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This paper focuses on the perception of web technology tools by library professionals in various engineering colleges in the South Tamil Nadu, India. The purpose of the study is to determine to what extent the library professionals there are familiar with web-based tools and use them in library operations. 140 copies of a questionnaire were distributed to library professionals in that region, of which 123 were completed and returned. Simple percentage and weighted average maturity (WAM) were used to analyze the data collected. The findings show that of the 123 college library professionals participated in the survey, a large percentage of them are expert users of many web-based tools such as digital library software, e-learning management systems, and content management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of the introduction of hypertext utilizing electronic dictionaries in a Chinese as a Second Language program for intermediate level students at a Western university. It seeks to build on earlier frameworks concerning the impact of electronic glosses and dictionaries in promoting greater learner autonomy in intermediate L2 programs. During two project trials, questionnaires and focus groups were employed to solicit information about the students' take-up of the new technology, their preferred learning styles, and their perceptions of the value of the e-learning tools and materials. The survey results indicate a relatively high level of take-up of the new technologies. Learners had a positive perception of the usefulness of these tools in assisting with class preparation, in promoting easier and more rapid reading, and in reducing learner fatigue. While learners found the use of electronic dictionaries to be beneficial for exploratory reading, there was also a preference for curated glossaries to complement their learning. Ongoing training and assistance were necessary to avoid a 'digital divide' in the take-up of e-technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 30 years, teaching Chinese as a foreign/second language (TCSL/TCFL) has made great achievements in Mainland China. However, TCSL/TCFL is at a crucial point at present, and its global development in the 21st century presents us with new questions and challenges. There are many issues involved as TCSL/TCFL adapts to this rapid change from a largely domestic context to a global one. This article attempts to address such issues as the significance, challenges and strategies of TCSL/TCFL in mainland China by outlining its brief history and development since the 1950s, and calls for the establishment of an international ‘framework of reference’ for Chinese language teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until recently Chinese language learning in Australian primary and junior secondary schools has been characterised by programs primarily designed for second language learners who have had no prior knowledge of or exposure to Chinese language. Participation in such programs by Australian-born children who speak Putonghua (Mandarin) or another Chinese language (or dialect) at home has increased significantly in recent years. At present considerable diversity in learner background and learning experience exists within individual classrooms, within school programs, and across school Chinese language programs in general. Research has identified ways in which language background impacts on achievements in Chinese classrooms, and suggests that background language learners' needs and interests are so distinctive that they should be addressed separately in both curriculum and classroom practice. Diversity in Chinese language learner background has been recognised to some extent at the senior secondary level (Years 11-12) through the provision of differentiated syllabuses or curricula. The recent development of Australian Curriculum: Languages has also recognised learner diversity in Chinese language learning through the provision of three separate pathways: for Second Language, Background Language and First Language learners. This initiative has provided some further impetus toward improving the overall provision of appropriate courses for learners of diverse backgrounds in school-based Chinese language programs. There are however still significant challenges to improving learning experiences and outcomes for all learners in the Chinese language classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research paper critically examines use of pinyin as a substitute of characters by Zimbabwean students during acquisition of Chinese language. A questionnaire survey and character recognition survey was done and it was discovered that the use of pinyin as a substitute for Chinese characters negatively affects the acquisition of more complex characters. It was concluded that since each Chinese character is an individual morpheme that carries meaning, therefore dependence on Chinese pinyin negatively affects vocabulary acquisition. The paper recommends that use of pinyin in teaching Chinese language should be limited to the first few weeks, because pinyin was developed to help students acquire the phonetic system of Chinese language rather than the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar. The paper suggests that there is need to explore more ways of balancing the teaching of pinyin and characters in a way that will motivate learners to like Chinese language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on qualitative data obtained from 15 South Asian (SA) B.Ed. (EL) (Bachelor of Education in English