Learning Chinese Vocabulary: Understanding Students' Perspectives

Abstract

This study used a survey to investigate self-study and university-enrolled Chinese learners' habits in studying Chinese vocabulary in order to determine what study methods influence a.) learners' confidence in learning Chinese vocabulary and b.) what aspects of Chinese vocabulary they consider easy or difficult. We were particularly interested in seeing what the data had to say about students' attitudes towards characters and the written language, given that the field of Chinese language pedagogy is known for a stronger focus on the written language as opposed to the spoken language. We found that aspects of Chinese vocabulary associated with the spoken language were routinely perceived as easier than the written language. We found that incorporating usage of an electronic dictionary, learning to read fictional material, and watching movies and television into the program of study were the three largest factors positively affecting confidence in learning vocabulary, and that students' trends in these study methods indicated a greater focus on the spoken language the further they progressed along in their learning. This study invites questions for further research on how to teach Chinese vocabulary as a holistic part of the language and on whether and how vocabulary practice should focus less on writing and more on speaking as students progress in their learning.