Research Highlights

I teach Chinese language classes for the Major in Chinese Literature. In my classes, students read academic research and literature to acquire expertise that they can apply to their understanding of contemporary Chinese vocabulary, grammar, and Chinese language education.

While I specialize in modern Chinese lexicology and grammar, I have also been doing research on teaching vocabulary in Chinese language education over the last few years. When Chinese is taught at universities, students and teachers are most interested in acquiring vocabulary breadth, focusing on how many words are to be studied at a certain level regardless of the types of vocabulary being covered. However, I think we have yet to fully consider alternative teaching methods, which explore the depth of vocabulary by delving as far as possible into the linguistic information of a single word.

When it comes to learning Chinese and increasing your vocabulary, there is a preconception that the words being taught are individual pieces that should be learned one at a time. It is common for students to learn Chinese vocabulary using the framework of "target word—pinyin (phonetics)—translation (meaning)." However, every word is imbued with other linguistic information that include morphemes, semantics, and phases, which are all worth studying, so I am continuing to explore new styles of vocabulary study and instruction that incorporate the structural and systematic nature of words.

In addition, native Japanese speakers are at an advantage when studying Chinese vocabulary compared to speakers of other languages due to the number of Japanese words of Chinese origin. However, while it may be relatively easy to learn the homonymous Chinese vocabulary, students often encounter problems when trying to learn Chinese-Japanese false friends, Chinese words that share the same form but only a similar meaning to their Japanese counterparts. Students’ understanding of Japanese colors their understanding of the Chinese, causing linguistic interference that makes it hard to notice the subtle differences between the two languages. But thanks to the relationship between the two languages, it is still possible to devise effective ways of using their similarities to introduce and teach vocabulary in the classroom.

My research goals include developing textbooks and study guides focused on vocabulary, compiling a Chinese learner's dictionary for native Japanese speakers, and proposing a new language test format that gauges the vocabulary proficiency of learners. To this end, I am engaged in research to establish a method of vocabulary instruction for Japanese learners of Chinese, one that emphasizes a learner’s depth of vocabulary and is grounded on basic analysis that includes the investigation and consideration of specific examples.

(2022/4/1)