Language) students, this study reports on SA students' difficulty in mastering Mandarin-based written Chinese and the vernacular Cantonese in Hong Kong. For convenience, SA here also refers to students whose homeland is the Philippines. Since Britain's return of sovereignty to China on 1 July 1997, the language policy of post-colonial Hong Kong is characterised by biliteracy and trilingualism (兩文三語): the ability to read and write Chinese and English and to speak Cantonese, English and Putonghua/Mandarin. Unlike during the colonial era, much greater significance is now accorded to Chinese literacy, but SA students' poor performance in written Chinese and Cantonese defies such social expectations. A lack of Chinese literacy is a major stumbling block towards gaining access to educational and career opportunities. This raises two ethical issues: social inequality resulting from a lack of a level-playing field and denial of opportunities for social mobility through education. Implications of our empirical findings will be briefly discussed in light of Cummins' interdependency hypothesis on the development of basic interpersonal communicative skills and cognitive academic language proficiency in Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports a design-based research (DBR) cycle of MyCLOUD (My Chinese ubiquitOUs learning Days). MyCLOUD is a seamless language learning model that addresses identified limitations of conventional Chinese language teaching, such as the decontextualized and unauthentic learning processes that usually hinder reflection and deep learning. MyCLOUD focuses on developing new learning practices among students who traverse the in-school and out-of-school learning spaces, in the hope of bridging the formal and informal aspects of language learning. This paper focuses on two stages of DBR across 13 months and traces students’ artifact creations and social interactions facilitated by the design and re-design of the learning environment. The findings indicate that the students’ participation rates and the qualities of their artifacts and online interactions were significantly improved towards the second stage of the intervention. The key implication from the DBR cycle is that the teachers need to plan and enact enculturation activities to systematically promote the motivation and qualities of artifact creations and online interactions. “Facets” of artifact creation and online interaction skills are distilled to guide the enculturation design as a result. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present-day widespread adoption of the interpretation of the Wén (refined or elegant style)-Zhì (unhewn or plain style) Debate in Chinese sutra translation has meant that such an interpretation is only one of methods of or approaches to sutra translation both in sutra translation studies and in the education of Chinese translation history. This paper argues that it is necessary for researchers in general and teachers in particular to have a clear understanding of the traditional Chinese poetics behind and the implication of this debate. The analysis identifies a number of issues of the Wén-Zhì Debate such as its origin, source and implication from a historical perspective and clarifies the strong influence of functional poectics upon sutra translation as well as sutra translators. With special reference to Xuan Zang as a good example who well actualized the concept of "To be a good sutra translator means to be a good man" in sutra translation in Tang Dynasty, the paper concludes with suggestions for reinterpreting the Wén-Zhì Debate both in sutra translation studies and in the education of Chinese translation history by taking into account the influence of the Chinese traditional poetics as well as the ethical aspect of the translator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second language learning becomes increasingly difficult with age, but some adults learn more successfully than others. We examined whether inter-subject variability in the microstructure of white matter pathways, as measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), would predict native English speakers' outcomes in learning Mandarin Chinese. Twenty-one adults were scanned before participating in an intensive 4-week Mandarin course. At the end of the Mandarin course, participants completed a final exam that assessed their skills in both spoken and written Mandarin. Individual participants' white-matter tracts were reconstructed from their native DTI data and related to final-exam performance. Superior language learning was correlated with DTI measures in the right hemisphere, but not in the left hemisphere. In particular, greater initial fractional anisotropy (FA) in both the right superior longitudinal fasciculus (parietal bundle) and the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus was associated with more successful Mandarin learning. The relation between white-matter structure in the right hemisphere of native English speakers and successful initial language learning may reflect the tonal and visuo-spatial properties, respectively, of spoken and written Mandarin Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A great deal of research has examined behavioral performance changes associated with second language learning. But what changes are taking place in the brain as learning progresses? How can we identify differences in brain changes that reflect successes of learning? To answer these questions, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to examine the neural activities associated with second language word