Contrast Study Between Chinese And Shona Interrogative Sentences And Error Analysis Of Zimbabwean Students’Acquisitioil Of Chinese Interrogative Selltences

The article is generally organized into three sections. By means of deduction, the first section (Chapter2) introduces a series of contrastive studies on the function and form of interrogative sentences in Chinese and Shona. On the basis of the first section, the second section (Chapter3) proceeds to analyze the errors made by Zimbabwean students in the acquisition of the Chinese interrogative sentences and explains the causes for these. Building on the previous two sections, the third section (Chapter4) analyzes the nature of the acquisition of Chinese interrogative sentences and explores the order of presentation given it in several textbooks and the relevant exam syllabus.In Section One Contrast between Chinese and Shona Interrogative sentences, the article elaborates on the contrastive objects, namely the Chinese yes-no question, w-question, affirmative-negative question and the alternative question. Next, by means of translation and contrast together with accompanying examples, the article deduces the features of Shona interrogative sentences, which serve to predict errors that learners are liable to make.In Section Two Error analysis of Zimbabwean students’acquisition of Chinese interrogative sentences, an introduction is given to the respective influence English and Shona might have on Zimbabwean students as they acquire the relevant structures. Here the author examines the merits of arguments in support of the use of Shona as a medium language in teaching Chinese. The author also demonstrates the limitations of these arguments and puts forth the distinct proposition that Chinese be taught through English as a medium language with the use of Shona as an auxiliary. Next, the author identifies the object, method and scope of the current investigation; discusses the types of errors and their respective causes made by Zimbabwean students in the acquisition of Chinese interrogative sentence from the perspective of the synchronic and diachronic approaches. A "four-step" method consisting of data collection, error identification, error description and error explanation is then developed, that forms a complete error-analysis system.Finally, based on the levels of difficulty in language acquisition as proposed by Ellis,drawing from other scholars’theories as well as personal research, the author calls into question the arrangement of interrogative sentences in TCSL textbooks and the relevant syllabus.