The dynamic development of written expression in Chinese students learning Spanish
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56683/rs222033Keywords:
Dynamic System Theory, written language, foreign language development, difference of learning effectsAbstract
The study of the dynamic development of linguistic proficiency could shed light on the acquisition process of a foreign language, as well as help identify the most suitable teaching strategies and suggestions for students at each stage. Based on the Dynamic System Theory, we focus on the linguistic development of four Chinese undergraduate students majoring in Spanish during the first academic year. None of the students had any previous knowledge of Spanish at the beginning of the study. By the end of the year, two of them reached level A2 while the other two reached level A1. The purpose of this article is to analyze the development characteristics of the four students as a whole, of the two students that reached levels A1 and A2 respectively, and of each student individually. The results show particular developmental features for each individual as well as between the two pairs that reached different levels, which are clearly different from the characteristics of the group as a whole. In some writing activities, however, all students showed the same development trend. In this work, we attempt to explore the reasons for the different language learning performances, and find that the factors that affect the linguistic developments include, among others, motivation, interest, writing subjects, input, and writing environment.
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