Лексико-семантические трудности при обучении китайских студентов лексическим единицам, обозначающим понятия внутреннего мира человека на русском языке

The topic on diagnosing intercultural adaptation and psychological acculturation to a new socio-cultural environment is relevant in connection with the processes of globalization and, in particular, with the growth of academic mobility in education. Research on this problem are especially relevant for Russian science due to the lack of acculturation scales, which are widely represented in Western and international psychology. In 2019, a research team led by Professor A. Ardila developed the Russian-language Acculturation Scale for Russia (ASR), which was validated on a sample of international university students from 71 countries of the world. The aim of the present study was to adapt the ASR for the Chinese students studying in Russian universities. Chinese students are the largest group of international students from far abroad studying at Russian universities, while many of them experience significant difficulties in adapting to a new socio-cultural environment, as well as in learning the Russian language. In total, the study involved 213 Chinese students (59% - female) studying at Russian universities, of which 93 students (58% - female) completed the Russian-language version of the ASR, and 118 students (61% - female) completed the Chinese version of the ASR, which was designed using the back translation. Both ASR versions were psychometrically tested using Cronbachs and MacDonalds coefficients, as well as bifactorial analysis. The methods of descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon W-test were used to compare the Russian-language and Chinese versions of the ASR. The normalization was carried out by means of non-linear percentile normalization (stanines). As a result, a high consistency of the Russian-language and Chinese versions of the ASR and their equivalence with each other were shown. Both versions can be used to assess the level of acculturation of Chinese students to Russia, while the Chinese version is recommended for the Chinese students who have been living in Russia for less than 1-1.5 years and/or have a poor Russian proficiency.

Background/Objectives: The objective of the research was to develop User Created Content (UCC) videos to enhance basic nursing skills for Chinese smartphone users studying in Korea.Methods/Statistical analysis: Working together with Korean students and professors, Chinese international students produced two UCC videos for the inculcation of postoperative nursing skills and instruction in intravenous fluid injections.The videos contained both Korean and Chinese captions.Findings: The process of producing UCC videos by Chinese students was found effective: They participated in the selection of the topics and in the production of the videos.The effectiveness was determined through individual and group interviews.Greater instructional value was also due to the fact that Chinese international students acquired a greater sense of community in working with Korean students and professors in making the videos.Chinese students who participated in the production of the UCC videos could conveniently and effectively learn from their all-too-familiar smartphones.Improvements/Applications: Production of UCC videos by Chinese international students with Korean students and professors enhances learning basic nursing skills and helps to overcome linguistic and cultural differences.This outcome can present a way to enhance the quality of education and social well-being of international students in Korea.

Most of the current literature on the experiences of Chinese international students tends to adopt a deficit-based approach, focusing on the weaknesses, problems, and challenges Chinese students face while studying overseas. In other words, they tend to focus on struggling Chinese students, “problem” Chinese students, and Chinese students who are failing their overseas studies. Though the intention may be good, these studies may strengthen a negative stereotypical image of Chinese international students that is problem ridden. This study aims to introduce some positive psychology in international student development by focusing on successful Chinese students, their success stories, and what success secrets they can share with future Chinese students studying abroad. With the completion of an undergraduate program adopted as a minimum threshold of student success, this study aims to glean the experiences of successful Chinese students in the United Kingdom and disseminate them as lessons for future students. The study finds that proactiveness in networking and seeking support, open and adaptive attitude toward learning and life, and metacognitive skills in self-management are the most important factors contributing to Chinese students’ success in overseas studies.

This article is dedicated to the phenomenon of radical transformations of toponyms in onomasticons of the Russian and English languages at the turn of centuries. The goal of this work lies in determination and analysis of changes in semantics, structure and functionality of toponymic vocabulary from the perspective of definitional and component methods within the framework of communication-pragmatic approach using the data of corpus linguistics. The article substantiates the need for inclusion of the acquired data into educational materials for ensuring successful communication in the changed polycultural space. As a result, it was established that geopolitical shifts transformed not only the toponymic vocabulary, but also its grammatical paradigm in the Russian and English languages. The semantic differences in the meanings of toponyms in the British and American versions are underlined. The changes enriched the language in its natural evolution (the need for nomination of new objects) or by virtue of nomination practices. The scientific novelty consists in a complex systematization of transformations in the area of ethnonymics with consideration of the new geopolitical reality that forms integral approaches towards linguistic and extralinguistic phenomena. It is demonstrated that the modern geopolitical discourse plays a primary role in attaining new meanings to onyms overall and toponyms in particular. Functioning in different languages, toponyms may differ in their componential structure, which reflects diverse world landscapes captured in languages.

