ABSTRACT
This study investigates (a) the extent to which context affects Chinese colloquial idiom (guanyongyu) comprehension, (b) the degree to which guanyongyu type affects the ease with which said guanyongyu are comprehended, and (c) the contextual strategies that learners of Chinese as a second language (CSL) employ in order to comprehend guanyongyu, and which of these strategies contribute to successful comprehension. Thirty advanced CSL learners each individually performed a comprehension task, which included guanyongyu of varying degrees of L1 – L2 similarity, and a translation task which asked the participants to write a definition of each guanyongyu without contextual support provided. The comprehension task required the participants to verbally report their understanding of each guanyongyu in a short paragraph. Findings indicate that (a) context substantially facilitated the comprehension of the guanyongyu, (b) guanyongyu type significantly affected the ease with which the guanyongyu were understood, and (c) in the contextualized condition, the participants adopted a wide range of strategies to access meaning of the guanyongyu. Among the strategies identified, semantic processing and pre-existing knowledge were strong predictors of accurate guanyongyu comprehension. Pedagogical suggestions derived from the findings are included.
本研究以30名英语为母语的高级汉语学习者为研究对象，探讨了不同语境条件下惯用语的理解。实验要求被试在无语境的翻译任务和有语境的理解任务中定义15个目标惯用语。根据汉英语义相似度，目标惯用语分为三类：完全匹配，部分匹配，和完全不匹配。研究发现，语境信息显著促进了惯用语的理解；语义相似度显著影响了惯用语理解的难度；在有语境条件下，被试使用了大量理解策略，其中语义加工和背景知识有效辅助了被试惯用语的正确理解。本研究为汉语作为第二语言的教学提供了有益的借鉴。
