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Chinese English Learners’ Strategic Competence

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research volume 44, pages 701–714 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate Chinese English learners’ ability to use communication strategies (CSs). The subjects are put in a relatively real English referential communication setting and the analyses of the research data show that Chinese English learners, when encountering problems in foreign language (FL) communication, are characterized by the frequent use of substitution, approximation, circumlocution, literal translation, exemplification, word-coinage, repetition, and the infrequent use of cultural-knowledge and paralinguistic CSs. The rare use of paralinguistic strategies is found to be typical of Chinese English learners. The high frequency of literal translation, one first language (L1)-based strategy in our study sample, suggests that FL learners’ use of L1-based CSs may depend more upon the developmental stage of their target language than the typology distance between L1 and the target language. The frequency of repetition reveals one fact that the Chinese English learners lack variety and flexibility in their use of CSs. Based on these findings, it was indicated that learners’ use of CSs is influenced by a variety of factors, among which the development stage of their interlanguage and their cultural background are identified as two important factors. Some implications are finally suggested for the English foreign language teaching practice in China.

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Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China

    Dianjian Wang

  2. Department of English, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, 201 Mailbox, No. 88 Anningxilu, Anning, Lanzhou, Gansu, China

    Dianjian Wang & Hongling Lai

  3. College of Journalism and Communications of University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Michael Leslie

Authors
  1. Dianjian Wang
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  2. Hongling Lai
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  3. Michael Leslie
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Correspondence to Dianjian Wang.

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Wang, D., Lai, H. & Leslie, M. Chinese English Learners’ Strategic Competence. J Psycholinguist Res 44, 701–714 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-014-9313-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-014-9313-7

Keywords

  • Chinese English learners
  • Communication strategies (CSs)
  • Characteristics of learners’ use of CSs
  • EFL teaching