Translanguaging learning strategies (TLS): A novel proposal from learning Chinese

Zhang, Qi; Osborne, Caitríona; Lin, Xu

doi:10.1075/cld.24005.zha

Article published In:

Translanguaging and Multimodality
Edited by Qi Zhang
[Chinese Language and Discourse 15:2] 2024
► pp. 218–243

Translanguaging learning strategies (TLS)

A novel proposal from learning Chinese

Qi Zhang | Dublin City University

Caitríona Osborne | University College Dublin

Xu Lin | Bath University

Using the think-aloud protocol (TAP), the study investigates the strategies used by beginner and pre-intermediate learners of Chinese when studying Chinese characters through typing. Drawing on concepts from translanguaging, embodiment and LS (learning strategies), a novel notion of translanguaging learning strategies (TLS) and an innovative typology of TLS were proposed. The study found that the pre-intermediate group tended to resort to TLI (translanguaging interdependency) and IE (imagined embodiment) more often than the beginners. TLS for typing were also compared with those for handwriting. While CFL learners mainly relied on HE (haptic embodiment) when typing to learn, a wider range of TLS, including IE, TLI and TSI (trans-semiotising interdependency), were drawn from during handwriting. As a pioneer in situating learning strategies in a translanguaging framework, the study calls for further empirical research to validate the proposal of TLS and its typology.

Keywords: translanguaging, embodiment, Chinese character, typing, handwriting

Article outline

1.Introduction: Shifting from handwriting to typing
2.Literature review
- 2.1Learning strategies (LS) definition
- 2.2LS research for learning Chinese
3.Translanguaging learning strategies (TLS)
4.Methodology
- 4.1Think-aloud protocol (TAP)
- 4.2Participants and procedure of the study
5.Data analysis
- 5.1Embodied TLS
- 5.2Coding the data
6.Discussion
7.Limitation
8.Conclusion
References

Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 3 September 2024

https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.24005.zha

References (70)

References

Allen, Joseph R. 2008. ‘Why Learning to Write Chinese Is a Waste of Time: A Modest Proposal’. Foreign Language Annals 41 (2): 237–51.

Andrews, Mark, Stefan Frank, and Gabriella Vigliocco. 2014. ‘Reconciling Embodied and Distributional Accounts of Meaning in Language’. Topics in Cognitive Science 6 (3): 359–70.

Atkinson, Dwight. 2019. ‘Beyond the Brain: Intercorporeality and Co-Operative Action for SLA Studies’. The Modern Language Journal 103 (4): 724–38.

Bi, Yanchao, Zaizhu Han, and Yumei Zhang. 2009. ‘Reading Does Not Depend on Writing, Even in Chinese’. Neuropsychologia 47 (4): 1193–99.

Bilici, Ozlem UTKU, Gonca Subasi, and Emrah Dolgunsoz. 2023. ‘The Effects of Strategy Training on the Use of Global Reading Strategies: Implications from Think-Aloud and Eye-Tracking Data’. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education 24 (3): 1–20.

Blackledge, Adrian, and Angela Creese. 2017. ‘Translanguaging and the Body’. International Journal of Multilingualism 14 (3): 250–68.

Bowles, Melissa A. 2010. The Think-Aloud Controversy in Second Language Research. New York: Routledge.

Briggs, Jessica G. 2015. ‘A context-specific research tool to probe the out-of-class vocabulary-related strategies of study-abroad learners’. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 25 (3): 291–314.

Canagarajah, Suresh. 2018. ‘Translingual Practice as Spatial Repertoires: Expanding the Paradigm beyond Structuralist Orientations’. Applied Linguistics 39 (1): 31–54.

Cao, Fan, Ben Rickles, Marianne Vu, Ziheng Zhu, Derek Ho Lung Chan, Lindsay N. Harris, Joseph Stafura, Yi Xu, and Charles A. Perfetti. 2013. ‘Early Stage Visual-Orthographic Processes Predict Long-Term Retention of Word Form and Meaning: A Visual Encoding Training Study’. Journal of Neurolinguistics 26 (4): 440–61.

Cho, Hwayoung, Dakota Powell, Adrienne Pichon, Lisa M. Kuhns, Robert Garofalo, and Rebecca Schnall. 2019. ‘Eye-Tracking Retrospective Think-Aloud as a Novel Approach for a Usability Evaluation’. International Journal of Medical Informatics 1291 (September): 366–73.

