A Study Of The "Three Period Teaching Model For Descendant Chinese-Americans As Measured Through AP Chinese Learning Objectives"

With the development of China’s economy and subsequently its position in the international community, Chinese foreign language education is experiencing a worldwide boom. However, the long-term success of this field of education depends on the construction of an effective Chinese teaching model that is able to realize the potential of second-language learners in both a theoretical and realistic way.This paper examines the particular characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of descendant Chinese-American learners of Chinese. Drawing on this author’s personal experience as a teacher in weekend Chinese heritage schools in the United States for many years, as well as modern international educational theories and best practices, including the specific learning goals of "5C" and "3M" as stipulated in21st Century Foreign Language Teaching Standards, a systematic analysis of the existing problems and challenges of Chinese-American heritage language education is undertaken via literature investigation, practical experience review, and empirical analysis.The main lines of research in this paper are as follows:(1) Weekend Chinese school students as well as AP Chinese students are in the United States at present mainly descendant Chinese-Americans; these two areas can thus be accurately classified as heritage language education.(2) Chinese-American heritage language learners have certain advantages in terms of the cultural and language background of their home environment; however, they also underestimate the difficulties of learning Chinese beyond the beginner level, in particular the necessity of performing a large number of repetitive exercises in order to memorize Chinese characters. Facilitating the successful and smooth mastery of Chinese characters constitutes a key challenge in the teaching of Chinese to heritage students.(3) The age range from4or5years old through elementary school grades4and 5constitutes a "golden period" for heritage Chinese learners. Starting from junior high school, however, heritage students begin to have an antagonistic relationship with Chinese due to a variety of material and psychological reasons, causing a "loss period" in terms of maintaining systematic Chinese education. High school age Chinese-Americans, as their recognize and assert their heritage identity, then rekindle their interest in the language; AP Chinese courses play an important role in developing heritage students’future potential in this "growth period.’(4)"Golden period" teaching is well suited for direct instruction, supplemented by graphic induction of behavioral-based learning. In contrast, effective "loss period" teaching should be based around the social-teaching model. including cooperative learning, role-playing, and group projects. Finally, the most appropriate educational method for the "growth period" is team-centered teaching and jurisprudential inquiry.(5) The analysis of this "three periods teaching model system," as filtered through and measured against the learning objectives of AP Chinese for descendant Chinese-American students, is the primary original research contribution of this thesis.