Teaching Chinese to International Students in China: Political Rhetoric and Ground Realities

Abstract

This paper presents an on-going study of the enactment of The International Promotion of Chinese Policy (国际汉语推广政策). It explores how Chinese teaching and learning take place in a Chinese university under the Study in China Programme which allows international students, after a period of intensive Chinese language learning, to transfer to academic courses taught in Chinese for Chinese students at the tertiary level. This programme has expanded in recent years in response to the government's goal to enhance China's soft power globally. By studying policy documents, engaging in conversations with students and teachers and observing classrooms, our study reveals that there are conflicting interests of social actors at national, institutional and individual levels, causing considerable conflicts and tensions in three aspects: (1) the divergent goals of internationalisation between the government and the higher education institution; (2) the imperative need of academic Chinese for subject learning and the actual offer of Chinese for everyday communication and (3) the competing role of English versus Chinese as a lingua franca for international students in the university setting. These conflicts make it difficult for international students to benefit from the subject courses, and for universities to implement successful language programmes for international students, and this renders the political objective of this programme difficult to achieve.

English or Chinese as medium of instruction? International students’ perceptions and practices in Chinese universities

“…We started the inquiry to assess how the internationalization of Chinese universities with two mediums of instruction and the Chinese government's commitment to promoting Chinese as an international language might somehow influence learners’ perceptions and practices concerning the status of English and Chinese as de facto lingua franca in internationalized university programs in China. Indeed, MOI issue is often regarded more than language itself, and is believed to bear certain socially divisive nature, for stakeholders fear it might undermine a nation's identity (Dearden, 2015) or engender the possible competing role of the foreign language versus the first language (Wang & Curdt–Christiansen, 2016). Although the study was conducted within only one Chinese university, the evidence we gathered so far reveals the international students’ seemingly competing views and complementary practices with the two mediums of instruction in the process of international learning.…”

“…The participants in the Chinese programs felt that passing the required Chinese proficiency test did not provide them with sufficient linguistic competence for academic studies in the medium of Chinese, because the proficiency test focuses more on basic communication rather than academic Chinese literacy (e.g. Wang & Curdt–Christiansen, 2016). A female student from Vietnam (CMIS2) reflected on her educational experiences in China and made the following proposal to address her challenges:Excerpt 3I think HSK is not enough for my learning.…”

Chinese Language Teaching and Learning in Kenya in the Prospects of China’s Reform and Opening-up

“…Furthermore, in 1998, China's Nanjing Agricultural University sent a number of students to study at Kenya's Egerton University as part of an exchange program. These students, apart from learning from the receiving university, also started a small, informal Chinese language teaching program that saw a number of Kenyan students enroll (Haugen, 2013;Wang & Curdt-Christiansen, 2016;Wheeler, 2014).…”

“…The declaration has been viewed as a positive influence with bidirectional economic gains between China and Kenya within China's reform and agenda for its opening-up (King, 2010). Nonetheless, the teaching and learning of Chinese among various Kenyan learners has been driven by a number of reasons, and as such, their levels of competence differ from one learner to another (Haugen, 2013;Wang & Curdt-Christiansen, 2016;Wheeler, 2014). In addition, a number of other challenges affect the Chinese language's propagation in the local context of Kenya, a domain that this study will highlight further, but was preceded with exploratory survey findings on the insights of Chinese Language Teaching and Learning in Kenya.…”

“…However, interest is not just shown towards the Chinese language, but also in other foreign languages too. This interest is driven by a sense of prestige, and a desire to add another language of communication (Haugen, 2013;Wang & Curdt-Christiansen, 2016). Today, Chinese is also considered one of the UN languages of communication, and as such, the Chinese language, as a subject, has become one of the majors for a Master of Arts degree in Interpretation (MAI) at the UoN Center for Translation and Interpretation (CTI) (Fourie, 2013;King, 2010;Wheeler, 2014).…”