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1、13English and Chinese Time: Grammatical AspectsResearch Paper: TSL 5208 - Pedagogical GrammarDmitri Priven Fall 2010Michael J. Ryan This research paper will look into the difficulties of establishing the period during which an activity occurs in the English language grammatical system for a native s
2、peaker of Chinese. Firstly, an appreciation of the acquisition of a first language (L1) and learning of a second language will be briefly offered. Then to ensure the reader is properly oriented, some necessary definitions and an overview of the grammatical differences between English and Chinese (Ma
3、ndarin) for establishing time, primarily at a sentence level, will be vital. Next the preferred methodological tool, a “conjugation chart” of the present, past and future simple tenses in English and Chinese has been developed and will be presented. A highly speculative overview of the cultural root
4、 and the differences in the measurement of time as the causal factors in the massive variation will be briefly outlined. The conjugation chart is original and is not the pattern currently in use, and though it may not be the ultimate tool in language learning, it appears to have no inherent negative
5、 impact. Finally, this preferred method will be defended on the basis of providing the means to overcome the inherent difficulties in English verb tense through an initial grammar-based approach and the initiation of longer term contextualization. Scott Thornbury in How to Teach Grammar has written:
6、 “The language of early childhood is like this: it is essentially individual words strung together, but because it is centered in the here-and-now, it is generally not difficult to interpret. (p. 3)”. This assessment of the primacy of the present tense would appear to be self-evident. Our earliest f
7、orays into our acquired language are in the present tense, even when the verb is not vocalized. Normally, a NNS of English would be introduced to the present tense, as grounding in the use of verbs, prior to being exposed to other aspects of time in English. Azar and Hagen in Understanding and Using
8、 English Grammar (2009), begin the grammar topics in the text with the simple present tense. Leo Jones in Welcome: English for the Travel and Tourism Industry (1998) has his first thematic exercise for the reader presented in the simple present tense. H. Douglas Brown in Teaching by Principles: An I
9、nteractive Approach to Language Pedagogy (2007) refers to the teaching of children who are new learners in the following two ways: “Language needs to be firmly context embedded (104)” and “children are focused on the here and now (p. 103 Italics in original)”. H. Douglas Brown in his Third Edition o
10、f Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach (2007) notes that it is the “Novice High Learner” who is capable of target language utterances, which consist mostly of short and sometimes incomplete sentences in the present (p. 117)” and further that it is only at the High Intermediate Level where
11、 the non native speaker (NNS) begins to use the target language by “manipulating time (p. 116)”. Thus, the NNS should be taught the present tense first, mirroring the method by which he acquired his first language. However, the teaching would generally “be treated as whole sentences or whole utteran
12、ces rather than being learned as fragments such as words of verb paradigms (Cook, p. 5)”. Finally, Frank Parker and Kathryn Riley in Linguistics for non-Linguists have written: ”speakers acquiring an L2 go through stages similar to those that native speakers go through when acquiring that language a
13、s L1” (P. 243)”. Then it is a very simple matter for a Chinese speaker to apply their abstract thinking, knowledge of their first language and subsequently to deduce how time will be grammatically presented in English. Unfortunately not, as the two systems vary remarkably. In the following section,
14、there will be presented an overview of the grammatical differences between Chinese (Mandarin) and English for establishing time. According to Azar and Hagen, the simple present tense in English expresses “that something was true in the past, is true in the present and will be true in the future. It
15、expresses general statements of fact and general truths. (p. 14)”. . However, there is a problem with direct application of the Azar text. The first verb it treats to provide examples of the simple present is “consists”. This verb is used only 64 times in a 100,000,000 in the current version of the
16、British National Corpus(BNC) (List 5.2) Frequency of Verbs, and there it appears in the plural “consist”. So, the word chosen to explain verbs is not really in the frequency list. It would be highly preferable to use words that are frequently encountered in written and spoken English. As Cook has st
