Developing an Computer- facilitated Tool for Teaching Near-synonyms in Chinese
When differentiating near-synonyms of a class of words, cognitive strategies besides grammatical knowledge are often applied by native speakers. However, second language learners are found facing difficulties in distinguishing words that have similar meanings. The near-synonyms of physical action verbs (PA Verbs) in Chinese for instance can be distinctive from each other in the way in which their actions are depicted, but in terms of semantic analysis and language acquisition, it is not an easy task to identify the nuances among them. This paper presents a computer-facilitated tool for teaching advanced L2 learners to master different sub-classes of physical action verbs in Chinese. The theoretical guideline for setting up the system is Gaos (2001c) work on semantic decomposition of near-synonyms of PA Verbs in Chinese. The lexical semantic properties of the verbs are grouped in classes and subclasses. Their average degree of uniqueness is calculated and presented abstractively for a rule based model to be applied to quantify the semantic properties of each word in the near-synonym database. The system is designed in such a way that by tracing through the decomposed semantic components of near-synonyms, learners are triggered by their own intuitional and cognitive understanding of words and meanings and eventually able to appreciate the nuances among nearsynonyms. The design of this computational system serves as a good starting point for our exploring possible methods in applying e-learning tools to teaching and learning.
Helena Hong Gao Shixiao Ouyang
Nanyang Technological University
国际会议
2009 International Conference on Applied Linguistics & Language Teaching(2009应用语言学暨语言教学国际研讨会)
台湾
英文
585-596
2009-04-01（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）