The Perceptual Ratings Of English Words By Chinese EFL Learners

Humans’ primitive understandings of the world are based on their bodies’ constant explorations of objects.The explorations are mainly achieved through five sensory modalities: visual,auditory,tactile,gustatory and olfactory modalities.By this way,humans gradually gain the basic knowledge of the world.In the five sensory modalities,olfactory modality enables humans to perceive and identify the smells in the outside world.Yet different olfactory perceptions of the same object directly influence the cognition of the object.Humans’ cognition and language are closely connected,practically and conceptually.Therefore,the olfactory ratings of a word can reflect the cognitive differences of the word to some extent.Till now,the participnts of most studies on the olfactory ratings of English words are native English speakers,and there are rare studies on the rating differences between native English speakers and Chinese EFL learners as well as on gender differences based on the results of the olfactory ratings.In order to fill the inadequacies,Chinese EFL learners are chosen to be the participants in the olfactory ratings of English words.To be specific,there are three research questions:(1)Are there any differences in olfactory ratings on English words between native English speakers and Chinese EFL learners?(2)Are there any gender differences in olfactory ratings on English words among Chinese EFL learners?(3)Is the modality exclusivity of olfactory modality obvious in olfactory ratings on English words among Chinese EFL learners?This study employs the pencil-paper test method to conduct the olfactory ratings on English words by 161 non-English majors in China,and builds a database of five sensory ratings on English words added by the other four sensory modalities.Through analyzing the results of the olfactory rating,this study yields the following findings:(1)there are significant differences in the olfactory ratings between native English speakers and Chinese EFL learners.And the ratings of the words directly related to olfactory modality made by native English speakers are much higher than those made by Chinese EFL learners;(2)only a few English words in olfactory ratings show significant gender differences,which may be due to the gender differences in the ability of olfactory perception and cognition;(3)there is significant modality exclusivity of olfactory modality in olfactory ratings among Chinese EFL learners and most of the olfactory-dominant words of high modality exclusivity are related to the transmission medium of the olfactory stimulus--air.Besides,although olfactory modality only ranks the fourth in dominant modality of the five sensory modalities,it ranks the first in modality exclusivity along with visual modality.This study builds a database of five sensory ratings of English words by Chinese EFL learners,which could facilitate future studies.Besides,it also provides evidence for the exploration of the relationship between olfactory perception and language processing.Methodologically,this study enriches the methodological varieties employed in the study of olfactory modality.Pedagogically,the findings of this study are of great significance in English teaching and learning.