Chinese Course Research Articles

Factors Affecting the Motivation of Students from an International School in Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language

The main focus of the study was to determine the factors of motivation among the G6-G10 students who study Chinese as a foreign language at Southville International School and Colleges (SISC). The result was expected to serve as a basis for the development of an action plan to motivate the students to learn the Chinese language further. This research will be designed on a quantitative descriptive correlational method, where numeric score ratings are assigned to gather the assessment of a specific respondent to observe a structured pattern. Quantitative research allows for objectivity, fast data collection and analysis of the data in a statistical form that can provide a thorough overview of the study (Health Research Funding, 2018). Aside from the descriptive quantitative design, correlation will also be used to further understand how variables relate with each other; according to I-Chant A. Chiang, Rajiv S. Jhangiani, and Paul C. Price (2013), correlation research is a non-experimental research design in which two variables are measured and assessed on the aspect of their statistical relationship in strength and range. The respondents' personal interest affects their motivation towards learning the Chinese language; according to them, they like challenging class work in Chinese because they can learn new knowledge, and they want to do better than their previous performance were among their several reasons. With parental encouragement, the students shared that their parents’ allow them to learn from previous poor performance; hence, they have better grades in Chinese courses now than before. Further, teachers showed encouragement by providing an outline of the topic to make it easier for the students to be proficient in the Chinese course, and most of the time, teachers do not judge the students when they answered questions in the Chinese language incorrectly.

반중(反中) 정서의 확산 속 중국, 중국어, 중국어학습에 대한 대학생 인식 분석

This study analyzed the perceptions of students who studied beginner-level Chinese for one semester in college Chinese courses. The recent deterioration in relations between South Korea and China has led to a rise in anti-Chinese sentiment, and this could lead to a decline in Chinese language education. The purpose of this study is to find out whether they actually have a low opinion of China or the Chinese language, and whether they have negative thoughts about learning Chinese. This paper analyzed perceptions of China, Chinese language, and Chinese language learning, changes in perceptions through college Chinese class, and learners' perceptions and intentions to continue learning Chinese. The results of the analysis showed that learners themselves recognize the importance of Chinese language, and more importantly, their positive perception of Chinese language affects their willingness to continue learning Chinese in the future. It can be seen that we should focus on developing relevant teaching methods and educational contents in the future.

The Students’ Development of Discourse Competence in the Elementary Chinese Courses for International Learners

Based on the theoretical approaches to interlanguage and discourse cohesiveness, this study examines international students' growth in discourse awareness and discourse competence in the teaching of elementary Chinese reading and writing, and explores a set of assessment methods for teaching discourse. The learners' knowledge and production of Chinese conjunctive words were assessed with multiple test methods, including the sentence sequencing test for testing learners' cognitive understanding of discourse cohesiveness, the elicitation tasks for assessing learners' production of conjunctive words, the tests of picture-based sentence writing and essay writing for evaluating learners' discourse awareness of the cohesiveness in form and meaning. 13 students were recruited by us to participate in these tests. A comprehensive discussion of the data supports that appropriate reading and writing instruction can develop learners' discourse competence and enhance their discourse awareness to a certain extent.

A Practical Exploration of the Holistic Module Learning Model

The holistic module learning model was initially developed by the Shandong 271 Education Group as part of their efforts to reform classroom instruction. With the progress of basic education reform in China, the model has evolved into a pedagogical approach that prioritizes student-centered learning and teacher-guided instruction, with the goal of nurturing students’ self-development and exploratory skills. Furthermore, the productivity of this approach has been demonstrated through experiments conducted by various schools across the nation. This study provided a concise overview of the historical development of the model and demonstrated its core elements and implementation strategies through its application in Chinese courses. The aim was to offer valuable insights into holistic module learning for the basic education community.

