| In teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages, it is always important to use good methods and skills to promote teaching and learning. It is equally important that student motivation plays a role in effective language learning. In fact, effective teaching and learning is like the "Tao," and its goal is not the outcome, but the process. In this process, the teacher has to challenge both herself and students in language teaching and learning and do self-assessment to teaching as well.Thus, what are the language methods and skills that can be applied in teaching and learning and how can both teacher and student benefit from them? These questions are what this thesis tries to answer. This thesis is divided into five sections:Introduction, Critical Language Classes, Analysis of Motivation of Learning Chinese, Integrative and Instrumental Teaching of Chinese, and Conclusion.Introduction talks about the significance of Chinese language teaching and learning to speakers of other languages, establishment of Confucius Institute, cultural exchange, and the major content of this thesis.Chapter One contains two parts. Part One gives a brief introduction to the establishment of Critical Language Program at Mississippi Valley State University and the offering of Critical Language courses. Part Two, a more important one, provides a comparison of student enrollment in all language classes including Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and Spanish. It uses this comparison to figure out the reason for the low enrollment in language classes. This chapter points out the barriers in language learning and states that there is a critical need of research on teaching methods and skills in order to make teaching and learning of Chinese more effective as well as increase the enrollment.Chapter Two analyzes student motivation in learning Chinese. This chapter is divided into three parts. Part One offers a short argument on tests and quizzes on language. Part Two discusses student motivation in learning Chinese in reference to the theoretical analysis of motivation by the British linguist William Littlewood. Part Three gives a more detailed analysis of how a student can make progress in Chinese language learning. It discusses the second language theories of such language experts as Littlewood, Krashen, Lu Bisong, Gardner and Lambert and believes that the importance of language input and output or the mastery of a foreign language depends upon motivation and effective teaching methods. This part also discusses the two types of motivation, integrative and instrumental, from which comes the idea of integrative and instrumental teaching.Chapter Three is dedicated to integrative and instrumental teaching, stating that integrative and instrumental skills are helpful to language learning. This chapter is divided into four parts, Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. It discusses the integrative and instrumental teaching skills that help link listening to speaking or speaking to reading and writing. It believes that Chinese literature and culture can become an important component of language teaching.The conclusion summarizes the major content of the thesis, believes that Chinese language teaching can be full of fun if teaching methods are properly used, and holds that the integrative and instrumental teaching can be of significance to the effective teaching of Chinese language and deserves more research in the future. |
