Chinese Language Classroom Research Articles

Research on Differences Between Chinese and American Foreign Language Classrooms and the Impact on English Education in China

In the context of globalization, the cultivation of foreign language abilities has emerged as a crucial objective in the pursuit of enhancing students comprehensive quality. It is obvious that there are notable discrepancies in the concept and practice of foreign language teaching between China and the United States, which directly affects the formation and advancement of students linguistic abilities. This paper focuses on English classrooms in Chinese universities and Spanish classrooms in the American universities, with a particular emphasis on the differences in teaching methods, classroom interactions, and assignment settings. The study used comparative survey method and literature review to study and analyze the foreign language classes of the two countries. The results show that Chinese university English classrooms tend to focus on the mastery of grammar and vocabulary, while Spanish classrooms in the United States pay more attention to the practical use of language and adopt interactive and task-oriented teaching methods. In light of these observations, this paper puts forward some suggestions for the improvement of English education strategies in China, including improving the interactivity in Chinese English classrooms, focusing on language practice and task-based teaching, so as to enhance students practical application ability. The research aims to provide insights for English education in China and help students better adapt to and cope with the challenges of language learning and application in the context of globalization.

Analysis and Application of Problem Situation Creation in Comprehensive Courses for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

Background and Aim: To solve the current problems of low student interest and low classroom atmosphere in the teaching of integrated Chinese language courses in Thailand, is in line with the teaching objectives of integrated Chinese language courses to develop students‘ Chinese language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing and to improve students’ learning outcomes. In this paper, the problem situation teaching method is applied in the elementary Chinese comprehensive class to provide a reference for the innovation of teaching methodology in the elementary Chinese comprehensive class and to provide a reference for the teaching design of Chinese teachers. Materials and Methods: In this paper, through literature research, comparative analysis, teaching experiments, and other research methods, the study was carried out to create problematic situations in the Thai elementary Chinese integrated class, to verify the experimental hypothesis that the problematic situation teaching method can improve the teaching effect and learning effect, and to change the current situation of the Thai elementary Chinese integrated class. Results: This paper verifies the experimental hypotheses by applying the problem situation teaching method to the Thai integrated Chinese language classroom, designing an experiment in two classes of integrated Chinese language class comparing the results of the two classes, and finding that creating problem situations in the elementary integrated Chinese language class can help to improve students' academic performance and Chinese language proficiency. Conclusion: This paper takes the creation of problem situations as a teaching method, creates situations according to the teaching content and students' learning situation, gradually builds a scaffolding for students by asking questions, helps students to understand and apply knowledge in the problem situations created, and puts forward the corresponding solution strategies for the problems, to provide reference for the theoretical research on the teaching of problem situations in the future, and provide reference for the theoretical research on the teaching of problem situations in the Chinese integrated class. The purpose of this study is to provide a reference for the theoretical study of problem-situation teaching and to provide a reference for the creation of problem situations in Chinese comprehensive courses in the future.

A Case Study on the Application of Socio-cultural Theory in International Chinese Language Classrooms

Research on sociocultural theory in second language acquisition is common, but there are few concrete methodological results for frontline teachers. In this paper, we first summarize the development of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory as the theoretical support of this paper; secondly, we use the sociocultural theory as the guide to design the teaching of the lesson "Learning Chinese with a Teacher", and describe in detail the implementation of the teaching process. Finally, it analyzes how to apply such a basic theory as socio-cultural theory to the practice of language teaching in a more grounded way from the perspective of teachers.

Empowering Chinese high school students: Transformative reading lessons with the task-based learning approach

This essay investigates the implementation of the task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach in Chinese high school English as a Second Language (ESL) reading lessons. Despite China’s Ministry of Education’s endorsement of TBLT, its application in the Chinese language classroom remains challenging due to factors such as traditional examination systems and teachers’ limited knowledge of TBLT principles. Drawing on the author’s experience as an English teacher, the project aims to explore how TBLT can be effectively integrated into ESL reading instruction. The objectives include explaining the main characteristics of TBLT, identifying issues in the Chinese EFL context, providing rationales for TBLT use, and constructing three reading lesson plans that adopt the TBLT approach. The lesson plans, which incorporate authentic materials and a variety of tasks, are designed to promote fluency in reading for information and to develop students’ awareness of real-world issues. The essay concludes that TBLT, with its learner-centered and goal-oriented nature, can enhance motivation and engagement in language learning, and that it is particularly suitable for contexts where students are preparing for overseas studies and need to develop communicative skills and creativity. The project also emphasizes the critical role of teachers in facilitating TBLT lessons and the need for ongoing professional development to support the effective implementation of TBLT in Chinese EFL teaching.