Enhancing learner motivation by adapting strategies from the ARCS model: experience from Chinese online course design and teaching

Abstract Compared with traditional language teaching in a face-to-face setting, online language teaching elicits new challenges that require instructors to adopt new strategies when designing and delivering online courses. One of the challenges, according to our literature review (Cull, S., Reed, D., & Kirk, K. (2010, June 23–25, 28–29). Student motivation and engagement in online courses [Workshop session]. In Teaching geoscience online – a workshop for digital faculty, Virtual workshop. https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/online/motivation.html) and our instructors’ observations of online Chinese courses, was that college students suffered from loss of learning motivation, which impacted their learning experiences and outcomes, resulting in a downhill, vicious cycle. This paper discusses various adaptations that we designed to improve learner motivation by applying Keller’s ARCS model (Keller, J. M. (1983). Motivational design of instruction. In C. M. Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional-design theories and models: An overview of their current status (pp. 383–434). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Keller, J. M. (1984). The use of the ARCS model of motivation in teacher training. Aspects of Educational Technology, 17, 140–145, Keller, J. M. (1987). Development and use of the ARCS model of instructional design. Journal of Instructional Development, 10(3), 2–10, Keller, J. M. (2010). Motivational design for learning and performance. Springer) during the process of (re)designing online Chinese courses from 2018 to 2020. Among many theories and models of learner motivation, Keller’s ARCS model stands out with its focus on instructional design, with four main practical categories: attention; relevance; confidence and satisfaction. This model further provides detailed subcategories for improving learner motivation, e.g., increasing variations in course material layout to capture students’ interest and providing real-time, encouraging feedback to enhance students’ beliefs in their competence. Our contextualised discussion of the ARCS model will benefit teachers and course designers seeking to enhance learner motivation in their online courses.

Exploring the learning benefits of collaborative writing in L2 Chinese: a product-oriented perspective

Abstract This study explored the benefits of collaborative writing in L2 Chinese by (a) comparing the texts written collaboratively versus individually and (b) investigating the effects of collaborative writing on subsequent individual writing. Forty-four English-speaking students enrolled in an intermediate Chinese course were assigned to a collaborative writing group and an individual writing group. All participants completed a timed in-class writing task at the beginning and end of the semester, working as pre-and post-tests. The participants in the collaborative writing group completed two out-of-class writing assignments in pairs through online written chats, while those in the individual writing group completed the same tasks individually. The texts were analyzed for content, organization, character and lexical accuracy, and non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U tests and Wilcoxon signed ranks tests) were performed on the data for statistical analyses. The online chats were segmented into different episodes (e.g., language- and content-related episodes) to provide in-depth explanation for the findings. The effect of collaboration was examined from two aspects. The comparison between the texts written collaboratively versus individually showed that the collaborative texts were significantly better than those composed individually in organization and lexical accuracy. The pre-post comparison between collaborative and individual writing groups observed that collaboration contributed positively to subsequent individual writing quality by significantly impacting its content and lexical accuracy.

Applying DBR to design protocols for synchronous online Chinese learning: An activity theoretic perspective

While research on synchronous online language learning has increased rapidly over the past twenty years, little attention has been given to the design, implementation, and interactions associated with the synchronous online Chinese learning environment and students' learning experiences. To fill this research gap, this study applies a design-based research (DBR) method to design, implement, evaluate, revise, and redesign protocols iteratively from an activity theory perspective. During three iterations, multiple qualitative data sources were collected to explore the influences of protocols on the experiences of an instructor and 12 students in a synchronous online Chinese course. The study reveals seven major modifications made during the development of the protocols with regard to the tasks of presenters and commentators (division of labor); time, the sequence of speeches, the submission of notes, and the use of videos (rules); and communication methods and network testing requirements (tools). These findings are used to shape the final protocol and improve its effectiveness for students' learning experiences. In addition, the process shows how the elements of activity theory dynamically mediate learning. The present study emphasizes a set of contextualized design, implementation, and evaluation experiences that contribute to synchronous online language learning, protocol pedagogy, and activity theory.

