Abstract:
In modern Chinese, the sentence "shi……de" is an affirmative sentence pattern which emphasizes time, place or manner etc. It is a widely used sentence pattern in both spoken and written discourses, yet the frequency of foreign students' mistakes in acquiring the sentence pattern is high. Therefore, the "shi……de" sentence pattern should be given much emphasis in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. In this study, researcher discusses the errors in “shi….de” sentence pattern used by Sri Lankan students who study Chinese as a foreign language at University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. This study is straightforward because many students find it difficult to use Chinese “shi….de” sentence pattern. Thus the study was focused on finding out the reasons, why the students feel that the Chinese “shi….de” sentence pattern is very difficult to learn. The study also attempts to find out solutions for the students‟ incorrect usage of Chinese “shi….de” sentence pattern. A survey was conducted based on a questionnaire which included ten major question categories to identify the students‟ knowledge in Chinese sentence patterns, their familiarity with the “shi…..de” sentence pattern, study sources and knowledge in Chinese grammar patterns. It was identified that the Chinese “shi….de” sentence pattern is very difficult for most of the students. This is a salient fact to discuss the problems students encounter regarding the “shi….de” sentence pattern. So the present study caters straightforward examination of the students‟ knowledge in the use of “shi…de” sentence pattern. It is important to highlight the reasons for their problems and to facilitate the students to learn “shi….de” sentence pattern correctly.
