ERIC ED376697: English Reading: An Analysis of Chinese Students' Cultural Assumptions and Psychological Characteristics.

23 Pages·1994·0.33 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
FL 022 535
ED 376 697
Ma, Lin
AUTHOR
TITLE English Reading: An Analysis of Chinese Students'
Cultural Assumptions and Psychological
Characteristics.
PUB DATE
[94]
NOTE
23p.
Information Analyses (070)
PUB TYPE
EDRS PRICE
MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS Attitudes; Chinese; Comparative Analysis; *Cultural
Traits; Educational Attitudes; Elementary Secondary
Education; *English (Second Language); Foreign
Countries; Higher Education; *Interference
(Language); *Learning Strategies; *Reading
Instruction; Reading Skills; *Reading Strategies;
Second Language Instruction; Second Language
Learning
*Chinese People
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
It is suggested that Chinese students in China and
Chinese Americans have difficulty learning to read in English due to
native language interference and to cultural traits and thinking
patterns. Reading in English requires overcoming some psychological
barriers. A chart outlines the different ways in which a Chinese
student would read the same article in Chinese as in English,
including such elements as sitting attitude, facial expression, use
of hands, initial reading strategy, psychological aim, reading style
(browsing/skimming vs. word-by-word reading), attention given to new
words, tempo, and overall comprehension. The Chinese student, lacking
cultural background knowledge, would pay more attention to specific
words and structures rather than think and infer actively. In
addition, he would prefer and expect a transmission model rather than
an interpretive model of reading instruction. To address these
it is recommended that English second
culturally-based traits,
language instruction should include development of non-linguistic
competence and both intensive and extensive reading strategies, as
well as linguistic competence. (MSE)
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English Reading: An Analysis of Chinese Students'
Cultural Assumptions and Psychological Characteristics
Lin Ma
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Introduction
English, the fantastic language, is widely used through-
out the world, its importance as an international language
More than half of the publi-
being felt in many countries.
According to Kachru
cations in the world are in English.
(1990), the last four decades have been the decades of English.
In his article entitled "World Englishes and Applied Linguis-
tics", Kcchru pointed out that "English has acquired unprece-
It is now
dented sociological and ideological dimensions.
well-recognized that in linguistic history no language has
cultures and
touched the lives of so many people, in so many
and with so much
continents, in so many functional roles,
since the 1930s(Kachru,
prestige, as has the English language
1990, p5).
main foreign language
At present, English has become the
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The establishment of diplomatic relations
taught in China.
with the United States and its more open stand toward the
outside world have led to nationwide interest in the study of
It is estimated that about 500 million
English (Wong, 1988 ).
In mid-
students are studying English in China (Hou, 1987).
dle schools and high schools, Eng lish has again been selected
along with Chinese and Ma-
as one of the three major subjects
in the elemen-
A new program of English instruction
thematics.
the Ministry of Education,
tary schools has been worked out by
goals and objectives, the
which has stipulated precisely the
grade, the time allotment and
language requirements for each
of entran-
English is now a requirement
teaching methodology.
(Tang, 1983).
colleges and universities
ce examination for
Background Information
about learning English for years.
Chinese have been crazy
night schools
lessons, part-time or
Television courses, radio
for people
educational opportunities
have offered a variety of
The CCTV (China
further their education.
to learn English or
3
series
example, has been offering a
Central Television), for
learners,
beginners, intermediate
of English programs for
children.
English teachers and even
in spite of the
reading is concerned,
As far as English
language skills in
priority among the
fact that it is given
is by and large un-
teaching of reading
Chinese schools, the
know
schools do not really
Students of middle
satisfactory.
structures
learned all the basic
They may have
how to read.
during
number of vocabulary
acquired a large
in English and
read, they read
However, when they
their middle school years.
structures, consulting
fine analyses of
word by word, making
time,
translation all the
constantly, and doing
the dictionary
They are deciphering
in written form.
either mentally or
instead of reading.
of Chinese Americans
language situation
What about the
wrote: "The
Johnson once
States?
the United
right here in
It
unassimilated culture.
a notably
Chinese-Americans are
or fifth-
to find fourth-
in San Francisco
is not unusual
4
zeneration American-born Chinese who speak no English" (Mckay
Wong(1988) suggested that any account of the
and Wong, p193).
Chinese American language situation must be directed by an
understanding of the sociohistorical context in which the two
languages, Chinese and English are used.
of teaching English
Also, while discussing the question
take into consideration
reading to Chinese students, we should
influence the Chinese students'
the cultural assumptions which
toward reading, traditional test-
in terms of their attitudes
expectations concerning literature
ing methods, and cultural
great respect for edu-
Chinese people have a
(Field, 1984).
respect
(Scovel, 1983) as well as enormous
cation and learning
reflected
(Maley, 1983), both of which are
for written words
of teaching in China.
in the traditional way
Literature Review
that both Chinese
discussion we can see
From the above
the United States
Chinese Americans in
students in China and
First,
English for various reasons.
have difficulties learning
5
5
it is widely accepted that Chinese language, which is so di-
fferent from English, interferes with the Chinese students'
Second, Chinese culture and
learning of English (wong, 1988).