learning. Participants were 39 native English speakers who had no prior knowledge of Chinese or other tonal language, and were trained to learn a novel tonal vocabulary in a six-week training session. Functional MRI scans as well as behavioral performances were obtained from these learners at two different times (pre- and post-training). We performed region of interest (ROI) and connectivity analyses to identify effective connectivity changes associated with success in second language word learning. We compared a learner group with a control group, and also examined the differences between successful learners and less successful learners within the learner group across the two time points. Our results indicated that (1) after training, learners and non-learners rely on different patterns of brain networks to process tonal and lexical information of target L2 words; (2) within the learner group, successful learners compared to less successful learners showed significant differences in language-related regions; and (3) successful learners compared to less successful learners showed a more coherent and integrated multi-path brain network. These results suggest that second language experience shapes neural changes in short-term training, and that analyses of these neural changes also reflect individual differences in learning success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the history of Chinese teaching and learning in the U.S. Topics covered include the relationship between the development of Chinese education in the U.S. and the development of the Chinese community and Chinese American history, the categories of Chinese language education and the role of nongovernmental organizations in the Chinese teaching field. Also mentioned is the support provided by communities to teachers and students of Chinese.

This paper discusses the use of ABKD, a multimodal mobile learning game that aims to help Filipino children and young adults remember and increase their Chinese Hanzi and Japanese Kanji vocabularies by engaging them in a collaborative game-like group activity and challenging their creativity and imagination through drawing, taking pictures, and audio recording. Feedback from language learners after playing the game reveals that ABKD has the potential to make learning and remembering Hanzi characters easier, more fun, and more interesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a brief discussion on the Chinese in the Philippines and the current state of education system in the community. While Chinese Filipino schools cater mainly to ethnic Chinese in the Philippines, these are also open to all Philippine residents. Almost all graduates of these schools eventually pursue higher education in Philippine colleges and universities. Upon graduation, they become professionals and serve not only the Chinese Filipino community but the larger Philippine society. The guiding principle of the community for the past two decades has been to produce graduates with a solid grounding in Chinese language and culture, who are multicultural and multilingual and equipped to meet the challenges of the new century. To help in furthering this objective, different scholarships and education projects are available in the Chinese Filipino community. The paper ends with a discussion on the major education projects that benefit the mainstream society, and hopefully identify the best practices that can be replicated outside of the Chinese Filipino community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the guest editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including the technology and the education of Chinese-language teachers, the program for pre-service Chinese teachers in Taiwan, and the skills needed for online Chinese-language teaching.

The issue of whether the use of the learner's first language should be prohibited or incorporated in EFL settings has been debated for years. This study is designed to investigate the attitudes of university-level EFL learners on the use of L1 in the English classroom. The participants were 966 students enrolled in general English classes at a comprehensive university in Taipei. The participants completed a questionnaire in their regular English class time. Quantitative methods were used to analyze the data. One-way ANOVA and independent-samples t-test were performed to examine the effects of proficiency level and year at college on students' opinions about the use of Chinese. The findings reveal that the higher proficiency English learners are not opposed to the use of Chinese in class, and the lower proficiency English learners depend on Chinese to facilitate their learning. Based on these findings, the researcher suggests that judiciously using Chinese should facilitate the students' learning. As the learners' proficiency improves, Chinese use in the classroom can be weaned away and English added gradually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the growing number of Chinese language learners around the world, classroom learning environment has a major effect on their L2 motivation. By analyzing non-heritage, middle grade students' voices expressed in focus group interviews over two school years, we found students enjoyed learning activities in which they could participate actively and practice what they have learned. Students felt they were able to learn more when these learning activities were presented as competitive activities and were supported with visuals and additional resources. Students also expressed wanting to learn content that can be used in everyday context and have multiple opportunities