PhD Title

Measure Words in Learning and Teaching Chinese as a Second Language

Supervisors

Dr Yang Lan and Dr David Pattinson

Research Study

Measure words are one of the eleven Chinese parts of speech and they have a long history in Chinese language. Many Chinese people just know how to use measure words, but do not know when they came into use and why they exist in Chinese language. Therefore it is even more difficult for English students to understand Chinese measure words in learning Chinese as a second language. 

On the other hand, there is no measure word in English and it uses noun phrases to express the concept of “unit”, such as “a piece of” and “a cup of”. Thus Chinese measure words have no equivalent in English, which makes the second language acquisition process more difficult for English students in learning Chinese. 

In this research I am looking at the origin and the historical development of measure words so as to draw a clear picture of measure words to help English students in learning Chinese measure words. The focus of my research is looking for a specific method for teaching Chinese measure words to help teaching Chinese measure words.

Background

I came to the United Kingdom in 2007 to study my Master’s degree. I gained my MA in Applied Translation at the University of Leeds in 2008. After completing my MA I decided to progress to start my Phd degree in November 2009.

Email: ml07lz@leeds.ac.uk