Students
The above views from the lecturers about curricula and teaching materials are shared by the students in the participating universities.The face-to-face interviews demonstrated that not all the students were satisfied with the existing curricula and the textbooks.Some of them confirmed that the textbooks used in their universities were fine.On the other hand，some of them complained that the materials they were using seemed problematic.The following are some statements made by CHBSand NCBS:
I think our textbook is ok，but it will be great if we could have a textbook or other supplementary material which have more Australian related content.(NCBS 2，5/11/2017)
I found that Integrated Chinese is very good in grammar explanation，and exercises are also helpful，but the texts are not suitable to us Australian university students.As I know it was written by Americans，right?(NCBS 6，6/11/2017)
The grammar explanation，examples and exercises on the textbook we use are good.But the content is a bit too easy，and they are not much related to our daily life，so I think it is not practical enough.(CHBS 1，22/11/2017)
It is not bad.But it will be better to have more cultural content in each text.And I think some expressions in the dialogue are not colloquial.Chinese don’t talk like that in reality.(CHBS 2，28/11/2018)
Most student participants hoped to use Australian published textbooks，designed by local Chinese teachers and experts.Unfortunately，there are a few proper textbooks specifically designed for CHBS.Consequently，their lecturers had to rely on the imported teaching materials from China.The lack of appropriate teaching and learning materials in the students’eyes was one of the significant contributing factors which had hindered their progress of learning Chinese.The two cohorts had one similar voice:the university’s curricula and the teaching material should be changed and innovated.
In addition to the concern about the curricula and teaching material，it was noticeable that the lecturers’teaching methods was another major concern from both CHBS and NCBS.Unlike the lecturers of French，German，Japanese languages，this study found out that all lecturers of Chinese in the seven participating universities were Chinese native speakers who had received formal education in China and obtained different levels of academic training in English speaking countries，mostly in Australia.In spite of the fact that they highly appreciated student-centred，communicative，and egalitarian approach in their Chinese classes and showed a sound understanding of Australian university system，their original cultural value，the philosophy of teaching，concepts of learning which they accepted when they undertook their undergraduate study in China have deeply rooted in their minds and are still strongly influencing their current teaching.These formerly perceived educational philosophies were implanted in their everyday teaching when they interacted with CHBS and NCBS.There was one incident happened in a participating university(U-M)where NCBS criticised the teaching method used by a lecturer from China.The NCBS expressed their dislikes on the Chinese“old fashion”style of teaching and learning，such as memorising through repetition.They felt more engaged and benefited in interactive activities and enjoyed more with active and humorous teachers.Interestingly，student participants from Chinese family background but growing up in Australia shared the same view with NCBS.They expressed acknowledgement to student-centred teaching，at the same time，it seems that they do not have a strong objection against some of the Chinese style teaching.
I like my Chinese language teachers.They provided clear instruction in class，and they were very helpful when I asked them questions after class.Our classes were structured very well.I liked to read aloud new words after teacher because it helped me a lot with pronunciation，and I think it is very important.(CHBS 3，3/12/2018)
I like speaking activities when teacher asked us to form a dialogue or a group talk on a specific topic.This kind of practices not only encouraged us to use the learned words and grammar structure，but also provide us opportunities to learn from others.(NCBS 3，5/11/2017)
I think our Chinese language courses tend to be more interactive rather than preaching.We were encouraged a lot to speak Chinese in class through different kinds of activities.Well，our teacher still demonstrates the pronunciation of the new words，illustrate grammar，and introduce Chinese culture in lectures，but we learned this language more from using it as much as possible，which is good.But from my point of view，I think repetition，memorizing and dictation are also very helpful to language learning.(CHBS 2，28/11/2018)
Last but not least concern by students was the assessments used to evaluate the learning outcomes of both CHBSand NCBS.In all participating universities，frequent in-class tests and mid-term and/or final examinations were the two common forms employed in different courses.And the assessment tasks were designed according to pre-determined course objectives with an adjustment based on the students’performance and learning progress.Although most students affirmed the effectiveness and reliability of the assessment tasks，CHBS reported that sometimes the assessment task or some part of the assessment items were unexpectedly easy while NCBSin the same class made complaints about the difficulties of the same assessment.The following are some contradictory comments from CHBSand NCBS:
In general，the tests I took in my courses were not bad，but I did feel some parts were challenging.For example，in our listening test，the speaking in the recording was faster than the recording for the texts in our book.(CHBS 3，03/12/2018)
I think the tests for me are hard，but I think the structure of the tests are fine.Ithink they are hard because of my studying level.I need to listen to a recording a few times before I understand it.And just even I do study a lot like writing characters，when I am in the test，I am nervous so I always forget how to write characters，so it takes me long time just write like a story，so I don’t normally have time to really finish those.(NCBS 1，2211/2017)
For me，thein-class tests were not very hard.Maybesome other students felt that the listening and reading parts are difficult in the test，but I don’t feel the same.What most annoyed me was the writing characters.Although we were not asked to write a lot in the test，Istill felt that I could easily think of the sentences but couldn’t write all characters down properly.(CHBS 2，28/11/2018)
I found out that all the content in those exam papers really challenge you，it wasn’t like just straight from the textbook where you can just read the easy phrase，you have to be able to kind of piecing together what was going on，so I found myself really challenged with in the exam.(NCBS 6，6/11/2017)
Noticeably，using the same assessment tasks to evaluate of CHBSand NCBS is problematic from both academic and pedagogical points of view.It is also an equality issue regarding the fairness towards the two cohorts of students who are learning Chinese，hence，it needs to be handled urgently and carefully.