to learn Chinese words and culture. We believe our study provides empirical support to Dörnyei and Ushioda's (2011) L2 Motivation Self-System Model that posited that the L2 learning experience can help to create the basic motivational conditions and to generate and protect motivation. We also provide specific suggestions for teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Based on data from the Southwest Basic Education Project, this paper provides an empirical estimation of gender gaps in Chinese and math among primary and lower-secondary school students in poor counties of Southwestern China. Major findings from 2-level HLM analysis by grade (3, 5, 7, and 9) include: (1) small positive gaps favoring girls in Chinese and negative gaps in math were found for all grades. (2) Gaps were larger in higher grades, girls’ advantage in Chinese experienced a small increase over the 2006–2010 period, and gaps varied by province. (3) Being a minority and having a low SES interplayed with gender in some circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this enormously rich and spirited conversation, Perry Link reminisces about his training as a student of Chinese language and literature in the midst of American involvement in the Vietnam War, his early understanding of Chinese revolution and socialism, and his encounters with such well-known Chinese intellectuals as Liu Binyan and Fang Lizhi during the late 1980s and after, as well as his involvement with the publication of the Tiananmen Papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effect of native language background on listeners' perception of native and non-native vowels spoken by native (Hong Kong Cantonese) and non-native (Mandarin and Australian English) speakers. They completed discrimination and an identification task with and without visual cues in clear and noisy conditions. Results indicated that visual cues did not facilitate perception, and performance was better in clear than in noisy conditions. More importantly, the Cantonese talker's vowels were the easiest to discriminate, and the Mandarin talker's vowels were as intelligible as the native talkers' speech. These results supported the interlanguage speech native intelligibility benefit patterns proposed by Hayes-Harb et al. (J Phonetics 36:664-679, ). The Mandarin and English listeners' identification patterns were similar to those of the Cantonese listeners, suggesting that they might have assimilated Cantonese vowels to their closest native vowels. In addition, listeners' perceptual patterns were consistent with the principles of Best's Perceptual Assimilation Model (Best in Speech perception and linguistic experience: issues in cross-language research. York Press, Timonium, ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a project, including the design, development, and use of a mobile application (referred to as application hereafter) for learning Chinese as a second language in a bilingual primary school. The application was designed for iPod Touch Apple technology with the purpose to facilitate learning of a fundamental set of 200 Chinese characters. The project was a coordinated effort of experts, including an instructional designer, a software engineer, a Chinese language expert, and classroom teachers to develop an experimental Chinese character learning application for the primary school classroom. This paper reports how the project team explored experiences of teachers and learners in a particular context, developed understanding of teaching and learning needs for Chinese language learning, and how these inform design of the educational application. The final outcomes of the project include a Chinese character learning application and recommendations for design and use of educational applications in Chinese language teaching and other similar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scores of Chinese language teaching ventures have increasingly opened up in African countries; recently Kenya became one of the best regions in Chinese language teaching. By December 2013, Kenya had successfully established 3 Confucius Institutes, 1 Confucius classroom and many other universities and colleges teaching Chinese Language. Not only does Kenya have rapid development of Chinese language teaching, but also is highly innovative in it. This essay seeks to analyze and summarize the characteristics of the Kenyan way of teaching, the contribution of Hanban, important theoretical significance and practical values of Chinese language teaching materials through the application of the current situation in Kenya's system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to find out how young children can learn, understand, and progress in the Chinese language. This study focuses on 13 students between two and three years old. The data collection methods used classroom observation, benchmarks, and parent questionnaires about at home behavior. The data analysis used is qualitative depending on student benchmark, class observation, and parents' descriptions of Chinese language use at home. The purpose of this research is to find how children improve and develop their foreign language skills. Findings include that through foreign language study, students' use of English improved, and students who attended class five days a week were more successful. All the students' pronunciation was great. There was not a difference between their accents and the accents of native Chinese speakers. My findings showed that the students who used Chinese language at home, had improved verbal English usage and that the child's personality