Symposia & Conferences
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Item A Linguistic Classification of Buddhist Sanskrit Lexical Borrowings in Chinese(International Conference on Sanskrit and Eastern Studies, 2018 Department of Sanskrit and Eastern Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Fernando, K.D.K.D.T.Sanskrit and Chinese are two genetically unrelated languages from two different language families. Sanskrit is an Indo-Aryan language whereas Chinese is a Sino Tibetan language. These two languages came into strong contact with the introduction of Buddhism and the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Accordingly, a number of Sanskrit words used in Buddhist domains entered the Chinese lexicon. These Buddhist Sanskrit borrowings are of two types. One type of these words refers to spiritual practices, or abstract ideas which are not native to China. The other type refers to material or concrete things which are not found in the Chinese culture. This study was conducted to perform a full-fledged linguistic classification of these Buddhist Sanskrit borrowings. Data for the study were collected from Guoyu Ribao's Loanwords Dictionary (1985) which contains 112 Sanskrit loanwords found in Chinese. The loanword classification criteria proposed by Einor Haugen (1950) and C. F. Hockett (1958) have been employed for the data analysis. Thus, four major categories of borrowings have been recognised as: (1). Foreign Words/ Adopted Borrowings – e.g.: शरीर > 舍利子, (2). Loan Words/ Adapted Borrowings – e.g.: भिक्षु > 必刍, (3). Loan Blends/ Semi-adopted Borrowings - e.g.: बोधिदृम > 菩提树, and (4). Calques/ Semantic Borrowings - e.g.: लोकिातु > 世界. Several conclusions were drawn from this classification. Most of the Buddhist Sanskrit borrowings in Chinese are Loan Words, i.e., Sanskrit words induced into Chinese with various formal alterations to assure compliance with Chinese phonology. The second largest category of borrowings is Calques, i.e. literary translations of Sanskrit words into Chinese. Foreign Words and Loan Blends are relatively fewer in number and less frequent in occurrenceItem An Error Analysis on Chinese Conjunctions by Undergraduates.(The Third International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, ICLSL 2017. Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Rathnayake, D. M. A. S. P.This paper aims to discuss the history of Chinese conjunctions with emphasis on the four periods of history, namely, the ancient, the medieval, the modern and the transition from modern to present times. Firstly, the definitions of the Chinese conjunctions are discussed while a further discussion will be carried out regarding the characteristics of Chinese conjunctions and the usage of each category subsequently. For this error analysis, the students of the Chinese unit at the University of Kelaniya were considered as the sample. Data collection was done through a questionnaire. Accordingly, the study examines and analyses the knowledge of the usage of Chinese conjunctions by the Chinese learners at University of Kelaniya, where the students‟ problems pertaining to the Chinese conjunctions including their classification and the causes are discussed. Based on the findings, the best teaching methods are recommended for the teachers while the students are suggested with the best learning methods involving Chinese conjunctions. The main aim of this error analysis is to identify solutions for the students who learn Chinese conjunctions and to introduce new and effective teaching methods for Chinese teachers. It was found that the university students make mistakes in using the Chinese conjunctions. As a result, common errors done by the students in using Chinese conjunctions were found and different learning and teaching methods were introduced in overcoming the difficulties.Item A Research on Applying the 'Liushu Theory' on Teaching Chinese Characters to Sri Lankan Student.(The Third International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, ICLSL 2017. Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Fernando, K. D. K. D. T.Starting from the year 2004, the students who are learning Chinese in Sri Lanka have gradually increased. Among the problems observed among the learners, the main problem was the inadequacy of study resources including Chinese books, articles and research books for the students who learned Chinese. Specially, there was a less amount of books and other academic material related to Chinese language. Therefore, the teachers used various methods including writing on the black board, reading characters, explaining the meaning of the words, and giving homework in teaching. Because of the use of traditional teaching methods, which were rather ineffective in the classrooms, the learning process was impeded and the students lacked extensive knowledge on Chinese language. To overcome this issue, a theory called “liu shu” was introduced, which was specially created for the Sri Lankan students. The theory was first implemented in University of Kelaniya, where 2 groups, each consisting of 25 students who are learning Chinese in first year were selected for the experiment. One group was taught according the method “liu shu”, and the other according to the current traditional teaching methods. After two months, an examination was held to evaluate the students. It was observed that the lowest marks obtained the group taught according to the “liu shu” method was higher than the highest mark obtained by the other group. Therefore it was concluded that using the method “liu shu” one can ascertain how to write correct Chinese characters, how to pronounce Chinese characters correctly, how to improve the knowledge of the history of Chinese, tradition and culture of Chinese and the civilization of Chinese better than when using traditional teaching methodologies. Further, as a result of that research, eight new methods of teaching Chinese were created, which highlight the importance of the method as an improved and effective learning as well as a teaching method.Item Problems associated with the use of Communicative Language Teaching in teaching Chinese as a foreign language(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kariyawasam, K.B.G.W.S.New language teachers have shifted to adopt the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach after noticing the failure of form focusing approach in developing learners' communicative ability in real life situations. CLT method has been identified as the functional approach. The rationale of the CLT approach is that the teacher should act as a facilitator to create a student-centered classroom and engage learners in authentic-like and meaningful communications with the goal to increase comprehensible language input for learners, expecting them to generate more output. If the target of foreign language teaching is to use the language, CLT seems to be an ideal teaching model. The aim of this study was to find out the difficulties faced by teachers in using CLT method in teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka (UOKSL). Data were collected from the Chinese language teachers at UOKSL by a using questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and class room observations. Results depict that indoor class room environment and a large number of students of the classes may lead to the failure of CLT. Awareness of these problems and the possible remedies such as small group classes, outdoor activities can be helpful for both CFL teachers and learners, providing them with insightful ideas about how to manage their teaching and learning activities for the successful implementation of this method.Item Effectiveness of Using Grammar - Translation and Direct methods in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kariyawasam, K.B.G.W.S.The Chinese language is the most popular language in all over the world. In recent years, Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) has caused a mania in the world with more schools and universities opening up Chinese courses. Chinese Language is one of the five major languages of United Nations Organisation and second language of Australia and the United States of America. Although there are many studies focusing on the speaking and reading comprehension abilities of the learners, studies on different teaching methods and their impacts on listening, speaking, reading and writing comprehensions of the learners are not so common. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare the Grammar - Translation Method and the Direct Method in TCFL and to examine their impacts on the speaking ability of the learners. The theme of this study was include Grammar - Translation Method and those for TCFL speaking development. Data was collected from the internal students reading B.A. Special degree in Chinese at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka by a using questionnaire. The results of the study depict that the students think that the Grammar - Translation Method help improve learning Chinese and can increase the comprehension level by Sinhalese - Chinese and English - Chinese translation in class. Additionally, the Direct Method has increased learning motivation, interactive conversation and beneficial Chinese learning environment. These findings will be helpful in teaching Chinese as a foreign language in an improved manner.