Chinese Language Learning Sciences – serie

This book brings together 13 original research papers that address emerging issues in the assessment of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) in five major areas, including standards in CSL assessment; development of CSL tests; assessment of diverse knowledge and skills; computer-supported assessment; and CSL assessment in relation to instruction and teachers’ assessment competence. It goes beyond the psychometric testing of Chinese and provides cutting-edge examinations of the interfaces of assessment with sociology of language, acquisition, pedagogy, and modern technologies, as well as teacher education. Given its unique features and broad range of topics, the book offers an intriguing and valuable resource, not only for scholars and researchers but also teacher educators and assessment practitioners who are directly or indirectly involved in CSL assessment.

This book presents a collection of original research articles that showcase the state of the art of research in corpus and computational linguistic approaches to Chinese language teaching, learning and assessment. It offers a comprehensive set of corpus resources and natural language processing tools that are useful for teaching, learning and assessing Chinese as a second or foreign language; methods for implementing such resources and techniques in Chinese pedagogy and assessment; as well as research findings on the effectiveness of using such resources and techniques in various aspects of Chinese pedagogy and assessment.

This book brings together 13 original research papers that address emerging issues in the assessment of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) in five major areas, including standards in CSL assessment; development of CSL tests; assessment of diverse knowledge and skills; computer-supported assessment; and CSL assessment in relation to instruction and teachers’ assessment competence. It goes beyond the psychometric testing of Chinese and provides cutting-edge examinations of the interfaces of assessment with sociology of language, acquisition, pedagogy, and modern technologies, as well as teacher education. Given its unique features and broad range of topics, the book offers an intriguing and valuable resource, not only for scholars and researchers but also teacher educators and assessment practitioners who are directly or indirectly involved in CSL assessment.

This book, likely the first of its kind in the English language, explores Chinese for specific and professional purposes (CSP) in terms of theorizing and developing practical applications for language teaching and learning. While research in language for specific purposes is thriving for languages such as English, there has been comparatively little such research conducted for Chinese. This volume attempts to fill the gap by bringing together practitioners from a broad international scholarly community, who share common interests yet diverse orientations. Seventeen papers are included, and address four broad thematic categories: (1) academic Chinese, (2) business Chinese, (3) Chinese for medicine and health care, and (4) Chinese for other broadly defined services and industries (diplomacy, tourism, wine-tasting, etc.). Representing the state of the art in CSP research, the book offers an indispensable guide for anyone interested in theoretical and practical issues in this area of applied Chinese language studies.

This book, likely the first of its kind in the English language, explores Chinese for specific and professional purposes (CSP) in terms of theorizing and developing practical applications for language teaching and learning. While research in language for specific purposes is thriving for languages such as English, there has been comparatively little such research conducted for Chinese. This volume attempts to fill the gap by bringing together practitioners from a broad international scholarly community, who share common interests yet diverse orientations. Seventeen papers are included, and address four broad thematic categories: (1) academic Chinese, (2) business Chinese, (3) Chinese for medicine and health care, and (4) Chinese for other broadly defined services and industries (diplomacy, tourism, wine-tasting, etc.). Representing the state of the art in CSP research, the book offers an indispensable guide for anyone interested in theoretical and practical issues in this area of applied Chinese language studies.

This book explores the implementation of an online representational tool, GroupScribbles, in Chinese-as-a-second-language classrooms from primary school to secondary school. It demonstrates the effectiveness of combining online representational tools with face-to-face classroom learning, and provides a workable approach to analysing interactions interweaving social and cognitive dimensions, which take place in the networked classroom. A series of suggestions regarding networked second language learning will help educators effectively implement information and communication technology tools in the classroom.

This book explores the implementation of an online representational tool, GroupScribbles, in Chinese-as-a-second-language classrooms from primary school to secondary school. It demonstrates the effectiveness of combining online representational tools with face-to-face classroom learning, and provides a workable approach to analysing interactions interweaving social and cognitive dimensions, which take place in the networked classroom. A series of suggestions regarding networked second language learning will help educators effectively implement information and communication technology tools in the classroom.

