Supporting the Learning of Chinese as a Second Language: Implications for Language Education Policy

The research in this volume takes account of the context of policy promoting Chinese as a second language (CSL) in several countries and regions, (Australia, East Asia and South-East Asia), and the wider social context of multilingual and multicultural societies.

Furthermore, this book reports results of two research studies which investigated how to develop effective strategies to promote learners’ motivation and the motivational developments of adult learners in real-life settings, helping to overcome gaps in this under-researched area.

Findings reported in this book have been scientifically examined and found to be effective in enhancing the learners’ CSL proficiency, increasing their learning motivation, and addressing the need for a diversity of targeted approaches to CSL. Most are applicable across preschool to secondary levels. The theoretical grounding of this research work represents a new direction for research in teaching Chinese as a second language.
 

Joseph LO BIANCO, AM, is Professor Emeritus in Language and Literacy Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and previously the Director of the National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia and the author of the 1987 Australian National Policy on Languages. He was elected President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2012, the first educator to serve in this role. From 2011-2017 he led the UNICEF Language and Peacebuilding initiative in Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand and pioneered a form of language problem solving called the Facilitated Dialogue which transforms public policy processes advancing language rights. He was awarded a number of honors, including Order of Australia (AM) “service to language policy and planning in Australia and overseas”, Centenary Medal for “service to Australian society and the humanities in literacy planning” etc. He has more than 25 books and major reports and over 130 articles and chapters. 

Elizabeth Ka-yee LOH is Assistant Dean (Knowledge Exchange) and Assistant Professor at Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Honorary Professor at the Radboud Centre of Social Sciences of the Radboud University, the Netherlands and Adjunct Professor at the Language and Literature Education Faculty, Indonesia University of Education. Her research centers on teaching Chinese as L1 and L2 to learners in K-12 education, particularly on innovative pedagogy, AI assists language learning and learning motivation. She leads collaborative research and educational projects on curriculum planning, pedagogical innovation and solving language learning problems in complicated multicultural school settings. She has been granted over HK$140 million and has over 70 publications, including co-edited books, international peer-reviewed journal articles, refereed book chapters and mobile applications. Dr. Loh is the founder of “mLang”, a social enterprise that provides advanced educational technological solutions to facilitate students’ learning.  She and her research partners received the Research Output Prize and Knowledge Exchange Awards from HKU and international associations alike in recognition of their research contributions to the language education field.

Mark Shiu-kee SHUM was the Founding Head of Division of Chinese Language and Literature (2009-2015) and is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Advancement of Chinese Language Education and Research (CACLER) Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. His introduction of applying Systemic Functional Linguistics to researching Chinese language education is pioneer in Hong Kong. His research areas include Chinese language (in) education, text analysis, second language Chinese pedagogy etc. His major publications include The Functions of Language and the Teaching of Chinese by HKU Press, Teaching Writing in Chinese Speaking Areas by Springer, Integrating IB Philosophy and Pedagogy into Chinese Language Teaching by John Catt, Researching Chinese Language Education: from Functional Linguistic Perspectives by Routledge, and Appliable Linguistics Across Chinese Speaking Regions: Language (in) Education in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore by Springer, etc.