Cooke, L., and E. Cuddihy. 2005. ‘Using Eye Tracking to Address Limitations in Think-Aloud Protocol’. In IPCC 2005. Proceedings. International Professional Communication Conference, 2005, 653–58.

Cotton, Deborah, and Karen Gresty. 2006. ‘Reflecting on the Think-Aloud Method for Evaluating e-Learning’. British Journal of Educational Technology 37 (1): 45–54.

Craighero, Laila. 2014. ‘The Role of the Motor System in Cognitive Functions’. In The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Cognition, edited by Lawrence Shapiro, 51–58. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Di Paolo, Ezequiel, and Evan Thompson. 2014. ‘The Enactive Approach’. In The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Cognition, edited by Lawrence Shapiro, 68–78. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Dörnyei, Z. 2005. The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. London and New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Dörnyei, Z., and P. Skehan. 2003. ‘Attitudes, Orientation, and Motivations in Language Learning: Advances in Theory, Research, and Applications.’ In The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, edited by C. J. Doughty and M. H. Long, 589–630. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Eccles, David W., and Güler Arsal. 2017. ‘The Think Aloud Method: What Is It and How Do I Use It?’ Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 9 (4): 514–31.

Ericsson, K. Anders, and Herbert A. Simon. 1993. Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data. Revised Edition. Cambridge, MA, USA: A Bradford Book.

Fazeli, Seyed Hossein. 2012. ‘The Exploring Nature of Methodology in the Current Studies of Language Learning Strategies (LLSs) with Focus on Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) of Rebecca L. Oxford’. Journal of Language Teaching and Research 3 (3): 500–507.

Foglia, Lucia, and Robert A. Wilson. 2013. ‘Embodied Cognition’. WIREs Cognitive Science 4 (3): 319–25.

García, Ofelia, and Wei Li. 2014. Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Garipova, Alina Bulatovna, and Niyaz Rastamovich Latypov. 2019. ‘Think-Aloud Protocols, Eye-Tracking and Key-Logging in Identification and Addressing Translation Challenges’. Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews 7 (6): 98–101.

Godfroid, Aline, and Le Anne Spino. 2015. ‘Reconceptualizing Reactivity of Think-Alouds and Eye Tracking: Absence of Evidence Is Not Evidence of Absence’. Language Learning 65 (4): 896–928.

Grenfell, Michael, and Vee Harris. 2015. ‘Memorisation Strategies and the Adolescent Learner of Mandarin Chinese as a Foreign Language’. Linguistics and Education 311 (September): 1–13.

Guan, Connie Qun, Charles A. Perfetti, and Wanjin Meng. 2015. ‘Writing Quality Predicts Chinese Learning’. Reading and Writing 28 (6): 763–95.

Jiang, Xiaoli, and Andrew D. Cohen. 2012. ‘A Critical Review of Research on Strategies in Learning Chinese as Both a Second and Foreign Language’. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 2 (1): 9.

Jong, Ton de. 2005. ‘Problem-Solving Methodologies’. In Encyclopedia of Social Measurement, edited by Kimberly Kempf-Leonard, 171–77. New York: Elsevier.

Jusslin, Sofia, Kaisa Korpinen, Niina Lilja, Rose Martin, Johanna Lehtinen-Schnabel, and Eeva Anttila. 2022. ‘Embodied Learning and Teaching Approaches in Language Education: A Mixed Studies Review’. Educational Research Review 371 (November): 100480.

Kan, Qian, Nathaniel Owen, and Stephen Bax. 2018. ‘Researching Mobile-Assisted Chinese-Character Learning Strategies among Adult Distance Learners’. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 12 (1): 56–71.

Li, Jiang. 2006. ‘The Mediation of Technology in ESL Writing and Its Implications for Writing Assessment’. Assessing Writing 11 (1): 5–21.

Li, W., and H. Zhu. 2013. ‘Translanguaging Identities and Ideologies: Creating Transnational Space Through Flexible Multilingual Practices Amongst Chinese University Students in the UK’. Applied Linguistics 34 (5): 516–35.

