Faculty Publications and Conference Presentations

<p>The present study investigates whether congruency facilitation and figurative interference—two counteractive effects—persist in L2 collocational processing when both congruency and figurativeness are present. A primed lexical decision task was administered to 44 L1-Chinese L2-English learners and 40 L1-English speakers to assess response times for figurative congruent collocations, along with their matched literal congruent and figurative incongruent collocations. Results showed that while collocational priming was absent, both congruency facilitation and figurative interference emerged, with their effects modulated by L2 proficiency. Specifically, in low-proficiency learners, congruency facilitation appeared to outweigh figurative interference, whereas in high-proficiency learners, figurative interference became more pronounced as L1-based facilitation was suppressed. These findings suggest that L2 learners initially rely on their activated L1 semantic network but gradually shift toward developing L2 collocational representations as proficiency increases, though these representations may remain weak and insufficient to facilitate collocate access.</p>

ここ数年の間に GenAI Technology の急速な進展は目覚ましい。ビジネ スのみならず、教育分野での GenAI Technology の活用が注目されている。 言語教育では、英語教育や中国語教育においては、実践事例、研究事例が 報告され始めている。世界的に見て大変に注目されている研究題目となっ ている。ところが、第３外国語教育、特に日本語教育での実践事例や研究 事例は限られている。正に、始まったばかりのようである。 本稿では、大学の初級日本語コースでの Chatbot の実践的活用について 報告する。日本語初級者においても、Chatbot は学習を少しでも効率よく できるツールとなるのか、初級者ではどのような学習内容に使うのか、 Chatbot 活用の良かった点や改善が必要と思われる点は具体的に何か、な どを学生の声をもとに明確にする目的で取り組んだ。 調査対象学生 40 名で、毎月ミニレポートという形で調査を学期中継続 した。Chatbot は対話的に学習者と関わることができる。これは学生には 親しみやすく興味が持てたようで Chatbot 活用には大変に積極的であった。 40 名全員からデータを回収することができた。学生が特に活用した学習 内容としては、１）語彙の学習、２）日本語の文法学習、３）日本文化に 関する学習が上位 3 つであった。 学生からは、Chatbot の対話型アプローチが楽しいという意見や、いつ でも使える、欲しい情報がすぐに手に入るなど良かった点が大変多く寄せ られた。一方、改善点としては説明が難しくわかりにくい、正確ではない ように感じる時があったなど、数は多くはなかったが寄せられた。 Chatbot の活用は初級日本語コースにおいて、教育的有用性が十分に認 められた。対話型学習、日本語の学習サポート、日本文化情報の提供など の点で、GenAI Technology の日本語教育への活用可能性を示唆している。 今後の日本語教育における GenAI Technology の一層の活用が期待される。

從「微軟小冰」出版詩集到生成式人工智能的崛起，人工智能參與詩歌創作的問題已有不少討論。然而，生成式AI的應用不僅侷限於創作層面，其還可以作為現代詩教學的輔助工具，為詩歌教育提供新的可能性。筆者近年任教坊間的一些現代詩寫作班時，曾嘗試引入生成式AI輔助教學。本文將結合個人教學經驗，淺談 生成式AI在現代詩教學中的應用潛力，並對其未來發展作出一些展望。