Chinese students' thinking patterns have a great impact on
Kaplan(1966) has suggested
their English learning process.
that Chinese learners of English tend to use a "cultural thought
pattern" favoring circularity and indirection as opposed to
English linearity.
English read-
It is generally agreed that the teaching of
It is, of course,
ing in China has not been very successful.
unable to learn read-
not because Chinese students are slow or
been properly taught how to
ing, but because they have never
reading, doing
To them, reading aloud is
read in English.
sentences is also read-
translation is reading, and analyzing
ing.
that "reading and learning to
Frank Smith(1988, p2) said
activities; that they are not
read are essentially meaningful
and rational, dep7ndent
passive and mechanical but purposeful
6
6
reader(or
expectations of the
knowledge and
on the prior
of written lan-
of making sense
Reading is a matter
hearer).
The objectives
print to sound."
than decoding
guage rather
structures, but
for vocabulary or
not to read
of reading are
meaning.
enjoyment and
information, experience,
to read for
the students
not only teach
teachers should
For this reason,
the
syntactic, from
either lexical, or
to decode meaning,
and effectively,
to read quickly
but train them
printed page,
speci-
something of
to extract
their ability
and help develop
and confidence.
to read with ease
to them and
fic interest
the inter-
has focused on
field of reading
Research in the
and the read-
linguistic system
the language's
action between
and Adams
to Haulman
make-up. According
er's psychological
read-
considers the
perspective
psycholinguistic
(19P3), this
semantic
syntactic, and
of graphic,
a selection
ing process as
acceptability
and test the
can guess
which readers
cues from
language,
knowledge of the
against experience,
of the guesses
letter-by-letter,
simple
Instead of
development.
and thougIat
"psycholin-
considered as a
reading is
decoding,
word-by-word
7
guistic guessing game... (involving)... an interaction be-
p260).
tween 'nought and language" (Goodman, 1970,
students, indeed
Reading in English, for thc Chinese
Wang (1991,p56)
psychological barriers.
means overcoming some
Barriers and Background
in his paper entitled "Psychological
about the psychological
Knowledge in English Reading" talked
have in English reading which
barriers the Chinese students
(See next page).
are shown on Table I
realize that Chinese students
In analysing Table I, we
while reading an article
behave and respond differently
article
do while reading the same
written in English as they
manner
proving that the different
written in Chinese, thus
results from
and reading English
between reading Chinese
different reading psychology.
characters which
students face those
As for Chinese, the
Con-
young.
with when they were very
they have been familar
content by glancing
able to guess the
sequently, they are
and criticize
they can enjoy
While reading,
at the title.
Table I
4
English
Chinese
.
Item,
Nervous, Affected
Relaxed, Casual
Sitting Attitude
Nervous, Serious
Relaxed, Natural
Facial Expression
Scratching while
Hands
readin:
4'
f
a._'
.
words
If there are mew
and
First response of
Read the title
and how difficult they
psychology
guess
will be
Focusing on new words,
content,
Get the basic
Psychological aim
trying to understand
think
global plot and
every word and sentence
actively
Word by word, sentence
Browsing and skimming
by sentence, not omit -
Manner
ting any line
through
Underlining new words
Paying little attention
New words
and looking up the
to and care less about
dictioliary
them
100-300 words/pm
600-900 words/pm
Tempo
Able to tell one or
basic
Able to tell the
two details but unable
Result
content and personal
to have a global impre-
opinion
ssion on the basic
content
Reading once
Reading once
P.S.
9
9
rejecting the views in the
the article at will, accepting or
of the
article, showing sympathy or hatred to the characters
and partici-
story, thus being in a position to actively think
which comes from
It is this healthy reading psychology,
pate.
students have, that enables
the rich backgroud knowledge the
them to read easily and effectively.
students are unable to have
On the contrary, the Ohinese
They are worried
reading English.
such a good psychology while
in the dictionary constantly.
about new words, looking 'them up
instead
to words and structures
They pay too much attention
This passive reading
actively.
of thinking and inferring
knowledge.
the lack of background
psychology results from
just
language teaching is not
Thus, the aim of foreign
correct ways of ex-
how to master the
to teach the learners
how to express what has
target language and
nressions in the
to acquire a set of
but to enable them
already in their mind,
their own
that is different from
social cultural knowledge
language tea-
agreed among foreign
It has been
(Yang, 1991).
10