Abstract 021
Title
Comparison of the Comprehension of Three Types of Chinese Colloquial Idioms by Advanced
Chinese L2 Learners
Abstract
The complexity and quantity of idioms poses a great challenge to second language (L2)
learners (e.g., Irujo, 1986a; Cooper, 1999; Cieślicka, 2006). Even though a full mastery of
idioms in an L2 is almost unachievable, L2 learners still have to face the challenge, because
idioms are so widely used in spoken and written language and a grasp of them “can be a great
asset to learners in acquiring a new language” (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999, p. 39).
In the field of second language acquisition (SLA), in what way L2 idioms are
comprehended and acquired is clearly an area worthy of investigation. In sharp contrast to the
abundance of research on L2 idiom comprehension in general, however, studies on how L2
learners comprehend Chinese colloquial idioms are regrettably scant. In spite of a small number
of studies, many questions remain to be addressed such as whether L2 learners comprehend
different kinds of Chinese colloquial idioms in the same manner, and whether L1-L2 degrees of
similarity play a role, what cognitive processing features exhibit in this process of
comprehension, to what extent L2 idiom comprehension resembles L1 idiom comprehension, as
well as what strategies are employed, and in what circumstances these strategies are used in the
comprehension of L2 idioms.
The present study serves to address these questions and attempts to contribute to the
existing understanding of how Chinese colloquial idioms are comprehended among L2 learners.
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Abstract 021
This study aims to investigate how English-speaking learners of Chinese L2 at advanced level of
proficiency comprehend and interpret three types of colloquial idioms in and out of context.
Thirty students enrolled in the advanced Chinese class in the Chinese Program at a
Midwest university participated in this study. All the participants – 15 males and 15 females –
were native speakers of English. The target items were 15 Chinese colloquial idioms, which were
unfamiliar to the 30 participants. The 15 items were divided in three types: LL (lexical level or
matching idioms between L1 & L2), SLL (semi-lexical level or partially matching idioms
between L1 & L2), and PLL (post-lexical level or non-matching idioms between L1 & L2). The
three types differed in terms of the L1-L2 degree of similarity. The participants were asked to
complete one decontextualized comprehension task followed by one contextualized task. In the
decontextualized task, the participants were required to verbally report their thoughts as they
analyzed the 15 target items out of context. In the contextualized task, the participants were
asked to verbalize their thoughts as they derived the meanings of the target items in short
paragraph context. The whole process of verbal reporting was audiotaped for later data analysis.
The findings indicate that 1) the participants utilized multiple strategies to comprehend the target
Chinese colloquial idioms in and out of context; 2) among the three types of Chinese colloquial
idioms, context significantly affects the comprehension of the SLL and the PLL types, however,
not the LL type; and 3) the L1-L2 degree of similarity significantly influences the
comprehension and interpretation of the Chinese colloquial idioms in the decontextualized task.
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Abstract 021
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