1. Setting the Research Agenda for
Teaching and Learning Chinese
Jerome Packard, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Jennifer Liu, Indiana University, Bloomington
National Chinese Language Conference
April 30-May 2, 2009
1

2. Our Plan
1. Review and Implications of Pedagogical
Research (Jennifer Liu)
2. Generating Research Questions (Jerry
Packard)
3. Conclusion
2

3. Outline
1. Introduction
2. Review of Pedagogical Research:
Characters/Reading/Grammar/Tones
3. Other Findings
4. Conclusion
3

4. Introduction 1
Why do we need to do research in CFL?
Decision-
making
Skill
Knowledge
4

5. Introduction 2
Why do we need to do research in CFL?
Pre-2004: Total Student Enrollment in Chinese
HEd 7-12 HL
34,153 24,000 100,000
(MLA, 2002) (ACTFL, 2000) (NCACLS, 2005)
60,000
(CSAUS, 2005)
160,000 Total:
238,000 roughly
5

6. Introduction 3
Why do we need to do research in CFL?
Students
Teachers
Researchers
6

7. Introduction 4
What has CFL research looked like?
JCLTA (1966 - ) Searchable Index
Browsable Topic Index:
Pedagogical Issues 298
Applied Linguistics and Acquisition 207
Literature 53
Lexicography and Characters 41
Applications 32
Educational Technology 30
Cultural Discussions 14
7

8. Introduction 5
What has CFL research looked like?
JCLTA: Research in CFL
300
250
200
150
Series1
100
50
0
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9. Introduction 6
What has CFL research looked like?
• Subjects: Adult learners
• Level: Mostly beginning
• Setting: Traditional schools on university campus
• Method: Largely quantitative
• Text type: Word/sentence level
9

10. Review of Pedagogical Research 1
What can we learn from the previous research?
Characters (23)
• The development of radical and orthographic awareness
could begin from the third year of study for Chinese-speaking
children and at the first year of study for nonnative adult
learners. (Shen, H. H. & Ke, C., 2007).
• Elaboration (deeper processing) is more effective than rote
memorization (shallow processing) for learning characters.
Teachers should provide knowledge that can help in the
elaboration process – etymology, phonology, orthography and
semantics, and encourage students’ self-elaboration. (Shen,
H. H. , 2004).
10

11. Review of Pedagogical Research 2
What can we learn from the previous research?
Reading (22)
• Word knowledge is a strong predictor of reading
comprehension for beginning learners. If the purpose is to
improve reading comprehension, that unknown words
should be limited (5%).
• It is most efficient to select material with which students
already have an average reading comprehension of 60-70%
before the instruction.
• Students have a better retention for higher frequency words
than for lower frequency words. Priority should be to learn
high frequency words. (Shen, 2005)
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12. Review of Pedagogical Research 3
What can we learn from the previous research?
Grammar: Acquisition of specific forms (17)
• Some grammatical forms are learned earlier than others and
the acquisition progress is not linearly upward.
• Formal instruction is beneficial and necessary for L2 learners,
including fluent heritage learners.
• Teachers should employ more than one method when
introducing grammar and set different expectations for
different grammatical forms. (Yuan & Dietrich, 2004)
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13. Review of Pedagogical Research 3
What can we learn from the previous research?
Grammar: Acquisition of specific forms (17)
Not all language phenomena are equal in the SLA. There
are (1) Linear pattern: practice does make perfect;
(2) U-shaped pattern; (3) Plateau pattern.
(Ke, 2005)
– ADJ-PR: Adj. used as predicates (形容词谓语句) 我很
高兴。
– COR-CO: correlational conjunctions (复句中关系词的
位置) 只有…才…; 不但…而且;…
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14. Review of Pedagogical Research 3
– RES-CO: Resultative complement (结果补语) 看懂了这
封信。
– POT-CO: potential complement (可能补语) 这辆车我们
上不去，等下一辆吧。
– REL-CL: relative clauses (动词及小句做定语) 我们常去
吃饭的餐厅。
– TM-POS:position of time-when and time-span (时点与
时段的时间词位置) 我们今天晚上去看电影。
– TPC-CO: Topic-comment sentence (话题) 今天的语法
你有问题吗？
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15. Review of Pedagogical Research 3
– DIR-CO: directional complement (趋向补语) 我常常到北京
去。
– COM-PV: comparison sentences (比较句)
– ADV-OR: word order with multiple-adverbials (多项状语的
顺序)小李上星期从北京坐飞机到爱荷华来。
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16. Review of Pedagogical Research 4
What can we learn from the previous research?
Tones/Pinyin Romanization (10)
• Initial Stage
– Focus on tone perception & production
– More time for tones 2 & 3, especially tone 3
• Second Stage
– Emphasize on production in connected speech
– Pay attention to each of the four tones (decrease of tones
1&4)
• Teach tones not only in isolation, but also at the sentence
level (Tao and Guo, 2008)
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17. Other Findings 1
Topics that are less studied
• Attitude and motivation
• Heritage language learning
• Different program settings
• Articulation
• Technology
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18. Other Findings 2
Topics that are rarely studied
• Teacher development
• Testing and Assessment
• Culture: Perspectives
• Interpretive communication: Listening
Comprehension
• Presentational communication: Writing
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19. Conclusion 1
We need more studies on…
• Subjects: Younger learners
• Level: Advanced/superior
• Setting: Non-traditional mode of instruction
(e.g., immersion, self-directed, web-based)
• Method: qualitative, longitudinal
• Text type: discourse level, speech act
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20. Conclusion 2
We need to…
• Identify issues of great concerns to
practitioners
• Investigate the level at lower and upper ends
of a long sequence of instruction
• Encourage collaborative research effort
across levels
• Create mechanism for dissemination of new
knowledge and findings
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21. Generating Research Questions
Jerry Packard
University of Illinois
National Chinese Language Conference
April 30-May 2, 2009
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22. Generating research questions
• Step 1: Brainstorm !
• Step 2: Generate research question !
• Step 3: Share your question !

23. First Step -
• Break down into brainstorm groups

24. Brainstorm groups
questions ideas
issues

25. Second Step -
• Break down into brainstorm groups !
• Generate research question(s) !

26. Generating Research Questions
general content
• What do I want to know ?
• What can help my teaching ?
• Which works better, X or Y ?
• What can help students learn better ?
• Etc., etc. !

27. Generating Research Questions
specific content
• Speak slow or fast ?
• Correct their tones or not ?
• Use Chinese or English in class ?
• Focus on characters or not ?
• Focus on pinyin or not ?
• Trace tones in air or not ?
• Etc., etc., etc. !

28. Third Step -
• Break down into brainstorm groups !
• Generate research question(s) !
• Share question with our forum !

29. Hypothesis Testing Model
• Start with an idea or
Idea Problem
problem
• Generate a research
Research
question
Question
• Choose a method to
address question
Method
• Implement your
project !
Implement !

30. Conclude…
We all can do research
that will help answer
questions about teaching
and learning Chinese !