汉语课堂答问评价的现状及策略研究—以坤甸 MARANATHA 高中二年级学生为例

<p>Classroom questioning and assessment are important components of classroom interaction and are also crucial in Chinese language teaching. However, in actual classroom teaching, most Chinese language teachers fail to understand the importance of student questioning and assessment. As a result, classroom teaching fails to achieve good results, to some extent diminishing students' interest in learning Chinese. This paper takes 96 students from the second grade of CHRISTIAN MARANATHA High School, divided into 24 students from class XI MIA, 36 students from class XI IIS 1, and 36 students from class XI IIS 2, as research subjects to investigate the current situation of classroom question and answer evaluation in high school and to propose relevant teaching strategies for classroom question and answer evaluation. This study mainly uses classroom observation, questionnaire survey, and interviews to analyze the current situation and strategies of classroom questioning and assessment. The survey results show that the current situation of classroom questioning and assessment for the second-year students at Pontianak MARANATHA High School includes seven aspects, analyzed in terms of the form of questions posed by teachers, the objects of assessment, the subjects of assessment, the timing of assessment, the content of assessment, the effectiveness of assessment, and the methods of assessment. Mainly, it includes: teachers often pose questions that focus on memory; the objects are mostly the teachers themselves, and opportunities for students to be assessed in classroom questioning are not profound; teachers mostly assess individuals; teachers' assessments are mostly direct; teachers pay more attention to the learning process and knowledge skills; questions posed by teachers mostly have a positive impact; and teachers mostly use oral language for classroom questioning assessment. The author hopes that this research will provide guidance and assistance for Chinese language teaching at CHRISTIAN MARANATHA High School. It analyzes the existing problems in classroom question and answer evaluation and proposes relevant teaching strategies based on theoretical guidance and classroom standards. These strategies aim to help teachers better understand the importance of classroom question and answer evaluation, continually enhance their evaluation capabilities, and promote the overall development of students' abilities. Additionally, it can serve as a reference for Chinese language classroom question and answer evaluations in other high schools.</p>

Creating more opportunities through multimodal literacy and positioning in online and in-person Chinese heritage language classrooms

The manuscript describes Chinese immigrant children’s literacy and identity in online and in-person Chinese heritage language classrooms. The theoretical perspectives on multimodality and positioning theory are utilized as theoretical perspectives. The data were collected with the same heritage language teacher and the students during the COVID-19 and post-pandemic. Data sources included field notes based on observations, video recordings of class conversations, and interviews with the teacher. The findings present similar and different patterns in relation to multimodal literacy activities in both online and in-person settings. The findings also show that the students’ identities shifted in these settings. Implications include offering more multimodal activities for immigrant children in both settings in the post-pandemic period, providing more digital tools and resources for the children, and calling more attention from funding agencies to support heritage language education.

Translanguaging practices in a community-based Chinese heritage early childhood classroom

Aims and objectives: The purpose of this study is to explore translanguaging in a heritage classroom by asking the following central questions: (1) What translanguaging practices were available in an online community-based Chinese heritage language classroom? (2) How did the Chinese language teacher use these practices? (3) Why did the teacher use translanguaging? (4) How were the young heritage language learners involved in these practices? Methodology: A qualitative case study research design is utilized to explore translanguaging practices in the classroom. Data and analysis: The data sources included fieldnotes during observations, video recordings of class conversations, and artifacts made or provided by the participants. All the data were collected virtually via Zoom. Findings: The findings show that the teacher purposefully engaged the children in understanding vocabulary words through translanguaging and that students participated in class conversations in various ways, including initiating questions and connecting to their personal experiences. The findings also present the teacher’s perspectives on translanguaging practices. Originality: The literature has explored translanguaging practices, but limited research has focused on these practices in community-based Chinese heritage early childhood classrooms. This study describes the specific ways that a teacher created opportunities for bilingual children to engage in translanguaging practices in a Chinese heritage classroom. Implications: While research on translanguaging and children’s heritage language learning in home and school contexts has existed for decades, the findings of this study bring new attention to translanguaging practices in Chinese heritage language classrooms. The study provided an example of a pedagogical model for teachers to reconsider Chinese heritage language education and promote bilingual children’s language learning and identity construction.

