An Investigation of How Mandarin Speakers Learn Conditional Sentences
Journal: Region - Educational Research and Reviews DOI: 10.32629/rerr.v7i4.3889
Abstract
This essay investigates the challenges encountered by junior high school students in China when learning
Conditional Sentences in English, particularly focusing on the difficulties stemming from L1 transfer and form-focused
teaching. Drawing on previous research that highlights the complexities of Conditional Sentences, the study identifies two
primary learning difficulties: the back-shifting of tenses and the oversimplification of teaching conditional sentences. A
qualitative analysis of these challenges reveals that L1 interference significantly contributes to errors in Conditional
Sentence usage. Furthermore, the essay discusses the implications of form-focused teaching, which may hinder the natural
acquisition of grammar. To address these issues, two pedagogical strategies are proposed: adopting the sociocultural
approach in teaching and obeying the developmental sequence and mastering the prerequisite knowledge before learning
conditional sentences.
Keywords
conditional sentences, L1 transfer, form-focused teaching, back-shifting; grammar, junior high school students
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Heinle, Cengage learning. [4] Laksana, S. P. (2019). A Case Study of Students’ Difficulties in Learning Conditional Sentence at the Eleventh
Grade Students’ of SMA N 4 Purworejo in the Academic Year of 2016/2017. English Department Journal, 6(1). [5]Hammadi, S. S. (2019). Arabic and English Conditional Clauses: A Comparative Study. The Eurasia
Proceedings of Educational and Social Sciences, 13, 109-114. [6] Comrie, B. (1986). Conditionals: A Typology. In Traugott, E. C., Meulen, A., Reilly, J. S., and C. A. Ferguson
(Eds.), On Conditionals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [7] Al Rdaat, S., & Gardner, S. (2017). An analysis of use of conditional sentences by Arab students of English. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 8(2), 1-13. [8] Maule, D. (1988). Sorry, But If He Comes, I Go': Teaching Conditionals. ELT Journal, 42(2), 117-123. [9] Selinker, L. (1983). Language transfer. In S. Gass & L. Selinker (Eds.), Language transfer in language learning (pp. 33-68). Rowley, MA: Newbury House. [10] O’Grady, W. (1997). Syntactic development. Chicago: University of Chicago. [11] Brent, G. P. (1985). Markedness considerations in the acquisition of conditional sentences. Language Learning, 35, 337-373. [12]Jiang, Y. (2019). Ways of expressing counterfactual conditionals in Mandarin Chinese. Linguistic Vanguard, 5(3), 9-13.[13] Zobl, H. (1982). A direction for contrastive analysis: the comparative study of developmental sequences. TESOL
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classroom. ARECLS 5, 244-262. [15] Fahim, M., & Haghani, M. (2012). Sociocultural Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning. Journal of
Language Teaching and Research, 3(4), 693. [16] Murphey, T. (2001). Exploring conversational shadowing. Language Teaching Research: LTR, 5(2), 128-155.
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