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CFL Education at the College Level

  • Chapter
Chinese Language Education in the United States

Part of the book series: Multilingual Education ((MULT,volume 14))

Abstract

This chapter offers a critical review of the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language (TCFL) to non-heritage students at the college level. Drawing upon recent research in the field, it examines the current state of curriculum and instruction, highlights important issues, and attempts to provide recommendations for future development. The discussion on curriculum emphasizes the central role of national standards in today’s curricular planning and urges CFL programs to match their curricular scope with content standards, and to ensure quality and accountability via benchmarking with proficiency standards. In addition to offering a description of the curricular scope and sequence as reflected in popular CFL textbooks, the chapter also describes major characteristics of the Chinese language and provides a critical examination and rethinking of some prevalent TCFL practices. Finally, some pedagogical innovations and resources are shared, with particular attention to the use of new technological tools.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    NPR interview with All Things Considered host Mellissa Block, July 15, 2011: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129552512&m=129556812&live=1

  2. 2.

    赵元任:施氏食狮史

  3. 3.

    Original Chinese:对现代汉语语法研究成果来说,对外汉语教学和中文信息处理可以说是一面镜子,一块试金石。

  4. 4.

    Original Chinese:对外汉语教学和计算机自然语言处理有一个很大的相似性,就是二者都不能像本族人那样“意会”我们以为根本用不着讲的语法规则。

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Program in Linguistics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Yu Li

  2. Department of Linguistics and Asian/Middle-Eastern Languages, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Zheng-sheng Zhang

Authors
  1. Yu Li
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  2. Zheng-sheng Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yu Li .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

    Jiening Ruan

  2. University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

    Jie Zhang

  3. University of South Florida, St. Pe, SAINT PETERSBURG, Florida, USA

    Cynthia B. Leung

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Technological Resources (Alphabetically Listed)

1.1.1 eStroke (http://www.eon.com.hk/estroke/)

eStroke creates high quality animated stroke sequences that can be exported for development use. It can convert character text to pinyin or zhuyin. It can pronounce the character and its strokes. It also shows the corresponding Simplified or Traditional variants if there is one. Finally, it analyzes characters into components, which can be color-coded. Demo Version available.

1.1.2 Google Voice Input

Google Voice Input is an alternative to inputting search terms by typing . When the language option is set to Chinese (both mainland and Taiwan), Chinese characters will be inputted into the search field. Since obtaining the right character (i.e., search results) hinges on adequate pronunciation, this function can be repurposed to check the minimal acceptability of student pronunciation. The image option for Google search can be used at even the pre-character stage since the form of feedback (i.e., search results) is visual rather than textual.

1.1.3 MDBG (http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php)

MDBG is a free online dictionary, which supports multiple look-up methods and both simplified and traditional characters.

1.1.4 Pleco (https://www.pleco.com/)

Pleco is an English & Chinese Dictionary application for iOS and Android devices. In addition to its large number of words, it allows multiple ways of input, including Pinyin, English, and handwritten characters, but its most innovative feature is the OCR (optical character recognition ) function. If the lookup item is clearly printed and lighting is adequate, its photo can be recognized as text, which then can be annotated automatically.

1.1.5 Siri on iPhone/iPad/iOS Devices

Siri was originally intended as a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform Web services. It is included on iPhone/iPad and all iOS devices. Similar to Google Voice Input, Siri can be used to gauge the minimal acceptability of pronunciation when used as an input option, in that only adequate pronunciation can bring up the sought-after characters.

1.1.6 WaveSurfer (http://www.speech.kth.se/wavesurfer/)

WaveSurfer is a free software program designed for speech analysis. Its easy-to-use pitch-tracking feature provides instant visual feedback to students’ production of tones and intonation.

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Li, Y., Zhang, Zs. (2016). CFL Education at the College Level. In: Ruan, J., Zhang, J., Leung, C. (eds) Chinese Language Education in the United States. Multilingual Education, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21308-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21308-8_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-21307-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-21308-8

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