Study Of The Correlation Of Acculturation Model And The Effect Of The Acquisition Of Chinese As A Second Language

The 'Acculturation Model' hypothesis introduced by Schumann (1978) has laid the theory foundation for second language acquisition from the perspectives of societal and affectionate factors. According to the theory of the Model, various social and psychological factors govern the extent to which learners of a second language are able to adapt to the target language culture and, thereby, acquire the second language. Any learner can be placed on a continuum that ranges from social and psychological distance to social and psychological proximity with speakers of the target language. (Schumann, 1986)In pace with the advancement of the social status of China and the rapid growth of the economy of China, demand for learning Chinese has been increasing in the world. With the trend of globalization, international cultural exchanges have been encouraged in schools. Different cultures are making strides towards integration. For learners of Chinese as a second language who are of different cultural background, is there any difference on the 'social distance' and 'psychological distance' among them? Is it true that the 'social distance' and 'psychological distance' is more obvious in European or American learners? Does the effect of their acquisition of Chinese as a second language correlate with their 'social distance' and 'psychological distance'?This research is trying to study the 'social distance' and 'psychological distance' of the students who are of different heritage and cultural background and also the correlation of the effect of the acquisition of Chinese as a second language. There will be a questionnaire to study the 'social distance' and 'psychological distance' of the samples and a test paper as an objective reference of the effect of Chinese learning.After the introduction of the Acculturation Model Hypothesis, several researches have been conducted with English as the second language to study about the Model. However, these studies did not come up with a consistent verdict. In this research, there is the attempt to put the theory into learning Chinese as a second language.From the study result shown, there is positive correlation shown between the effect of Chinese learning and the social distance or psychological distance among the three sample groups. However, the English Natives group has not shown an obvious correlation, the psychological distance issue has even shown a negative correlation.The study result has also shown that 'psychological distance' has indicated a higher coefficient than 'social distance'. The result is contradicted with the theory of Schumann in the Acculturation Model.The study of the effect of societal and affectionate factors towards learning Chinese as a second language can help to modify the teaching strategies, eliminate the negative elements and arouse the enthusiasm of learners. With the wisdom of the western studies, provision of a better quality of teaching Chinese as a second language would be enhanced and, hopefully, make Chinese an international 'Common Language' in the near future.