A Study on the Use of Conjunction by American Chinese Learners based on HSK Corpus

ABSTRACT
The study takes 112 Chinese compositions written by American Chinese learners collected from HSK corpus to analyze the use of conjunctions from the perspective of corpus linguistics and interlanguage theory. The study tries to find the most frequently misused conjunctions by American learners and the reasons why they tend to make such errors based on the classification of Chinese conjunctions in Chinese Proficiency Test Program. It is found that American Chinese learners tend to use conjunctions when writing Chinese compositions through qualitative, quantitative and error analysis. The most frequently used conjunction types include disjunctive, causal and progressive conjunctions. The most frequently used conjunctions are “因为”、“但是”、“所以”、“而且”. The most frequently misused conjunction types include causal, progressive and associated conjunctions. The most frequently misused conjunctions are “但是”、“而且”、“所以”. The error rate is also calculated to explore the reasons for errors. The study may provide pedagogical guidance for TCFL (Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language).

Keywords: American Chinese learners, Chinese conjunctions, HSK corpus