Overview

This book tackles the linguistically unique and notoriously difficult BA construction in Chinese, covering its linguistic properties and acquisition by learners of Chinese as a foreign language, alongside teaching recommendations. Adopting the Interface Hypothesis and the Processing Instruction approach, Hongying Xu argues that not all linguistic properties of the BA construction are equally difficult to acquire and that properties that call for knowledge from interfaces—including semantics, pragmatics, and syntax—are more difficult to master than those that involve pure syntactic knowledge. Xu argues that instructors should provide manipulated input to help learners notice and process these properties before they are required to produce any grammatical and appropriate sentences using the BA construction.

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9781793641410

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Dr. Hongying Xu, interested in the role that grammar plays in acquiring a foreign language, has tackled an important but understudied element of Chinese grammar, the ba construction. Dr. Xu contributes to the SLA line of thought that proposes attention to the grammatical form and function within a variety of real-life communicative situations—not only the “traditional” and overused ones. The conclusions of her study, strongly supported by strict methodology and analysis, will inspire teachers of Chinese. -- Manuela Gonzalez-Bueno, University of Kansas

Author Information

Hongying Xu is associate professor in the Department of Global Cultures and Languages at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.

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