affects the learning results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparative study is based on the English and Chinese corpora of more than one million tokens collected by the author in person and finds that English enjoys a large vocabulary but relatively a far low word frequency and text coverage, compared with Chinese. In the English corpus of more than one million tokens, nearly eighty percent types appear fewer than ten times, and the number of the types with the frequency above ten times is too small to reach the 95% text coverage, which is generally seen as the least required for reading comprehension. Then, this paper infers that, for College English learners in China, if they follow the approach of incidental vocabulary acquisition to pick up their new words from reading, they will have to add up their reading outside classroom to a quantity of more than 660,000 words, eleven times as much as the reading in class. That is to say, they will have to read 800 more texts with 800 words each after class, or have to read another ten texts in their free time after they finish learning one text in class. Undoubtedly, this is a reading load too heavy for them to bear, and reveals that the approach of incidental vocabulary acquisition is not feasible for College English teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the reform and opening-up policy, the whole world has witnessed China's setting-off. In addition to the economic boom, China also lays stress on strengthening her culture soft power in the outside world. Hence, an increasing number of words with Chinese characteristics have appeared. In regard to the translation of these Chinese-characterized words, lots of translators and scholars have put forward different translating methods. From the perspective of functional equivalence theory, in most cases, due to the differences of cultural background and linguistic customs between Chinese and English, it is impossible to reach total equivalence in form and meaning. On this occasion, the translator can choose a suitable approach to reach the functional equivalence. Through analyzing the translation of Chinese-characterized terms, the author tries to explain these useful methods from the perspective of functional equivalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can the education of teacher-researchers from China be framed in ways so that they might make Chinese learnable for primary and secondary school learners for whom English is their everyday language of instruction and communication. The concept "making Chinese learnable" and the characters of the language learners are explained in the introduction to the paper. The review of an extensive range of literature focuses on the challenges facing Chinese language education. This review of literature from China, the UK, the USA, and Australia leads to a focus on the need for improved teacher education in this field. We explain the theoretic-pedagogical framework for the education of Chinese language teacher-researchers from China. The "case" employed to develop this account an Australia-China partnership called the Research Oriented, School/Industry Engaged Teacher-Researcher Education (ROSETE) Program. Key aspects relating to the educational research process employed in this study are explained. The description of the ROSETE Program introduces the key ideas of "cross-sociolinguistic similarities" and "recurring everyday sociolinguistic activities." The Ningbo Volunteers, as teacher-researcher candidates use these ideas to investigate efficient ways of making Chinese learnable for learners in Australian schools for whom English is their everyday language of instruction and communication. Through exploring these issues this paper addresses an important and under researched area. It provides inspiration for further teaching and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedagogical norms for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) shared by teachers, curriculum writers, and resource designers inside and outside of Chinese societies are yet to be established. To initiate and inform dialogue within the CFL community over shared expectations of learners, this study compared the judgments of students' oral presentations rendered by three groups of teachers: first language (L1) teachers of Chinese in China, L1 teachers of Chinese in Australia, and second language (L2) teachers of Chinese in Australia, where Chinese has been taught in K-16 schools for more than 25 years. The aim was to ascertain the nature and range of features that the three groups noticed and found acceptable and to identify differences in perspectives, including those that were tacitly understood and those that were overtly stated. Results showed considerable common ground on which to create norms for the growing number of CFL programs. However, the data also revealed strong differences between L1 teachers and L2 teachers on the nature of the speaker-audience relationship being sought, suggesting deeper conceptual differences along L1-L2 lines about this particular aspect of students' oral communication. These findings call for committed intercultural dialogue over 'appropriate meaning schemata for FL [foreign language] learners' (Kramsch, 2002) as well as further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ninety-four Mainland Chinese children in the second and third years of kindergarten (mean age = 65 months, SD = 6.94) were tested on Pinyin letter-name knowledge, invented Pinyin spelling, general copying skills of unfamiliar print (in Korean, Hebrew and Vietnamese, ultimately