Chinese As Foreign Language Research Articles

Learning Strategies for Chinese as Foreign Language Learners in College: A Qualitative Study

Embarking on the journey of learning Chinese as a foreign language in college entails grappling with a myriad of distinctive challenges, ranging from navigating its intricate writing system to mastering its tonal pronunciation and unraveling its rich cultural nuances. In this complex landscape of language acquisition, comprehending the nuanced learning strategies wielded by Chinese foreign language learners becomes paramount. These strategies not only illuminate the pathways to effective teaching but also hold the key to enhancing student outcomes. Despite the burgeoning interest in Chinese language education, there exists a conspicuous dearth of qualitative studies delving into the intricacies of learning strategies within college settings. To address this gap, this study adopts a qualitative research paradigm, employing semi-structured interviews as its methodological backbone. Through these interviews, the study endeavors to excavate profound insights into the diverse repertoire of learning strategies embraced by Chinese foreign language learners in the collegiate milieu. At its core, the study's primary objective is twofold: to meticulously explore and rigorously analyze the spectrum of learning strategies woven into the fabric of Chinese foreign language learning at the college level. By peering into the multifaceted approaches employed by students, the study aspires to engender a nuanced comprehension of effective pedagogical methodologies. Moreover, the findings are poised to serve as a compass, guiding the design and implementation of tailored language learning interventions tailored to the unique needs and aspirations of Chinese language learners in college environments.

Every cloud has a silver lining: a person-centred analysis of foreign language learners’ motivation and engagement in Chinese universities

ABSTRACT Purpose This study aimed to identify different profiles of foreign language learners' motivation and engagement (ME) and examine their relationships with university-level learning environments (i.e. supportive facilities, academic freedom, and learning resources) and students' generic learning outcomes (i.e. academic efficacy and overall satisfaction with language learning). Methodology With a sample of 1,005 foreign language learners in Chinese universities, the study adopted a person-centred approach and conducted the latent profile analysis to identify distinct ME profiles. The robust three-step method (R3STEP) was used to test how university-level learning environments contributed to the categories of language learners' ME. The Block-Croon-Hagenaars approach (BCH) was conducted to reveal how different ME profiles were related to learners' generic learning outcomes. Findings The study identified three profiles of language learners' ME with distinctive characteristics, and unraveled their relationships with environmental antecedents and students' learning outcomes. Specifically, academic freedom and learning resources played a significant role in shaping these profiles. Interestingly, the seemingly “maladaptive” learners reported higher levels of academic efficacy and overall satisfaction. Value This study provided new insights into the positive role of maladaptive motivation, especially negative emotions, in enhancing engagement and learning outcomes among Chinese foreign language learner.

Exploring the Impact of Online Teaching Factors on International Students’ Control-Value Appraisals and Achievement Emotions in a Foreign Language Context

Drawing upon Pekrun’s (2006) control–value theory of achievement emotions, the present study explores the relations between online teaching factors (i.e., teachers’ information and communications technology (ICT) competence and provision of structure) and students’ control–value appraisals and achievement emotions (i.e., enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety) in an online foreign language learning context. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 international students and 6 teachers who were involved in a Chinese foreign language course delivered online during the coronavirus pandemic. Results from the thematic analysis showed that both students’ and teachers’ positive evaluations of teachers’ ICT competence and provision of structure were associated with students’ increased control beliefs and intrinsic value, but not necessarily with utility value. According to the participants, the two increased appraisals related to students’ greater enjoyment and reduced feelings of boredom and anxiety during the online language learning process. Findings are discussed in light of the role of online teaching factors in shaping students’ appraisals and emotional experiences in online environments, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic.

A Review on Foreign Language Education Policies in China from 1949 to 2023

This paper reviews on the topic of foreign language education policies in China from 1949 to 2023. It mainly focuses on English and Russian. In this paper, the timeline is separated by three important timepoint. The first important section is in 1949. As the People's Republic of China came into being, complicated and convoluted foreign language education policies in China started to emerge. The second important section is in 1978. In this year, Chinese government launched the famous national strategy of reform and opening up, and thus many changes in Chinese foreign language education policy happened. The third important section is in 2021, and in this year, Chinese government launched the Double Reduction Policy. This is a policy aiming to alleviate students' homework burden and off campus training burden in the compulsory educational stage. This policy uses various kinds of measures to reduce students' burden in academic learning, help families who cannot afford luxurious after-class tutoring fee, and enable children to have more time and space needed for all round development. In general, this paper concludes the development of foreign language education policies in China from 1949 to 2023 and gives some points in economic and historical effects to English and Russian learning during this historical process.

