Knowledge Framework and Pedagogical Re-imagining...
Huizhong Shen
Abstract:In this article a range of issues will be examined relating to Chinese teaching and learning in Australian schools.Framed broadly by a crosscultural perspective，the analysis draws upon the often-cited knowledge framework(Shuman，1987)and research on teaching English(and more recently Chinese)as an international language.Specifically，the focus is on how Chinese as a foreign language could be perceived in pedagogical design and classroom practice in instructional procedures.
There appears to be no longer an enigma as to the usefulness of a second or foreign language in the school curriculum，nor an argument for a foreign language or its related pedagogy appropriate for a particular learner population.However，an aspiration，often subconscious，for language learners to acquire an“authentic foreign language and culture knowledge”through classroom instruction is reminiscent of a long receded“single monochrome standard”in the teaching and learning of English.This is often observable in teaching when there is a desire for Australian learners of the Chinese language to acquire standard pronunciation and character writing as though they are learning the foreign language in the source country.A native-speaker model is not only embedded in textbook selection but also pedagogical treatment.
Keywords:cross-cultural pedagogy;Chinese curriculum;knowledge framework;language research;localised contexts