combined to create a pure copying factor), delayed copying of characters, nonverbal reasoning, vocabulary knowledge, speeded number-naming, syllable deletion, and morphological awareness in order to examine unique correlates of beginning Chinese word reading and writing, which were also tested. With age, kindergarten level, and nonverbal reasoning statistically controlled, morphological awareness, speeded naming, and Pinyin letter-name knowledge uniquely explained Chinese word reading, whereas both the pure copying factor and delayed copying independently explained 11 and 5 % variance in Chinese word writing, respectively. Findings suggest a somewhat independent trajectory of developing word reading and writing skills in very young Chinese children and highlight the potential importance of both print-dependent and print-independent copying skills for the development of early word writing skill in Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) utilization in Chinese as a "second" foreign language has mainly been focused on Learning Management System (LMS), digital material development, and quantitative analysis of learners' grammatical knowledge. There has been little research that has analyzed the effectiveness of cross-cultural distance learning by the mixed methods. In this study, Chinese classes were instructed with blended learning which has three phases such as classroom teaching, Web-Based Training, and Cross-Cultural Distance Learning. This practice was based on an instructional design and a motivational design. This study aimed to explore the outcome of learning and learners' experiences with the mixed methods. A quantitative analysis shows that Japanese students have already had high motivation from the beginning, and that learners who are anxious about communication skills have gained confidence through the interaction practices. As a qualitative analysis result, learners failed to communicate with Chinese students and felt that they lacked vocabulary, but experienced the use of Chinese in authentic contexts through the synchronous face-to-face interaction. They also improved in aggressiveness and motivation for learning Chinese. They fixed words and sentences which were learned in the classroom in the process of talking to different partners. All participants enjoyed the rare chance of interaction between young native speakers, and formed a positive impression of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese migrants have been a rich source of influential international literature, represented by key works such asEat a Bowl of Teaby Louis Chu in 1961 andThe Joy Luck Clubby Amy Tan in 1989. Cultural differences and conflicts, stereotypes and other complex issues regarding the diasporic lives of the Chinese sojourners are revealed vividly in those stories. In the intercultural language teaching of Chinese in USA, Australia and Europe, a central and pressing task is to improve students' intercultural sensitivities and develop the capability to communicate efficiently with China and Chinese people. In light of critical literary studies that treat literature as a kind of ‘cultural artefact’ and recent analysis of Hay and Wang which advocates ‘migratory’ literature as a ‘third place’ for intercultural communication, this paper takes a step further. It does so by expanding the spectrum into Chinese norms, stereotypes and some core values that are significant in intercultural communication with Chinese and explores interdisciplinary approaches to linking studies of Chinese migrant literature and the intercultural education of Chinese at university level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The rapidly increasing population of heritage students within the recent expansion of Chinese language education leads us to explore anxiety levels specific to Chinese heritage language (CHL) learners. This study examines the anxiety profiles of 87 CHL learners, enrolled in separated heritage-track courses at two U. S. universities, from a larger sample of 192 Chinese language students. The results indicate that of the four language skill-based activities, writing provokes the most anxiety in CHL learners, and students' avoidance behavior was found to be strongest in the three subcomponents of writing anxiety. At the same time, correlations with the other three skill-based anxieties were the weakest, revealing the complex construct of CHL writing anxiety. Factor analysis and regression procedures indicate that a large portion of CHL writing anxiety is explained not only by factors of the second language writing process but also by factors associated with the learners' heritage identity. Finally, suggestions for a Heritage Language Anxiety Scale and pedagogical implications for CHL writing instruction are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a replication of Sung's (2012) study. This study investigated most frequently used Chinese-character learning strategies reported by 88 first-year college learners of Chinese, the factors underlying those strategies, and whether there is a relationship between those strategies and the learners' Chinese-character test performance. The results found 20 most frequently used strategies reported by the learners. Furthermore, the factor analysis extracted three components, which explained 44% of the variance. The results of the multiple regression tests showed that the participants who reported frequently using particular phonological strategies did better on the phonological comprehension part of the test and the ones who reported frequently using orthographic strategies did better on the