Research On Development Of Spoken L2 Chinese Influenced By Toastmasters Meetings

Oral classes of teaching Chinese as a second language(TCSL)focus more on practice than communication,and students often struggle with speaking due to factors such as perceptions,personalities and capabilities.The recent COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated this situation.The international speech organization Toastmasters can help learners improve their overall competence,especially in language skills,through an organized educational system and meetings.This study attempts to bring ideas of the output-oriented approach(POA)into practice by hosting seven simulated online Chinese meetings over a period of more than three months,inviting three intermediate to advanced level Chinese-speaking international students to participate,and recording,transcribing,calculating,and analyzing their oral output during the meetings.By comparing the oral output of the research subjects in terms of complexity,accuracy,and fluency from their first to their last meeting,the study aimed to demonstrate the development of their oral skills in each dimension.Based on quantitative analysis supplemented by qualitative analysis,the study explored the thinking,decision-making,and actions of the research subjects to investigate the reasons for their oral development.The study found that the oral development of the research subjects after participating in simulated meetings was mainly reflected in complexity,while accuracy and fluency varied among individuals.Research subject A’s overall oral development was good,with increased vocabulary diversity and difficulty,improved accuracy in pronunciation,vocabulary,and syntax,and a smoother pace with reduced repetition and alteration rates.The overall oral development of research subject B was less significant than that of research subject A,with an increase in vocabulary diversity,difficulty,average sentence length(The Analysis of Speech Unit),and syntax accuracy,and a decrease in pacing and alteration rates.Research subject C’s accuracy and fluency development were not as good as those of A and B,with an increase in vocabulary difficulty,AS unit average sentence length,and number of small sentences,an improvement in syntax accuracy,and a decrease in pronunciation accuracy,an increase in pace,and an increase in syllable alteration and repetition rates.In the meetings,the development of the research subjects’ oral complexity seemed to come at the expense of accuracy and fluency,resulting in a competitive relationship,which was most evident in research subject C.In conclusion,this study explored the possibility of bringing the output-oriented concept into Toastmasters meetings to improve the oral Chinese proficiency of international students,providing practical references for Chinese language teaching and strategies and suggestions for Chinese oral learning.