How jeffery and greg learned mandarin

Final Project of Foreign
Language Learners
How Jeffery and Greg learned Mandarin
9231320 Christine Wu 9231346 Randi 9231392 Kacey
9231340 Christine Yang 9231366 Maureen
9231344 Kelly 9231388 Selena

Introduction

We have learned how language learners learn English from
our perspective and many other studies, but we do not
know whether language learners use the same way to learn
Chinese. Many people, in fact, have started to learn
Chinese because China is getting stronger and the Chinese
language is getting more and more popular.

In our project, we interviewed two native speakers of
English, Jeffery and Greg, and found out how they have
been learning Chinese. Now we would like to show you the
differences and similarities between their ways of learning
Chinese and our ways of learning English.

Jeffery
Age 21
Nationality Canada
Time in Taiwan 3
Job English teacher
Motivation Strong

Greg

Age 33
Nationality Canada
Time in Taiwan more than 3
Job English teacher
Motivation Not really strong.


Greg

Jeffery

Similarities

Differences

Conclusion
What kind of foreign
language learners
are they?

Similarities & Differences

Similarities: They all started to learn Mandarin when
they came to Taiwan. Their purposes are the same
because they want to communicate with Taiwanese
people. They use Mandarin in their daily lives. They
both think writing is hard. They think their strength is
listening.

Differences: Greg did not go to school to learn

Mandarin while Jeffery went to school to learn
Mandarin. Jeffery’s Chinese is very good, but he still
thinks his speaking ability is not good enough. Greg
seldom speaks Chinese.

Conclusion

Their motivation affects their learning
attitudes. Jeffery’s incentive is stronger
than Greg’s. Jeffery came to Taiwan in
order to learn Chinese while Greg
came here just want to make money
by teaching English.

Questionnaire

Similarities

Differences

Conclusion
Jeffery~logical-mathematical intelligence and
interpersonal intelligence
Greg~interpersonal intelligence


Similarities:
They don’t like memorizing things. They don’t like making
charts and diagrams. They don’t like drama and role plays.


Differences:
Jeffery likes the teacher to explain grammar to him and he
likes singing songs in Chinese while Greg doesn’t sing
Chinese songs. Jeffery likes group and pair interaction,
self-reflection through journal writing, word games and
puzzles, problem-solving exercises, to learn through
movies and videos, one-on-one conversation practice,
analyze his own performance.
Similarities & Differences

Conclusion

Because Greg did not go to school to learn
Chinese, it’s difficult for him to learn in groups and
write journals. He can only learn Mandarin from
daily-life interactions when kindergarten children or
his colleagues talk to him, then he can pick up
some key words which are often used. The survey
shows that Jeffery is stronger in both logical-
mathematical intelligence and interpersonal
intelligence while Greg is stronger in interpersonal
intelligence.

Theoretical Approaches
to Explaining Their
Language Learning

Greg

Behaviourism


He listens to how people speak the language, imitates them
and then uses their ways to speak to others.

He focuses on learning funny terms, for example, 笨笨笨笨笨 .
Every time he can make people laugh by saying those words.
So he keeps saying these terms to have fun with others. What
he has learned most in Chinese is this kind of terms.

Interactionism

People use simple vocabulary, speak slowly, and give many
simple examples to explain their ideas to help him understand
Chinese. This is helpful for him to acquire Chinese.

Jeffery

Behaviorism

-Jeffery learns Chinese by listening to people’s conversation
and then imitating their accents and usages. Then he goes
out to practice it often with others.

-He learns new words by writing them down, asking others
their meanings, then memorizing them, and goes out using
them to speak to others.

-He keeps on using the language he has acquired though he
learns many different ways.

Greg
(extroverted)
Jeffery
(introverted)
Characteristics
He has less difficulty and
pressure to practice
Chinese with others, and
doesn’t mind taking
risks.
Jeffery likes to do
individual work and feels
more pressure when
facing people.
Results
The risk here is that he
becomes too dependent
on others and did not
study enough on his
own, such as vocabulary
and grammar.
He enjoys being alone,
and solving problems on
his own, which helps him
have good study skills
and ways to learn the
language.

The Individual
Learner


This questionnaire tells us how
often they use strategies that they
can do it by themselves.

The result of their questionnaires
Jeffery Greg
Score 54 28

Analysis

Jeffery uses individual learning
strategies more often.

Greg seldom uses individual learning
strategies.

Suggestions
1.The Internet:
We can get much information through it.
It can improve our reading ability.
2. Sing Songs:
It will help your pronunciation while you have some fun.
3. Keep a Diary:
It can improve our writing ability.
4. Make Conversations with Others:
It can improve not only the speaking ability but also the
listening one.

Conclusion

The more often we practice on our
own, the more progress we can make.

Comparing First and
Second Language
Learning

Q1: Do you recall how you’ve learned your
native language, or have you noticed how a
child learns to speak, read, and write his/her
native language? Please share your
experience and/or observation with others.

Q2: Based on your learning experience,
what similarities and differences do you
notice between learning your native
language and learning a foreign language
like Chinese?

Differences

Grammar:
Chinese grammar is easier than English
grammar.


Tone:

Chinese has different tones, but English does
not.
There are five tone patterns in Chinese; that is,
笨笨 , 笨笨 , 笨笨 , 笨笨 , 笨笨 . It is not easy for
nonnative speakers of Chinese to distinguish
them. E.g., “ 笨笨 & 笨笨” and “ 笨 & 笨 .”

Conclusion

CAH (Contrastive Analysis
Hypothesis)


It’s the same for both Chinese
language learners and English
language learners.

The Learning Channel
Preference

Visual learner:
The one who will learn better when he/she reads
or sees the information

Auditory learner:
The one who will learn better when information
comes through his/her ears

Haptic learner:
The one who will learn best by doing, moving, or

hands-on experiences
After they did this survey, the results show that
they are both visual learners.

As Visual Learners

Jeffery usually does but Greg seldom does so:
1) Jeffery can remember things better if he write them down.
2) When Jeffery is trying to remember something new, for
example, a telephone number, it helps him to form a picture
of it in his head.

Greg usually does but Jeffery seldom does so:
1) It’s easy for Greg to understand maps, charts, and graphs.

2) Greg cannot remember a joke long enough to tell it later.
3) When Greg gets a great idea, he must write it down right
away or he’ll forget it.

As Auditory Learners

Jeffery usually does but Greg seldom does
so:
1) When reading, Jeffery listens to the words
in his head or he reads aloud. 2) Jeffery can
easily follow a speaker even though his head
is down or he’s staring out the window.
Greg usually does but Jeffery seldom does so:
1) When learning something new, Greg
prefers to listen to information on it, then read

about it, and then do it.

Conclusion

People who have the same learning
preference still have performances in
different levels.

Their performances are affected by
some other factors.