INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR CHINESE LANGUAGE PEDAGOGY (ISCLP)Sep. 2007
Contents
Theory and Practice of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language 3
Cross Cultural Communication 4
Second Language Acquisition 8
Phonetics Teaching Approaches 9
Words Teaching Approaches 10 Chinese Character Teaching Approaches 11
Reading Teaching Approaches 12
Audio-lingual Teaching Approaches 13
Classroom Linguistics and Teaching Chinese Grammar 14
Classroom Teaching Methods of Comprehensive Course 15
Selection of textbooks and typical teaching plan comment 16
Chinese Language Proficiency Testing (HSK) 17
Name of Curriculum: Theory and Practice of teaching Chinese as a Second Language
Teaching Hours: 12
Introduction of Curriculum:
This curriculum mainly consists of four parts: the first part teaches the discipline nature and teaching task of Chinese education to foreign students; the second part teaches the development and current situation of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language; the third part teaches the linguistic, pedagogy, psychology, and culturology foundations of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language; the fourth part teaches the acquisition theory of the second language; the fifth part teaches the basic measures of the second language teaching as well as the principles and skills in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language.
Through the learning of this curriculum, the learners will understand the discipline nature and the basic situation of the development of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language; learn its linguistic, pedagogy, psychology, and culturology foundations as well as the acquisition theory of the second language, which equips them with certain theoretical basis of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. Meanwhile, the learners will grasp the basic method of the second language teaching as well as the practical knowledge of curriculum design, teaching plan compiling, teaching organization management and classroom teaching techniques in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. The learning of this curriculum will help the learners laying a solid theoretical foundation and grasp the basic teaching techniques of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, which enables them to be qualified Chinese teachers.
Cross-cultural Communication
【Classroom Hours】 8
【Contents】
This course includes six parts, which, intended for application in the reality, will introduce the basics of intercultural communication, review the cultural and mental factors which influence intercultural communication results based on cultural patterns, and probe into the differences between countries in verbal and nonverbal communication, the emergence of “culture shock” and how to cultivate intercultural communication skills in the multi-culture arena. The main content is:
Part One Introduction
This part introduces the concepts of intercultural communication, cultural connotation, cultural characteristics, communicational connotation and communication patterns in theory so that those who first learn the concept “intercultural communication” can have a macroscopic and sensible understanding and help their future study.
It explains the aim and ultimate goal of this course in order to inspire students’ interests and build up learning motivity and confidence.
Part Two Cultural Factors Influencing Intercultural Communication—a Review Based on Cultural Patterns
Cultural pattern is a mental state which exists in the communication process of just about anyone. Adequate application of cultural patterns can help to learn the differences among cultures faster and promote a smooth intercultural communication. Yet too much reliance on cultural patterns will hamper communications and seriously affect the quality of intercultural communication. Worse, it will even cause cultural conflicts and discriminations. As a result, this part firstly introduces the connotation and characteristics cultural patterns, how they came into being and the values and abuses of them. The content is arranged to associate appropriate examples with theories intensively explained. It aims at allowing students to get a clear idea of the pros and cons of cultural patterns so as to apply the theory in communication reasonably.
Then it introduces cultural factors which will influence intercultural communication, such as the perspective of value, worldview and national characters. After brief introduction of concepts and characteristics of the three, this chapter will enumerate specified cases and draw comparisons in order to satisfy the interests and curiosity of students, and strengthen the maneuverability in communication process. As differences in the three aspects mainly lie between East and West, it becomes the focus of the comparisons in which the similarities and differences of eastern and western worldview, the differences between Chinese and American national characters and the differences of value perspective revealed in American and Japanese ways verbal communications are enumerated. The comparison also contains the differences of four scales of value perspective of forty countries and districts as well as detailed rankings. The last item in particular helps the students understand the main perspective of a country if they would like to teach there.
Part Three Mental Factors Influencing Intercultural Communication—a Review Based on Cultural Patterns
Different thinking patterns will directly lead to different linguistic forms. As a result, TCFL (Teach Chinese as Foreign Language) teachers should have some basic idea of the pronunciation, glossary, wording, letters or characters and writing features of the mother language of the students. In order to explain the language errors for their students and to teach with pertinence, TCFL teachers have to learn the thinking pattern of students from any particular country. This part briefly introduces several thinking patterns in the west and the manifestation of differences between thinking patterns in language forms and pieces of writing. Besides, the key point is the differences between western and eastern way of thinking and why differences occur. Lastly it is mentioned that when the thinking pattern theory is applied to solve a problem, it is necessary to consider its universality, penetrability, diversity, variability etc. so as not to step into the misunderstanding of cultural patterns.