本研究以香港高校一门中文传意课程中粤语母语学生的普通话产出为材料，分析影响「言语可懂度（speech intelligibility）」（参 Smith &amp; Nelson, 1985；Munro &amp; Derwing, 1995）的语音要素。针对 19 位发音人 126 个可懂度低的音节，研究发现：（1）单一成分偏误中，韵母偏误占比最高，其次是声母偏误；（2）多种成分偏误组合中，「声母 +韵母」偏误占比最高；（3）声母偏误中，sh 误读最为多见；（4）韵母偏误中，i 误读最为多见，含介音韵母误读亦较多；（5）声调偏误中，第四声误读最为多见，与其他三声相混，二、三声也有相混情况。研究表明，在以传意为目标、面向粤语母语者的普通话教学中，可优先教学声韵母，声调教学稍列其后；重点及优先教学舌尖后音与舌面音（尤其是声母 sh 与 x）、声母 r、单韵母 i 与 u、以及含介音的音节，并围绕第四声进行声调教学。本研究为探索「大华语」（陆俭明，2005、2015；李宇明，2017）的语音「共核」（Common Core）（祝晓宏，2019）提供了实证研究的材料与观点，同时为以传意为目标的普通话语音教学观提供了理据。 This study investigates the Putonghua pronunciation of Cantonese-speaking students in a Chinese communication course at a Hong Kong university, focusing on the phonetic elements that impact “speech intelligibility” (Smith &amp; Nelson, 1985; Munro &amp; Derwing, 1995). The analysis of 126 low-intelligibility syllables produced by 19 speakers revealed that (1) Among single-component errors, vowel errors were the most prevalent, followed by consonant errors; (2) In error combinations, “consonant + vowel” were the most common; (3) Within consonant errors, mispronunciations of “sh” occurred most frequently, followed by errors involving “h,” “x,” “r,” “j,” and “zh”; (4) For vowel errors, “i” was the most commonly mispronounced, particularly in vowels with medial glides; (5) Tone errors were dominated by mispronunciations of the fourth tone, with occasional confusion between the second and third tones. The findings suggest that in Putonghua teaching aimed at Cantonese native speakers with communication as the goal, teaching initials and finals could take precedence over tones, focusing on teaching apical post-alveolars and alveolo-palatals (especially the initials “sh” and “x”), the initial “r”, the monophthongs “i” and “u” and syllables containing medial sounds. Tone teaching should revolve around the fourth tone. This research provides empirical insights and perspectives for exploring the phonetic “Common Core” (Zhu, 2019) under the context of Global Chinese (Lu, 2005, 2015; Li, 2017).

隨著生成式人工智能工具的風潮席捲全球，關於如何革新現有的教育方式和未來教育走向的探討，成為了近年來的熱門話題。香港科技大學鼓勵教學人員使用生成式人工智能工具，語文教育中心在2023年初已經開始了相關的探索。本文僅以筆者負責設計開發的中文核心課程「職場實務中文運用」為例，探討以ChatGPT為代表的GenAI工具在實務中文寫作教學中的運用，並結合學生對在課程中使用ChatGPT效果的反饋進行反思，展望課程以及實務中文教學未來的發展方向。

《詩學綱要》是陳去病（1874－1933）重要的詩學及詩歌史著作。此書本是詩歌史教材，系統論述了中國詩歌自上古至清代之發展與流變，亦旨在匡正時人論詩之流弊。本文集中考察其對宋代與明清詩史的論述，探討陳氏之詩歌史觀及其時代意義。陳氏基於儒家詩教，以性情與氣運為詩歌價值評判之標準；同時又主張「詩以異為體」，強調呈現各代詩家獨特性及差異性之必要。陳氏批評晚清「宗尚蘇、黃」之風氣，持尊唐抑宋立場，延續南社宗唐派對宋詩派之排斥。然其不同於柳亞子（1887－1958）之激烈攻詆黃庭堅（1045－1105），在肯定黃氏師古而能自成一家的同時，通過質疑呂本中（1084－1145）《江西詩社宗派圖》所建構的江西詩派譜系，回應宋詩派的詩歌史話語策略。在明清詩史部分，陳氏持崇明抑清立場，從性情出發，前則肯定復古派嘗試重建文化盛世之氣象，後則表彰明末幾、復諸子之風骨，同時感歎明詩發展遭逢厄運，展現出其對政治盛世下文化理想圖景的嚮往

