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.