School of Languages at XJTLU Conference 2024

This study reports pivotal stages of designing innovative Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) teaching pedagogy and the experience of using technologies and social media to enhance students’ learning over the past 12 years at Messiah University, a northeastern private institution in the U.S. Although Messiah University only has around 3,000 undergraduate students, it has been in the forefront among institutions with Chinese majors, to adopt cutting-edge digital tools to enhance the curriculum of the Chinese Studies major and the Chinese K-12 Teaching Certificate major. Especially during the pandemic when French and German majors were permanently canceled due to low enrollments, our Chinese majors, however, have been able to continue thriving over the past decade. This presentation will share several key strategies involved in effective curriculum design. First, Chinese characters teaching is delayed in the first-year Chinese classes. They are then introduced progressively throughout the rest of different levels of Chinese classes. Second, characters' handwriting is canceled throughout the entire Chinese curriculum, replaced with typing. Third, YouTube videos with clear tone movement are created to help students practice oral Chinese, especially through the parrot video recording practices. Last but not least, Chinese characters Zumba dancing is created to enrich students’ character learning journey. All these key strategies play an important role in this robust Chinese program. Results of the refined CFL teaching innovations in this study will not only help language educators explore digital tools in their teachings, but more importantly, it will encourage them to investigate potential technological advancements in their contexts to transform their teaching experience.