A mixed methods approach to investigate grammatical translation skills from spoken Cantonese to written Chinese : implications for Chinese literacy development

Abstract

In this thesis, a mixed methods approach was employed to investigate the skills to translate grammatical forms of spoken Cantonese to written Chinese (grammatical translation skills) among Cantonese elementary graders. The relevance of such skills to Chinese literacy development in the context of Chinese language education in Hong Kong was also explored. A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted to measure grammatical translation skills from spoken Cantonese to written Chinese. The associations of these skills with reading and writing school-based assessments were also examined. The study involved experiments with 287 elementary graders from two participant schools (102 from Grade 2, 85 from Grade 3, and 100 from Grade 4) who completed two grammatical translation skills tasks. Results of the designed tasks indicate similar patterns of mastery in these skills across the three grades but different patterns of performance across the eight variants. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses, which were controlled for age, revealed grammatical translation skills predict reading and writing scores in school-based assessments for different grades of both schools. A phenomenological qualitative study examined teachers’ perceptions on the importance of grammatical translation skills and Chinese literacy development among elementary graders in Hong Kong. 12 teachers participated in individual semi-structured interviews. The results revealed: (1) Teachers agreed that Cantonese was a source of language diversity with potential advantages/disadvantages to Chinese literacy development, the eventual effect of which depended on family support and reading habits. (2) Teachers frequently applied their teacher language awareness (TLA) to address language diversity issues and employ diverse strategies to introduce grammatical variations between Cantonese and Modern Standard Written Chinese (MSWC). (3) Although teachers agree with consensus that MSWC is the target of learning in Chinese language education in Hong Kong, they remained divided concerning the role of Cantonese in the Chinese language curriculum: Some were concerned that written Cantonese presented in the media may affect students’ learning of correct MSWC, whereas others appreciated students may learn Cantonese dialect features because of their crucial role in regional culture. The comparison of evidence between students’ psycholinguistic responses to and teachers’ perceptions on grammatical variations between Cantonese and MSWC encourages reflections on the present mode of Chinese language instructions. Systematic training of grammatical translation skills may be considered as a pedagogical strategy to enhance Chinese literacy development for Cantonese-speaking children.