Education Commons^™

Task-Based Language Teaching In The Chinese Classroom, Jing Gao

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

This article discusses Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) implemented in the Chinese classroom. TBLT involves a three-phase pedagogical sequence, including pre-task, on-task, and post-task. Different task-based learning activities are designed to promote learners’ language acquisition through the performance of tasks. Learners are engaged in interactive and collaborative communication to accomplish meaningful and relevant real life tasks. This article explores the application of one TBLT unit in Chinese for learners’ language development in terms of both fluency and accuracy.

A Study On Strategies For Improving Students’ Oral Skills In Online Chinese Language Teaching In Burundi, Mfitiye Ferdinand, Bankuwiha Etienne

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

Abstract

During the period of covid-19 pandemic, educational activities in several countries around the world have experienced changes in their implementation. Face-to-face Chinese teaching in several Confucius Institutes around the world has been moved to online teaching to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus. In Burundi, online Chinese teaching is provided through the social network “whatsapp”. However, students have some difficulty in improving their speaking skills while learning online. This study therefore examined the strategies that can be used by the students and the teachers to ensure the improvement of students' speaking skills while learning Chinese online. It proceeded …

Cooperative Language Learning In Teaching Proficiency Through Reading And Storytelling, Jing Gao

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) is becoming widely recognized and implemented in K-12 language classrooms across the nation. Cooperative language learning structures interactive group work for learners’ language development. In communicative language classrooms, cooperative learning can be implemented in TPRS to encourage students’ interaction and communication in collaborative tasks. This article explores the application of cooperative language learning in the TPRS Chinese classroom. Specific teaching methods are discussed in each step of TPRS, including establishing meaning, story asking, and story reading. Cooperative language learning in TPRS increases students’ engagement and motivation in language learning and promotes their language …

Layout Of Current Us-China Online Pd Programs For Chinese Language, Huiwen Li, Hsiao-San Chen, Yu Lin, Lanfang Sun, Xiaoying Zhu

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

Since the coronavirus outbreak, multiple academic institutions have held online seminars that have been beneficial to Chinese language teachers' professional development (PD). However, it remains unknown whether the PD programs are appropriately designed regarding selecting topics and presenters. A total of 432 presentations of this study were retrieved from six Chinese and American organizations during the pandemic from May 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021. The content analysis approach was employed to analyze and categorize the framework of Technological Pedagogical Content and Teacher's Soft-Skill Knowledge (TPACKS) into different themes and layouts of those presentations. The results indicate that Pedagogical Content …

A Comparative Study Of The Teaching Of Chinese And Swahili Credit Courses At Burundi University, Mfitiye Ferdinand Mf.

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

Abstract

Our study compared the teaching of Chinese credit course and Swahili credit course at the Burundi University. The goal is to find out the reasons why many students prefer to learn Chinese credit course instead of Swahili, whereas the two courses have the same volume of hours. It also aims to know the students points of view on the teaching of Chinese in Burundi, to know the problems facing the promotion of Chinese in Burundi and the appropriate measures that can be taken to resolve these problems. The study proceeded by a method of survey that we carried out …

Improving Chinese Language Learning Through Collaborative Kahoot Mode, Hongmin Yu

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

This study used quantitative methods to assess students' Chinese language learning attitudes and learning habits on Kahoot, a game-based learning platform. Kahoot enables teachers to transform bland Chinese vocabulary memorization into exciting, game-like situations. It makes Chinese language learning fun and interactive. The study aims to compare Kahoot team play mode with individual play mode. Sixty-four fifth graders participated. In the experimental group, students grouped by themselves or teacher to compete with one another. They enjoyed working together to share what they knew and learned from each other. Students were tested prior to the course (pretest) and following the course …

Learning Strategies, Motivation And Learners' Perspectives On Online Multimodal Chinese Learning, Peng Zhang

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

This mixed-method empirical study investigated the role of learning strategies and motivation in predicting L2 Chinese learning outcomes in an online multimodal learning environment. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches also examined the learners' perspectives on online multimodal Chinese learning. The participants in this study were fifteen pre-intermediate adult Chinese learners aged 18-26. They were originally from different countries (Spain, Italy, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico) and lived in Barcelona. They were multilingual, speaking more than two European languages, without exposure to any other Asian languages apart from Chinese. The study's investigation was composed of Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), motivation …

Needs Analysis In Teaching Chinese For Special Purposes: From Theory To Practice, Zhongqi Shi

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

As a critical component of curriculum creation and syllabus design, needs analysis has not been widely used in the field of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. To address some common misconceptions, this article discusses various aspects of need analysis with the goal of structuring a more comprehensive picture of this approach. Based upon that, a variety of needs analysis methods are introduced through examples, aimed at enabling frontline Chinese teachers to effectively use needs analysis in their own classrooms and ultimately improving their instruction.