“For me, it is important to maintain self while adapting.” Understanding Chinese foreign language teachers’ identity in an intercultural context

ABSTRACT This qualitative exploratory study addresses how Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) teachers perceive their identity in an intercultural context in the Netherlands. In this study with twenty-one native Chinese-speaking language teachers, empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Foucault’s poststructuralist view of identity is employed to conceptualize teachers’ identity. The findings show teachers’ perceptions of their identity are shaped by their cultural and educational background, as well as their teaching experiences in an intercultural context. CFL teachers’ professional identity adapts during the process of interacting with students from another cultural background. Although CFL teachers sometimes struggle during this process of transformation, they generally showed willingness to adjust. The findings indicated that even if teachers’ identity reconstruction is inevitable in the cross-cultural setting, most CFL teachers hold onto their primary Chinese identity. Implications for teacher professional development and teaching Chinese in intercultural settings are discussed, for instance, the need for pedagogical courses that fit the Dutch educational context and consider the Chinese language’s specific features, and for the creation of a collaborative CFL teaching community.

Graphemic Awareness Development of Polish Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language

Metalinguistic orthographic awareness plays a crucial role in the development of Chinese language proficiency: writing, reading, and learning new words. However, few studies have explored the topic using qualitative methods. The aim of this work is to explore how the perception of Chinese characters of Chinese foreign language learners changes along with their proficiency. The responses were collected from 43 Polish university students of Chinese with the use of a graphemic awareness test during which participants were to decide on correctness of presented pseudo-characters. The results of this study show that beginners focus first and foremost on correctness of the strokes, the intermediate learners’ attention shifts to character elements and their correct position, and the advanced learners analyze the characters taking into consideration both character elements and structure of characters. It is suggested that the overall rapid development of graphemic awareness in the study group might be due to the explicit instruction. The conclusion can be drawn that the described shift in learners’ perception is a result of them learning to direct their attention towards the critical orthographic aspects of the characters.

Exploring the English Teaching Approach of “Integrating Reading and Writing to Promote Learning through Writing” Based on “Cultivation of Key Literacy in the Subject of English” and Its Rationale Analysis

The English curriculum based on the cultivation of key competences in the Subject of English should cultivate students’ key competence in four aspects, namely, language ability, cultural awareness, thinking quality and learning ability. The English Teaching Approach of “Integrating Reading and Writing to Promote Learning through Writing” creates a language environment suitable for Chinese foreign language learners. Through the teaching process of integrating reading and writing, students are trained to master basic English knowledge and skills, appreciate excellent cultures, learn to apply critical thinking and innovative thinking, and acquire how to learn independently. This teaching approach provides a theoretical and practical teaching platform and starting point for the real implementation of the curriculum goal of “the Cultivation of Key Competences in the Subject of English”, which is helpful to achieve the national education goal of “strengthening moral education and cultivating people”.

Language Learning Motivations among Turkish Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language: A Survey of Five Universities in Turkey.

Research on language learning motivations has been extensive. However, research on learners' motivations for learning Chinese has been underexplored compared to that for learning English. The current study aimed to investigate the motivations among 256 Turkish learners of Chinese as foreign language (CFL) who studied at five universities in Turkey. Participants completed an adapted questionnaire based on Gardner's Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). A series of statistical analysis revealed three major findings. First, integrativeness, attitudes towards learning situation and attitudes towards learning Chinese were identified as the three most important motivational variables, followed by instrumentality, and parental encouragement. Language anxiety and passive motivation seemed to play a weaker role in Turkish CFL learners' motivations for learning Chinese at the tertiary level. Second, the results also show that females exhibited higher motivation to learn the target language compared to their male peers. Third, the choice of major among CFL learners appeared to influence their language learning motivations, with a notable distinction between Chinese majors and non-Chinese majors in five motivational variables: integrativeness attitudes towards the learning situation, language anxiety, parental encouragement, and passive motivation.

On the Appropriateness of CLT And TBLT in The Chinese Foreign Language Teaching Environment

With the comprehensive promotion of the new round of basic education curriculum reform in China, the new curriculum standard advocates to change the tendency of the English curriculum to pay too much attention to the explanation and teaching of grammar and vocabulary knowledge, and neglect the cultivation of students' practical language usability, to achieve this goal, the Communicative Learning Teaching Method (CLT) and the TBLT method (TBLT) were popular at one time. The paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the two teaching methods according to their definitions and points out that teachers should choose the appropriate English teaching method according to comprehensive factors such as students' needs, social environment, and learning objectives.

