5.2 Pedagogical Application
5.2.1 Cohension
Because student samples do not exhibit many errors in ellipsis, substitution or lexical cohesion, this section covers pedagogical suggestions for teaching reference and conjunctions.
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5.2.1.1 Reference
Stage 1: Introduction of a Zero Pronoun (zero pronouns in a conversation) In the first stage, the concept of a zero pronoun is introduced to students. Teachers or textbooks should explain the common use of zero pronouns in Chinese. At first, a contrastive analysis of Chinese and English can be provided to explain the zero pronoun.
By comparing the two languages, students can easily recognize the differences between Chinese and English pronoun use.
(104) (a) A: “Where is the lobster?”
B: “Mom is cooking it.”
(b) A: 「龍蝦在哪裡？」
B: 「媽媽正在煮 ø．」V.S. 「*媽媽正在煮它．」
A: “Lóngxiā zài nǎlǐ?”
B: “Māmā zhèngzài zhǔ ø.” V.S. 「* Māmā zhèngzài zhǔ tā．」
（Chen, 2012: 243）
After the introduction of a zero pronoun, a conversation is presented to explain the rule that pronouns are omitted when readers can identify who the person is.
(105) （A，B二人為朋友。他們正從教室往外走。）
A and B are friends. They are going out of the classroom.
(a) A︰「下雨了﹗」
B︰「Ø 帶傘沒?」
A：「Ø 忘了﹗」
B：「Ø 記性不好喔。」
A：「請 Ø 原諒 Ø﹗」
104 B︰「Ø 罰 Ø 一碗牛肉麵﹗」
A︰「好吧﹗Ø 恭敬不如從命。」
A: “Xiàyǔ le!”
B: “Ø Dài sǎn méi?”
A: “Ø Wàng le.”
B: “Ø Jìxìng bùhǎo o.”
A: “Qǐng Ø yuánliàng Ø!”
B: “Ø Fá Ø yì wǎn niúròu miàn!”
A: “Hǎo ba! Ø Gōngjìng bùrú cóngmìng.”
(b) A: “It is raining!”
B: “Do you have an umbrella?”
A: “I forgot to bring it with me!”
B: “You don’t have a good memory!”
A: “Please forgive me!”
B: “You have to make it up with a beef noodles!”
A: “All right.”
（Chen, 2012: 244）
For instance, in (105), there are two people taling with each other; therefore, the pronouns are all omitted in order to communicate with high efficiency.
Stage 2: Introduction of a Topic Chain (zero pronouns in a narrative) In the second stage, the concept of a topic chain is introduced. Teachers or
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textbooks should indicate that Chinese is a topic-prominent language; thus, the topic is the element which is followed by several sentences included in one event.
(106) 這是一個中年的男子，Ø剛從地鐵往外走去，Ø手裡拿著一卷報紙，Ø低著腦 袋，Ø心情非常沉重，Ø往家的路上走去。
Zhè shì yíge zhōngnián de nánzi, Ø gāng cóng dìtiě wǎng wài zǒu qù, Ø shǒu lǐ ná zhe yì juàn bàozhǐ, Ø dīzhe nǎodài, Ø xīnqíng fēicháng chénzhòng, Ø wǎng jiā de lùshàng zǒu qù.
This man has just gotten off work and he’s returning home. And he has a lot of thoughts on his mind, because he must tell his family, at least his child and his immediate family, of the bad news.
（Chen, 2012: 262-263）
For example, in (106), the middle-aged man is the topic in the whole passage, and the rest of the sentences are the actions he does. The pronouns which refer to him are omitted because it is easy to understand “zhōngnián de nánzi” (the middle-aged man) is performing all the actions.
Stage 3: Functions of Zero Pronouns and Pronouns in a Discourse
In the third stage, the different functions between zero pronouns and pronouns are explained. According to Chen (2010: 116), zero pronouns are used in a series of activities in one event; pronouns are used when one event turns to another event, that is, it marks the change of events. Five subcategories are listed according to their occurrence rates (Chen, 2010).
