English and Chinese --TimeGrammatical Aspects.docx

12English and Chinese Time: Grammatical AspectsResearch Paper: TSL 5208 - Pedagogical GrammarDmitri Priven Fall 2010Michael J. Ryan This research paper will look into the difficulties of establishing the period during which an activity occurs in the English language grammatical system for a native speaker of Chinese. Firstly, an appreciation of the acquisition of a first language (L1) and learning of a second language will be briefly offered. Then to ensure the reader is properly oriented, some necessary definitions and an overview of the grammatical differences between English and Chinese (Mandarin) for establishing time, primarily at a sentence level, will be vital. Next the preferred methodological tool, a “conjugation chart” of the present, past and future simple tenses in English and Chinese has been developed and will be presented. A highly speculative overview of the cultural root and the differences in the measurement of time as the causal factors in the massive variation will be briefly outlined. The conjugation chart is original and is not the pattern currently in use, and though it may not be the ultimate tool in language learning, it appears to have no inherent negative impact. Finally, this preferred method will be defended on the basis of providing the means to overcome the inherent difficulties in English verb tense through an initial grammar-based approach and the initiation of longer term contextualization. Scott Thornbury in How to Teach Grammar has written: “The language of early childhood is like this: it is essentially individual words strung together, but because it is centered in the here-and-now, it is generally not difficult to interpret. (p. 3)”. This assessment of the primacy of the present tense would appear to be self-evident. Our earliest forays into our acquired language are in the present tense, even when the verb is not vocalized. Normally, a NNS of English would be introduced to the present tense, as grounding in the use of verbs, prior to being exposed to other aspects of time in English. Azar and Hagen in Understanding and Using English Grammar (2009), begin the grammar topics in the text with the simple present tense. Leo Jones in Welcome: English for the Travel and Tourism Industry (1998) has his first thematic exercise for the reader presented in the simple present tense. H. Douglas Brown in Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (2007) refers to the teaching of children who are new learners in the following two ways: “Language needs to be firmly context embedded (104)” and “children are focused on the here and now (p. 103 Italics in original)”. H. Douglas Brown in his Third Edition of Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach (2007) notes that it is the “Novice High Learner” who is capable of target language utterances, which consist mostly of short and sometimes incomplete sentences in the present (p. 117)” and further that it is only at the High Intermediate Level where the non native speaker (NNS) begins to use the target language by “manipulating time (p. 116)”. Thus, the NNS should be taught the present tense first, mirroring the method by which he acquired his first language. However, the teaching would generally “be treated as whole sentences or whole utterances rather than being learned as fragments such as words of verb paradigms (Cook, p. 5)”. Finally, Frank Parker and Kathryn Riley in Linguistics for non-Linguists have written: ”speakers acquiring an L2 go through stages similar to those that native speakers go through when acquiring that language as L1” (P. 243)”. Then it is a very simple matter for a Chinese speaker to apply their abstract thinking, knowledge of their first language and subsequently to deduce how time will be grammatically presented in English. Unfortunately not, as the two systems vary remarkably. In the following section, there will be presented an overview of the grammatical differences between Chinese (Mandarin) and English for establishing time. According to Azar and Hagen, the simple present tense in English expresses “that something was true in the past, is true in the present and will be true in the future. It expresses general statements of fact and general truths. (p. 14)”. . However, there is a problem with direct application of the Azar text. The first verb it treats to provide examples of the simple present is “consists”. This verb is used only 64 times in a 100,000,000 in the current version of the British National Corpus(BNC) (List 5.2) Frequency of Verbs, and there it appears in the plural “consist”. So, the word chosen to explain verbs is not really in the frequency list. It would be highly preferable to use words that are frequently encountered in written and spoken English. As Cook has stated teaching by word frequency is a common occurrence: “Much teaching has been based on the idea that the most frequently used words in the target language should be taught first (p. 59)”. This is not to say that it is immediately proposed that these have the greatest teachability. However, as “the top 100 words, in a sample of 100 million words in the BNC account for 45 percent of all words” it appears to be a given that this must be taught and any other arguments aside, these words should be taught earlier rather than later. Further, “time” is the highest ranked noun and this appears to complement the use of simple verb tenses. The simple present, past and future of “be” are presented in Appendix 1. In order to ensure there is context, I have included a marker of time in each case. Thus the samples read: “Yesterday, I was a student. Today I am a student. Tomorrow I will be a student.” The equivalent in Chinese Pinyin without accents See Appendix B for the extended process and samples. is the identical three simple tenses translated: “Zuotian wu shile xuesheng. Jintian wu shi xuesheng, Mingtian wu shi xuesheng.” Note: These are my translations and still require expert validation. Yesterday you were a student becomes - Zoutain ni shile xueshen - with only the pronoun marker changing for he/she ta, we women, yous nimen and they tamen. Note also that making the pronouns plural merely required the addition of “men” in each case. This same “conjugation, or lack of conjugation, occurs for the future tense. I have also included only vocabulary that every