The Impact of Native Language on Mandarin Acquisition: A Study of Zhuang and Miao Students

This study was conducted with Zhuang and Miao students and Mandarin teachers in grades four to six in four township elementary schools in Dehou Township, Wenshan City, Yunnan Province. The purposes of this study were:l) to study the influences of the native language that affect Zhuang and Miao students when they learn Mandarin,2) to study teachers' opinions about their students' native language affects their learning when teaching Mandarin to Zhuang and Miao students. Based on Krejcie and Morgan's table, 186 students for questionnaires and 14 teachers were selected for interviews. The study is a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative research, which was statistically analyzed using percentages, means (̅x), standard deviation (S.D.), and narrative analysis. The research instruments were questionnaires and semi- structured interviews. The results revealed that I) the influences of the native language that affect Zhuang and Miao students when they learn Mandarin consisted of four aspects: (1) social context, (2) learner characteristics, (3) learning condions, and (4) learning process: Social Context was always level(̅x)= 2.70 and S.D=0.36