Nationalism or ethnocentrism is a common mental state during individual communication. Members of any nation, culture or colony in the world generally display nationalism or ethnocentrism of different degree, consciously or subconsciously. Such ethnocentrism can work in two ways, both negatively and positively. It can become the cohesion power to make a strong nation; however, it can also be turned into chauvinism for the superpower. For a TCFL teacher, nationalism and ethnocentrism should be avoided. This part uses examples to explain the definition of nationalism or ethnocentrism and give a brief introduction of its positive and negative effects. How that nationalism has negatively affected the communication distance is emphasized most in order to remind TCFL teachers to be alert of unconscious nationalism mistakes in his/her teaching and life abroad, and to overcome the inclination of using his/her own cultural rules and social mores to explain and judge others’ communications.
Part Four Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
The verbal communication part mainly aims at helping students to establish“difference awareness” so as to make them realize and fully appreciate the fact that the pronunciation, glossary, sentence structure and the use of Chinese language are different from other languages. Also, the verbal part reminds the students that such differences should get enough recognition and more should be found, so that they can be applied in teaching practice to improve efficiency.
The nonverbal communication part firstly gives brief introduction of the concept, its classification and function. Then it mainly focuses on enumerating different messages body languages (including facial expression, eye contact and staring, gesture, quietness and silence) used to send in different countries and the diversified requirements of time keeping and communication space. The objective is to help students to build extensive international communication awareness in order to smooth their life and communication in foreign countries.
Part Five Culture Shock
This part consists of two terms: culture shock and reversed culture shock.
The culture shock part introduces the definition and symptoms of culture shock, including the four stages people will experience in a culture shock and the way to handle it. When someone has lived in an alien culture for a period of time, gone though culture shock, and rested in living there, he/she might have a new but mild culture shock, i.e. reversed culture shock, when he/she returns to the homeland. The reversed culture shock part briefly introduces the definition and cause of reversed culture shock, and how to prevent it.
Culture shock is a common issue in the international communication period. For TCFL teachers, especially for those who teach in an alien culture quite distinct from Chinese culture, it is very necessary to understand the basic symptoms and solutions of culture shock, and be mentally prepared for it in advance.
Part Six Cultivation of International Communication Skills in the Multi-cultural Times
This part is an overall conclusion and ellevation of the former four perts. Clearly analyzing the main points in plain language, this part has made a list of the elements for effective communication and skill requirements for effective intercultural communication. It is good for TCFL teachers to collate with the list one by one so as to improve their intercultural communication skills and the effectiveness of Chinese teaching in a alien culture.
【AFTER this course, students are required to reach the standard below/the application in practical TCFL teaching.】
Possess the awareness of perceiving and recognizing the differences between cultures; be able to treat the differences in a tolerant way and get adapted or accept the differences gradually; improve intercultural communication skills; avoid culture conflicts or even culture shock in foreign countries.
During teaching process, treat his/her own culture correctly; avoid obvious nationalism or ethnocentrism; avoid imposing his/her own national value system and thinking pattern on students; respect students’ national feelings; introduce Chinese culture in appropriate ways accepted by students.
When treating a student, avoid overusing culture patterns and pay more attention to the particularity of every student.；
Find out the differences of language form between Chinese and the student’s mother tongue; learn to compare and analyze; look for errors in a student’s Chinese learning process and find the cause; improve teaching efficiency and effectiveness.
Be able to understand the repulsion to Chinese culture of students, lead students with relative knowledge in intercultural communication and help them to establish the right attitude of treating Chinese culture and improve their intercultural communication skills.
Second Language Acquisition
Teaching Hours: 16
Introduction of Curriculum:
This course aims at introducing students to the issues concerning second language acquisition. We will begin with the question of how a young child acquires his or her native language. The primary focus is on grammatical development, that is, how the child develops the systems of rules- phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic--which comprise the grammar of his or her language. Many aspects of child language data--what children perceive, say, and comprehend in the course of development--and data analysis, as well as theories of language development, will be discussed and evaluated. With an overall understanding of how first language is acquired, the attention is turned to second language acquisition. Students are first introduced to the methodologies and the types of data analysis employed in second language acquisition research. The characteristics of second language acquisition will be detailed and contrasted with the process of first language acquisition. Substantive findings on interlanguage studies and instructed second language acquisition will constitute the major part of discussion. Individual differences, learning strategies are then introduced especially in the field of Chinese acquisition. ?Finally, students are introduced to theories in second language acquisition and possible explanations for differential success among second language learners.