This book addresses important issues of speech processing and language learning in Chinese. It highlights perception and production of speech in healthy and clinical populations and in children and adults. This book provides diverse perspectives and reviews of cutting-edge research in past decades on how Chinese speech is processed and learned. Along with each chapter, future research directions have been discussed. With these unique features and the broad coverage of topics, this book appeals to not only scholars and students who study speech perception in preverbal infants and in children and adults learning Chinese, but also to teachers with interests in pedagogical applications in teaching Chinese as Second Language.

This book addresses important issues of speech processing and language learning in Chinese. It highlights perception and production of speech in healthy and clinical populations and in children and adults. This book provides diverse perspectives and reviews of cutting-edge research in past decades on how Chinese speech is processed and learned. Along with each chapter, future research directions have been discussed. With these unique features and the broad coverage of topics, this book appeals to not only scholars and students who study speech perception in preverbal infants and in children and adults learning Chinese, but also to teachers with interests in pedagogical applications in teaching Chinese as Second Language.

This book presents research and developments in the virtual, augmented technology and mixed-reality used in language learning and teaching. It provides the readers with a comprehensive overview of contextual language learning with the support of immersive technology. From theoretical foundations, methodological issues, the features of virtual and augmented reality, and educational practices of language learning, to the future of immersive technology for and research on language learning. During the past two decades, abundant research on different realities has recognized the potential of language learning in virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality environments (Wang et al., 2020; Lin & Lan, 2015). Given insufficient studies of Chinese learning in immersive contexts reported in existing literature, this book includes several excellent studies about using immersive technologies for Chinese learning in addition to other foreign langue learning, such as English as a foreign language (EFL). Since learning Chinese has grown significantly as a global trend, the authors vitally consolidate and synthesize various theoretical foundations, visions, and recent research and practices in the context of Chinese teaching from broader and more diverse perspectives. On the other hand, the chapters about EFL learning also shed light on the research on contextual language learning. Thus, the chapters included in this book will likely provide readers with a deep and extensive understanding of the potential of the smart combination of immersive technologies and language learning. More issues for future research will undoubtedly be inspired by reading the chapters in this book.

This book presents research and developments in the virtual, augmented technology and mixed-reality used in language learning and teaching. It provides the readers with a comprehensive overview of contextual language learning with the support of immersive technology. From theoretical foundations, methodological issues, the features of virtual and augmented reality, and educational practices of language learning, to the future of immersive technology for and research on language learning. During the past two decades, abundant research on different realities has recognized the potential of language learning in virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality environments (Wang et al., 2020; Lin & Lan, 2015). Given insufficient studies of Chinese learning in immersive contexts reported in existing literature, this book includes several excellent studies about using immersive technologies for Chinese learning in addition to other foreign langue learning, such as English as a foreign language (EFL). Since learning Chinese has grown significantly as a global trend, the authors vitally consolidate and synthesize various theoretical foundations, visions, and recent research and practices in the context of Chinese teaching from broader and more diverse perspectives. On the other hand, the chapters about EFL learning also shed light on the research on contextual language learning. Thus, the chapters included in this book will likely provide readers with a deep and extensive understanding of the potential of the smart combination of immersive technologies and language learning. More issues for future research will undoubtedly be inspired by reading the chapters in this book.

This edited book reflects the state of the art in learner corpus and related approaches to Chinese as a second language (CSL). CSL as a field has flourished in the past few decades due to the increasingly important role of the Chinese language at the world stage, yet studies of Chinese as a second language based on learner corpora have been less well developed due to the limited availability of data and lack of theoretical insights. This book  represents the latest research in this area by 1) assembling a large group of active researchers from multiple international research communities (USA, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Taiwan, and France); 2) discussing the latest resources and technologies in Chinese and other Asian languages learner corpora and corpus building; 3) basing Chinese as a second language studies on data from learners of Chinese with a wide range of first language backgrounds (English, Japanese, Korean, French, among others); and 4) integrating corpus methodswith a wide range of related methods in allied fields—language acquisition, usage-based linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics. This comprehensive collection is  indispensable for anyone who is interested in corpus approaches to CSL and Chinese applied language studies in general.