The Situation, Policies, and Development of Foreign Language Education in Contemporary China

Foreign language education is an important part of Chinese education, but the overall foreign language education in China is still relatively underdeveloped. Foreign language education and policies in contemporary China are closely related to China’s political, economic, and social development. The contemporary Chinese foreign language education and policies, since the establishment of New China in 1949, can be divided into four periods. The first period is a period of domination by the Russian language (1949–1956), the second period is a period of exploration and transformation (1956–1966), the third period is a period of interruption (1966–1978), and the fourth period is a period of development and improvement (1978 to present). Understanding foreign language education and policies in contemporary Chinese universities can contribute to the future development of foreign language education and policies in China.

A Review of Pre-university English Language Education Policies in China 2011-2022

Chinese foreign language education policies (FLEPs) are changing during years of development in aspects of national planning, education, and policy formulation. And the most widely acknowledged foreign language in China is English. This paper critically reviews English language education planning (ELEP) in China under the historical context from 2011 to 2022. The ELEP developments are related to the modern era's economic, ideological, and political changes. At the institutional level, English is considered without controversy as a universal language that promotes national development and offers personal opportunity. However, the English-as-threat notion has been repetitively mentioned in the history of policy development. Examining the political alterations shows that even with doubts and concerns, providing pre-university students with English language education is inevitably strategic. And from reviewing a series of officially published documents and relevant research reports, this study ends with the implications for both English learners and educators in China. As the instrumental role of English has remained essentially unchanged, the concept that teaching language with its culture should be emphasized and encouraged in relation to English teaching and learning standards. Learning English is not only about learning a foreign language, it also involves learning a fresh way of thinking.

Effects of Critical Thinking Disposition on Foreign Language Proficiency in Foreign Language Learning: Evidence from China

Critical thinking is among the variables that have recently become increasingly prominent in foreign language learning. However, there is a biased research focus on the role of CT skills, and empirical evidence on the relationships between CT disposition and foreign language learning is scant. This cross-sectional study aimed to bridge this gap by examining the effects of overall CT disposition as well as its sub-constructs (open-mindedness, perseverance, reflectiveness, inquisitiveness, and self-confidence) on foreign language proficiency. The study mainly discussed the research questions of how CT disposition was related to and to what extent it could predict learners’ foreign language proficiency. This research employed Pearson correlation analysis, regression analysis, and one-way ANOVA to analyze the data collected from a sample of 391 Chinese foreign language learners at Jiangxi Normal University and Zaozhuang University. The instrument adopted to assess the participants’ CT disposition was newly proposed in Chinese in the current study. The results demonstrated that both overall and sub-constructs of CT disposition were positively related to learners’ foreign language proficiency. Foreign language learners embracing different levels of CT disposition displayed significant differences in their foreign language proficiency. Except for perseverance, the other four dispositional traits (open-mindedness, reflectiveness, inquisitiveness, and self-confidence) toward CT were found to be significantly positive predictors of learners’ foreign language proficiency in the Chinese context. The positive impacts of CT disposition triggered in foreign language learning in the present research give an empirical grounding to the cultivation of foreign language learners’ CT dispositional factors to facilitate their foreign language development. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future exploration and research were also discussed.

Investigating Student Development of Intercultural Communication Competence through Collaborative Online International Learning

This dissertation is a qualitative case study detailing the intercultural communication competence (ICC) development of seven Chinese foreign language learners who participated in Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) activities at a regional U.S. university with a group of native Chinese speakers. Multiple qualitative data sources - including semi-structured interviews, observations, questionnaires, and reflection journals - were collected over two years. Drawing on sociocultural and transformative learning theories, this study disclosed four findings that practitioners and researchers can build upon to promote language development and intercultural learning in foreign language coursework through virtual exchange.

Reflection on Theory and Practice of Foreign Language Education from the Perspective of National Cultural Security

As a language tool for international communication, foreign languages are not only a unique means of competition among social fields, but also an important demand of national security strategy. This paper reconsiders the problems of Chinese foreign language education under national cultural security in theory and practice, and leads the organic integration of national cultural security and ideological and political education of foreign language curriculum through value guidance. It intends to propose a new era of national cultural security concept of foreign language education in China, in which the ontological humanistic value demand of Chinese culture is in line with the national development strategic goal, and the cultivation of international vision in cross-cultural communication is in line with the construction of national cultural security concept. The research on this topic highlights the awareness of national cultural security in foreign language education, which has certain research value and important practical guiding significance.