<p>With the growth of education in multilingual setting, language teachers who teach in multilingual settings are now facing challenges in adapting new linguistic environments where multiple language contacts take place. It is therefore necessary to educate pre-service and in-service teachers on how multilingualism influence language learning, and one of the key areas is L2 pronunciation teaching, in which teachers could conduct their own mini-research, or even guide their students to conduct ones, to facilitate their understanding and acquisition. Traditional phonetic research relies mainly on sound collection which requires labour forces and equipment. Conventionally, to obtain sound samples from/under a controlled environment, good quality microphones are essentials for both on-site and off-site data collection (Munro and Derwing, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings, 11(1), 2020) and the assistance from other research team members is needed for off-site collection. However, with the development of the Internet, there have been multiple studies using online sources for phonetic research (e.g. Sewell and Chan, English World-Wide, 31(2):138–161, 2010; Chan and Chan, Journal of Universal Language, 22(2):1–44, 2021). Internet-based corpora are usually composed of sound clips recorded under uncontrolled environments with varied recording quality. Studies using Internet-based corpora have demonstrated the advantage of having an easier data collection process, especially under the pandemic era when on-site data collection is sometimes not possible. Internet-based corpora are also effective in long-distance data collection for individual researchers with limited help. It is surely one interesting way for (pre-service and/or in-service) teachers to conduct their own research in order to deepen their understanding in multilingualism. Despite the obvious advantages, researchers may still question the validity and quality of such data source in phonetic studies. Therefore, this chapter aims to suggest an interesting plan for teacher educators, in which (pre-service and/or in-service) teachers could conduct their own research in L2 phonetics and phonology by creating their own corpora with online sources or using existing well-established spoken corpora such as the Asian Corpus of English (ACE. The Asian corpus of English. Director: Andy Kirkpatrick; Researchers: Wang Lixun, John Patkin, Sophiann Subhan. https://corpus.eduhk.hk/ace/index.html, 2020). In that way, teachers could have a better understanding in how multilingualism may affect L2 pronunciation. This chapter will also investigate the challenges over these phonetic studies which utilised internet sources. In addition, recommendations on how to use these Internet-based corpora for future research opportunities will be discussed. This chapter aims to provide insights for researchers by examining the risks and potentials of Internet-based corpora, and suggesting some ideas of how to use such corpora for future language teacher education.</p>

Abstract 

Studies of positive psychology have been developing rapidly in applied linguistics and foreign language education, especially positive psychology interventions (PPI) to facilitate L2 learning and students’ well-being. The wide range of designs and results makes it hard to see a clear general picture. Therefore, we conducted a systematic and meta-analytic review synthesizing current empirical studies examining the practices and impacts of PPIs in L2 learning contexts. Data were extracted from 26 papers with 32 independent samples and 113 effect sizes, including 2717 participants who are L2 learners. Results revealed that 1) PPI can be defined, designed and delivered in different ways, in terms of its content, instructional design and delivery mode. 2) The pooled effect sizes of the difference between experimental groups and control groups at posttest were statistically significant. More specifically, post-test PPI had a moderate to strong effect on three types of outcomes among L2 learners (i.e., L2 achievement, L2 learning process, and general well-being). 3) Further moderator analysis showed that some features could significantly shape the effects of PPI on these three outcomes, respectively, including mean age, grade level, country, first language, language similarity, PPI element number, PPI content, intervention duration, PPI integration, and outcome domain. These findings have practical implications for language researchers and educators in designing and evaluating their future positive psychology interventions.

Keywords: Positive psychology, positive psychology intervention, second/foreign language learning, well-being

READING ACQUISITION AND REFLECTIONS AMONG SOUTH ASIAN STUDENTS AT TERTIARY LEVEL IN HONG KONG

ZHOU Tong, lczhoutong@ust.hk, and CHAN Lam Yim, lccrystal@ust.hk

ABSTRACT 

The Hong Kong Education Bureau has promoted Chinese language education for South Asian ethnic minorities to support social integration. Although these measures have been implemented for a decade, there is still limited official data on the Chinese proficiency of this group. With increasing numbers of South Asian students entering Hong Kong's higher education institutions, there is a growing need to understand their learning situation and improve teaching approaches.

This study examines reading acquisition among South Asian undergraduates with prior knowledge of traditional Chinese characters and Cantonese. Preliminary findings indicate that while students benefit from their understanding of character radicals and ability to write traditional characters, they face challenges in recognizing simplified characters, particularly those significantly different in form. The study suggests that teachers should better understand students' linguistic backgrounds and provide targeted support, such as comparative materials on traditional and simplified characters and conversion rules.

 Reference

Chun Lai, Chung-Pui Tai (2021) Types of social media activities and Hong Kong South and  Southeast Asians Youth’s Chinese language learning motivation. System, 97.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0346251X20307922?via%3Dihub

Danping Wang, (2023) Translanguaging as a social justice strategy: the case of teaching Chinese  to ethnic minority students in Hong Kong. Asia Pacific Education Review, 24, Pages 473–486.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12564-022-09795-0.pdf

David C.S. Li, Joanne Y.P. Chuk (2015). South Asian students' needs for Cantonese and written Chinese in Hong Kong: a linguistic study. International Journal of Multilingualism. 12, No. 2, 210–224.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2015.1009375

Education Bureau. (2024, July 8). Education services for non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students.

https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/student-parents/ncs-students/about-ncs-students/index.html