Teaching Chinese Pinyin in international schools (primary section) in Hong Kong

This study investigated teaching Chinese Pinyin in international schools (primary section) in Hong Kong from the perspective of in-service Chinese teachers. An online survey through Google Form and subsequent semi-structured face-to-face or phone interviews were conducted. Both data collection methods helped to examine the actual scenarios of teaching Chinese Pinyin within the context of Chinese language subject in international schools. Based on the data from 54 survey responses and 3 interviews with Chinese teachers, it was found that there are significant differences among various international schools. These differences include variations in-class size, approaches to simplified or traditional Chinese characters, teaching materials, methods for addressing individual learning needs, and the frequency and format of Chinese assessments. All respondents agreed that Pinyin teaching can enhance Putonghua teaching. Most teachers adopted various classroom activities to enhance Pinyin teaching efficiency, and most students could apply Pinyin in practical skills such as on-sight spelling, looking up a dictionary by Pinyin index, and typing by Pinyin input methods. Further efforts should be made to enhance the efficiency of Pinyin teaching and exert the tool function of Pinyin in Chinese language teaching. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.