A Study on the Errors of Near-Referring and Far-Referring Demonstrative Reference Words Made by Chinese Learners with English as Their First Language

This paper first analyzes the errors made by Chinese learners with English as their first language (L1) in acquiring Chinese demonstrative reference words (DRW) through examples of errors in their output. Then, it employs a comparative analysis to explore the differences in the near-referring and far-referring functions of four types of DRWs in Chinese and English. Consequently, it concludes that the errors of these learners stem from interference from their L1. The four types of DRWs analyzed are: (1) DRW referring to Person, objects, and events; (2) DRW referring to qualities and states; (3) DRW referring to manners; (4) DRW referring to degrees. Finally, the paper proposes targeted teaching strategies based on the characteristics of each type of error.