --How Jeffery and Greg learned Mandarin Christine Wu Randi Kacey Christine Yang Maureen Kelly Selena

Introduction  We have learned how language learners learn English from our perspective and many other studies, but we do not know whether language learners use the same way to learn Chinese. Many people, in fact, have started to learn Chinese because China is getting stronger and the Chinese language is getting more and more popular.  In our project, we interviewed two native speakers of English, Jeffery and Greg, and found out how they have been learning Chinese. Now we would like to show you the differences and similarities between their ways of learning Chinese and our ways of learning English.

Jeffery Age 21 NationalityCanada Time in Taiwan3 JobEnglish teacher MotivationStrong

Greg Age 33 NationalityCanada Time in Taiwan more than 3 JobEnglish teacher MotivationNot really strong.

 Greg  Jeffery  Similarities  Differences  Conclusion What kind of foreign language learners are they?

Similarities & Differences  Similarities: They all started to learn Mandarin when they came to Taiwan. Their purposes are the same because they want to communicate with Taiwanese people. They use Mandarin in their daily lives. They both think writing is hard. They think their strength is listening.  Differences: Greg did not go to school to learn Mandarin while Jeffery went to school to learn Mandarin. Jeffery ’ s Chinese is very good, but he still thinks his speaking ability is not good enough. Greg seldom speaks Chinese.

Conclusion  Their motivation affects their learning attitudes. Jeffery ’ s incentive is stronger than Greg ’ s. Jeffery came to Taiwan in order to learn Chinese while Greg came here just want to make money by teaching English.

Questionnaire  Similarities  Differences  Conclusion Jeffery~logical-mathematical intelligence and interpersonal intelligence Greg~interpersonal intelligence

 Similarities: They don ’ t like memorizing things. They don ’ t like making charts and diagrams. They don ’ t like drama and role plays.  Differences: Jeffery likes the teacher to explain grammar to him and he likes singing songs in Chinese while Greg doesn ’ t sing Chinese songs. Jeffery likes group and pair interaction, self-reflection through journal writing, word games and puzzles, problem-solving exercises, to learn through movies and videos, one-on-one conversation practice, analyze his own performance. Similarities & Differences

Conclusion  Because Greg did not go to school to learn Chinese, it ’ s difficult for him to learn in groups and write journals. He can only learn Mandarin from daily-life interactions when kindergarten children or his colleagues talk to him, then he can pick up some key words which are often used. The survey shows that Jeffery is stronger in both logical- mathematical intelligence and interpersonal intelligence while Greg is stronger in interpersonal intelligence.

Theoretical Approaches to Explaining Their Language Learning

Greg  Behaviourism  He listens to how people speak the language, imitates them and then uses their ways to speak to others.  He focuses on learning funny terms, for example, 笨蛋，豬頭. Every time he can make people laugh by saying those words. So he keeps saying these terms to have fun with others. What he has learned most in Chinese is this kind of terms.  Interactionism  People use simple vocabulary, speak slowly, and give many simple examples to explain their ideas to help him understand Chinese. This is helpful for him to acquire Chinese.

Jeffery  Behaviorism  -Jeffery learns Chinese by listening to people ’ s conversation and then imitating their accents and usages. Then he goes out to practice it often with others.  -He learns new words by writing them down, asking others their meanings, then memorizing them, and goes out using them to speak to others.  -He keeps on using the language he has acquired though he learns many different ways.

Greg (extroverted) Jeffery (introverted) Characteristics He has less difficulty and pressure to practice Chinese with others, and doesn’t mind taking risks. Jeffery likes to do individual work and feels more pressure when facing people. Results The risk here is that he becomes too dependent on others and did not study enough on his own, such as vocabulary and grammar. He enjoys being alone, and solving problems on his own, which helps him have good study skills and ways to learn the language.

The Individual Learner  This questionnaire tells us how often they use strategies that they can do it by themselves.  The result of their questionnaires Jeffery Greg Score 54 28

Analysis  Jeffery uses individual learning strategies more often.  Greg seldom uses individual learning strategies.

Suggestions 1.The Internet: We can get much information through it. It can improve our reading ability. 2. Sing Songs: It will help your pronunciation while you have some fun. 3. Keep a Diary: It can improve our writing ability. 4. Make Conversations with Others: It can improve not only the speaking ability but also the listening one.

Conclusion  The more often we practice on our own, the more progress we can make.

Comparing First and Second Language Learning  Q1: Do you recall how you ’ ve learned your native language, or have you noticed how a child learns to speak, read, and write his/her native language? Please share your experience and/or observation with others.  Q2: Based on your learning experience, what similarities and differences do you notice between learning your native language and learning a foreign language like Chinese?

