Engaging Learners in the Chinese-Language
Classroom: Activities, Activities, Activities
Dongdong Chen (陈东东), Seton Hall University
Cynthia Fellows, Seton Hall University
Nina Spada, University
of Toronto
Among the
many challenges in teaching Chinese as a foreign language in the U.S.,
an instructor usually must deal with the following issues: arousing learners’
interest, motivating students to learn, and helping them retain what has been
learned. To that end, an integration of activities in the classroom along the
line of task-based language teaching has proven useful (e.g., Willis, 1996;
Ellis, 2003). A question that naturally arises is how does
one go about designing workable activities. This panel attempts to
explore the purpose and effectiveness of activities in the Chinese-language
classroom in light of recent research on form-focused instruction (e.g., Lightbown and Spada, 2008). With
the unique linguistic features of Chinese in mind, which pose such a challenge
for English-speaking learners of Chinese, the qualities and characteristics
that make for a worthwhile activity will be discussed. Plenty of examples that
illustrate the Do's and Don'ts of activity creation will be covered as
well. By defining activities, discussing guidelines, and demonstrating good and
bad examples, we hope to achieve a better understanding of the value of
activities in the Chinese classroom. Activities not only are powerful in terms
of increasing the intrinsic motivation of learners, but also efficient in fixing
learners’ attention on language forms. The panel will provide food for thought for those
interested in designing activities for their learners of Chinese.