Teaching Chinese in an International Context
Guoqiang Liu and Fengqi Qian
Abstract:The beginning of the new millennium ushered in a period of boom as far as learning and teaching of Chinese language is concerned.This article examines some issues encountered in various areas in the Chinese language teaching and learning ecology of Australia，which is an international context for the teaching and learning of Chinese in an environment where the Chinese language evolved from a community language to a language of acquisition in the formal education.Categorisation of Chinese learners in Australia is far from being able to provide an accurate picture of what types of learners they are，because categories are by nature loosely defined;but generally there are three groups of learners:second language learners，background speakers and native speakers.In the area of language education planning，there is a need to address the challenge of learning Chinese characters and its resulting disincentive effect for learners from European language backgrounds，and a lack of continuity in the transition from primary school to secondary school curriculum and subject offerings.At the university level，grouping of different types of learners in classes need to be improved so that each type of students can feel encouraged to learn Chinese and be able to learn it more effectively;intensive in-country Chinese programs of different models are invaluable to participants in terms of learning the language while living among native speakers of the target language and expanding their horizon in their personal development in a new culture;and recently needs of international students from Chinese backgrounds had to be included in course design and teaching.Chinese has become an international language given the great number of speakers in almost every corner of the world，and in this context，effective Chinese teaching and learning should be focused on localisation of teaching，including textbooks and other teaching materials，so that learners can consider Chinese more relevant to them and they can live the language.
Keywords:Chinese language education;language policy and planning;internalisation and localisation;learner categories;language maintenance