Integrating translanguaging into assessment: students’ responses and perceptions

Abstract This paper explores how beginners in a second language (L2) perform on and perceive an online writing test that is designed based on the notion of translanguaging. The test was administered during emergency remote teaching when many L2 courses navigated creative solutions to online testing. Situated in an ab initio Mandarin Chinese course in New Zealand, 163 students’ first-time digital compositions in Chinese and responses to an immediate follow-up survey on their translanguaging practices were analysed as part of evaluating a new assessment design. Students’ digital compositions demonstrated purposeful translanguaging in assessment conditions, judiciously negotiating their existing linguistic knowledge when completing the task. The writing assessment showed augmented task completion when learners’ trans-semiotic repertoires were recognised as a legitimate resource for identity expression. The survey found that most students supported the creative design that integrated digital multimodal composition and translanguaging, replacing the monolingually-focused handwriting-based test tasks. Some students were sceptical of the translanguaging approach and found it unexpected, unnecessary, and inauthentic. The study suggests that L2 writing test design might incorporate translanguaging as a creative and transformative assessment facet to genuinely engage beginning learners in meaningful writing tasks when their proficiency level is limited.

Envisioning a successful professional self through a negotiation‐themed advanced Chinese course

AbstractA great deal of research has recognized the necessity of receiving proper predeparture training for being able to truly benefit from international internship experiences. However, few researchers have taken the next step by exploring how domestic programs could pedagogically and psychologically prepare students for their professional experiences abroad. This study examines the role that a language‐for‐specific‐purposes course plays in the process of preparing students for their upcoming internship experiences in the target culture, with a focus on intercultural negotiation. The findings suggest the students were able to successfully develop the cultural awareness and communicative skills necessary to engage in the negotiation of cultural boundaries. Furthermore, the study discusses how the introduction of a role model, in‐depth workplace scenarios, and creating a holistic view of one's learning experiences are the three pedagogical elements that contribute to the construction of a professional L2 self.

Construction of Ideological and Political Evaluation System for College Chinese Courses in Vocational Colleges Based on the Theoretical Framework of CIPP Evaluation Model

The core of ideological and political evaluation in vocational colleges is actually to evaluate the implementation of the task of "cultivating morality and cultivating talents". Traditional evaluation methods are mainly based on subjective judgment and empirical evaluation, while quantitative evaluation methods based on objective data are rarely adopted in practice. Based on the theoretical framework of the CIPP evaluation model, a questionnaire for the ideological and political evaluation of college Chinese courses was designed around four key factors: curriculum teaching background, curriculum teaching investment, curriculum teaching process, and curriculum teaching effectiveness. 550 questionnaires were distributed to students participating in this course teaching, of which 520 were valid questionnaires. After conducting reliability and validity analysis on the survey data using SPSS software, and using EFA and CFA analysis methods to jointly verify, quantitative analysis was used to evaluate the ideological and political quality of college Chinese courses. A college Chinese course ideological and political quality evaluation system was constructed with four key elements as the core, namely teaching background, teaching investment, teaching process, and teaching effectiveness.

High dropout rates in secondary Chinese courses: are characters to be blamed?

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons for low retention rates among students in the Chinese classes in upper secondary education in the Czech Republic. The principal research question was whether Chinese characters were the main reason why many students decided to stop attending their Chinese classes. Semi-structured interviews with former and present secondary students of Chinese were employed in order to understand the students’ attitudes and beliefs regarding learning Chinese characters and the Chinese language in general. It was found that the characters did not deter students from continuing the class, even though they were perceived as challenging and difficult. On the contrary, they were typically the students’ favourite aspect of Chinese. A lack of personal motivation was identified as the main factor that differentiated the students who quit their Chinese course from their more successful counterparts.

Research on the Significance and Problems of Heroes in the Textbook Compilation

A large number texts depicting heroes have been compiled in the ministry edition of Chinese textbooks in junior high school, such as Deng Jiaxian, a scientist who has ardent love for the motherland and is fearless of difficulties and dangers; Wen Yiduo, a patriot who is devoted to study and has a strong sense of righteousness; Ye Shengtao, a scholar who is noted for his eticulous scholarship and attends to everything personally; Alizer Buffy, an unknown old man who is devoted to tree-planting in obscurity, and so on. The nalysis, understanding and reading of these heroic stories and the interpretation of the significance and value of the selection of heroic images into Chinese textbooks are conducive to grasping the core quality of Chinese courses and improving the teaching of heroic images; inheriting and carrying forward the fine civilization and historical and cultural traditions of mankind, and establishing national cultural self-confidence and pride; perfecting the value system of educators and empowering students to grow healthily; guiding teenagers with immature values to establish healthy and upward values.