Fostering Interculturality in Foreign Language Teaching Literature in a Chinese Language Classroom

Since its earlier theorizations in the 1990s, interculturality has gained increasing prominence in the field of foreign language pedagogy. Interculturality calls for the acquisition of a complex set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that makes any separation between language and culture in foreign language teaching untenable. This article examines the potential of literature for an intercultural approach to Chinese language teaching in Italian upper secondary school, also known as ‘high school’. A reflection on what constitutes Chinese culture and the place of literature in the teaching of Chinese provides the background against which an empirical pedagogical experiment is presented. The teaching experience involves the use of a Chinese authentic literary text to promote an intercultural approach to two seemingly unrelated topics: Chinese New Year travel rush and sexual harassment. The activity shows the affordance of literature for developing an intercultural approach to diversity and complexity beyond simplification and orientalizing epistemologies.

Understanding heritage language learning of early elementary children from Chinese immigrant backgrounds through children’s drawings

ABSTRACT The study explores how children from Chinese immigrant families create drawings in a community-based Chinese heritage language classroom. The theoretical perspectives on artifactual literacies were utilized to support the inquiry. Primary data sources included the children’s drawings. Video recordings of class conversations served as secondary data sources. Findings show that the children drew upon visual and linguistic modes to design and make their drawings to represent their understanding based on their heritage language learning. Findings also highlight the children’s bilingual identities and present that the children used the heritage language to connect to their everyday life experiences. The findings informed instructional recommendations for Chinese heritage language teachers. Suggestions included incorporating artifactual literacies into class activities for Chinese heritage language learning and calling attention to providing more educational resources and opportunities to support children from immigrant families.

Enhancing Critical Thinking Skills with ChatGPT-Powered Activities in Chinese Language Classrooms

Enhancing Critical Thinking Skills with ChatGPT-Powered Activities in Chinese Language Classrooms

Analysis of College Students Participation in Language Classrooms

There are already many literature studies on the phenomenon of low classroom participation and lack of speaking among Asian students. Previous literature has shown that the academic success of university learning is closely related to classroom participation. Classroom participation promotes communication between teachers and students, helps students establish critical thinking, and enhances students' confidence. Nevertheless, students' enthusiasm for classroom participation is still not high. In this paper, through the literature research method, the problem of students participation in the language classrooms in college is analyzed. The study shows that flipped learning, online discussions, and incorporating classroom participation into classroom assessments can help students actively participate in language classrooms. These reasons and corresponding methods provide alternative, correct, and effective teaching guidance for Chinese language classroom teaching.

Using situational teaching method to improve the effectiveness of chinese language classroom

Using situational teaching method to improve the effectiveness of chinese language classroom

An Analysis of the Implications of Tao Xingzhis Educational Thought on Junior High School Chinese Language Classrooms

In contemporary society, various aspects are rapidly progressing, leading to an increasing gap between traditional education and modern development, with their shortcomings becoming increasingly evident. In contrast, the progressive ideas of the great educator Tao Xingzhi, such as life is education, have gained new relevance in the current era. The New Curriculum Reform explicitly emphasizes a student-centered teaching philosophy, highlighting the active role of students in the teaching process. These two aspects converge to some extent. Therefore, this paper will analyze the existing shortcomings of traditional education, specifically focusing on junior high school classrooms. Guided by Tao Xingzhis thought, it seeks to actively explore the optimal integration of educational reform and Tao Xingzhis educational ideas to address the deficiencies of traditional education and enhance the effectiveness of Chinese language teaching.

Exploring the Use of ChatGPT in Chinese Language Classrooms

Exploring the Use of ChatGPT in Chinese Language Classrooms

Promoting Effective Second Language Acquisition: Exploring the Benefits and Practical Implementation of Student-centered Learning in China

This paper explores how student-centered learning can benefit second language acquisition (SLA) in China. By drawing on the expertise of scholars in the field, the study explores how student autonomy, motivation, collaboration, and communication opportunities can positively influence general language learning outcomes. Additionally, this paper emphasizes the significance of adopting student-centered approaches to enhance language teaching in second language acquisition (SLA) specifically in the context of Chinas unique educational environment. By benefiting from SLA and language education scholars, practical suggestions for student-centered learning in Chinese language classrooms are also provided. Furthermore, the writer believes that by adopting a student-centered approach, language teachers in China can intentionally create an environment that helps students acquire language more effectively and improve their overall language proficiency. Student-centered approach not only contributes to better language skills but also advance a more engaging and interactive learning environment, students can develop not only enhanced language skills but also acquire valuable life skills through active participation in class.

