| This paper uses beginning CSL students as the object of study.Using the author's many years of experience in teaching Chinese in Singapore as its basis and the "Berlitz's Direct Method" as a reference,it summarizes a teaching method which uses Arabic numbers to teach spoken Chinese interrogative sentences to CSL beginners in accelerated courses.This method is a breakthrough from the conventional method of progressing to teach interrogative sentences only after teaching declarative sentences.It emphasizes directly introducing several interrogative sentences structures through the teaching of numbers at the first lesson(hereafter referred as the "Numeral Method"),thereby equipping students with the ability to ask questions in Chinese right away.This effectively enhances students' motivation and enthusiasm and subsequently improves their Chinese communication skills.This paper researches the theoretical basis and experiment results of adopting the Numeral Method.Comparing this new method to the conventional method shows that students' participation in class activities,including using many interrogative sentence patterns to inquire about numbers,significantly increases with the Numeral Method,as does the comprehensible target language input that the teacher is able to provide. Research results suggest that in Accelerated Chinese,where it is crucial to manage the limited time at hand,this new method gains a significant advantage over the conventional one.This paper is composed of five chapters.In Chapter 1(Prologue),the author points out the current existing problems that CSL beginning learners in Singapore face.The purpose and significance of the research project, as well as the current direction and methods of related research are introduced.The relevant reasoning and research methods are also brought into discussion. In Chapter 2,"Introduction to the Numeral Method",the author thoroughly examines the content,principles,and implementation of the method,giving an example of its application in the classroom.In Chapter 3,"Reflection on the Numeral Method",the author further reflects on the method from the following aspects:"Replacing the simple with the sophisticated while stressing the key points","Learning to speak by speaking and understanding" and "Understanding the psychological factors involved in adult second language learning".In Chapter 4,"Survey and Analysis of the Numeral Method",the author tests the Numeral Method through carefully designed comparative experiments.Results are analyzed based on the frequency of target-language sentences spoken by the student and the teacher,and the students' feedback on the effectiveness of the first class.In Chapter 5,"Conclusion",the paper once again affirms the creativity and effectiveness of the Numeral Method and the author contemplates modifying it to teach select comparison sentence patterns.Through this paper,the author also hopes to draw more attention to researching the teaching methods of Chinese interrogative sentences. |
