International Journal of Education

Language, reflecting the thinking of a nation, showcases the temporality of English and the spatiality of Chinese. English tends to adopt temporal thinking, while Chinese favors spatial thinking. Scholars such as Wang Wenbin have revealed this fundamental distinction through comparative studies and formulated a systematic theory, which holds significant implications for the independent development of the Chinese grammatical system. This study reviews the current research status of spatio-temporal differences between English and Chinese at both linguistic and applied levels, encompassing detailed discussions at the lexical, syntactic, and textual levels. It aims to summarize the research hotspots in this field, sort out the research context, and point out that future research should expand cross-linguistic comparisons and integrate multi-faceted analyses to further refine the theoretical framework and broaden its application domains.

Contrastive study of English and Chinese; Temporality; Spatiality; Literature review