Teaching Chinese as an International Language: A Singapore Perspective

by Yeng-Seng Goh

Overview

Bilingual and bicultural scholar Yeng-Seng Goh offers the first in-depth English language analysis of global Chinese, exploring the spread of Chinese beyond China and its emergence as a global language. Approaching the topic from a Singapore perspective, Goh uses this fascinating language ecosystem, with its unique bilingual language policy, as a case study for Chinese language learning. Offering clear insights into the pedagogy of teaching Chinese as an international language (TCIL), this book covers a range of important topics, such as the use of English in the teaching of Chinese, the teaching of Chinese by non-native teachers, information and communications technology in L2 learning and teaching, and the progressive testing of receptive skills. In doing so, it presents a new, integrative approach to the compilation of Chinese learner's dictionaries, an innovative bilingual hybrid model for training TCIL teachers, and a solid theoretical framework for Masters of Arts programmes in TCIL.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107052192
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/17/2017
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Professor Yeng-Seng Goh is a leading authority on Chinese language policy in Singapore. He has pioneered an innovative pedagogical model called the 'Bilingual Approach' to teach Chinese to the increasing number of Singaporean students hailing from English-speaking homes.

Table of Contents

1. The spread of Chinese as a global language; 2. Mandarin Chinese as spoken in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore: a comparison; 3. Hard truths about Chinese language policy and planning in Singapore; 4. A sociolinguistic profile of Chinese language student-teachers in Singapore; 5. Who are we? The China complex of Chinese in Singapore; 6. The use of English in the teaching of Chinese: making the most of the learner's linguistic resources; 7. The teaching of Chinese by non-native teachers: experience and implications; 8. ICT in L2 learning and teaching: design and development of bilingual digital instructional materials; 9. Internet Plus and TCIL: a progressive Chinese pronunciation programme; 10. From bilingual to monolingual: a new business Chinese test for the progressive testing of receptive skills; 11. The four language skills and the compilation of Chinese learner's dictionaries: an integrative approach; 12. The bilingual hybrid teacher model for teaching Chinese as an international language; 13. The master of arts in teaching Chinese as an international language; 14. The making of the translation service industry in Singapore; Epilogue.

Editorial Reviews

‘This book is ideal for both academics in the fields of language learning and bilingualism, and teachers who provide instructions in Chinese - or even English - around the world. It also contains a number of chapters which will be of interest to policy makers in government agencies in countries where English and Chinese are taught in the school system. It will also be of interest to graduate students and researchers concerned with language planning and related fields of applied linguistics. Also, general readers - even if they lack proficiency in Chinese - will find much of historical and sociological interest in the range of topics covered within all the 14 chapters in this book.’ Zhi Huang, LINGUIST List

From the Publisher