Abstract This study aims to investigate the effect of the continuation task (CT) on the acquisition of the Chinese spatial phrase structure (SPS) by learners of various L1 backgrounds learning Chinese as a second language (CSL). Two groups of participants were formed: a continuation group and a reading comprehension group. The former was required to continue in Chinese a text with its ending removed, while the latter needed to complete the Q&A questions after reading the same text. The effect of the tasks was measured by examining the CSL learners’ correct use of the Chinese SPS in three aspects — the circum-construction, the use of prepositions and the use of the locative. The study found that the continuation group made significant improvement from the pretest to the posttests while the reading comprehension group did not. Moreover, the continuation group outperformed the reading comprehension group significantly in the posttests, though there was no significant difference between them in the pretest. The results showed that CT can facilitate CSL learners’ acquisition of the Chinese SPS, with a better effect than the reading comprehension task.

中文翻译：

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继续学习任务对二语学习者汉语空间短语结构习得的影响

摘要本研究旨在研究继续学习任务（CT）对学习母语为第二语言（CSL）的不同母语背景学习者的汉语空间短语结构（SPS）习得的影响。形成了两组参与者：继续小组和阅读理解小组。要求前者继续用中文写完结尾的中文，而后者则需要在阅读完相同的文字后完成问答。任务的效果是通过从以下三个方面检查CSL学习者对中文SPS的正确使用来衡量的：环境构造，介词的使用和方位词的使用。研究发现，继续学习组从前测到后测都有显着改善，而阅读理解组则没有。而且，继续测试组在阅读测验中的表现明显优于阅读理解组，尽管在测验中他们之间没有显着差异。结果表明，CT可以帮助CSL学习者获得中文SPS，其效果要比阅读理解任务更好。