Pinyin or no pinyin: does access to word pronunciation matter in the assessment of Chinese learners’ vocabulary knowledge?

ABSTRACT

This study examined the impact of providing access to word pronunciation on the assessment of L2 Chinese learners’ vocabulary knowledge. Chinese heritage learners (HLs) and foreign language learners (FLs) studying in American universities undertook a computer-based test in which they had first to select a picture that represented the meaning of a target word presented in characters only, and then answer the same item presented in both characters and pinyin (i.e. the alphabetic system to facilitate the pronunciation of characters). The provision of pinyin substantially increased the test reliability for both groups of learners but the differences between the no-pinyin and pinyin conditions were less marked for FLs than HLs. In the no-pinyin condition, the groups showed no significant score difference, whereas in the pinyin condition, HLs significantly outperformed FLs. The proportion of HLs who successfully corrected their original choices following provision of pinyin was also notably higher. These findings suggest that provision of pinyin impacted the two groups differentially. Implications for vocabulary knowledge assessment for different types of Chinese learners are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Foreign language
• heritage language
• Chinese
• vocabulary knowledge
• pinyin

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This might also be a reason why little attention has been given to the distinction between written and oral vocabulary in the vocabulary assessment literature in that there might be an assumption that (adult) second language (as opposed to foreign language) learners can access the sound (and thus the meaning) of a word ‘easily’ through phonological recoding. Thus, a written test would not tend to underestimate learners’ meaning repertoire.

2. University-based Chinese language programs, like programs of other foreign languages, in the United States usually define the levels of their course offerings in numbers to show a course sequence. Typically, 100-level (e.g. 101 and 102) courses are for beginning-level learners (i.e. Elementary Chinese); 200-level courses are for intermediate-level learners (i.e. Intermediate Chinese); 300-level courses are for advanced-level learners (i.e. Advanced Chinese); and 400-level courses are usually special topics courses on Chinese language, culture and society.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a grant from the Dr Delia Koo Global Faculty Endowment, Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University, for which we express our thanks.