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'Wh-Question' Language Acquisition Among Bi-lingual Children

Posted on:2008-11-11Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:L J CaoFull Text:PDF
GTID:2167360215481130Subject:Curriculum and pedagogy
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Hong Kong is a social environment where bilingualism is common. Bilingual and multilingual groups in Hong Kong have created a rich international language culture. Inspired by two bilingual children's everyday conversation, we have studied English/Chinese bilingual children's language acquisition, focusing on question formulations. In the ordinary communication of the children we observed particular inaccuracies in language formation in both Chinese and English.Our research methodology took two directions. One centered on a language game that tested the children's ability to formulate questions in a natural question and answer format. The other was based on observation of everyday conversations. The resulting collection of language data is contained in this study.Children have been divided into two groups: four to five year olds, and six to seven year olds. After collecting there language data of both the language test and from everyday observation, we analyzed the various erroneous sentence constructions of the individuals. Since the structure of English and Chinese are very different, indications of tense and even the parts of speech themselves vary. Sentence structure for questions in these two languages are likewise very different. Chinese does not utilize inversion, nor does it involve movement of the 'do support'as well as the movement of the 'Wh word'.In summary, children's error types in Chinese meaning and word do not match. Errors in English appear to be influenced by the characteristic Chinese verb's marklessness. Generally speaking three problems are cited. First, is language overgeneralization. Second, is delay of language acquisition compared with monolingual children. Third, is "language transfer". Regarding age, mistakes were more common among the younger 4-5 year old group, especially regarding the lack of verbs and adverbial aux. We also discuss pedagogical topics for bilingual education and the teaching strategies for Chinese as a second language.
Keywords/Search Tags:Bilingual children, Daily observation, Language test, Wh-question
PDF Full Text Request
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