International tertiary students face many challenges and stressors when studying abroad. Past research reports that Asian international students experience acculturative stress due to language barriers, lack of social connections with locals, and discrimination, which may contribute to poor mental health. The aim of this study was to gather firsthand personal experiences of Chinese international tertiary students studying abroad in Australia. Using open-ended survey questions, this study explored Chinese international students’ acculturation challenges in Australia and the strategies employed to navigate these challenges. Chinese international students studying at universities across Australia were recruited. Qualitative data from 129 Chinese international students ( M = 23.2, SD = 2.5) were analyzed using thematic analysis. Five main themes were identified with regard to acculturation challenges and coping strategies: ‘language barriers’, ‘social engagement’, ‘dietary changes’, ‘sports and fitness in acculturation’, and ‘mental health support’. The results suggested that Chinese international students may benefit from interventions that promote social connections, local language competency and mental health literacy to ensure a smoother transition in Australia. Participants also highlighted the need for mental health services to be culturally safe and inviting and clearly promoted as free and accessible. Future research should integrate learnings from Chinese students’ detailed accounts with longitudinal surveys to gain a more comprehensive picture of the conditions that promote positive academic and mental health outcomes.

With the increasing frequency of international communication, the study of second language acquisition has garnered heightened attention within the academic community. In the realm of second language acquisition, the phenomenon of language transfer is widespread and has emerged as a focal point in research on interlingual influence. This article examines language transfer during the acquisition of Russian oral speech by Han Chinese students. This analysis represents a research endeavor conducted as part of a dissertation focusing on “Language transfer in the process of Russian phonetic acquisition by Chinese students”. Drawing on the collective expertise in resolving interlingual challenges in linguistics, the comparative method serves as the primary approach for elucidating the theory of language transfer. Accordingly, the article adopts the theory of language transfer as a research framework, employing a bilingual contrastive analytical method to compare phonemes, syllables, and stress patterns between the native language of Han students and Russian, thereby analyzing common instances of positive and negative transfer. Through this analysis, the article delineates the concept and impact of language transfer, elucidating the underlying reasons for various forms of negative transfer from the Han native language into Russian pronunciation, along with phonetic errors observed in Chinese Han students during their acquisition of the Russian language, illustrated through examples. The objective of this analysis is to uncover the factors contributing to different types of transfer in the process of Russian phonetic acquisition by Han students and mitigate such errors, facilitating accurate and effective learning of Russian, comprehension of Russian phonetics, and the acquisition of proficient speaking skills.

This chapter reviews our research program on three important aspects of Chinese learner motivation: social goals, teacher controlling behaviors, and success/failure experiences. With an integration of etic and emic approaches, we found both cultural differences and similarities. On the one hand, we found that the same psychological construct might carry different meanings for Chinese and Western learners. On the other hand, we also found psychological processes that might be invariant across cultures. While social goals were considered as performance oriented and mostly maladaptive in the West, we found that the social goals of Chinese students were internally regulated obligation with adaptive effects on motivation. In a similar vein, we found that the same controlling behaviors of teachers carried different affective meanings for Chinese and American students. When compared to American students, Chinese students perceived teachers’ behaviors as less controlling, which in turn led to higher motivation in class. We also found that success and failure experiences carried different motivational implications for students with Chinese and Caucasian students. While Caucasian students were more motivated after success, Chinese students became more motivated after failure. Despite these cultural differences, we also saw cultural similarities. For example, disregarding culture, the teacher–student relationship played an important role in student motivation. In short, our findings highlight the importance of integrating the etic and emic approaches in cross-cultural investigation. It is important to tease out what is culturally universal and what is culturally unique in the psychological processes in motivation.

Cross-language associations in the development of preschoolers’ receptive and expressive vocabulary

The article discusses the process of glocalization of the English-language concept “lifehack” in the Russian language on the basis of corpus data. Both original and borrowed concepts are considered in the Internet discourse, which is currently the most accessible source for studying new concepts and at the same time, the first to incorporate them into its language. The purpose of the article is to identify cognitive features of the “lifehack” concept in the English language and its Russian counterpart, as well as the changes that have occurred as a result of its glocalization. Based on collocation analysis and discursive analysis of language units which represent the concept, cognitive features are defined and combined into thematic groups. The totality of these features makes up the field structure of the concepts. The study revealed that the core features of the “lifehack” concept were fully integrated into the Russian language version of the concept. These include thematic groups such as “use”, “help”, and “ease/simplicity”. In both the Russian and English versions, the concept received a large number of positive characterizations (“good”, “great”, “incredible”, etc.). Cognitive features “shallowness” and “negative evaluation” can be found in the periphery of the concept. Additionally, features that were not present in the original concept have been added to the concept in the Russian language. The grammatical structures in which the words representing the concept “lifehack” are used suggest that the adaptation process is ongoing. In the process of glocalization, the “lifehack” concept in the Russian language retained all the core features of the original concept, while also acquiring an additional feature “alternative approach”. The grammatical characteristics of the language units representing the concept in the Russian language indicate that it is still undergoing adaptation and, possibly, will further develop in a bit different direction from the original concept.