Theme-Based Second Language Learning Through Multimodal Experimental Animation, Bailu Li, Yuan Xu

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

In a digital, multimedia, and globalized world, new theories such as multimodality, multiliteracies, and theme-based instruction have signaled a shift in the Chinese as language art and Chinese as second language teaching and learning. However, these theoretical frameworks have not been frequently integrated and implemented in the field of CFL. Focusing on the theme of "Personal and Public Identity'', the article proposed a new attempt to synthetically combine multimodal texts, multiliteracies pedagogy, and thematic learning in CFL classrooms. Through the three selected experimental animations, the article discussed teaching methods and procedures in the topics of individuals and families, individuals and …

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In Teaching Proficiency Through Reading And Storytelling, Jing Gao

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

When the demographics in American public schools becomes more diverse, educators have been challenged how to be prepared to work with diverse student learners. In education field, culturally relevant pedagogy has been widely recognized as an effective practice for teaching about diversity and used across different school subject areas. This article discusses four aspects that teachers can implement culturally relevant pedagogy in TPRS language classrooms, including a caring learning community, establishing meaning, story asking, and story reading. Teachers can include and empower students by validating them as learning subjects and engaging them in knowledge creation and representation in curriculum and …

Table Of Contents, Antonio Medina-Rivera, Lee F. Wilberschied Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

Heritage Language Development: Expectations And Goals, Stephen Krashen, Haiyun Lu, Nooshan Ashtari

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

What should we expect from heritage language (HL) acquirers? We propose that given access to “optimal input,” we can eventually expect very high performance, native or near-native. But it won’t happen right away. It takes time.

Etymologies Of Chinese Hànzì And Japanese Kanji: Explanations On Liùshū 六書 And Rikusho 六書, William P.M. Funk

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

This paper outlines Liùshū 六書 interpretations of Chinese character etymology to help co-create a better approach for educators in supporting character literacy development in students of the East Asian languages that utilize Chinese writing. The Liùshū 六書 Rikusho 六書approach to character instruction can be interpreted as a strategy to spark interest in western learners providing more detailed explanations that deal with the pictographic and compound nature of Chinese character formation. All non-English words are italicized or bolded, Chinese based terms are in Mandarin Pīnyīn 拼音, and Japanese terms are written in Romaji ローマ字 representing their differences phonetically to integrate foreign …

Introduction, Antonio Medina-Rivera, Lee F. Wilberschied Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

Introduction Project 400: Our Lived Experience, Ronnie A. Dunn

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

The New Debt Peonage In The Era Of Mass Incarceration, Timothy Black, Lacey Caporale

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

In 1867, Congress passed legislation that forbid the practices of debt peonage. However, the law was circumvented after the period of Reconstruction in the south and debt peonage became central to the expansion of southern agriculture through sharecropping and industrialization through convict leasing, practices that forced debtors into new forms of coerced labor. Debt peonage was presumable ended in the 1940s by the Justice Department. But was it? The era of mass incarceration has institutionalized a new form of debt peonage through which racialized poverty is governed, mechanisms of social control are reconstituted, and freedom is circumscribed. In this paper, …

New Approach To Chinese Writing: An Exploratory Study Of Writing Performance On Social Q&A Online Community, Lin Zhu

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

Many studies have investigated how the online community has informed language acquisition and teaching. In the scholarship of Computer-Mediated Communication Theory (CMC), while most of the studies have emphasized second language English writing using the CMC framework, evidence is shown to support CMC in foreign language instruction. However, there is a lack of research on how feedback from native speakers of Chinese influences Chinese learners’ writing in a web environment. In response to the research gap, drawing on sociocultural and CMC, the current exploratory study probes the nature of feedback on Zhihu, the largest Chinese social question-and-answer website, and how …

Introduction Of The World Organic Language Teaching Approach, Jingyi Zhang

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

This article introduces the OWL instructional approach including its rationale, target setting, procedure, and class structure. With the OWL experience, the author also gives reflections on this approach.