1. Progressive Relations
Progressive relations are reflected by the appearance of the pronoun “tā” in the
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following passage.
(107) 有一個二十二歲的墨西哥女子，當a她‧ yí zhāng wǎng Jiāzhōu de gōngchē piào, ránhòu zhǎodào yíge gōngzuò shōurù jìnguǎn wéibó, tā què cóng zhuàndào de měiyíkuài Měiyuán zhōng cúnxià yìjiǎoqián, xīwàng yǒuzhāoyírì, zìjǐ kāi yìjiā yùmǐbǐng ròujuàndiàn. Guǒrán dào èrshíwǔsuì shí, tā kāile yìjiā zìjǐ de diàn. Tā nǔlì jīngyíng, sìshí suì shí yǐjīng yǒngyǒu quánměi zuì dà de Mòxīgē chǎnpǐn pīfā shìyè.
There was a 22-year-old Mexican girl. She was abandoned when her husband and she took two kids to emigrate to the U.S.. Therefore, she bought a bus ticket to California with all her money, and then she found a job. Although the pay is not good, she saved one dime from one dollar she earned, hoping one day she could open a corn cake store. When she was 25, she opened her own store. She worked very hard, so she already owned the biggest wholesale in Mexico.
（Chen, 2010: 109）
The five pronouns “tā” in (107) leads five topic chains: the first event presents the fact that she is abandoned by her husband; the second event describes she goes to California and finds a job; the third event displays she works hard to save money; the fourth event depicts that she owns a store; and the fifth event describes she has owned the biggest whole business in Mexico. As for zero pronouns, every one of them is in topic chains, signaling it is in the same topic chain as the pronoun which serves as the
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topic in each topic chain.
2. Whole-part Relations
The whold-part relations could be seen in the following passage.
(108) 第三位是…瓊麥可諾博士，a她‧
出身哥倫比亞大學，Ø獲語言學博士學位，Ø
酷愛寫作，Ø曾為日本的青山學院出過三本英文教科書，Ø現在…，b她‧
是天生 的樂天派，Ø與人聊天時，Ø笑聲最響亮，Ø也愛作鬼臉娛人，Ø年屆半百，Ø 依然愛穿迷你裙，Ø率真本性溢於言表。
Dì sān wèi shì Qióngmàikěnuò bóshì, a tā chūshēn Gēlúnbǐyà dàxué, huò yǔyánxué bóshì xuéwèi, kùài xiězuò, céngwéi Rìběn de Qīngshān xuéyuàn chū guò sānběn Yīngwén jiàokēshū, xiànzài, b tā shì tiānshēng de lètiānpài, yǔ rén liáotiān shí, xiàoshēng zuì xiǎngliàng, yě ài zuò guǐliǎn yúrén, niánjièbànbǎi, yīrán ài chuān mínǐqún, shuàizhēn běnxìng yìyúyánbiǎo.
The third one was Dr. Joan Mikeno. She received her Ph. D in linguistics from Columbia University. She loved writing. She had published three English textbooks for Japan’s Qingshan Academy. Now…, she is optimistic. When she is chatting with other people, she laughs loudly, and she enjoy entertaining people by a wry face. Even though she is 50, she still loves wearing a miniskirt. Her forthright and sincere personality is beyond description.
（Chen, 2010: 110）
The topic in this passage was “Dr. Joan Mikeno”, and the pronoun “tā” in a and b leads two separate events. A introduced her academic backgrounds, and b describes her personalities. The whole-part relation is formed by “Dr. Joan Mikeno” and “her academic backgrounds and personalities”.
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3. Transitional relations
Transitional relations are formed by the transitional meaning among the text.
