Under the task-based language teaching (TBLT) framework, this study investigated learners' perceptions of a WeChat task being integrated into a Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) curriculum. The WeChat task linked up learners of Chinese from an Australian university with native speakers of Chinese as international students on the same campus. The…

This research investigated Australian community languages school (CLS) teachers' emerging pedagogical habitus, focussing specifically on key dynamics effecting the adaptation in their pedagogical understanding and practice. Following an interview-based case study design, the research analyzed in detail major factors and their interplay that had…

Chinese is now a global language because of the global flow of Chinese people throughout the world. This development provides an important intellectual basis for engaging in the transnational exchange of Chinese theoretical knowledge. The argument developed here is that learning from international (and migrant) research students from China is a…

Language pedagogy in Australia, North America and Europe has been influenced in the past 20 years by a sociocultural understanding of language and culture, which has asked teachers to adopt an intercultural approach, integrating critical cultural reflection within language learning. Due to the diversity of backgrounds, however, different groups of…

In this paper, a series of vignettes is used to explore important current challenges in TESOL. These vignettes are drawn from many different settings, including Bengali-, Pahari- and Chinese-speaking children in UK primary schools, speakers of Aboriginal English in Australia and Chinese teachers of English on courses in Higher Education. A number…

Background: Caring for a child with intellectual disability can be stressful. No data on the longer-term effects of cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) on parents from a Chinese-speaking background who have children with intellectual disabilities are available in the literature. This study attempted to fill this research gap by examining the…

This pilot project investigates second language (L2) learners' attitudes towards three varieties of English: American (AmE), British (BrE) and Australian (AuE). A 69-word passage spoken by a female speaker of each variety was used. Participants were 30 Chinese students pursuing Masters or Doctoral degrees in the United States, who listened to each…

One of the difficulties secondary non-Chinese-speaking background (NCSB) learners are facing is to remember the characters learned in order to recall them when necessary. The traditional way of teaching secondary NCSB learners to remember Chinese characters is through mere repetition, e.g. writing out each single character by following its stroke…

States that the difficult Asian languages such as modern standard Chinese, Japanese and Korean, should not be taught in primary or lower secondary schools to non-background speakers of those languages, that is, those whose mother tongue is related to the language being learned. Maintains that time should be spent in primary and secondary schools…

Presents some policy issues regarding Chinese language courses for students whose mother tongue is Chinese or a dialect of Chinese. (five references) (Author/CK)

Describes the process of selecting and developing a debate team at the University of New South Wales (Australia) to compete in an international Modern Standard Chinese debating competition. Discusses issues in selecting team members, training needs and strategies (particularly self-directed learning), time pressure, and the success of the…