The inclusion of the diminutive in Spanish instruction in Chinese university programs

Abstract

In recent years, the number of native Chinese speakers who are students of Spanish has increased dramatically. In the experience as an instructor and according to the records in the Corpus of Spanish Learners, it has been observed that the Spanish diminutive, although frequently employed in the colloquial register of native Spanish speakers, is rarely used in the Spanish oral expression of Chinese students. Furthermore, many of them fail to fully understand the diminutive in a variety of contexts. This article hopes to include diminutive instruction within departments of Hispanic Philology in Chinese universities. Given that the diminutive has been routinely marginalized both in relation to teaching practices and in the content of manuals for Spanish as a foreign language employed in China. Taking into account the high frequency and nature of diminutive use among native Spanish speakers in everyday communication, we will here demonstrate the incorporation of diminutive instruction into the Spanish Audiovisual Comprehension course in order to better train native speakers of Chinese as competent Spanish listeners and speakers in communicative contact that will include the diminutive. In this way, native Chinese speakers can interact more naturally with native Spanish speakers while increasing both confidence and linguistic creativity.