(109) a謝淑薇最後仍不敵網球界第一種子海寧的完美球技，Ø揮別進入八強的機會，
b但她‧
全場表現的大將之風，Ø已讓台灣人與有榮焉。
a A Xièshúwéi zuìhòu réng bùdí wǎngqíujiè dìyī zhǒngzi Hǎiníng de wánměi qíujì, Ø huībié jìnrù bāqiáng de jīhuì, b dàn tā quángchǎng biǎoxiàn de dàjiàngzhīfēng, Ø yǐ rang Táiwān rén yǔyǒuróngyān.
Xie Shuwei could not beat the perfect skills of tennis king Haining at the end. She missed the chance of getting in the quarter finals, but she still honored Taiwanese people with her distinctive performance.
（Chen, 2010: 111）
For example, in (109), “Xièshúwéi” is the topic, and a explains that she loses the game, whereas b describes that she still honors Taiwanese people with her distinctive performance. The pronoun “tā” in b appearrs to signal the transition, and the conjunction “dàn” reinforces the transitional relation.
4. The Change of Time
The change of time is one type of change of events.
(110) 曾經為體操國手的吳佩雯…。a三年前她‧
發現腹部經常疼痛，Ø曾多次進行檢
查，Ø卻一直沒有發現病狀。直到今年暑假，b她‧
在一次驗尿中，Ø發現尿毒過 高，Ø進而察覺卵巢異狀，Ø終在進一步的切片檢查中，才證實吳佩雯罹患卵 巢癌。
Céngjīng wéi tǐcāo guóshǒu de Wúpèiwén…a Sānnián qián tā fāxiàn fùbù jīngcháng téngtòng, Ø céng duōcì jinxing jiǎnchá, Ø què yìzhí méiyǒu fāxiàn bìngzhuàng. Zhídào jīnnián shǔjià, b tā zài yícì yànniào zhōng, Ø fāxiàn niàodú guògāo, Ø jìnér chájué luǎncháo yìzhuàng, Ø zhōng zài jìnyíbù de qiēpiàn
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jiǎncházhōng, cái zhèngshí Wúpèiwén líhuàn luǎncháoyán.
Wu Peiwen, who was a national contestant of gymnastics, felt pains around her belly three years ago. She experienced several medical diagnoses, but no symptoms were found until this summer. Too much urenmic was found and the ovary was found unusual. In the further section examination, it was verified that she was attacked by ovary cancer.
（Chen, 2010: 111）
For instance, in (110), a describes her stomachache three years ago, and b presents how her ovarian cancer is diagnosed this summer. Besides the time words, pronouns also function as the mark of time change.
5. The Change of Physical Descriptions to Mental Descriptions (or the opposite) This type of change refers to the changes between physical behaviors and mental reactions.
(111) 彭蒙惠隻身到上海，大陸淪陷後輾轉逃到花蓮。五十年代初期，a她看到許多
國人因英語不佳，Ø無法與外國人交談，Ø坐失許多良機，b她‧
感到很難過。
Péng Ménghuì zhīshēn dào Shànghǎi, Dàlù lúnxiàn hòu zhǎnzhuǎn táo dào Huālián.
Wǔshí niándài chūqí, a tā kàndào xǔduō guórén yīn Yīngyǔ bùjiā, Ø wúfǎ yǔ wàiguó rén jiāotán, Ø zuò shī xǔduō liángjī, b tā gǎndào hěnnánguò.
Peng Menghui went to Shanghai by herself, and fled to Hualien after China fell. At the beginning of 50s, she saw a lot of people missed good opportunities because they did not speak English well, so they could not communicate with foreigners.
She felt sad about it.
（Chen, 2010: 112）
In (111), a is the first event which describes what she sees in Hualian (physical), and b is the second event which depicts how she feels about the fact. The change is
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marked by the pronoun “tā”.
To illustrate how to teach reference in Chinese in a classroom setting, the present researcher has suggested the following lesson plans:
Stage 1: Introduction of a Zero Pronoun (zero pronouns in a conversation)
Reference Step 1 Introduction of a Zero Pronoun (zero pronouns in a conversation)
Presentation and Explanation of the Rule
The teacher explains the common use of zero pronouns in Chinese.
