Using Mini-Plays to Teach Chinese Tones to American College Students
Subject Area
East Asian/Chinese Studies
Abstract
The hardest challenge for non-native speakers of Chinese – American students included – face in learning spoken Chinese are the five tones; and how to effectively teach these tones to students is also a challenge to the teachers. In this presentation the presenter will share his 2.5-year long experiment of teaching Chinese tones to American college students by using mini-plays the presenter wrote. The presentation focuses on three parts: (1) The motivations of using mini-plays; (2) literature review and the theoretical framework of using mini-plays in second/foreign language teaching; (3) how the mini-plays are used in conjunction with the students' textbook and (3) what the outcomes are like. The presenter also highlights students’ participation in developing the mini-plays in addition to acting out in roles.
Brief Bio Note
Zuotang Zhang is a lecturer of Chinese at Georgia Southern University. His undergraduate major is English language and literature and he has completed all required course work for an M.A. in TESL. He received his PhD in Language, Literacy and Culture from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Zuotang has worked as a language teacher at various levels (from elementary school to university) both in China and the United States. His research interests are broad in language, culture and education.
Keywords
Mini-plays, Chinese, Tones, L2 acquisition, Learning outcome
Location
Coastal Georgia Center
Presentation Year
2016
Start Date
4-8-2016 2:40 PM
End Date
4-8-2016 3:00 PM
Embargo
11-17-2015
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Zuotang, "Using Mini-Plays to Teach Chinese Tones to American College Students" (2016). South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL). 45.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/seccll/2016/2016/45
Using Mini-Plays to Teach Chinese Tones to American College Students
Coastal Georgia Center
The hardest challenge for non-native speakers of Chinese – American students included – face in learning spoken Chinese are the five tones; and how to effectively teach these tones to students is also a challenge to the teachers. In this presentation the presenter will share his 2.5-year long experiment of teaching Chinese tones to American college students by using mini-plays the presenter wrote. The presentation focuses on three parts: (1) The motivations of using mini-plays; (2) literature review and the theoretical framework of using mini-plays in second/foreign language teaching; (3) how the mini-plays are used in conjunction with the students' textbook and (3) what the outcomes are like. The presenter also highlights students’ participation in developing the mini-plays in addition to acting out in roles.