Differences  Grammar: Chinese grammar is easier than English grammar.  Tone: Chinese has different tones, but English does not. There are five tone patterns in Chinese; that is, 一聲, 二聲, 三聲, 四聲, 輕聲. It is not easy for nonnative speakers of Chinese to distinguish them. E.g., “ 水餃 & 睡覺 ” and “ 聽 & 停. ”

Conclusion  CAH (Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis)  It ’ s the same for both Chinese language learners and English language learners.

The Learning Channel Preference  Visual learner: The one who will learn better when he/she reads or sees the information  Auditory learner: The one who will learn better when information comes through his/her ears  Haptic learner: The one who will learn best by doing, moving, or hands-on experiences After they did this survey, the results show that they are both visual learners.

As Visual Learners  Jeffery usually does but Greg seldom does so: 1) Jeffery can remember things better if he write them down. 2) When Jeffery is trying to remember something new, for example, a telephone number, it helps him to form a picture of it in his head.  Greg usually does but Jeffery seldom does so: 1) It ’ s easy for Greg to understand maps, charts, and graphs. 2) Greg cannot remember a joke long enough to tell it later. 3) When Greg gets a great idea, he must write it down right away or he ’ ll forget it.

As Auditory Learners  Jeffery usually does but Greg seldom does so: 1) When reading, Jeffery listens to the words in his head or he reads aloud. 2) Jeffery can easily follow a speaker even though his head is down or he ’ s staring out the window. Greg usually does but Jeffery seldom does so: 1) When learning something new, Greg prefers to listen to information on it, then read about it, and then do it.

Conclusion  People who have the same learning preference still have performances in different levels.  Their performances are affected by some other factors.

Language Ego  Goal: In this section, we used the questionnaire to help us learn about Jeffery ’ s and Greg ’ s language ego.  Results of the questionnaire

Differences  Greg thinks that not being able to speak Chinese perfectly is ok.  He does not mind making mistakes.  Jeffery says that he ’ s afraid of making mistakes.  He ’ s also worried that if he does not pronounce the words correctly, nobody will understand him.  Peer pressure also bothers him, too.

Conclusion  From the results of the questionnaire, we can say that Greg ’ s language ego is higher than Jeffery ’ s

Hypothesis  Goals: For this part, we asked Jeffery and Greg to choose a few hypotheses to talk about and explain how they could be applied to their own second language learning.  Interview Content:

Conclusion  Greg mostly learns Chinese by listening to what others say and by imitating them. This is why most of the hypothesis do not apply to him. However Jeffery has more motivation to learn Chinese than Greg does, and the different hypothesis they use should also affect their foreign language learning. This is why Jeffery ’ s Chinese is far better than Greg ’ s.

Assessment of Strategy Use  Goals: To analyze how Jeffery and Greg learn Mandarin.  The result of the questionnaire: grammarvocabularyspeakinglisteningwritingreading Jeffery Greg

Similarities  Listening strategies Both of them started learning Mandarin from listening Jeffery: If I don ’ t understand somebody say, I will keep on listening until I get the clue what they said and ask somebody later what they said. Greg: I learn Chinese by osmosis. I just listen to people saying and put them in my head. I try to remember them. In the kindergarten, everyone speaks Chinese all day.  Grammar strategies Jeffery: I try to use the sentence patterns which the teachers teach in class and go use them outside and in class. Usually somebody will correct me and I won ’ t forget them because it embarrassed me.

Differences  Speaking strategies Greg cannot speak Mandarin except for some simple words. However, Jeffery can have a fluent conversation in Mandarin in many topics such as politics and business. 1) He memorizes the dialogues which he learnt in class and then rehearses the situation in his head. He will try to use another way if he dose not know how to say a word in Mandarin, 2) He takes every opportunity to practice speaking with native speakers of Mandarin.  Reading strategies Greg seldom uses any reading strategies; However, Jeffery adopted all the strategies written in the questionnaire frequently. He can read newspaper.

Conclusion  Because Jeffery has stronger motivation to learn Mandarin than Greg does, he keeps using many strategies to improve his Mandarin ability.  Greg applies more listening strategies than other language learning strategies. However, merely input but no output is hard to learn a foreign language well, especially in speaking.  Both of them know many effective learning strategies. However, it is easy to know them, but doing them is another story. Jeffery holds a belief that practice makes perfect, so his Mandarin improves rapidly in three years.

 Motivation indeed has much influence in their language learning processes.  Both of them know many effective language learning strategies. However, it is easy to know them, but it may not be so easy to use them well.  The more often we practice the language, the more progress we can make. Summary