Study On Chinese Language Education In American Public Secondary Schools

As China’s international influence increases steadily, a stream of "Chinese Hot" has blown through the world. Under the background of globalization, the relationship between China which economic power is rising continually and the United States as the world’s superpower becomes closer and closer. The two countries frequently contact in economy and culture, which can be seen slightly through the United States government attaching importance to Chinese education. The United States not only regards Chinese as a national key language, but also positively invites the Chinese side to open Confucius institute in America, and affords amounts of funds every year for Chinese education and research. With more and more American people coming to learn Chinese, the studies of Chinese education boom in the educational of U.S. But these studies focus on the general situation of whole Chinese education or the Chinese education of university stage. However, SATII Chinese exam and AP Chinese program has opened one after another, which shows that the American secondary schools’ Chinese education has come to a period of rapid growth. What’s more, to cultivate more excellent Chinese talents must emphasize the education before university, especially in the secondary schools.This paper is divided into four chapters, for the more profound understanding of the Chinese education in American public secondary schools through elaborating. Chapter Ⅰ, the history of American public secondary schools’Chinese education, combs the history of Chinese education in American secondary schools, and identifies some existing problems of it. Chapter II analyzes the social environments of developing Chinese education in public secondary schools by using cultural capital theory, from the aspects of American economic development, policies on China and the demands of the people and the demand of Chinese government popularizing Chinese to the world. ChapterⅢ discusses the internal factors of Chinese education combining with the theories of education from the students and teachers, the basic characteristics of Chinese, the teaching material, the form of education and evaluation. ChapterIV, the prospects of American secondary schools’ Chinese education, which is the conclusion and displays the purpose of this paper, aims to view the prospect of Chinese education in American public secondary schools by using the related factors mentioned above to analyze the existing problems. Finally, reflect upon the Chinese education of China and the popularities of Chinese in the world through this research.