Phonetics Teaching Approaches in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language
“Phonetics Teaching Approaches in TCSL” is a curriculum on the teaching approaches for language elements. The anticipated teaching class is 12 hours.
The teaching object is the person with certain basic knowledge on Chinese phonetics theory who expected to engage in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language.
Teaching contents:
Phonetic elements: phonetic basic knowledge, phoneme concept, International Phonetic Alphabet, sound system of standard modern Chinese, Chinese Phonetic Alphabet and orthography of words in Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, etc.
Ability of phonetics teaching: basic principle of phonetics teaching, methods and techniques of phonetics teaching, methods of teaching the student some difficult pronunciations, the method of tone teaching.
Teaching examples analysis: analyze abundant teaching examples with the teaching practices of the teachers.
Teaching strategy for students with different native languages: conduct pointed phonetics teaching according to the features of different native languages for students from Japan, Korea, European and America countries, Southeast Asian countries and correct the pronunciations of Chinese language learners.
After finishing this curriculum, the learners will have an overview on the phonetics of this language, comprehensively understand the phonetic system of standard modern Chinese and grasp some methods and techniques of phonetics teaching so as to teach the different objects in transferring the language elements to language skills and further to language communication skills.
Words Teaching Approaches in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language
“Words Teaching Approaches in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language” is a curriculum on the teaching approaches for language elements. The anticipated teaching class is 12 hours.
The teaching object is the person with certain Chinese vocabularies and basic grammar knowledge who expected to engage in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language.
Teaching contents:
Language elements: morphology of standard modern Chinese (vocabulary system and internal structure of words), word class system, phrase.
Ability of words teaching:basic principle of words teaching, methods and techniques of words teaching; the exhibition, explanation and extension of words; the differentiation of synonym and near-synonymy.
Teaching examples analysis: analyze abundant teaching examples with the teaching practices of the teachers.
After finishing this curriculum, the learners will further understand the vocabulary system of standard modern Chinese, grasp some methods and techniques of words teaching so as to teach the different objects in extending their vocabulary and transferring language elements to language skills and further to language communication skills.
Chinese Character Teaching Approaches in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language
“Chinese Character Teaching Approaches in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language” is a curriculum on the teaching approaches for language (character) elements. The anticipated teaching class is 4 hours.
The teaching object is the person with certain basic knowledge of Chinese Character theory who expected to engage in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language.
Teaching contents:
Language elements: basic knowledge of Chinese character, structure of modern Chinese character, modern Chinese character system, standardization of modern Chinese character, etc.
Ability of Chinese character teaching: basic principle of Chinese character teaching, methods and techniques of Chinese character teaching.
Teaching examples analysis: analyze abundant teaching examples with the teaching practices of the teachers.
Teaching strategy for students with different native languages: Chinese character teaching aiming at “Chinese-character cultural sphere” and “Non-Chinese character cultural sphere”.
After finishing this curriculum, the learners will have profound understanding on modern Chinese Character; grasp some methods and skills of Chinese character teaching; have the ability of teaching different objects so as to enable the students to grasp the communication skills of Chinese more efficiently through the combination of language system and character system.
Audio lingual Teaching Approaches in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language
“Audio-lingual Teaching Approaches in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language” is a practical curriculum on the teaching approaches for language skills. The anticipated teaching class is 6 hours.
The teaching object is the person with certain basic knowledge of modern Chinese theory who expected to engage in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language.
Teaching contents:
Teaching principle: listening class and oral class are two practical classes with unique teaching philosophy and principle according to the acquisition theory of the second language.
Contents of listening and oral training: micro-skills training of listening, contents of oral training, different emphasis points of training in the elementary, intermediate and advance stage.
Methods and techniques of listening and oral training: conduct listening and oral training for different students; gradually train the students in diffident level from listening to syllables, words, sentences and dialogues to expression and communication in paragraphs.
4. Teaching examples analysis: the method of preparing lessons and writing teaching plan; analyze abundant teaching examples with the teaching practices of the teachers.
After finishing this curriculum, the learners will grasp the method and procedure of listening and oral teaching of Chinese as the second language and utilize these skills in their classroom teaching practices to improve teaching effect.
?ReadingTeaching Approaches in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language
“Reading Teaching Approaches in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language” is a practical curriculum on the teaching approaches for language skills. The anticipated teaching class is 6 hours.
The teaching object is the person with certain basic knowledge of modern Chinese theory who expected to engage in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language.
Teaching contents:
1. Teaching principle: reading class is a language practice class with its unique teaching philosophy and principle according to psychology theory and the acquisition theory of the second language.
