Acta Linguistica Asiatica Volume 5, Issue 1, 2015 ACTA LINGUISTICA ASIATICA Volume 5, Issue 1, 2015 Editors: Andrej Bekeš, Nina Golob, Mateja Petrovčič Editorial Board: Bi Yanli (China), Cao Hongquan (China), Luka Culiberg (Slovenia), Tamara Ditrich (Slovenia), Kristina Hmeljak Sangawa (Slovenia), Ichimiya Yufuko (Japan), Terry Andrew Joyce (Japan), Jens Karlsson (Sweden), Lee Yong (Korea), Lin Ming-chang (Taiwan), Arun Prakash Mishra (India), Nagisa Moritoki Škof (Slovenia), Nishina Kikuko (Japan), Sawada Hiroko (Japan), Chikako Shigemori Bučar (Slovenia), Irena Srdanović (Japan). © University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, 2015 All rights reserved. Published by: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani (Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts) Issued by: Department of Asian and African Studies For the publisher: Dr. Branka Kalenić Ramšak, Dean of the Faculty of Arts The journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0). Journal’s web page: http://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/ala/ The journal is published in the scope of Open Journal Systems ISSN: 2232-3317 Abstracting and Indexing Services: COBISS, dLib, Directory of Open Access Journals, MLA International Bibliography, Open J-Gate, Google Scholar and ERIH PLUS. Publication is free of charge. Address: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts Department of Asian and African Studies Aškerčeva 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia E-mail: [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword .................................................................................................................. 5 RESEARCH ARTICLES Evaluating Approaches to Teaching and Learning Chinese Vocabulary from the Learning Theories Perspective: An Experimental Case Study Katja SIMONČIČ .................................................................................................. 9–38 Japanese Onomatopoeic Expressions with Quantitative Meaning Nataliia Vitalievna KUTAFEVA .......................................................................... 39–52 Blogging Identity: How L2 Learners Express Themselves FUJII Kiyomi ...................................................................................................... 53–70 Japanese Language Education and Dyslexia: On the Necessity of the Dyslexia Research Nagisa MORITOKI ŠKOF .................................................................................... 71–84 Functions of English vs. Other Languages in Sri Lankan Buddhist Rituals in the UK Manel HERAT .................................................................................................. 85–110 Language Policy and Medium of Instruction Issue in Pakistan Ali AMMAR, Naveen ALI, Ali FAWAD, Khamsa QASIM ................................. 111–124 Bhadarwahi: A Typological Sketch Amitabh Vikram DWIVEDI ............................................................................ 125–148 BOOK REVIEW Panuntunán na Ortograpiya éd salitan PANGASINAN 2012. Manila: Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2012. xv + 20 pp. Erwin Soriano FERNANDEZ ........................................................................... 151–154 5 FOREWORD With this volume, Acta linguistica is entering its 5th year. We would like to announce, with our great pleasure, that the journal has undergone some changes and will from now be published twice a year, with its summer and winter volume. This summer volume includes researches with a common topic of practicing a language, whether in educational, and religious institutions, or in the languages primary surroundings. In this spirit, the volume is divided into two parts, with the first devoted to the methodology of language teaching, focusing mainly on Chinese and Japanese language and presently still under-researched dyslexia role in language studies, and the second focusing on under-documented languages and their gap between language policies and the actual state of language use. The first paper by Katja Simončič, entitled Evaluating Approaches to Teaching and Learning Chinese Vocabulary from the Learning Theories Perspective: An Experimental Case Study, discusses two basic approaches to teaching Chinese vocabulary, and evaluates them based on the results of experimental study on Slovene students of Chinese. The next two papers deal with the different lexica in Japanese language. Nataliia Vitalievna Kutafeva's research, entitled Japanese Onomatopoeic Expressions with Quantitative Meaning analyzes the lexical mode of expression of quantitative meanings and their semantics with the help of onomatopoeic (giongo) and mimetic (gitaigo) words, and based on it proposes the new arrangement of semantic groups. Kiyomi Fujii’s research, entitled Blogging Identity: How L2 Learners Express Themselves, discusses