Li, Wei. 2018. ‘Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language’. Applied Linguistics 39 (1): 9–30.

Li, Wei, and Wing Yee (Jenifer) Ho. 2018. ‘Language Learning sans Frontiers: A Translanguaging View’. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 381 (September): 33–59.

Lin, Angel M. Y. 2015. ‘Egalitarian Bi/Multilingualism and Trans-Semiotizing in a Global World’. In The Handbook of Bilingual and Multilingual Education, 19–37. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

2019. ‘Theories of Trans/Languaging and Trans-Semiotizing: Implications for Content-Based Education Classrooms’. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 22 (1): 5–16.

Liu, Han-Chin. 2021. ‘Using Eye-Tracking Technology to Explore the Impact of Instructional Multimedia on CFL Learners’ Chinese Character Recognition’. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher 30 (1): 33–46.

Louwerse, Max, and Patrick Jeuniaux. 2008. ‘Language Comprehension Is Both Embodied and Symbolic’. In Symbols and Embodiment: Debates on Meaning and Cognition, edited by Manuel de Vega, Arthur M. Glenberg, and Arthur C. Graesser, 309–26. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Lu, Ming-Tsan Pierre. 2011. ‘The Effect of Instructional Embodiment Designs on Chinese Language Learning: The Use of Embodied Animation for Beginning Learners of Chinese Characters’. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: Columbia University. [URL]

Lu, Ming-Tsan Pierre, Gregory L. Hallman Jr., and John B. Black. 2013. ‘Chinese Character Learning: Using Embodied Animations in Initial Stages’. Journal of Technology and Chinese Language Teaching 4 (2): 1–24.

Lyu, Boning, Chun Lai, Chin-Hsi Lin, and Yang Gong. 2021. ‘Comparison Studies of Typing and Handwriting in Chinese Language Learning: A Synthetic Review’. International Journal of Educational Research 106 (101740).

Osborne, Caitríona, Qi Zhang, and Bob Adamson. 2022. ‘The Next Steps for Teaching Characters in CFL: Investigating the Effects of Four Character-Teaching Methods on Beginner Learners’. International Journal of Chinese Language Education, no. 111: 45–82.

Oxford, Rebecca. 1996. ‘Employing a Questionnaire to Assess the Use of Language Learning Strategies’. Applied Language Learning 7 (2): 25–45.

Oxford, Rebecca L. 2017. Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies: Self-Regulation in Context. Seond edition. New York ; London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Pennycook, Alastair. 2017. ‘Translanguaging and Semiotic Assemblages’. International Journal of Multilingualism 14 (3): 269–82.

Rose, Heath. 2012. ‘Reconceptualizing Strategic Learning in the Face of Self-Regulation: Throwing Language Learning Strategies out with the Bathwater’. Applied Linguistics 33 (1): 92–98.

. 2015. ‘Researching Language Learner Strategies’. In Research Methods in Applied Linguistics: A Practical Resource, edited by B. Paltridge and A. Phakiti, 421–38. New York: Bloomsbury.

Rose, Heath, Jessica G. Briggs, Jill A. Boggs, Lia Sergio, and Natalia Ivanova-Slavianskaia. 2018. ‘A Systematic Review of Language Learner Strategy Research in the Face of Self-Regulation’. System 721 (February): 151–63.

Rose, Heath, and Lesley Harbon. 2013. ‘Self-Regulation in Second Language Learning: An Investigation of the Kanji — Learning Task: Self-Regulation in Second Language Learning’. Foreign Language Annals 46 (1): 96–107.

Scorolli, Claudia. 2014. ‘Embodiment and Language’. In The Routledge Handbook of Embodiment Cognition, edited by Lawrence Shapiro, 127–38. Oxon & New York: Routledge.

Shen, Helen H. 2005. ‘An Investigation of Chinese-Character Learning Strategies among Non-Native Speakers of Chinese’. System 33 (1): 49–68.

Shen, Helen H., and Chuanren Ke. 2007. ‘Radical Awareness and Word Acquisition among Nonnative Learners of Chinese’. The Modern Language Journal 91 (1): 97–111.

