From Input to Output: A Multimedia Approach

Phyllis Zhang, Columbia University

Abstract

Native language input plays an important role in the foreign language learning. This is also true with business Chinese instruction: well-selected oral and written texts can help the student acquire business lexis and usage while exposing him/her to the target culture. The input alone, however, may not readily lead to the improvement of student’s output skills. In order to develop the student’s speaking and writing abilities for business purposes, an advanced business Chinese course should build into its syllabus a training plan for productive skills along with receptive tasks.

This presentation demonstrates how multimedia can be used to design a business Chinese lesson encompassing both comprehension and production. The presentation shows the steps of a lesson plan, from input to output, working on reading/listening comprehension, script transcribing, sentence and paragraph building, and summarizing/reporting. The demo focuses on a CCTV talk show (a case study of business administration/ management of a well-known Chinese company) as an example of using authentic materials to generate various teaching/learning activities. Through a series of activities enhanced by audio-visual aids students are able to produce extended discourses in the formal style, as evidenced by my students' written reports. The presentation concludes that video clips and computer-assisted tools (such as PowerPoint slides) not only help enrich teaching/learning processes, but also effectively promote the student’s language acquisition and productivity.