identity expression in blogs by Japanese language learners on the intermediate and advanced level. The paper by Nagisa Moritoki Škof, Japanese Language Education and Dyslexia: On the Necessity of Dyslexia Research, shows an insight to dyslexia and through an outline of the present state of accepting and treating leaning disabilities in the Japanese education system stresses the importance of incounting dyslexia in language education in general. Manel Herat in his paper Functions of English vs. Other Languages in Sri Lankan Buddhist Rituals in the UK, analyzes the language shifts from the Sinhala and Pali languages to English at Buddhist festivals and sermons in UK. Next paper by Ali Ammar and his colleagues, Language Policy and Medium of Instruction Issue in Pakistan, briefly re-explores the situation of languages in the country and studies the latest language policy of Pakistan and its implications for local languages. 6 The last research paper in this volume Bhadarwahi: A Typological Sketch was written by Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi and is an attempt to describe phonological and morphosyntactic features of the under-documented Bhadarwahi language belonging to Indo-Aryan language family. Finally, in the context of describing under-documented languages, the influence of the existing language policy is also noticed by Erwin Soriano FERNANDEZ and his book review on Pangasinan, entitled Panuntunán na Ortograpiya éd salitan PANGASINAN 2012. Manila: Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino. Nina Golob RESEARCH ARTICLES EVALUATING APPROACHES TO TEACHING AND LEARNING CHINESE VOCABULARY FROM THE LEARNING THEORIES PERSPECTIVE: AN EXPERIMENTAL CASE STUDY Katja SIMONČIČ University of Ljubljana, Slovenia [email protected] Abstract With Chinese language gaining more and more popularity among Slovenian students and with the growing number of learners of Chinese as a foreign language in Slovenia and elsewhere, it is crucial to find an approach that will lead to high quality and long-term knowledge of Chinese and that will motivate learners to continue learning. We can speak of two basic approaches to teaching Chinese vocabulary: the approach that first introduces pronunciation and the approach that simultaneously introduces pronunciation and character. The key question that arises is which of the two approaches leads to high quality and long-term knowledge? To answer the question an experimental case study was carried out at Ljubljana’s Faculty of Arts in the academic year 2011/2012. The case study showed that the approach that simultaneously introduces pronunciation and character and is based on the key principles of constructivist learning theory had beneficial effects on the students in terms of motivation and quality of knowledge of Chinese vocabulary. Key words: Chinese vocabulary; didactics; learning theories; Confucianism; experimental case study Povzetek Ker kitajščina kot tuji jezik postaja vedno bolj priljubljena med učenci v Sloveniji in po celem svetu, je nujno najti pristop, ki bo vodil v kakovostno in dolgotrajno znanje in ki bo motiviral učence k nadaljnjemu učenju kitajščine. Lahko govorimo o dveh pristopih k poučevanju kitajskega besedišča: pristop, ki najprej uvaja izgovorjavo, in pristop, ki hkrati uvaja izgovorjavo in pismenko. Ključno vprašanje, ki se pri tem poraja, je, kateri od obeh pristopov vodi v bolj kakovostno in dolgotrajno znanje? V iskanju odgovora na to vprašanje je bila na Filozofski fakulteti v Ljubljani v študijskem letu 2011/2012 izvedena eksperimentalna študija primera, ki je pokazala, da je pristop, ki hkrati uvaja izgovorjavo in pismenko in je osnovan na konstruktivistični teoriji učenja, pripomogel k večji motivaciji med učenci ter bolj kakovostnemu znanju kitajskih pismenk. Ključne besede: kitajsko besedišče; didaktika; teorije učenja; konfucianizem; eksperimentalna študija primera Acta Linguistica Asiatica, 5(1), 2015. ISSN: 2232-3317, http://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/ala/ DOI: 10.4312/ala.5.1.9-38 10 Katja SIMONČIČ 1. Introduction There have been and still are many debates about how to teach Chinese as a foreign language (in continuation CFL), but according to Everson (2009) the lack of a common consent and general guidelines has led to very diverse approaches to teaching CFL. Among the researchers of how to teach CFL the debates evolve mostly around 5 themes as Xing (2006) points out: 1. elaboration of a more relevant curriculum, 2. grammar, 3. listening comprehension and oral communication, 4. reading comprehension and written communication, 5. use of technology in the CFL class and influence of culture. Even though researchers like Lü (2006), Xiao (2006) and Xing (2006) have started to focus on vocabulary there is still a lack of consent and researches on how or whether to teach Chinese vocabulary as a whole at the