Motivational design for enhancing behavioral engagement in a flipped Chinese course

Motivational design for enhancing behavioral engagement in a flipped Chinese course

Research on the Strategy of Ideological and Political Education of Chinese Course in Secondary Vocational Schools

It is the fundamental task of current education to establish morality, and ideological and political education is the main way to accomplish this task. Chinese has unique advantages in developing and expanding traditional culture. Chinese teachers in secondary vocational schools should give full play to the ideological and political functions of Chinese, and integrate the ideological and political elements of the curriculum into Chinese teaching. This paper studies the advantages and current situation of the implementation of ideological and political education in secondary vocational schools’ Chinese teaching, and then reforms the teaching mode. The rich ideological and political elements contained in secondary vocational Chinese textbooks are excavated. The ideological and political education is exerted through the whole process of “before, during and after class” teaching. Finally, the teaching mode and implementation strategy of secondary vocational schools’ Chinese teaching is established.

Promoting international high‐school students' Chinese language learning achievements and perceptions: A mind mapping‐based spherical video‐based virtual reality learning system in Chinese language courses

AbstractBackgroundAs adequate support, virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly introduced into the classroom to help students learn a new language. However, empirical studies exploring the educational potential of using 360° spherical video‐based virtual reality (SVVR) in high‐school Chinese language classrooms are still lacking.ObjectivesA mind mapping‐based SVVR learning system is proposed for international high‐school students' Chinese courses and examines its effects on improving Chinese learning achievements and perceptions among Grade 10 students who learn Chinese as a foreign language.MethodsThis study adopted a quasi‐experiment design. Participants (N = 66) were assigned to one of three conditions: mind mapping‐based SVVR (MMBSVVR), conventional SVVR (CSVVR), or traditional lecturing (TL). Our mixed‐method approach employed pre‐and post‐tests to measure Chinese learning achievements, questionnaires to measure Chinese learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy, and semi‐structured interviews to further explore students' feelings and attitudes about Chinese courses in corresponding learning environments.Results and ConclusionsThe results showed that the MMBSVVR classroom significantly improved high students' Chinese learning achievements in Chinese vocabulary and making sentence, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy. Moreover, SVVR stimulates students' learning interest and class participation, and mind mapping provides students with a clear guide to arrange the knowledge. These findings help interpret the relationships between MMBSVVR and learning achievements, Chinese learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy in an international high school Chinese courses, thus providing insight on integrating MMBSVVR into existing classrooms.

Overview on Teaching Strategies of Traditional Chinese Historical and Biographical Literature in Vocational Colleges

Traditional Chinese historical and biographical literature contains rich national spirit. Teaching historical and biographical literature works in the Chinese courses of vocational colleges, guiding students to read these classics in an immersive way, can help them better understand the spiritual code of the Chinese nation. For many reasons, many students in vocational colleges are not very interested in historical and historical literature works, which reduces the teaching effects of traditional Chinese culture. To solve this problem, this paper analyses the current teaching situations of traditional historical and biographical literature works in vocational colleges, expounds the necessity of teaching these works, and proposes the teaching strategies of these works in Chinese courses of vocational colleges based on teaching practice.

