Chinese as Second Language Learners’ Beliefs about Vocabulary Acquisition

Shuyi Yang 
(College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Iowa, USA)

Abstract: This study examined L2 Chinese learners’ beliefs about vocabulary acquisition. 59 participants provided their views in a 5-point-scale Beliefs about Chinese Vocabulary Acquisition Inventory. Semi-structured interviews with 6 participants were also conducted. Results showed that most learners believed that it is essential to know the pronunciation of words and that repetitive practice would be helpful. They also agreed that word pronunciation fails to provide useful information to assist in retaining and retrieving meaning, implying the indirect phoneme-meaning relationship in Chinese words. In terms of the characters in words, learners attached importance to character learning and preferred writing drills to structure analysis. Regarding word meaning and vocabulary size, most participants tended to adopt learning strategies of communicative nature. Pedagogical recommendations were that instructors should be aware of learners’ different beliefs, design various communicative activities, and introduce effective learning strategies.

Key words: learner beliefs about vocabulary acquisition, Chinese Character Zone and Non Chinese Character Zone, L2 proficiency