A Study On The Current Information Literacy Of International Chinese Teachers In Confucius Institutes In Thailand

It has been two years since the full-blown New Crown Pneumonia outbreak in early 2020,and the social and human impact of the epidemic has gradually emerged.During this period,the field of international Chinese language education has also undergone more significant changes.The sudden outbreak of the epidemic and the rapid development of information technology have quickly broken the traditional pattern of "offline Chinese language teaching over online Chinese language teaching"and raised the status of online teaching in the international Chinese language education practice.Among them,Confucius Institutes in Thailand,as a platform for cooperation and exchange between China and Thailand,have actively adopted a combination of online and offline teaching methods and developed online Chinese courses during the epidemic,making online Chinese education a key support for "stopping classes but not stopping learning" in Thailand,and making an important contribution to the sustainable development of international Chinese education in Thailand.At the same time,this change in education format also poses new requirements and challenges for Thai international Chinese teachers,who need to keep pace with the new era of "how to deeply integrate information technology with Chinese language education",noting that information literacy should become an important quality for international Chinese teachers and a key factor in developing their lifelong learning ability.This study is based on a study of information literacy in China and abroad.Based on the analysis of the standards,frameworks and research results of information literacy at home and abroad,this study developed a questionnaire on information literacy of international Chinese teachers in Confucius Institutes in Thailand,and conducted a survey in five aspects:information awareness,information knowledge,information competence,information security and ethics,and teachers’professional development.Based on relevant research results at home and abroad,combined with the analysis of survey data and interview results.It was found that international Chinese teachers in Confucius Institutes in Thailand currently have a certain level of information literacy,teachers’ information awareness is strong,and information security and ethics are high,but there are also problems such as low level of information knowledge,lack of information competence,and insufficient growth of teachers’ professional competence.On the basis of this problem,this study proposes strategies from the teacher level and society level around the current situation and influencing factors of information literacy of international Chinese teachers in Confucius Institutes in Thailand.It is hoped that the current situation of information literacy of international Chinese teachers in Confucius Institutes in Thailand in the new era can be grasped and some decision support can be provided to improve the information literacy of international Chinese teachers.