新加坡和马来西亚5-6岁英汉双语儿童对汉语饮食类动词的应用情况探究 = An investigation of the application of Chinese eating and drinking verbs by Chinese-English bilingual children aged 5-6 in Singapore and Malaysia

新加坡和马来西亚的语言环境丰富，但是两地的语言环境却也不尽相同，尤其两国政府对当地华文教育不同程度的干预，究竟会产生怎样的影响呢？新加坡和马来西亚学前儿童对不同语言的掌握程度究竟如何？词汇量是衡量儿童语言发展的重要指标，其中以动词在这个领域中的重要性广受认可。Gao（2001, 2015）指出，儿童早期所使用的动词当中有很大部分跟身体动作相关，即身体动作动词是儿童早期词汇发展中的一个重要组成部分。于是，本研究选取了 8个饮食类动词，结合新加坡和马来西亚的语言环境，从认知角度考察两国 5-6岁英汉双语儿童的词汇应用情况。本研究分成问卷调查和语言测试两个部分。研究人员先向儿童展示视觉刺激物，然后通过他们的作答情况考察其语言能力和认知能力，并结合问卷调查表中各别儿童的家庭背景、家庭用语等等，进一步分析其它非言语因素对儿童语言能力的影响。研究结果显示：（一）儿童的整体表现受性别、年龄等因素影响；（二）新马儿童的英汉双语发展不平衡，马来西亚儿童的强势语言是汉语，而新加坡儿童的强势语言是英语；（三）基于新马复杂的语言环境，儿童难免会受到其它语言的干扰，且常常出现语言混用的现象；（四）儿童习得饮食类动词的顺序存在一定的规律。希望本研究得出的结果能给新马教育者和父母提供参考，并作为未来新马两地儿童语言发展等相关研究的基础或补充。 Singapore and Malaysia both have rich language environments. However, they are different in several aspects, particularly in terms of levels of intervention in local Chinese education by both governments. This study aims to find out the proficiency levels of the languages of preschool children in Singapore and Malaysia. Lexicon is the key component of a language, while the importance of verbs is widely recognised in the study of child language acquisition. According to Gao (2001, 2015), physical action verbs are children’s main lexicon in their early years of life. In this study, we took a cognitive approach and investigated the application of 8 eating and drinking verbs by Chinese-English bilingual children aged 5-6 in Singapore and Malaysia. The experiment design includes eliciting children to use different verbs to describe the actions shown in pictures and short videos selected for the study. The questions given to the children allow them to give answers that can reflect their cognitive understanding of the actions and conceptual knowledge of the verb meanings. In the data analysis and discussion, the associated factors, such as age, gender, home language, family language environment, etc. were put into consideration. The results show that there are certain orders in the children’s acquisition of different eating and drinking verbs and that gender and age are among various factors affecting the children’s overall performance. It was also found that Malaysian children showed a higher level of language competency in Chinese as compared to that of their English, while Singaporean children showed a higher level of language competency in English as compared to that of their Chinese. Besides, language interference and language mixing were found typical among the children from both countries. We assumed that this is due to the complex language environments faced by the children on a daily basis. We hope that the findings of this study can serve as a basis for further studies related to children’s language development and as a reference for educators and parents of preschool children in Singapore and Malaysia.Bachelor of Art