The "Blue Book Report on China's Overseas Study Development 2023-2024" shows that, according to UNESCO's latest data, there were 1.021 million Chinese students studying at overseas higher education institutions in 2021, ranking first globally. Cross-cultural communication among students abroad was an important topic of globalization. This paper looks at Chinese students' identity and how they adapt to cross-cultural talks abroad. With globalization, more Chinese students paper overseas, facing both challenges and chances. Using quality research, it analyzes their mental changes, ways to adapt, and how these affect their studies, social life, and plans. It finds that by joining in studies, socializing, and cultural events, Chinese students slowly change how they see themselves and their place in society and culture. Differences in culture, language trouble, social help, relationships, and plans all shape their adaptation. The paper shows that being open, learning languages, making friends, setting clear goals, and being good at cross-cultural talks help Chinese students deal with challenges and form a strong sense of who they are.

Vocabulary size is a crucial early indicator of language development, for both monolingual and bilingual children. Assessing vocabulary in bilingual children is complex because they learn words in two languages, and there remains significant controversy about how to best measure their vocabulary size, especially in relation to monolinguals. This study compared monolingual vocabulary with different metrics of bilingual vocabulary, including combining vocabulary across languages to count either the number of words or the number of concepts lexicalized and assessing vocabulary in a single language. Data were collected from parents of 743 infants and toddlers aged 8-33 months learning French and/or English, using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. The results showed that the nature and magnitude of monolingual-bilingual differences depended on how bilinguals' vocabulary was measured. Compared with monolinguals, bilinguals had larger expressive and receptive word vocabularies, similarly sized receptive concept vocabularies and smaller expressive concept vocabularies. Bilinguals' single-language vocabularies were smaller than monolinguals' vocabularies. The study highlights the need to better understand the role of translation equivalents in bilingual vocabulary development and the potential developmental differences in receptive and expressive vocabularies.

A large number of Asian students are currently studying in the Russian Far East. The vast majority of them are Chinese students. Sociological studies of various aspects of their stay in the Far East are still quite rare. The study of the characteristics and typification of their intercultural interpersonal communication with Russian students can contribute to understanding the most optimal ways of their adaptation in a foreign cultural environment. The present study provides the results of a research conducted by the authors among foreign students at the beginning of 2020 in five Far Eastern universities. The study revealed a number of significant shortcomings in the organization of educational and extracurricular life of Chinese students, which hinder their full immersion in the Russian language environment. The language barrier is the main obstacle in the process of interpersonal intercultural communication between Russian and Chinese students. The study provides recommendations on the proper organization of educational, extracurricular activities, as well as living in a dormitory for Chinese students, which can help improve intercultural interpersonal communication between Chinese and Russian students.

From 2006 to 2008, Peter J. Vernezze served as a Peace Corps volunteer at Sichuan Normal University in Chengdu, taking a two-year leave of absence from his regular job as a philosophy professor. During this time he facilitated a film series for his Chinese undergraduate students which showed classic and contemporary American films – everything from Casablanca to the Marx brothers to Brokeback Mountain. The goal of the series was "to use film in order to shed light on and increase the understanding of American culture and values." This essay is a personal account of the discussions which took place after the screenings and what this American and these Chinese students may or may not have learned from each other about universalities and differences in cultures.

To explore the roles of character recognition, expressive vocabulary, and syntactic awareness in deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students' reading fluency, 52 Chinese DHH students (mean age = 13.29 years) in elementary school participated in the present study. The results showed that character recognition, expressive vocabulary, and syntactic awareness significantly predicted DHH students' reading fluency after age and nonverbal reasoning ability were controlled for. Specifically, character recognition and syntactic awareness uniquely and significantly accounted for the variance in reading fluency beyond the effect of the other two predictors in children in lower grades (grades 1-3), whereas the unique effects of expressive vocabulary and syntactic awareness were significant in children in higher grades (grades 4-6). These findings suggested that these three factors are important to Chinese DHH students' reading fluency, but that their relative contributions vary across different stages in elementary school.

The article presents the examples of comparing chemical terms in the Chinese and Russian languages and the results of two experiments conducted with Chinese and Russian students. The first part of the work deals with a comparison of the one–component chemical element names from the periodic table. Then, it continues with dividing different chemical terms in Chinese into several groups: two–component, three–component, four–component, multicomponent group and comparing them with its analogical terms in Russian to analyze the main difficulties in understanding these terms in both languages. The second part of the work presents the main difficulties, revealed during two experiments, conducted with Chinese and Russian students. The students were given texts in their mother tongues with a chemical context, which they wrote and read noting the time. At the end of the work, all the advantages and complexities revealed in the results of the first and second parts of the work were calculated. Similar language comparisons are becoming more relevant in the last few years, for they contribute to development of methods of analyzing languages and discovering new and improved approaches to the study and use of languages.