Retrospective and Prospective Analysis of Chinese Foreign Language Education Policies (1949-2018)

Retrospective and Prospective Analysis of Chinese Foreign Language Education Policies (1949-2018)

Exploring Chinese Foreign Language Aptitude among Undergraduates in a Public Sector University

Foreign Language learning is relatively not a new concept within Pakistan. As, young students in order to avail opportunities abroad learn foreign languages for better exposure and cultural assimilation in the new context. Previously, French and German languages were two foreign languages that students used to acquire. However, with the introduction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, new realities and opportunities have been explored. As a result, of this expansionist project, universities within Pakistan are offering Chinese language courses along with the relevant degree programs. Under the current circumstances, there is a sheer need to investigate the beliefs with regard to foreign language aptitude towards Chinese as a foreign language. Therefore, the present study examined the foreign language aptitude of undergraduates ‘who were learning Chinese as a compulsory foreign language course in a Public Sector University in Karachi. For this quantitative study, data was collected from 200 undergraduate students using BALLI questionnaire. The descriptive statistics was used to analyze the quantitative data. The findings reveal that undergraduates hold broad range of mixed beliefs about learning Chinese. They hold strong positive beliefs about foreign language aptitude and their expectations from Chinese in future. Also, curriculum designers, decision makers and teachers must be aware of undergraduates’ beliefs which are essential in terms of improving curriculum and teaching methodologies.

Mindsets as predictors for Chinese young language learners’ negative emotions in online language classes during the pandemic: mediating role of emotion regulation

ABSTRACT With a post-pandemic churn gaining steam, foreign language (FL) learning and teaching are becoming increasingly challenging. This study investigated young FL learners’ language mindsets, negative emotions, emotion regulation, and their relations in online FL classes during the Covid-19 pandemic. An altogether 640 young Chinese FL learners aged between 11 and 19 from a snowball sampling were enrolled and surveyed. Three major findings were obtained. First, the participants overall reported a higher growth mindset toward their FL learning and were experiencing a medium magnitude of negative emotions in online FL classes, with the feelings of shame, anxiety, and boredom being strongest, followed by anger and hopelessness. They demonstrated a relatively high level of emotion regulation when learning the FL online. Second, the growth language mindset (significantly) negatively and the fixed language mindset significantly and positively predicted the participants’ negative emotions in online classes. Third, a ‘growth language mindset – emotion regulation – emotion’ pattern emerged in the data, with the emotion regulation mediating the predictive effects of the participants’ growth language mindset on negative emotions (boredom and anger) in online FL learning. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research were also discussed.

Interactive Learning Between Chinese Students Learning English and English Students Leaning Chinese on the Platform of Wiki

This research investigates the interaction between English students learning Chinese in the UK and Chinese students learning English in China via a wiki platform. Activity theory and legitimate peripheral participation theory were employed as a theoretical framework; wiki was embedded as an interactive learning tool. The findings revealed that Chinese native speakers assisted English students learning Chinese as foreign language (CFL) by means of reorganizing word orders and restructuring sentence patterns. The usages of clarification and elaboration were more frequent than the usages of added and deleted information. Both CFL and English as foreign language (EFL) students interacted with each other in attending to language forms through the essay correction and revision process, and the interaction consequently enhanced their target language learning. The study suggests that wiki provides a dynamic platform, which encourages further integration into the syllabus to support foreign language learning.

Issues of English Teaching Practices and Their Implications for Teaching Strategies

Foreign language education in China has evolved significantly in response to the economic, political and cultural changes in China - Chinese foreign language education has entered a new era. There is no shortage of old and new problems presented in the process of foreign language teaching practice. The problems can be divided into three categories: those of language application, those of combining theoretical and practical methods, and those of evaluating the effectiveness of methods and models. Although instructional strategies do not solve all problems, they provide ideas for teaching practices that go a long way toward avoiding problems and bringing positive results to the entire teaching system

Exploring the standard language ideology in China's language policy

PurposeThis research explores the standard language ideology in Chinese foreign language education policies. The most substantial in relation to language policy and management in regard to language ideology are beliefs associated with the values on the named language and its varieties (Spolsky, 2009). In the standard language ideology, the standard is treated as being valuable linguistic capital and possessing prestige as well as authority. Mandarin is the most well-accepted standard Chinese, and similarly, UK English or US English is the most popular and Standard English (SE) in China.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical framework in this research is critical discourse analysis (CDA) and discourse-historical approach (DHA) to guide the data collection and data analysis. This research will review recent and seminal literature obtained from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) on language policy in China in relation to standard language ideology. The literature also investigates Chinese state's English language ideologies using official language education policies (FLEPs).FindingsThe results show that standard language ideology is a common mindset found within official state policies in regard to SE. The authors argue that the Chinese trust on the ideology of standard language appears to not be aligned to recent worldwide trends such as globalization and multilingualism.Originality/valueThis research can provide insights into future language planning and language policy in China and shows that the future research could do more on language planning in China.