The Implications of Mental Lexicon Theory for the Vocabulary Arrangement of Second Language Textbooks—Taking Chinese Course (Book II) as an Example

The Implications of Mental Lexicon Theory for the Vocabulary Arrangement of Second Language Textbooks—Taking Chinese Course (Book II) as an Example

A multimodal analysis of the online translanguaging practices of international students studying Chinese in a Chinese university

Abstract Previous research has recognised the value of translanguaging in Chinese language teaching but has focused primarily on using English as the medium of instruction. However, teachers and students may not share a common language with which to communicate in a multilingual class, which is a significant challenge in Chinese learning and teaching. This study incorporates translanguaging into the pedagogical design by implementing a translanguaging-based task, perceiving Chinese learners as creative agents orchestrating numerous semiotic resources in meaning-making. The participants were a cohort of beginner-level Chinese learners with diverse ethnolinguistic backgrounds taking an online Chinese course at a Chinese university. Data sources included the participants’ video-recorded oral presentations and their reflective journals. Drawing on social semiotic theory, analysis of the video recordings shows that the learners moved creatively between modalities (written and spoken, visual and auditory, gesture and drawing) that worked together as an assemblage to make meaning beyond their linguistic capacity while ensuring audience comprehension. The reflective journals, however, reveal ambivalent attitudes: using multilingual resources eased concerns about the audience’s reception of the participants’ meaning-making, but also generated guilt among the participants. Based on these findings, this study argues for the transformative power of translanguaging-based pedagogy and highlights the communicative affordance of semiotic resources including cultural artefacts and knowledge. The pedagogical implications of designing translanguaging-based tasks in the teaching of Chinese and other Asian languages are discussed.

印尼慈育大学中文系一二年级学生综合课初级词汇教学研究

摘要 词汇在学习外语当中有着非常重要的作用，在学习汉语的词汇时许多学习者会遇到一些困难。随着在印尼使用汉语言的发展和汉语学习者不断增加，学习汉语词汇的质量也有待提高，特别是在基础学习者学习汉语综合课里的词汇。在本研究中，作者运用认知语言学中的原型范畴理论，分析了中文系一二年级的学习者对学习和使用汉语词汇的掌握和理解能力尤其是在学综合课。本研究旨在找出学习者在学习综合课中的词汇时经常遇到的问题和困难。本研究成果有助于汉语学习领域的发展。本研究结果有望为提高学习汉语词汇的质量提供更具体的解决方案，特别是为一二年级的学习者在学习综合课里的词汇。 关键词 : 中文；生词；综合课；一二年级学生；慈育大学 Abstract Vocabulary has a very important role in learning foreign languages, many learners will encounter some difficulties when learning Chinese characters. With the development of the use of Chinese language in Indonesia and the increasing number of Chinese learners, the quality of learning Chinese vocabulary needs to be improved, especially for basic learners to learn vocabulary in comprehensive Chinese courses. In this study, the author uses the prototype category theory in cognitive linguistics to analyze the mastery and comprehension ability of the first- and second-year learners of the Chinese department in learning and using Chinese vocabulary, especially in comprehensive courses. The purpose of this study is to find out the problems and difficulties that learners often encounter when learning vocabulary in integrated lessons. The results of this research contribute to the development of the field of Chinese language learning. The results of this study are expected to provide more specific solutions for improving the quality of learning Chinese vocabulary, especially for first- and second-grade learners who are learning vocabulary in comprehensive courses. Keywords: Chinese language; Vocabulary; Comprehensive courses; First and second year students; Bunda Mulia University

Translanguaging as a decolonising approach: students’ perspectives towards integrating Indigenous epistemology in language teaching

Abstract This study explores how translanguaging has been enacted in a university-wide curriculum transformation project in an additional language programme in Aotearoa New Zealand. Its aim is to reveal students’ perspectives on integrating Indigenous epistemology into the curriculum of a beginner-level Chinese course. The survey data, collected from 155 students, show that most students react positively to the idea of embedding Indigenous epistemology into language teaching through a translanguaging assessment design. Moreover, students’ translingual practices in their digital multimodal compositions demonstrate that they can enact translanguaging to enable the coexistence of different bodies of knowledge while learning an additional language. Based on these findings, I suggest that language teaching should integrate place-based worldviews that are meaningful to all local students. It is also important to adopt translanguaging as a decolonising approach to facilitate a pluriversal epistemological stance that promotes plurilingualism in language education. The nexus between translanguaging and decoloniality needs to be explored further, as does the possibility for cross-civilisational learning through translanguaging.