graphic comprehension, graphic production, and phonological production parts of the test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is aimed at identifying reading strategies of beginning learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) with and without a pop-up dictionary and at determining if learners retain the reading comprehension gained from using the dictionary. Beginning CFL learners at a Midwestern university answered questions about their reading strategies after reading passages in Chinese with and without a pop-up dictionary, did think-aloud protocols, and wrote recalls. Qualitative analyses of answers and thinkaloud protocols identified generally-used strategies both with and without the pop-up dictionary: engaging in bottom-up strategies, monitoring comprehension, using the first language, and focusing on lexical cues. Qualitative analyses also revealed different reading strategies in obtaining character and word meanings and in constructing sentence meanings. Statistical results indicated that much of the improvement gained from using the pop-up dictionary during the first reading was not retained over a short period of time. It may be concluded that the use of the pop-up dictionary may not alter CFL learners' general reading strategies, yet the dictionary does provide additional resources to facilitate meaning construction. Hence, it is relevant to guide students to effectively use the pop-up dictionary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there has been research on literacy as a sociocultural practice, L2 literacy researchers have yet to incorporate and consider how the material characteristics of a writing system interact with sociocultural factors in shaping literacy practices. Drawing on conceptions of literacy as a sociocultural practice, psycholinguistic and developmental work, this paper seeks to expand the understanding of ‘‘literacy practice’’ by considering both material and sociocultural factors. It focuses the discussion on Chinese L2 literacy practices that concern the learning of Chinese characters in a Mandarin Chinese-as-a-second language classroom. The paper concludes with implications for L2 literacy pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A causative verb is likely to appear in a sentence with two noun arguments, whereas a noncausative verb tends to appear in a sentence with a single argument. The present research investigates from what point children learning Chinese begin to show this knowledge of argument structure. Two-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children were tested using a forced-choice pointing task. The results showed that Chinese-speaking children aged 2 years could associate a transitive construction with a causative event, whereas they were not able to map an intransitive construction to a noncausative event even after reaching 5 years of age. The reason why Chinese children have such difficulty in learning knowledge of intransitive construction is discussed, focusing on (a) the semantic properties of certain intransitive verbs, which have been found not only in Chinese but also in other languages, and (b) the ellipsis of arguments, which is characteristic of Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the very initial phases of orthographic and semantic acquisition in monolingual native English speakers learning Chinese words under controlled laboratory conditions. Participants engaged in 10 sessions of vocabulary learning, four of which were used to obtain ERPs. Performance in behavioral tests improved over sessions, and these data were used to define fast and slow learners. Most important is that ERPs in the two groups of learners revealed qualitatively distinct learning patterns. Only fast learners showed a left-lateralized increase in N170 amplitude with training. Furthermore, only fast learners showed an increased N400 amplitude with training, with a distinct anterior distribution. Slow learners, on the other hand, showed a posterior positive effect, with increasingly positive-going waveforms in occipital sites as training progressed. Possible mechanisms underlying these qualitative differences are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the analyses on Latin research model and the probes for Chinese part of speech in Western Sinology, this paper shows it was common practice to describe Chinese with Latin models for Missionaries and Sinologists in european academia after Aristotle's category theory. Though these Westerners realized that the Chinese part of speech was different from european languages' after adopting Thrax's word classification method, they still revealed some typical characteristics of it with the Latin model, and these linguistic studies of Chinese part of speech then became the basis of Chinese Linguistic system in Western Sinology among the 17-19th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Embedding the concept of ‘international mindedness’ in teaching across a range of subject matter is seen as increasingly important in today’s education. Understanding the situated challenges that teachers may encounter in doing this is critical to the development of effective professional development in different socio-cultural and instructional contexts. Purpose: This study examined the enactment of international mindedness in International Baccalaureate diploma programmes (IBDP) in the Hong Kong context, focusing on the subject of Chinese language teaching. Sample: Nine experienced Chinese language teachers in IBDP programmes from six International Baccalaureate schools participated in the