beginning student should know. I feel these are about as basic as could be used and the irregular nature of the conjugations in English is not extreme. In Appendix B, the “conjugated“ Chinese verb equivalents are provided. So, it is my intention to focus the earliest lessons around these three tenses with the Chinese translation alongside. It is my hope, that the “Conjugation Sheet” would prove helpful as a direction at the outside, a guide in the mid-term and simply a point of reference or reminder in the long term. The next verb to be treated would be “have” in these same three tenses. This would be followed by a series of common regular verbs. By the time more complex verbs were encountered, the students would have the basis of “be “ and “have” to assist their conjugations. It may be felt this is not an extremely developed lesson plan. This would be partially accurate. However, every EFL/ESL text had lesson plans for the beginning learner and each one started with the present simple tense. All of these lesson plans made a certain amount of sense and appeared to be valid outlines for teaching beginning English. However, no text of those I read and/or scanned seemed to follow-up with the other simple tenses. This lacks surface logic. There may be a deeper highly-researched approach that says the present progressive and other complicated tenses should be taught prior to turning to another aspect of time/tense. However, if such is the case, I have not seen it mentioned. It also appears warranted to me to use the most frequent words from the British National Corpus, and/or such specific vocabulary as should be integrated due to the special nature of the area being studied, and through the availability of authentic props such as watches, clocks and calendars to introduce the simple verb tenses. Why is there such an inherent difference in the grammatical representation of time between Chinese and English? My speculative response is that this complexity mirrors the variation between the ways time is philosophically treated within the two systems. In English, the historic cultural association is Christian and there is a belief that there is a beginning and an end to time. In Buddhist dominated cultures, time is cyclical and man is directly present in time. Thus, there is no necessary beginning and there is no necessary end, it is very much a cycle of life. So, if you are on a cycle, where is the beginning and where is the end and therefore, where is the past and where is the future? This to me is the essential rationale for such a fundamental diversity in the grammatical treatment of time. In the end, I have chosen what appears to me to be the simplest entry point into the English language. The capacity to communicate requires that a Chinese learner have a solid grounding in the means to express time in English. This must be through the use of verb tenses and this is a significant and profound difference from Chinese. Therefore, as a matter of routine, the simple tenses should be taught first. By providing a chart of verb conjugations in English and Chinese, there may be the means to overcome the inherent difficulties in English verb tense, both through initial usage and longer term contextualization. Hopefully, the chart be of both initial and long-term usefulness.Appendix APresent I am you are he/she/it is we are you are they arePast I was you were he/she /it was we were you were they wereFutureI will be you will be he/she/it will be we will be you will be they will beAdapted from Reverso. Accessed 14 October 2010 at Conjugation ChartSimple Present Simple Past Simple FutureToday I am a student.Jintian wu shi xuesheng Yesterday I was a student.Zuotian wu shile xueshengTomorrow I will be a student. Mingtian wu shi xueshengToday you are a student.Jintian ni shi xuesheng Yesterday you were a student.Zuotian ni shile xueshengTomorrow you will be a student.Mingtian ni shi xueshengToday he is a student.Jintian ta shi xuesheng Yesterday he was a student.Zuotian ta shile xueshengTomorrow he will be a student.Mingtian ta shi xueshengToday we are studentsJintian women shi xuesheng Yesterday we were students.Zuotian women shile xueshengTomorrow we will be students.Mingtian women shi xueshengToday you are students. Jintian nimen shi xuesheng Yesterday you were studentsZuotian nimen shile xueshengTomorrow you will be students.Mingtian nimen shi xueshengToday they are studentsJintian tamen shi xuesheng Yesterday they were studentsZuotian tamen shile xueshengTomorrow they will be students.Mingtian tamen shi xueshengAppendix BStep OneToday I am a student Translated An outline of the machine processing.Present (modern - today)今jnToday *今日jnrìToday *今天jntinToday *Now (today - the present)今朝jnzhoI *I (me - myself)我wI *We (speaker and audience - I)咱们zánmenI *I (my)吾wúam *To be (is - are - am - yes)是shìa *First (1st - 'A' - armor - shell - fingernail)甲jia *A (an - one)一个ygèa *Accuse (accusation - a (criminal) charge)指控zhkònga *亚伯拉罕的约Yàbólhn de yustudent *学生xuéshengStep TWOYesterday *昨天zuótinUse this translationI *I (my)吾wúUse this translationwas ?unknown?student *学生xuéshengSelectionFinal conjugation: Zuotian wu shile xuesheng.NOTE: Was is unknown in the Oxford English Chinese Dictionary! We must use the present tense shi and the aspect marker le.Note that none of the examples provided of “will be” are actually the equivalent to English future simple if considered to be “verb” tense. I have chosen shi again, as expressing the equivalent. BibliographyAzar, B. S. (2009). Understanding and Using English Grammar. White Plains, New York: Pearson Longman.Baker, C. (2001). Foundations of Education and Bilingualism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Brown, D. H. (2007). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. White Plains, New York: Pearson Longman.Cook, V. (2001). Second Language Learning and Language Teaching. London: Arnold.Corbett, J. (2003). An Intercultural Approach to English Language Teaching. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.Jones, L. (1998). Welcome: English for the Travel and Tourism Industry. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP.Oxford Chinese Minidictionary. (2001). Oxford: OUP.Parker, F. & Riley, K. (2010). Linguistic for Non-Linguists. White Plains, New York: Pearson Longman.Thornbury, S. (2009). How to Teach Grammar. Harlow, Essex, England: Pearson: Longman.