17、ated teaching by word frequency is a common occurrence: “Much teaching has been based on the idea that the most frequently used words in the target language should be taught first (p. 59)”. This is not to say that it is immediately proposed that these have the greatest teachability. However, as “the
18、 top 100 words, in a sample of 100 million words in the BNC account for 45 percent of all words” it appears to be a given that this must be taught and any other arguments aside, these words should be taught earlier rather than later. Further, “time” is the highest ranked noun and this appears to com
19、plement the use of simple verb tenses. The simple present, past and future of “be” are presented in Appendix 1. 生命列车The Train Of Life1. 不久以前，我读了一本书。书中把人生比作一次旅行。2. 人生一世，就好比是一次搭车旅行，要经历无数次上车、下车; 时常有事故发生; 有时是意外惊喜，有时却是刻骨铭心的悲伤 3. 降生人世，我们就坐上了生命列车。我们以为我们最先见到的那两个人-我们的父母，会在人生旅途中一直陪伴着我们。 4. 很遗憾，事实并非如此。他们会在某个车站
20、下车，留下我们，孤独无助。他们的爱、他们的情、他们不可替代的陪伴，再也无从寻找。 5. 尽管如此，还会有其他人上车。他们当中的一些人将对我们有着特殊的意义。 6. 他们之中有我们的兄弟姐妹, 有我们的亲朋好友。我们还将会体验千古不朽的爱情故事。7. 坐同一班车的人当中，有的轻松旅行。8. 有的却带着深深的悲哀 还有的,在列车上四处奔忙，随时准备帮助有需要的人 9. 很多人下车后，其他旅客对他们的回忆历久弥新 但是，也有一些人，当他们离开座位时，却没有人察觉。10. 有时候，对你来说情深义重的旅伴却坐到了另一节车厢。你只得远离他，继续你的旅程。11. 当然，在旅途中，你也可以摇摇晃晃地穿过自己的
21、车厢，去别的车厢找他 12. 可惜，你再也无法坐在他身旁，因为这个位置已经让别人给占了 .13. 没关系。旅途充满挑战、梦想、希望、离别 就是不能回头。因此，尽量使旅途愉快吧！14. 善待旅途上遇见的所有旅客，找出人们身上的闪光点。15. 永远记住，在某一段旅程中，有人会犹豫彷徨，因为我们自己也会犹豫彷徨。16. 我们要理解他人，因为我们需要他人的理解。17. 生命之谜就是：我们在什么地方下车？坐在身旁的伴侣在什么地方下车？我们的朋友在什么地方下车？我们无从知晓 18. 我时常这样想：到我该下车的时候，我会留恋吗？我想我还是会的。和我的朋友分离，我会痛苦。让我的孩子孤独地前行，我会悲伤。 我执
22、著地希望在我们大家都要到达的那个终点站，我们还会相聚 19. 我的孩子们上车时没有什么行李，如果我能在他们的行囊中留下美好的回忆，我会感到幸福。20. 我下车后，和我同行的旅客都还能记得我，想念我，我将感到快慰。21. 献给你, 我生命列车上的同行者, 祝您旅途愉快!1. Not long ago, I read a book, in which a mans life was compared to a journey.2. The life of a man is just like a hitchhiking，during which many times we go up and do
23、wn. Now and then things will happen accidently, some of which are to be unexpected excitement，while some heart-breaking sorrows. 3. When first embraced the world，we are already on the train of life. We take it for granted that the first two persons, our parents, whom we are encountered with, will ac
24、company us all the way.4. Sadly，things do not go on as we thought.Our parents will get off the train at a certain station，leaving us, bereft and helpless.Their love and emotion to us and their irreplaceable company can be found in nowhere.5. However，there will be somebody else who will get on the tr
25、ain. Some of them will have special meaning to us.6. Some of them may be our siblings , relatives and friends, and we will also expereince the imperishable love.7. Some of our travelling companions are quite light-hearted on the way.8. While some may bear immense sorrow.Still some ,back and forth, a
26、re ready to hold out their hands for others who need help.9. Some people alight off the train, yet they are still kept in the mind of the other passengers for long;some, to the opposite, leave their seats without being noticed.10. Sometimes, the one,who is dear to your heart, has huddled into anothe
27、r carriage. Nothing but one you can do is just to keep on going, far away from him.11. Of course, during the journey, you may stagger to another carriage to look for him.12. Its a pity that you will never seat yourself beside him because the seat has been engaged by others. 13. Never mind. The journ
28、ey is full of challenges,dreams, hopes and departures- but only one thing is that you cant turn back. So, have a good journey with heart and soul.14. Show your good-will to all the passengers you are encountered with, and find the merits of theirs.15. Remeber that someone may oscillate just as we do
29、 in the journey.16. We should understand others just as we need others understanding.17. The enigma of life is：Where shall we get off the train of life?And how about the companions beside us?And our friends?We dont know.18. Sometimes I think：When my time comes to get off the train，shall I miss it？I
30、think I will.It is a suffering when I part with my friends.I will be sorry for leaving my kids going alone.I firmly hold that when we get to the terminal，we will have another reunion.19. When my kids get on the train of life, they have only little luggage in their travelling bags. However,if I can l
31、eave the beautiful memory in them,I will be happy. 20. After getting off the train of life, I will be content if my fellow passengers will remember me and miss me.21. To you , the companions on my train of life.May you have a good journey!In order to ensure there is context, I have included a marker
32、 of time in each case. Thus the samples read: “Yesterday, I was a student. Today I am a student. Tomorrow I will be a student.” The equivalent in Chinese Pinyin without accents See Appendix B for the extended process and samples. is the identical three simple tenses translated: “Zuotian wu shile xue
