Teaching Strategies For The Particle "le"

Teachers in the Chinese language field and students who have been studying Chineseall know that "le" is one of the most difficult grammar particles to teach and to grasp. Thispaper’s main focus is the teaching method of "le". Participants in this study are Japanesestudents who are studying Chinese as foreign language.During an internship at a Japanese university the author discovered that the mostcommon mistakes made in students’ work related to the grammar particle "le". Afterexplanation of the particle’s uses and function, many students would continue to makemistakes. Furthermore it was very difficult to reduce the frequency of these mistakes.Regardless of whether students were beginners or advanced in their Chinese studies, thesame problems with "le" occurred. Therefore, the author has taken this opportunity toclarify thoroughly the usage of "le", while at the same time considering and researchinghow best to teach students to use "le" correctly, thereby creating a good foundation forfuture Chinese teaching and learning.In addition, this paper has also made a comparison between "le" and a similar particleexisting in the Japanese language. This comparison is used to analyze reasons for commonmistakes made by Japanese students and to point out several solutions including thearrangement of the lecture, the clear explanation of the differences between the Chineseand Japanese "tense" and "aspect", and explanation of the differences in the contexts of "Vle O" and "VO le".