1 Introduction

This article introduces the application of corpus methods in the study of Chinese second language acquisition and emphasizes its importance in quantitative research. Scholars have revealed the characteristics and patterns of language use by analyzing a large amount of authentic language materials. Researchers such as Feng Liping, Sun Hongjuan (2010), and Zhang Baolin (2011) emphasized the application of corpus analysis in the study of acquisition order, as well as its role in ensuring objectivity and universality of research. Bi Jin et al. (2017) and Cao Xianwen (2020) respectively analyzed the application areas and frequency of corpus methods, as well as the main analytical methods in Chinese second language acquisition research. Although previous studies have summarized the application of corpus methods, there is still a lack of summarization on the development and problems of these methods. This article aims to review the development and shortcomings of corpus methods, in order to provide researchers with a deeper understanding of their usage conditions and fields. The chapter covers the definition, research significance, development history, progress in corpus collection, application results of error analysis, as well as the usage and existing problems in use case analysis and acquisition sequence research of corpus methods. Finally, the advantages and limitations of corpus methods were summarized, and their development prospects were discussed.

Analysis of Development History and Current Situation

By analyzing 128 relevant papers from 1984 to 2021, this study explores the application of corpus methods in the research of Chinese second language acquisition. The research fields are mainly divided into four categories: learner language characteristics, external factors, internal acquisition mechanisms, and learner research. The development of corpus methods has gone through three stages: the initial stage, the development stage, and the leap stage. The initial period (mid-1990s to 2004) focused on the study of language characteristics of learners, while the developmental period (2005-2012) began to involve internal acquisition mechanisms. The leap period (2013-2021) saw progress in multiple fields. The existing literature has performed well in corpus collection and error analysis, but there are shortcomings in use case analysis and acquisition sequence research, such as the lack of correct use case analysis, induction of use case types, insufficient research on acquisition sequence, single research methods, and lack of explanation of reasons.

3. Collection of Chinese Second Language Acquisition Corpus

Literature shows that research on Chinese second language acquisition has developed a scientifically diverse approach to corpus collection and screening. Researchers classify corpus sources into empirical, tracking, and corpus based. Since the 1980s, teaching practice methods have been used to collect language materials, such as Wang Zonghu's analysis of word usage errors by international students. In the late 1990s, with the establishment of corpora, research began to adopt two methods: sentence retrieval and manual text extraction. At the beginning of the 21st century, researchers from the perspective of generative grammar obtained language materials through introspection. Zhang Baolin proposed that when selecting language materials, attention should be paid to the relevance of content, the combination of sentences and paragraphs, and natural sentences from Chinese literary works should be prioritized. If necessary, foreign literature can be selected to ensure that the translation is close to natural Chinese.

Analysis of Errors in Chinese Second Language Acquisition

In depth exploration was conducted on the application of corpus methods in the analysis of errors in Chinese second language acquisition, and it was pointed out that current research has made certain progress in the classification of error types and the analysis of their causes. Most literature provides detailed statistics on the types of errors through quantitative analysis, and the analysis of the reasons is also more diverse. However, some studies still have the problem of directly applying previous biased type induction, and the analysis of the reasons is sometimes too general. The four types of errors proposed by Lu Jianji have been widely cited in practical research, but it is suggested that the types of errors should be summarized based on the learner's corpus. Through literature review, it was found that 23 articles met the requirements for error type induction and were classified using different methods or perspectives, such as the research of Chen Xiaohe, Zhou Xiaobing and Deng Xiaoning, Cai Shumei and Shi Chunhong. However, there are still 4 papers that directly or indirectly use Lu Jianji's classification. In terms of analyzing the causes of errors, current research is more detailed than the previous two stages, with more diverse classification of reasons, but a few literature analyses still appear vague. Zhang Baolin emphasized that a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods should be adopted, with a focus on quantitative analysis to enhance the objectivity and persuasiveness of research.

Analysis of 5 Chinese Second Language Acquisition Use Cases and Study on Acquisition Order

In the study of Chinese second language acquisition, the importance of correct use case analysis and acquisition sequence research has been emphasized, but there is currently a problem of neglecting the single method of correct use case analysis and acquisition sequence research. Correct use case analysis helps to comprehensively understand the acquisition of Chinese grammar projects by international students, while the induction of use case types contributes to the study of Chinese ontology and the discovery of acquisition order. In the study of acquisition sequence, the frequency and accuracy ranking method is the main approach, but other methods such as the correct use of relative frequency method and stage scoring method are less commonly used. In terms of explaining the reasons for the acquisition sequence, there is insufficient research and there is a need to strengthen the investigation of influencing factors. In addition, research concepts, theoretical methods, and corpus construction are closely related to insufficient research. Existing corpora have limitations, which hinder the study of acquisition order and correct use case analysis.

The role and limitations of corpus based methods

The corpus method has significant advantages in the study of Chinese second language acquisition, such as objectivity and universality, which can comprehensively reflect the language acquisition situation of learners. However, this method has limitations, such as limitations in the research field and an imbalance in the research content. To address these issues, it is recommended to improve corpus construction and transform research concepts, such as expanding corpus sources, adding semantic and pragmatic annotations, improving retrieval systems, and attempting to use deductive methods or a combination of deductive and inductive methods for research. With the development of corpora, the application prospects of corpus methods in Chinese second language acquisition research are broad, which will provide researchers with more scientific and reliable data results, and help summarize language use patterns and grasp the overall picture of language use.

7 Conclusion

This paper reviews the application process of corpus methods in Chinese second language acquisition research, analyzes its achievements and problems in corpus collection, error analysis, use case analysis, and acquisition sequence research, and explores its advantages and limitations. Improvement methods are proposed to promote the further development of this method in Chinese second language acquisition research.