Creating ZPDs for emergent bilingual children to engage in literacy learning in a virtual Chinese heritage language classroom

The purpose of this study is to explore how a language teacher helped her emergent bilingual students with literacy learning in a community-based Chinese heritage language classroom during the Covid-19 pandemic. The theoretical concept of the Zone of Proximal Development was utilized to support the exploration. Data that informed this article included field notes, video recordings of class conversations, and artifacts made by the participants. The findings show that the teacher strategically asked questions, used digital technology, and drew upon visual means to create opportunities for the children to engage in literacy learning and move toward advanced levels of literacy development. The study informs suggestions for heritage language teaching practices and advocates for sustaining emergent bilingual children’s Chinese heritage language in the post-pandemic world.

The Existing Problems of Questioning Teaching Method in Elementary Chinese Language Teaching in Cambodia

This article thoroughly investigates the application and issues of questioning-based pedagogy in primary Chinese language teaching in Cambodia and proposes practical solutions to address these issues. Drawing on a comprehensive review of previous research findings and personal teaching experience, this article delves into the strategies and forms of classroom questioning in Chinese language teaching and provides a detailed analysis of the actual challenges faced by Cambodian learners of Chinese when asking questions in class. Through contextual analysis, this article comprehensively describes and deeply analyzes the current status of questioning in Chinese language classrooms in Cambodia, and puts forth a series of specific recommendations to address the existing issues in questioning practices in primary Chinese language classrooms in Cambodia. The aim is to provide practical assistance to Chinese language teachers and researchers in this field and to promote continuous improvement in Chinese language teaching in Cambodia.

Exploration on the Integration of E-book Bags and Primary School Chinese Classroom Teaching

With the continuous application and popularization of information technology, e-books have gradually entered primary school Chinese language classrooms and become an important force in promoting teaching mode reform and achieving the development of information-based teaching. At the same time, the conflicts and contradictions between e-books and traditional teaching modes in classroom teaching have gradually emerged. Taking the practice of primary school Chinese language teaching as an example, starting from the substitution effect of e-books, the design and selection of information based teaching content, and the interaction of classroom teaching factors, this paper elaborates on the problems in the integration of e-books and traditional teaching models, and explores corresponding development strategies for the problems, in order to provide suggestions for promoting the information based reform of primary school Chinese language teaching.

Designing for diversity in Aotearoa / New Zealand Chinese language classrooms

There has been an increased interest in teaching and learning Chinese language across many schools in Aotearoa / New Zealand (NZ). Chinese language teachers, particularly those new to the Aotearoa/NZ schools and education system, are confronted with (1) an educational environment that calls for learner-centred pedagogies and (2) an increasingly diverse classroom that requires these teachers to adopt pedagogical strategies that address and cater for diversity. In response to these needs, this article discusses a case study of a research-informed professional development (PD) workshop designed to support Chinese language teachers to (1) identify ways that diversity manifests in the Aotearoa/NZ classroom and (2) figure out how to design for learning whilst accounting for diversity in Aotearoa/NZ. The workshop promoted a discussion on diversity from an inclusive, heterogeneous perspective, and introduced teachers to contemporary conceptual ideas connected to ‘teaching-as-design’, and to the Activity-Centred Analysis and Design (ACAD) framework. Teachers (N = 19) were randomly assigned to groups of three to five. Groups were encouraged to collaborate on the design of learning tasks that incorporated TBLT (Task-Based Language Teaching) and addressed diversity in the classroom. Analysis of their design activities and produced artefacts reveals that teachers’ understanding of diversity comprised many characteristics, they held a positive attitude towards being responsive to diversity, and were able to experiment with new design concepts and ideas using the ACAD toolkit. In particular, teachers were able to successfully expand the design of their learning tasks to include social and material design elements to address learner diversity. Findings also reveal teachers’ emerging awareness of their dual role as facilitators and as teacher-designers.

A study on self-efficacy of students majoring in the Chinese language at a university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

This article investigates the belief in self-efficacy in learning among Chinese language students in Vietnam, looking for differences in demographics, and the effect of self-efficacy beliefs on student academic performance. The results of a questionnaire survey with 142 students of a university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam showed that: First, the self-efficacy of Vietnamese Chinese language majors has a high level; Second, there is no significant difference in the self-efficacy in learning the Chinese language between male students and female students; Third, there is no significant difference in the self-efficacy in learning the Chinese language between students from urban areas and students from rural areas; Fourth, there exists a significant difference in the self-efficacy in learning the Chinese language between first-year students and third-year students; Fifth, there is no correlation between the self-efficacy and Chinese language learning’ academic performance. The findings provide a basis for the future cultivation of Vietnamese students’ self-efficacy in the Chinese language classroom. Based on the research results, the article makes some recommendations.