The Comparative Research Of Chinese And Thai Conjunctions, And The Analysis Of Errors In Using Chinese Conjunctions Made By Thai Students

Conjunction is a key element in Chinese,whereas Chinese connecting words are important to compound sentences.During the process of Chinese teaching to Thai students, we found that they made many errors in using Chinese conjunctions and connecting words. The present research in this field are relatively scarce,which in turn stimulates us to do some further studies on previous foundation.Chinese conjunctions can be separated according to their meanings,forms,meanings and forms mixed together.The research is based on professor Zhang Bin's study.He has separated Chinese conjunctions according to their meanings,which are divided into two types:coordinative conjunction and modificatory conjunction.Thai conjunctions can be separated into three types according to their functions:linking compound sentences, complex sentences and highlighting prominant clause.Chinese conjunctions can be used in many different ways in compound sentences.Chinese conjunctions and connective adverb which are used relatively can illustrate both coordinative conjunction and modificatory conjunction.Thai conjunctions are used according to their positions in the sentences:in front of word,in front of sentence,behind word,behind sentences,within sentences, separated among words,separated among sentences and sometimes can be omitted.After the comparative study of Chinese conjunctions and Thai conjunctions,we found that Chinese and Thai have both similarities and differences in meaning,usage and word order.We can use similarities between these two languages in promoting direct mother language transfer so that the students become familiar with the target language.This will help develop enthusiasm in learning Chinese language in Thai students.Differences between these two languages can help eliminate the indirect mother language transfer.This essay makes a classification on the errors made by Thai students into four catagories:missing word,adding unneeded word,using wrong word and putting word in wrong order.On the base of error-analysis,we discussed the causes of these errors, besides errors made because of indirect mother language transfer,there are errors which are made because of difficulty of target language,incorrect textbook,unclear explanation and socio-cultural factors.We proposed our suggestions on Chinese teaching as a second language according to the above mentioned analysis:teacher must have explicit knowledge of Chinese,there must be more comparative studies;teacher must be well prepared when teaching difficult conjunction;using textbook reasonably and the teacher must develop their teaching methodology.We hope it to be a guideline leading to the comprehension of similarities and differences between Chinese and Thai conjunctions for the benefit of Chinese teaching in Thailand and hope this analysis can help improve the teaching methodology and learning efficiency of Thai students.