At first, a contrastive analysis of Chinese and English can be provided to explain the concept of zero pronoun.
小明：明天Ø 要不要一起出去？
Xiǎomíng: míngtiān Ø yàobúyào yìqǐ chūqù?
Xiaoming: Do you want to go out together with me tomorrow?
小張：Ø 去哪裡？
Xiǎozhāng: Ø qùnǎ?něilǐ?
Xiaozhang: Where to?
小明：Ø 去台北 101 好嗎？
Xiǎomíng: Ø qùtáiběi 101 hǎo ma?
Xiaoming: How about Taipei 101?
小張：好啊！那Ø 要不要找小英一起去？
Xiǎozhāng: hǎo a! Nà Ø yàobúyào zhǎo Xiǎoyīng yìqǐ qù?
Xiaozhang: Great! Can we also invite Xiaoying to go with us?
小明：她明天要上英文課，Ø 不能去．
xiǎomíng: tā míngtiān yào shàng Yīngwén kè, Ø bùnéng qù.
Xiaoming: She is attending an English class tomorrow, so she won’t be able to join us.
The teacher explains the rule that the pronoun in Chinese should be omitted when the speaker and the listener know who the referent is.
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Practice of the Zero Pronoun
The teacher asks a student what he/she did last weekend to practice how to use zero pronouns.
老師：Ø 上個周末做什麼了？
Lǎoshī: Ø shàngge zhōumò zuò shéme le?
Teacher: What did you do last weekend?
學生：Ø 上個周末去…（打籃球）．
Xuéshēng: Ø shàngge zhōumò qù (dǎ lánqiú).
Student: I went to play basketball last weekend.
老師：Ø 跟誰一起去打籃球？
Lǎoshī: Ø gēn shéi yìqǐ qù dǎ lánqiú?
Teacher: Who did you went to play basketball with?
學生：Ø 跟同學一起去打籃球．
Xuéshēng: Ø gēn tóngxué yìqǐ qù dǎ lánqiú.
Student: I went to play basketball with my classmate.
老師：你們去哪裡打籃球？
Lǎoshī: nǐmen qù nail dǎ lánqiú?
Teacher: Where did you go to play basketball?
學生：Ø 去師大打籃球．
Xuéshēng: Ø qù shīdà dǎ lánqiú.
Student: We went to Shida to play basketball.
Practice in Pairs
Two students work as a group to start a conversation. The topic is the places and countries they have been to. They can ask whatever they would like to know.
The teacher walks around the classroom to assist in their practice.
After telling each other the details, the students have to report to the class the information their partners provide.
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Stage 2: Introduction of a Topic Chain (zero pronouns in a narrative) Referenc
e Step 2 Introduction of a Topic Chain (zero pronouns in a narrative)
Presentation and Explanation of the rule
The teacher indicates that Chinese is a topic-prominent language. The topic is introduced first as a background, and then the comment is used to discuss about the topic. Moreover, a topic chain is usually formed in Chinese discourse. The teacher uses the following passage to explain the rule.
小明昨天去了師大夜市，Ø 吃了牛肉麵，Ø 也喝了豆漿，最後 Ø 跟 同學一起坐公車回家了．
Xiǎomíng zuótiān qù le Shīdà yèshì, Ø chīle niúròu miàn, Ø yě hēle dòujiāng, zuìhòu Ø gēn tóngxué yìqǐ zuò gōngchē huíjiāle.
Xiaoming went to Shida night market yesterday. He ate beef noodle soup.
He also drank soybean milk. At last, he took the bus home with his classmates.
The teacher explains the rule that the pronoun in Chinese should be omitted when it follows a full noun which first appears as a topic in a passage, and the comment is describing a series of actions the topic (i.e.Xiaoming) do.
Practice of the Topic Chain
The teacher shows a series of pictures. The students are required to describe the pictures.
