Language Proficiency，Reading Development，and Learning Context

Abstract：With the development of economy，in this era of globalization，the number of students applying for studying abroad has increased sharply. At the same time，due to its rapid economic development and the improvement of Chinese international status，the Chinese government provides international students with opportunities to study in China. Study abroad programs in China are growing at many universities worldwide.

1.Introduction：

Language，as a kind of social phenomenon，is affected by social factors all the time. In second language acquisition，we may encounter obstacles in reading is not merely from the proficiency of language knowledge itself，more deadly obstacles come from the cultural differences between the target language and native language to the effect of reading comprehension. so language is the cornerstone and carrier of culture. there will be no culture without languages.

In this study we focus on the relationship among language proficiency，reading development，and learning contexts after carefully investigating.

2.research method

2. participants

The participants were 120 learners of Chinese，who are native English speakers，among the ages of 18-2 from a famous university in the US. Their Chinese language proficiency was divided into three different levels：beginning，intermediate and advanced. At the each proficiency level，students were divided into two groups who are in China or in the US.

As for the beginners，they had no or almost no studied Chinese before. Firstly they spent forty weeks in a intensive language in China.They would take Chinese 10 in China . When they come back to the US，they need to take the proficiency test. Then they took the equivalent of the regular course offered by the university in the US during the next semester and take Chinese 10 in the US.

For the intermediate students had mastered at least Chinese 10 at the university in the previous semester. they also spent forty weeks in a intensive language in China. They would take Chinese 20 during the summer.When they come back to the US，they need to take the proficiency test. Then they took the equivalent of the regular course offered by the university in the US during the next semester and would study Chinese 20 at their home university in the US during the following fall semester.

The advanced students were similar to the intermediate students. But they had finished Chinese 20 in the US，and would continue to Chinese 30 either in China or in the US.

2. Instruments

The overall understanding of reading includes the reading process and its results.Therefore，both quantitative and qualitative methodology were taken.

as for the quantitative methodology，such as the reading comprehension tests were used to accurately assess reading comprehension. While for the qualitative methods，such as observation，and interviews were used to exam the learners reading development process.

Chinese language proficiency test：This tests was designed by the doctors at the university. It . it was launched to better Chinese language learner and to assess the students overall proficiency of Chinese after they finished a certain level of class. There were six proficiency levels：Beginning for Chinese 101，Beginning for Chinese 102，Intermediate for Chinese 201，Intermediate for Chinese 202，Advanced for Chinese 30 and Advanced for Chinese 302.

Reading comprehension test：it developed from part of the reading section of simulated HSK（Chinese Proficiency Test for foreign learners of Chinese）. There were seven levels in HSK. Level 1- was chosen as the post-test for beginners. Level 1- was used as the pre-test and Level 2- as the post-test for intermediate learners. Level 2- was used as the pre-test and Level 3- as the post-test for advanced leaners. Before being administered to the students，three doctors who teach Chinese at the university will evaluate.

Observation：while the participants were doing the reading comprehension test，we Observe the participants reading behavior . meanwhile we should record.

interview：The interview focused on their reading development in terms of the context.

The next four questions for AH students were：

1.How do you think about the test you did just now？ Was it difficult or easy？

2.during the past two semester studies，among the four skills：speaking，listening，reading and writing，which do you think has improved most？which has improved least？ Give me some reasons

3. Have you tried to improve your reading ability and proficiency？

4. did your study during the last two semesters benefit to your reading development？

The next four questions were for SA students：

1.How do you think about the test you did just now？ Was it difficult or easy？

2.during the past two semester studies，among the four skills：speaking，listening，reading and writing，which do you think has improved most？which has improved least？ Give me some reasons

3.how did your experience in China affected your reading ability and proficiency？

4.did your study in China benefit to your reading in the long term？how do you think of your study in China on the reading development？

2. procedure

Except for the beginning level learners，who did not have previous learning experience. The pretest and post-test were conducted to exam the language proficiency and reading proficiency.

For intermediate and advanced learners，last term final examination results were taken as their pretest scores.The proficiency tests were the same as the final test used for the students studying at home after they finished the fall semester. Therefore，the scores of the proficiency tests from the SA students and the final examinations of the fall semester from the AH students were used as the post-test scores.

A similar procedure was applied to the conduction of the reading tests. Among the learners studying abroad groups，the intermediate and advanced students took a pretest two weeks before they went to China. All three groups who studying abroad took the post-test during the first two weeks of the next semester. Among the students studying at home，the intermediate and advanced students took the pretest in the first two weeks of the fall semester. All three groups took the post-tests in the last two weeks of the next semester.

Interviews were conducted to test the relationship between students reading proficiency，development and different learning contexts.

2. data analysis

After conducting each test and interview，language proficiency tests and reading comprehension test were scored.

In order to find out whether there was a significant difference between the study abroad group and at home group about the two proficiency levels，a 2x between-subject analysis of variance（ANOVA）was performed on the test scores as a function of proficiency levels（intermediate vs. advanced）and learning contexts（SA vs. AH）.

3.Limitation

There were three limitations in this study.The first was that the lack of control in recruiting participants according to the level of language proficiency might cause some unexpected results.

In addition，this study may only limit to the context where it is studied.

references

Brecht，R.，& Robinson，J.（1995）. On the value of formal instruction in study abroad：Student reactions in context. In B. F.

Carrol，J. B.（1967）. Foreign language proficiency levels attained by language majors near graduation from college. Foreign Language Annals，1，131-151

Ellis，R.（1994）. The study of second language acquisition. Oxford：Oxford University Press.

Freed，B. F.（1995a）. What makes us think that students who study abroad become fluent？ In B. F. Freed（Ed.），Second language acquisition in a study abroad context（pp. 123-148）. Philadelphia：John Benjamins.

作者簡介

王燕（1989-）女，漢族，甘肅省平涼市，在讀研究生，研究方向：英語語言文學。

（作者單位：西北師范大學）