This edited book reflects the state of the art in learner corpus and related approaches to Chinese as a second language (CSL). CSL as a field has flourished in the past few decades due to the increasingly important role of the Chinese language at the world stage, yet studies of Chinese as a second language based on learner corpora have been less well developed due to the limited availability of data and lack of theoretical insights. This book  represents the latest research in this area by 1) assembling a large group of active researchers from multiple international research communities (USA, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Taiwan, and France); 2) discussing the latest resources and technologies in Chinese and other Asian languages learner corpora and corpus building; 3) basing Chinese as a second language studies on data from learners of Chinese with a wide range of first language backgrounds (English, Japanese, Korean, French, among others); and 4) integrating corpus methodswith a wide range of related methods in allied fields—language acquisition, usage-based linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics. This comprehensive collection is  indispensable for anyone who is interested in corpus approaches to CSL and Chinese applied language studies in general.

This book provides open discussions and dialogues around the latest research and development on applying AI and ubiquitous technologies into various language learning contexts. Living in the Metaverse era, arguably a turning point in the evolution of the Internet, it is vital for researchers and practitioners to rethink and reconsider human and AI relationships in transforming the way we teach, learn, and live in everyday life. Reinders et al. (2022) amongst Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) researchers have emphasised the need to conduct more research on language learning in the classroom and beyond that makes real connections with what language learners do for their learning today. More importantly, language educators must find ways to support language learning in this new era. What is urgently needed is a consolidation and synthesis of theoretical foundations, visions and the latest research findings and practices on the integration of AI and ubiquitous technologies and language education from diverse perspectives. This book, comprising of contributions regarding contextualised AI-mediated language learning and teaching, provides researchers, practitioners, and teacher educators with an opportunity to closely engage in research-informed practices and intellectual dialogues on potential opportunities and challenges in the Metaverse era. It also helps to facilitate the development of equitable, sustainable, and just practices for the diversity of language learners today.

This book showcases developments in Chinese for specific and professional purposes. It covers various topics, such as Business Chinese, Chinese for Academic Purposes, Chinese for Tourism, Chinese for Science and Technology, and Chinese for Medical Purposes. As a reflection of the fact that research on Business Chinese dominates the academic field of Chinese for specific purposes, nine (out of sixteen) chapters in this volume address issues related to intercultural communication and approaches in teaching Business Chinese. This book provides insights into effective language learning strategies, curriculum development, and the intersection of language and professional fields. It offers language instructors a comprehensive and specialized resource for teaching Chinese in specific areas, and also serves as a guide for lesson planning with the provision of relevant materials and practical exercises.

This volume brings together leading scholars in the field of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) education to explore the nuanced dimensions of Chinese language teaching in the Nordic context. Through thoughtful examination of teaching practices, learner motivations, teacher emotions and identities, and pedagogical innovations in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, the book situates contemporary approaches within their historical context and considers future directions for the field. The contributions provide unique Nordic perspectives and valuable insights into CFL classroom practices, management, and beliefs, helping readers to better understand the realities and challenges faced by educators, as well as the innovative strategies they employ to support effective CFL teaching and learning across the region.

This book provides a comprehensive and concise introduction of experiments on contemporary issues of language processing and the brain. It covers a wide range of neurolinguistic and neuroscience topics, including but not limited to word recognition, reading acquisition and dyslexia (in typically developed children, foreign language learners, and deaf people), comprehension of sentences and fictional narratives, the interplay of language processing/acquisition with other cognitive domains, and aging of language comprehension and Chinese reading. This book showcases the significance of empirical studies on language and cognitive processing, particularly those emerging from the Taiwan research community, to illuminate the intricate nature of the language faculty enabled by the sophisticated computations of the brain. This book informs readers of crucial issues in the neurolinguistic literature and advances in neuroimaging technology and provides perspectives inspired by evolution and neuroscience.

This book explores the learning and teaching of K-12 Chinese language in international schools. The authors of this book are scholars from teaching training institutions and universities, as well as professional frontline teachers. With a combination of the works and insights from both perspectives of theory and practice, the book presents how theories of teaching can be operated in classroom to improve the effectiveness of language teaching. It covers curriculum setting, design of teaching materials, teaching principles, methods, strategies, and evaluation. The book also discusses issues and concepts such as concept-driven learning, identity change and recognition of L1 and L2 Chinese teacher, pinyin teaching, Chinese character teaching, evaluation for learning improvement, and integration of South Asian non-Chinese speaking students into local schools. It emphasizes empirical action research methods. This is a highly informative and carefully presented book, providing high value insights to scholars from university and teacher training institutions and teachers from kindergartens, primary, and secondary schools around the world.