加菲貓回家後，他…
Jiāfēi māo huíjiā hòu, tā…
After Garfield went home, he…
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Practice in Pairs
Two students work as a group to start a conversation. The topic is about what they did yesterday. The teacher walks around the classroom to assist in their practice. After telling each other the details, the students have to report to the class what their partner did yesterday.
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Stage 3: Functions of Zero Pronouns and Pronouns in a Discourse
Reference Step 3 Functions of Zero Pronouns and Pronouns in a Discourse
Presentation and Explanation of the rule
The teacher explains the different functions between zero pronouns and pronouns in Chinese. Zero pronouns are used in a series of activities in one event, whereas pronouns are used when one event turns to another event; that is, it marks the change of events.
The teacher uses the following examples to explain the rule.
In a progressive relation, several events are introduced. First, it describes that Jianming is taking a Chinese culture course, and he really likes it, so he begins to learn Chinese. Second, it gives the fact that he decides to study Chinese in Taiwan. Third, it talks about the fact that he has many good classmates. Last, it describes his cultural experience in Taiwan.
1. Progressive Relation
建明在美國時，上了一門中國文化的課，他非常喜歡，Ø 於是就 選了一年級中文課．他在美國學中文學了三年後，Ø 經過同學介 紹，Ø 決定到台灣師大學中文．他認識了很多好同學，Ø 過得非 常開心．他也到很多地方去玩，Ø 體驗台灣的文化。
Jiànmíng zài měiguó shí, shàngle yìmén Zhōnggguó wénhuàde kè, tā fēicháng xǐhuān, Ø yúshì jiù xuǎnle yìniánjí Zhōngwén kè. Tā zài Měiguó xué Zhōngwén xuéle sānnián hòu, Ø jīngguò tóngxué jièshào, Ø juédìng dào Táiwān Shīdà xué Zhōngwén. Tā rènshìle hěnduō hǎo tóngxué, Ø guòde fēicháng kāixīn. Tā yě dào hěnduō dìfāng qù wán, Ø tǐyàn Táiwānde wénhuà.
When Jianming is in the States, he took a Chinese culture course. He really liked it, so he chose the first-year Chinese. After learning Chinese for three years, he decided to go to National Taiwan Normal University to learn Chinese because of his classmate’s
recommendation. He had many good classmates, and he had a great
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time. He also went to other places and experience Taiwanese culture.
In a part-whole relation, a main topic is first introduced, and the parts regarding this topic are then presented in the following content. For example, “wǒde bàba” is the theme in this passage, and the three parts are describing “looks”, “personalities” and “interests”.
2. Part-Whole Relation
我的爸爸是一位老師，他高高瘦瘦的，Ø 眼睛大大的。他對人總 是微笑，Ø 很喜歡幫助別人。他的興趣很多，Ø 喜歡打籃球、跑 步、騎腳踏車，Ø 也喜歡看書及聽音樂。
Wǒde bàbà shì yíwèi lǎoshī, tā gāogāoshòushòude, Ø yǎnjīng dàdàde. Tā duì rén zǒngshì wéixiào, Ø hěn xǐhuān bāngzhù biérén.
Tāde xìngqù hěn duō, Ø xǐhuān dǎ lánqiú, pǎobù, qí jiǎotàchē, Ø yě xǐhuān kànshū jí ting yīnyuè.
My father is a teacher. He is tall and thin. Also, he has big eyes. He always smiles, and he loves to help people. He has a lot of interests.
He likes to play basketball, jogging, and go bicyle riding. He also enjoys reading and listening to misic.
In a contrastive relation, the following content is the opposite of the previous content. Therefore, a change occurs.
3. Constrastive Relation
他剛學中文的時候，Ø 覺得中文很難。但是他還是努力學習，所 以現在他的中文很好。
他剛學中文的時候，Ø 覺得中文很難。但是他還是努力學習，所 以現在他的中文很好。