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Hong Gang Jin
Hong Gang Jin
Hong Gang Jin, the William R. Kenan Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures, recently published an article in Journal of Chinese Teaching in the World (JCTW). The article, “Effects of Selective Attention and Noticing the Gap in CFL Acquisition of Chinese Manner Complement of ‘De’” was co-authored by Yin Zhang, ACC field director in Beijing. JCTW is a major peer-reviewed journal in the CFL field.

According to the abstract, “This experimental study explores effects of selective attention and ‘noticing the gap’ principle in L2 acquisition of the Chinese manner complement of ‘de.’ After a pretest, 30 US CFL undergraduate students were selected to participate in this study and were randomly divided into two experimental and one control groups. Participants in experimental groups received two types of pedagogical treatments respectively for three weeks. One focused on directing learner’s attention to target structure through output activities and the other through corrective feedback.

“By comparing the test scores and error distribution in pre, post, and follow-up tests, the study was able to obtain four significant results contributing to CFL acquisition and teaching. First, both experimental groups (output and corrective feedback) outperformed the control group in production of the target structure in the post and follow-up tests, indicating positive effects of pedagogical treatments in acquisition of Chinese manner complements of ‘de.’

“Second, a further statistical analysis showed advantage of corrective over output treatments in achieving lasting effects. Third, ‘selective attention’ and ‘noticing the gap’ can be incorporated in pedagogical treatments to help focus learners’ attention on key elements of a target structure. Finally, the productive results of the study indicated a possible acquisitional sequence of Chinese manner complete of ‘de’ by L2 English speakers.”

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