A Study of Effects of Mandarin Words Used as Verbs and Prepositions on Thai Learners and Instruction

Abstract

动介兼类词 are words that can be either verbs or prepositions. It is problematic for Thai learners who study Mandarin. The researcher aimed to enhance the effectiveness of Mandarin teaching. Therefore, the researcher investigated the origins of 动介兼类词 to analyze prepositions deriving from verbs and found that there were differences in the derivation levels of each word. Such differences could affect Thai learners’ understanding. Among them, words with a high level of derivation could be more comprehensible than those with medium or low levels. The researcher, then, studied the words gathered from the textbooks used in four courses, Foundation Mandarin I, II, III, and IV, of the Chinese Language Department, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Rangsit University, on the basis of cognitive linguistics. The result revealed that, in comparison with prepositions in the Thai language, those in Mandarin could be in the following three features: 1) those comparable to Thai prepositions, 2) those incomparable to Thai prepositions, and 3) those able to be either prepositions or verbs. The results gained could be specifically applied to teaching of 动介兼类词 for Thai learners.