Teaching Chinese as a second language: Chinese perspective

There has been an increasing international trend of programmes as well as research on teaching Chinese as a second/foreign language (TCSL/TCFL). In Hong Kong, there are also issues of teaching and learning Chinese for non-Chinese speaking or ethnic minority students in both school and higher education sectors. In addition to curriculum, pedagogical and teacher education related research for TCSL/TCFL, acquisition of Chinese as a Second Language could be considered as an interdisciplinary field encompassing and interacting with other disciplines such as Psychology, Linguistics and sociocultural studies. According to previous reviews, one area in need of further research is the study of commonalities and differences in the Chinese language educators’ challenges and successful experiences of TCSL/TCFL within their own and across contexts. This is particularly valid in the Greater China region where it is the major exporter of Chinese as a second/foreign language (CSL/CFL) and teacher quality is a key issue of attention. Their multiple teacher professional identities as well as their intercultural competence could be a topic of future collaborative research with overseas institutions. In addition, a comparison of effective teacher-centred pedagogical approach and the constructivist approach to teaching and learning CSL/CFL in the Chinese and Western contexts respectively would provide significant research and development scholarship. 

This chapter will first provide an overview on the status of TCSL/TCFL in Chinese universities in the Greater China region. It will then review the literature on TCSL/TCFL teachers’ self-identification to date and propose a framework of the developmental trajectory of optimal TCSL/TCFL teacher identities. Based on this review, the implications for future research and curriculum development of TCSL would be discussed. Copyright © 2022 selection and editorial matter, John Chi-Kin Lee and Timo Ehmke; individual chapters, the contributors.