Introduction, Antonio Medina-Rivera, Lee F. Wilberschied Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

American Muslims: How The “American Creed” Fosters Assimilation And Pluralism, James R. Moore

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

This article examines the status of American Muslims in the United States in relationship to other cultural groups and some of the widespread stereotypes that plague Muslims in contemporary society. Much has been written about the discrimination faced by Muslims, particularly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, spawned by religious, racial, and ethnic bigotry. Some polls show many Americans harbor some prejudices against Muslims, but these prejudices have not resulted in widespread violence or discrimination; although there has been some violence and discrimination experienced by some Muslims, the empirical data show that the majority of American Muslims are very successful …

Table Of Contents, Antonio Medina-Rivera, Lee F. Wilberschied Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

Language And The Promised Land: Passage And Migration To A Spanish-Language ‘Third Place’, Kenya C. Dworkin Y Mendez

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

The Spanish-language anthology Caminos para la paz: Literatura israelí y árabe en castellano (Buenos Aires: Corregidor, 2007) [Paths towards/for Peace: Israeli and Arab literature in Castilian], compiled by Ignacio López-Calvo and Cristián Ricci, offers us a collection of over thirty reflections—some Jewish, others Muslim—about the millennial but also contemporary situation of two literally related and historic peoples in a language—Spanish—that seemingly allows them to inhabit the same, this time uncontested, space. Despite the potentially questionable title of the work, which couches the conflict as that of a nation-state versus a nation and/or two peoples contesting rights to one same land, …

Hannah Arendt And Natives As Extras: Towards An Ontology Of Palestinian Presence?, Francesco Melfi

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

The essay grew out of Hannah Arendt’s reflection on the roles and uses of the mask, a meditation on the ontology of the transient public figure or persona vs. one that restitutes the person to the unadulterated Selbstdenken dimension of the Epicurean philosopher-in-hiding. The author individuates in the resulting caesura between the donning and the taking off of the mask the primal source of that paradox in Hanna Arendt’s political behavior that alternately compelled her to confront the ontological presence of the Palestinian people, and made her withdraw into philosophical hiding without ever really coming to terms with it. In …

Teaching Secondary Mathematics And Science Contents Embedded In Historical And Cultural Contexts: Challenges And Possibilities, Roland Pourdavood

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Many preservice teachers come to understand that they must cross the boundaries of their own familiar cultural and historical contexts in order to meet the needs of diverse students. This qualitative and descriptive study examines the evolution of secondary preservice teachers’ views on teaching and learning mathematics and science in historical and cultural contexts. Data were collected throughout participants’ enrollment in a semester-long course entitled Perspectives on Science and Mathematics, which is taken in conjunction with student teaching. Data sources included university classroom observations, preservice teachers’ verbal and written responses to class discussions, reading assignments, and course activities. Common themes …

On Confucius’S Ideology Of Aesthetic Order, Li Wang

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Advocating order, order for all things, and taking order as beauty is the core element of Confucius’s aesthetic ideology. Confucius’s thought of aesthetic order is different from others of the “hundred schools of thoughts” in the pre-Qin period, and is also diverse from the Western value of aesthetic order. Confucius’s thought of aesthetic order has its own unique value system, which has become the mainstream value of aesthetic order in the Chinese society for 2000 years until today, after being integrated with the Chinese feudal imperial system in early Han Dynasty. This paper illustrates Confucius’s ideology of aesthetic order from …

Introduction: Foreign Films And Higher Education, Heba A.N. El Attar Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

Teaching About The Muxes In The United States: Cultural Construct Gender Identity, And Transgression In The 21st Century, Nohora V. Cardona Núñez Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

This study focuses on the manner in which gender identities challenge heteronormativity and are understood as a way to interpret the sexed body through culture in the documentary Muxes: auténticas, intrépidas, buscadoras del peligro (2005), directed by Mexican filmmaker Alejandra Islas Caro. In the context of a Gender Issues in Latin America course taught in a North American university, we explored how certain theories by thinkers such as Simone de Beauvoir, Pierre Bourdieu, and Judith Butler, among others, contend that sexual preference, gender orientation, and sexuality, can be built as a cultural constructs, contrary to popular beliefs on the subject. …

Approaches To Teaching Latin American Culture Through Film: Children’S Plight In Poverty- And Violence-Ridden Countries, Delia V. Galvan Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Students at the beginning levels of foreign language study have many borders to cross and many challenges to negotiate. This paper reports the results of a preliminary study involving the use of full-length films to engender intercultural sensitivity and understanding among two groups of first-year students of Spanish. Both films depict hardships of children in Spanish-speaking countries—as a result of conscription or as a result of child labor. The paper discusses the contextualization of the films for the students, the students’ responses to questionnaires, portions of classroom discussion that indicate growth in the areas of focus, and implications of the …

Note On Special Issue, Antonio Medina-Rivera Ph.D., Lee F. Wilberschied Ph.D., Heba A.N. El Attar Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

Intercultural Communicative Competence: Literature Review, Lee F. Wilberschied Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) is a cluster of capabilities that will become even more essential, not only to negotiate borders of many dimensions as globalization proceeds, but also to enhance the ability to maneuver one’s way in a world that changes by the minute. The process of developing ICC prepares the learner to manage and appreciate border crossings on many levels. This brief review of the literature offers a summary of the components of ICC, how it is similar to and different from other competences, and recommendations on how to assess it. This overview may be helpful when considering the …