Chinese Teaching And Learning Tradition Of Foreign Language

The topic of my thesis is "Implementation of the Communicative Language Teaching Method under the influence of Chinese Teaching and Learning Traditions with the example of German as a Second Foreign Language Courses in Zhejiang University, Hangzhou". In my research paper I operate within two dimensions. The first dimension is a theoretical discourse dealing with the topics of foreign language teaching methods, teaching and learning traditions in China, as well as the characteristic features of Chinese learners and teachers. The second dimension is a qualitative study from two perspectives; one of the perspectives discussed will be that of the students who learn German as foreign language, on their motivations for learning the German language, their learning strategies, and their opinions about the current conditions and methods of learning the German language. Another perspective that of the teachers, which includes their opinions about Chinese teaching and learning traditions and the implementation of the Communicative Language Teaching method in their German language lessons. The study was implemented in form of learners’ questionnaires with open-end questions and semi-structured interviews to teachers.The motivation for this research has stemmed from my own experience with teaching German to Chinese students at Zhejiang University. While working with Chinese students, I noticed some ways in which they differed from Western students, including differences in the students’ manner of learning foreign language, their behavior in the classroom, and their attitude towards the teacher. My observations in my own classes prompted me to undertake an analysis of Chinese teaching and learning traditions, how they appeared, developed, and were influenced by other cultures and countries. In striving to address these points, I set three questions:What is the motivation of Chinese learners for learning the German language?How are the Chinese teaching and learning traditions presented in German language lessons? What might be the best teaching method of foreign language for Chinese learners?The structure of the thesis is following:the first chapter presents the theoretical background of the study, with a focus on the description of Foreign Language Teaching methods and the Communicative Language Teaching Method used across the world. This chapter will also address the existing debate over the implementation of the CLT method in different cultural contexts, with particular attention how this debate applies to China and Chinese learners.The second chapter provides a definition and description of teaching and learning tradition and gives a detailed overview of the development of the Chinese teaching and learning tradition. This chapter will also give an overview of common descriptions of Chinese students and teachers from literature on education and teaching methods with the purpose of comparing the literature with the results of this study.The third chapter describes the current situation of how the German language is taught in China. Chapter three begins with a historical overview of how the German language came to China, and continues with a presentation of the current situation of German language teaching in China, including a discussion of class size, teacher quality, and curriculum.Chapters four and five deal with the empirical research. First, I present description of the study, including the questions and hypothesis of the study, as well as methods used to undertake the study. The methods which I have chosen for the research are two techniques seem to be the most suitable under the given conditions:a learners’ questionnaire and teacher interviews.The analysis and evaluation of the collected data comprises the final portion of the thesis. First, the results of learners’ questionnaire will be evaluated, followed by an analysis of the teacher interviews.In conclusion, I will summarize the ideas and results of the thesis, and then analyze and prove the hypotheses.