Abstract
This study explored how to assess the explicit and implicit grammatical knowledge of learners of Chinese, and their relationship to learners’ overall Chinese language proficiency. The participants were 85 learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) at universities in the USA. A test battery included three parts: (1) a timed grammaticality judgment test (GJT) and an oral repetition task for implicit grammatical knowledge; (2) an untimed GJT and an error correction task for explicit grammatical knowledge; and (3) a general language proficiency test. A set of correlation coefficients were computed to explore the contributions of implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge to overall proficiency. The results showed that there was no statistically significant correlation between the CFL learners’ implicit grammatical knowledge and their proficiency scores, but there was a strong relationship between their explicit grammatical knowledge and their general proficiency. Further multiple regression analyses demonstrated that explicit knowledge better predicted the CFL learners’ general L2 proficiency. These findings are discussed in light of how the relationship of implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge with general proficiency might be influenced by learners’ actual level of proficiency or learning stage and how general proficiency is tested. Pedagogical implications are also discussed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Cleeremans, A., Destrebecqz, A., & Boyer, M. (1998). Implicit learning: News from the front. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2, 406–417.
Dienes, Z., & Perner, J. (1999). A theory of implicit and explicit knowledge. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 22, 735–808.
Elder, C., & Ellis, R. (2009). Implicit and explicit knowledge of an L2 and language proficiency: Applying the measures of implicit and explicit L2 knowledge. In R. Ellis et al. (Eds.), Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language learning, teaching, and testing (pp. 167–193). UK: Multilingual Matters.
Elder, C., & Manwaring, D. (2004). The relationship between metalinguistic knowledge and learning outcomes among undergraduate students of Chinese. Language Awareness, 13, 145–162.
Ellis, N. (2008). Implicit and explicit knowledge about language. In J. Cenoz & N. H. Hornberger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education Volume 6: Knowledge about language (2nd ed., pp. 119–131). New York: Springer.
Ellis, R. (2004). The definition and measurement of L2 explicit knowledge. Language Learning, 54(2), 227–275.
Ellis, R. (2005). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language: A psychometric study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 141–172.
Ellis, R. (2006). Modeling learning difficulty and second language proficiency: The differential contributions of implicit and explicit knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 27, 431–463.
Furman, N., Goldberg, D., & Lusin, N. (2010). Enrollments in languages other than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2009. Retrieved from https://www.mla.org/content/download/2872/79842/2009_enrollment_survey.pdf
Gao, X. D. (2005). Noun phrase morphemes and topic development in L2 mandarin Chinese: A processability perspective. Unpublished doctoral dissertation: Victoria University of Wellington.
Green, P., & Hecht, K. (1992). Implicit and explicit grammar: An empirical study. Applied Linguistics, 13(2), 168–184.
Han, Y., & Ellis, R. (1998). Implicit knowledge, explicit knowledge and general language proficiency. Language Teaching Research, 2, 1–23.
Jiang, W. (2009). Acquisition of word order in Chinese as a Foreign Language. Germany: De Gruyter Mouton.
Jin, L., Oh, L. B., & Razak, R. (2012). C-LARSP: Developing a Chinese grammatical profile. In M. J. Ball, D. Crystal, & P. Fletcher (Eds.), In assessing grammar: The languages of LARS (pp. 208–229). New York: Multilingual Matters.
Mirzaei, A., Domakani, M., & Shakerian, Z. (2011). Differential accessibility of implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge to EFL learners’ language proficiency. Iranian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 111–143.
Philp, J. (2009). Pathways to proficiency: Learning experiences and attainment in implicit and explicit knowledge of English as a second language: Applying the measures of implicit and explicit L2 knowledge. In R. Ellis et al. (Eds.), Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language learning, testing and teaching (pp. 194–215). UK: Multilingual Matters.
Roehr, K. (2008). Metalinguistic knowledge and language ability in university-level L2 learners. Applied Linguistics, 29, 173–199.
Wang, X. (2013). Grammatical development of Chinese among non-native speakers: From a processability account. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Xing, J. Z. (2006). Teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign language: A pedagogical grammar. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Zhang, D. (2012). Vocabulary and grammatical knowledge in L2 reading comprehension: A structural equation modeling study. The Modern Language Journal, 96, 554–571.
Zhang, Y. Y. (2001) Second language acquisition of Chinese grammatical morphemes: A processability perspective. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Australian National University.
Zhang, Y. Y. (2008) Adverb-placement and wh-questions in the L2 Chinese of English speakers: Is transfer a structural property or a processing constraint? In J. Kessler (Ed.), Processability approaches to second language development and second language learning. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Li, L. (2017). Can Grammatical Knowledge Predict Chinese Proficiency?. In: Zhang, D., Lin, CH. (eds) Chinese as a Second Language Assessment. Chinese Language Learning Sciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4089-4_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4089-4_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-4087-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-4089-4
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)