Sivaji, Ashok, and Wan Fatimah Wan Ahmad. 2014. ‘Benefits of Complementing Eye-Tracking Analysis with Think-Aloud Protocol in a Multilingual Country with High Power Distance’. In Current Trends in Eye Tracking Research, edited by Mike Horsley, Matt Eliot, Bruce Allen Knight, and Ronan Reilly, 267–78. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Smith, Bryan. 2012. ‘Eye Tracking as a Measure of Noticing: A Study of Explicit Recasts in SCMC’. Language Learning 16 (3): 53–81.

Sung, Ko-Yin, and Hsiao-Ping Wu. 2011. ‘Factors Influencing the Learning of Chinese Characters’. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 14 (6): 683–700.

Tam, Hugo Wing-Yu, and Sun-A Kim. 2021. ‘Strategies Used in Learning Chinese Vocabulary by Adolescent Mandarin-Korean Bilinguals in Korea’. International Journal of Multilingualism 0 (0): 1–24.

Teng, Lin Sophie, and Lawrence Jun Zhang. 2016. ‘A Questionnaire-Based Validation of Multidimensional Models of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies’. The Modern Language Journal 100 (3): 674–701.

Thomas, Nathan, Heath Rose, Andrew D. Cohen, Xuesong (Andy) Gao, Akihiko Sasaki, and Teresa Hernandez-Gonzalez. 2022. ‘The Third Wind of Language Learning Strategies Research’. Language Teaching 55 (3): 417–21.

Tseng, Wen-Ta, Zoltán Dörnyei, and Norbert Schmitt. 2006. ‘A New Approach to Assessing Strategic Learning: The Case of Self-Regulation in Vocabulary Acquisition’. Applied Linguistics 27 (1): 78–102.

Vogel, S., L. Ascenzi-Moreno, and Ofelia García. 2018. ‘An Expanded View of Translanguaging: Leveraging the Dynamic Interactions between a Young Multilingual Writer and Machine Translation Software’. In Plurilingualism in Teaching and Learning: Complexities Across Contexts, edited by J. Choi and S. Ollerhead. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Wang, Jinghui, Ken Spencer, and Minjie Xing. 2009. ‘Metacognitive Beliefs and Strategies in Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language’. System 37 (1): 46–56.

Wong, Lung-Hsiang, Ching-Sing Chai, and Ping Gao. 2011. ‘The Chinese Input Challenges for Chinese as Second Language Learners in Computer-Mediated Writing: An Exploratory Study’. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology 10 (3): 17.

Yan, Jing. 2020. ‘Chinese Vocabulary Learning Strategies by English-Speaking Learners: A Think-Aloud Study’. Global Chinese 6 (2): 237–62.

Young, K. A. 2005. ‘Direct from the Source: The Value of “think-Aloud” Data in Understanding Learning’. Journal of Educational Enquiry 6 (1): 19–33.

Zhang, Lawrence Jun, and Donglan Zhang. 2019. ‘Think-Aloud Protocols’. In The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, edited by Jim McKinley and Heath Rose, 302–11. London and New York: Routledge.

Zhang, Qi. Forthcoming. ‘Embodied Learning of Chinese Characters through Typing and Handwriting in the Multimodal Virtual Space: Implications for a Digital Future’. In The Future of Teaching Chinese Characters: Insights from Experts, edited by Caitríona Osborne, Danping Wang, and Qi Zhang. Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Zhang, Qi, Xu Lin, and Caitríona Osborne. 2022. ‘A Think-Aloud Method of Investigating Translanguaging Strategies in Learning Chinese Characters’. Applied Linguistics Review, October.

Zhang, Qi, and Ge Min. 2019. ‘Chinese Writing Composition among CFL Learners: A Comparison between Handwriting and Typewriting’. Computers and Composition 541 (December): 102522.

Zhang, Qi, and Ronan G. Reilly. 2015. ‘Writing to Read: The Case of Chinese’. 29th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation, 345–54.

Zheng, Binghan, and Yifang Wang. 2020. ‘Allocation of Cognitive Resources in English-to-Chinese Translation: An Eye-Tracking, Key-Logging and Retrospective Think-Aloud Study [Ying Yi Han Guocheng Zhong Yizhe de Renzhi Ziyuan Fenpei Moshi — Jiyu Yandong, Jianji He Fanxingfa de Shizheng Yanjiu]’. 外语与外语教学 17 (4).