33、sheng. Jintian wu shi xuesheng, Mingtian wu shi xuesheng.” Note: These are my translations and still require expert validation. Yesterday you were a student becomes - Zoutain ni shile xueshen - with only the pronoun marker changing for he/she ta, we women, yous nimen and they tamen. Note also that m
34、aking the pronouns plural merely required the addition of “men” in each case. This same “conjugation, or lack of conjugation, occurs for the future tense. I have also included only vocabulary that every beginning student should know. I feel these are about as basic as could be used and the irregular
35、 nature of the conjugations in English is not extreme. In Appendix B, the “conjugated“ Chinese verb equivalents are provided. So, it is my intention to focus the earliest lessons around these three tenses with the Chinese translation alongside. It is my hope, that the “Conjugation Sheet” would prove
36、 helpful as a direction at the outside, a guide in the mid-term and simply a point of reference or reminder in the long term. The next verb to be treated would be “have” in these same three tenses. This would be followed by a series of common regular verbs. By the time more complex verbs were encoun
37、tered, the students would have the basis of “be “ and “have” to assist their conjugations. It may be felt this is not an extremely developed lesson plan. This would be partially accurate. However, every EFL/ESL text had lesson plans for the beginning learner and each one started with the present sim
38、ple tense. All of these lesson plans made a certain amount of sense and appeared to be valid outlines for teaching beginning English. However, no text of those I read and/or scanned seemed to follow-up with the other simple tenses. This lacks surface logic. There may be a deeper highly-researched ap
39、proach that says the present progressive and other complicated tenses should be taught prior to turning to another aspect of time/tense. However, if such is the case, I have not seen it mentioned. It also appears warranted to me to use the most frequent words from the British National Corpus, and/or
40、 such specific vocabulary as should be integrated due to the special nature of the area being studied, and through the availability of authentic props such as watches, clocks and calendars to introduce the simple verb tenses. Why is there such an inherent difference in the grammatical representation
41、 of time between Chinese and English? My speculative response is that this complexity mirrors the variation between the ways time is philosophically treated within the two systems. In English, the historic cultural association is Christian and there is a belief that there is a beginning and an end t
42、o time. In Buddhist dominated cultures, time is cyclical and man is directly present in time. Thus, there is no necessary beginning and there is no necessary end, it is very much a cycle of life. So, if you are on a cycle, where is the beginning and where is the end and therefore, where is the past
43、and where is the future? This to me is the essential rationale for such a fundamental diversity in the grammatical treatment of time. In the end, I have chosen what appears to me to be the simplest entry point into the English language. The capacity to communicate requires that a Chinese learner hav
44、e a solid grounding in the means to express time in English. This must be through the use of verb tenses and this is a significant and profound difference from Chinese. Therefore, as a matter of routine, the simple tenses should be taught first. By providing a chart of verb conjugations in English a
45、nd Chinese, there may be the means to overcome the inherent difficulties in English verb tense, both through initial usage and longer term contextualization. Hopefully, the chart be of both initial and long-term usefulness.Appendix APresent I am you are he/she/it is we are you are they arePast I was
46、 you were he/she /it was we were you were they wereFutureI will be you will be he/she/it will be we will be you will be they will beAdapted from Reverso. Accessed 14 October 2010 at Conjugation ChartSimple Present Simple Past Simple FutureToday I am a student.Jintian wu shi xuesheng Yesterday I was
47、a student.Zuotian wu shile xueshengTomorrow I will be a student. Mingtian wu shi xueshengToday you are a student.Jintian ni shi xuesheng Yesterday you were a student.Zuotian ni shile xueshengTomorrow you will be a student.Mingtian ni shi xueshengToday he is a student.Jintian ta shi xuesheng Yesterda
48、y he was a student.Zuotian ta shile xueshengTomorrow he will be a student.Mingtian ta shi xueshengToday we are studentsJintian women shi xuesheng Yesterday we were students.Zuotian women shile xueshengTomorrow we will be students.Mingtian women shi xueshengToday you are students. Jintian nimen shi xuesheng Yesterday you were studentsZuotian nimen shile xuesheng