2. Training contents of reading class: Chinese character, phonetics, vocabulary, grammar and culture contents; other skills training, different emphasis points of training in the elementary, intermediate and advance stage.
3. Training methods and techniques of reading class: three models of reading (from bottom to top, from top to bottom, interaction model); emphasis of reading training, teaching links of reading class.
4. Teaching examples analysis: the method of preparing lessons and writing teaching plan; analyze abundant teaching examples with the teaching practices of the teachers.
After finishing this curriculum, the learners will grasp the method and procedure of reading class of Chinese teaching as the second language and utilize these skills in their classroom teaching practice to improve the teaching effect.
Classroom Linguistics and Teaching Chinese Grammar
1. Teaching Hours: 40
2. Contents description: in this curriculum, the common grammatical items in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language are concluded into ten lessons with two additional lessons. The key items specified in the grammar outline of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language are included in the main contents of the curriculum. The former six lessons teach the most basic grammar of Chinese, such as basic sentence patterns, special sentence forms and the key words extension and exchange; the latter four lessons mainly teach function words and complex sentence forms, which including the main prepositions, adverbs, associated words, special words and fixed patterns in primary stage. The main function of the teaching is to help the learners to familiar with the treatment of these teaching contents in Chinese classroom teaching to foreign students through the learning of the experiences of the editor so as to avoid students’ blindness and detours in learning.
3. The real improvement of the learners and the actual function in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language through the study and examination: After finishing the class and passing the exam, learners will be competent for classroom teaching and even could solve various actual problems in teaching practice and teach the students in a concise and clear way with great satisfaction.
The grammar contents in this curriculum are spread in the whole teaching process of the comprehensive class. The concentrated study will make the learners draw inferences about other cases from one instance with profound understanding on the contents, which plays an active role in promoting the quality of the learners.
Classroom Teaching Methods of Comprehensive Course
1. Teaching Hours: 8
2. Contents description: introduce the concept, feature, task and teaching purpose of Chinese comprehensive class; Major contents and teaching requirement in various teaching stages (phonetics, grammar, essay and text) of the comprehensive class; problems noticeable for teachers in comprehensive class teaching, etc.
3. The real improvement of the learners and the actual function in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language through the study and examination: Chinese comprehensive class is the major course in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. After finishing the class, learners will have a relatively profound understanding in the profile of Chinese comprehensive class, knowing the specific measures in each stage, the difficulties of their students and how to overcome these difficulties. The understanding of the teaching method of comprehensive class will enable the learners to do good jobs in the teaching practice. Furthermore, the understanding of the noticeable problems in classroom teaching will help the learners sufficiently preparing for their teaching practice.
Name of Curriculum: Selection of textbooks and typical teaching plan comment
Teaching Hours: 16
Introduction of Curriculum:
This curriculum consists of two parts- “Selection of Textbooks” and “Typical Teaching Plan Comment”. “Selection of Textbooks” is concerned with the importance and standard of textbook selection, classification of textbook and the introduction of various publishers; “Typical Teaching Plan Comment” includes the exhibition and analysis of typical teaching plans, teaching-plan design of various main lesson types (comprehensive, listening and oral class) as well as classroom simulation teaching practice. All of the exercise materials are selected from the real questions in the Chinese language teacher qualification examination over the years.
Through the studying of this curriculum, the learners will understand the general situation of textbook compiling and distribution, which enables them to choose and utilize the appropriate textbooks with definite purpose. The typical teaching plan comment not only teaches the compiling method of teaching plan, but also the classroom teaching techniques. The learners will grasp the method of teaching plan compiling and the organization of classroom teaching, which is the base of the forthcoming teaching approaches curriculum.
Chinese Language Proficiency Testing (HSK)
Teaching Hours: 8
Introduction of Curriculum:
This curriculum consists of two parts- “HSK test paper analysis” and “HSK training plan”. Together with the supply of the exam background knowledge as the after-class reading material for students ’ preparation, “Test paper analysis” also stresses on the analysis of HSK outline requirement and introduces the teaching installation in HSK elementary and intermediate class. “Training plan” analyzes detailed HSK question types and common testing points as well as the corresponding ability cultivation plan according the specific situation of the elementary and the intermediate students, and introduces the relevant exam guidance books. Through the studying of this curriculum, the learners will understand HSK out of nothing and learn the question types of HSK text paper and corresponding knowledge points’ distribution, the experience of HSK class teaching and the speedy cultivation plan on exam-taking ability. Since there is large amount of working opportunities offered by HSK short course, this curriculum is directly conducive to the teaching practice of the learners.
