International Chinese Language Education Online Teacher Training Program and Practice

Abstract

Current teacher training at the graduate level in international Chinese language education focuses on traditional face-to-face classroom teaching methods and therefore does not well meet the needs of the international Chinese language education industry. This study is based on the SCOLT (Synchronous Chinese Online Language Teaching) distance learning program between Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) and Massey University in New Zealand, which assigns Chinese language learners at Massey University to a BLCU graduate student as a tutor to teach Chinese language in a one-to-one online format. Facing the problem of international Chinese online teachers’ training, this paper adopts a qualitative research approach to address the issue of training international online Chinese language teaching teachers by using 450 post-class reflections from 93 student teachers. The analysis of teachers’ post-class reflections revealed teachers’ thinking, growth and progress. Combined with social learning theory, this study explores teacher preparation programs for international Chinese online teachers and provides ideas for international Chinese teacher development.