Teaching and Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language: A Pedagogical Grammar

Preface

Preface Teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign language (FL) has recently drawn much attention from both the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Due to the unique linguistic characteristics of the Chinese language, its acquisition exerts difficulty on some occasions as well as excitement on others. In this book, I have attempted to focus on content and methodology that may not only help to ease the difficulty in understanding the Chinese language and reduce the pain in both teaching and learning Chinese, but at the same time generate some excitement in pursuing the language. I have tried to keep in mind both language practitioners and applied linguists; I can only hope that both groups will be able to benefit somewhat from this book. In 1992 when I was still a graduate student at the University of Michigan (UM), I was offered a summer job teaching Chinese at the prestigious Chinese Summer School, Middlebury College. Out of sheer excitement, I gave up a UM paid opportunity to present my research paper at the First International Conference on Chinese Linguistics held in Singapore in August that year and threw my full energy into Middlebury. Yet, the nine-week summer teaching drained me. I became a lost and totally exhausted instructor with no energy for “fun” in my lesson. I felt I was lost among so many experienced teachers at Middlebury even though I worked so hard day and night, trying to be a good teacher. Then I realized that diligence and intelligence did not necessarily make a good teacher; one also has to know functional grammar well and know how to handle different classroom situations. Simply put, one must know how to teach in addition to knowing what to teach. Ever since then, I promised myself that I would gain that experience and this book may be considered a report of my learning experience. On the other hand, this book may serve as a synopsis of my teaching Chinese and research on teaching Chinese as a foreign language in the last ten years, during which time I have benefited a great deal from numerous mentors, friends, colleagues, and students — too many to list here. Nevertheless, I would like to thank Dr Scott McGinnis and Dr Shou-hsin Teng who not only inspired me to write this book but also supported me at various stages in creating it. My special x Preface thanks go to those colleagues in Europe and Australia whom I have never met, but have provided various data for this book via email messages. I am very grateful to Dr Jianhua Bai (Kenyon College), Dr Cheng-zhi Chu (University of California at Davis), Dr Song-ren Cui (Bowdoin College), Dr Shengli Feng (Harvard University), Dr Lening Liu (Columbia University), Dr Ruyu Song (National Taiwan Normal University), and Dr Hongyin Tao (University of California at Los Angeles) for reading and giving me valuable comments on various chapters of the book. My special gratitude goes to the three anonymous reviewers who reviewed the proposal and two anonymous reviewers who read the complete manuscript and gave me so many constructive suggestions and comments. Last, but definitely not least, I am indebted to Randi Hacker for her numerous insightful comments and for proofreading the first draft of the manuscript. Needless to say, all errors or shortcomings rest entirely with the author. I was touched and still am when I think about how Clara Ho, editor of Hong Kong University Press, first contacted me for a possible book proposal on the pedagogical grammar of Chinese. Without her enthusiasm and support, I might not have been able to give this book its current shape. For that, I thank her from the bottom of my heart. The bulk part of the book was written during the 2003–2004 academic year when I was granted a three-quarter sabbatical leave. I would like to thank the Faculty Research Bureau of Western Washington University for providing partial support and thus enabling me to prepare the manuscript. ...