study. The schools were selected on the basis that they had some variety in student demographic profiles and organisational structures and had been offering the IBDP programmes for several years. Participant teachers either had several years of teaching IBDP Chinese or were holding leadership roles in the Chinese department and were very familiar with IBDP Chinese teaching. Design and methods: Individual, semi-structured interviews of approximately an hour’s duration were conducted with participant teachers. A thematic analysis technique was used to analyse the interview data both deductively and inductively. Findings: Analysis revealed a set of internal and external challenges that were described as arising from the characteristics of the individual teachers, the curriculum and the teaching contexts. Challenges internal to the teachers included their educational experience, pedagogical beliefs and interpretations of the concept of international mindedness in teaching. External challenges included the characteristics of the IBDP curriculum, the subject matter and schools’ and parents’ expectations concerning international mindedness. Teachers and schools were found to utilise various strategies in order to enhance the perceived compatibility and relevancy of international mindedness in the curriculum. Strategies included balancing educational approaches and curriculum demands, enhancing communication with the school community around international mindedness, and providing school-based on-site training and monitoring. Conclusions: The study highlighted the need to take a localised approach which focuses on supporting schools and teachers to identify different models and pedagogies that are appropriate for their particular teaching contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Chinese has been the fastest growing modern foreign language in British schools and universities in the last decade, due largely to the perceived growing importance of mainland China as a global economic and political power and the substantial investment in Confucius Institutes (CIs) and Classrooms (CCs) by the Chinese government. This article focuses on how China's geopolitical strategy of promoting Chinese as a global language has been received and implemented in the UK and how different groups of learners of Chinese have been differentially affected by the implementation of the policies of the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, commonly referred to as Hanban. Based on conversations with key stakeholders of the Confucius Institutes and Classrooms, including managers, teachers, and students, as well as observations in these settings, we investigate the different motivations and ideologies of the different interest groups. We also examine the cultural elements that are being taught in the CIs and CCs. A particular focus is on how ethnic Chinese learners in the CIs and CCs react to the teaching of Chinese culture. The effect of promoting Putonghua on ethnic Chinese students who speak other varieties of Chinese and how 'foreignness' is constructed in the CIs and CCs are specific concerns of the present study. The study contributes to the wider discussions of language ideology, language attitudes, motivations for language learning, and learner identity vis-à-vis modern foreign language education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'The Archimedean point for moral life' discussed in this article refers to the starting point of one's moral reasoning and what ultimately makes moral life possible. The article intends to show that Mengzi's doctrine of the Four Beginnings may throw some light on our search for such an Archimedean point. More specifically, it argues for the following: (1) Mengzi's doctrine of the Four Beginnings actually takes moral sentiments as the Archimedean point for moral life; (2) Mengzi's view of the starting point of moral reasoning and the ultimate ground for moral life not only can be empirically supported to a great extent, but also logically plausible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational practitioners in the higher education institutions of the UK have increasingly promoted the use of wikis. The technology enhanced learning experience of the UK was transferred to a local higher educational agency in Malaysia through a collaborative research project called WiLearn. By examining a student cohort enrolled in Chinese language studies, WiLearn explores the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and the Zone of Distal Development (ZDD) with regard to the use of wikis in peer reviewed group coursework. With the goal of informing higher education researchers and practitioners, the problematic use of wikis was discussed according to the following three dimensions: (a) the process of group work; (b) social presence; and (c) the outcome of group work. The findings reveal that more critical reflection is evident when retrieving peers' comments through WiLearn, but less critical discourse is evident among the participants. The difference between the ZPD and the ZDD lies not in the functional use of wikis but in the degree of openness and social presence of the students from Chinese language studies. A pedagogical change in critical peer review and discourse regarding the use of wikis is suggested. This paper concludes with constructive and disruptive lessons that were learned through a series of insights that provide a greater understanding of the challenges and opportunities with regard to learning and teaching with wikis for Chinese language studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]