Abstract

This study examines the effect of mapping between the semantic and conceptual representation of target words 房，堂，屋, and 厅on Chinese (L2) vocabulary learning at a university class. Students (N=25) were the 2nd-year Chinese –major students at one university in Denmark. They were given tests recognizing new vocabulary (two-, three and four-character words) in a series of simple meaning recognition tests administered by the authors over three weeks. The test sets consist of vocabulary with target words that were given semantic and conceptual explanation by the authors in the previous week’s lessons. Students use a multiple choice to indicate whether a given item had a correct meaning in a given vocabulary. Data from controllers (N=3) who are native Chinese language teachers are also collected and analyzed. The findings indicate that the mapping between semantic and conceptual representation of Chinese (L2) words can have a measurable effect on students’ efficacy of (Nation 2011) vocabulary learning in the classroom. The findings also reveal that conceptual representation of Chinese (L2) words reinforce the students’ reliance on L 1 by building a link between L 1semantic representations and L 2 semantics. Finally, the pedagogical implications for teaching Chinese (L2) are discussed as well.

Key words: Chinese word, semantic representation, conceptual representation, vocabulary teaching