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Skype online Chinese instruction is an outgrowth of Computer Assisted Language Learning

Posted by Guest Blogger on October 27, 2007 05:43 PM

Guest post by Yu-Hsiu Lee, Doctoral Student, Language Education Department, Indiana University Bloomington and Chinese Instructor, Asian Culture Center, Indiana University.

The trend of teaching and learning Chinese over Skype online is receiving more and more attention. The relationship between Skype and online Chinese instruction was extensively discussed at the the Fifth International Conference on Internet Chinese Education in Taipei, Taiwan, June 2-4, 2007[1]. Some conference sessions where Skype was on the programme:

• The cooperation of Chinese computer-assisted language learning between Industry and Academia
• Integration between Chinese E-learning and E-Teaching
• Development and production of Chinese E-learning courseware
• Application, Implementation, Collaboration for Internet-based Chinese school

Even on the Chinese Language Teacher Association's job board, the biggest Chinese teaching job board in the world, training firm ChineseDawn posted an ad to recruit Skype online Chinese Mandarin tutors and teachers.

8.07.07: ChineseDawn (CLTA Job Announcements, Chinese Language Teacher Association,Inc, 2007)

Skype Online Mandarin Teachers/Tutors Required.

ChineseDawn is recruiting for Mandarin Tutors and Teachers in preparation of its launch in late September 2007.

ChineseDawn is in the process of creating a dedicated web site where UK residents (Corporate, Schools, Adult, Teen, Kids and Family) can subscribe to a series of scheduled 1 to 1 lessons and be matched with suitable teachers. Teachers who can spare at least a few hours per week are invited.

ChineseDawn will be embarking on extensive online and newspaper advertising in August.

50% of all revenues will go to the Teachers. Initially the service will be charged at £8 ($16) per 45 minute lesson for private individuals. (Teacher will receive £4 (GB Sterling) per 45 minutes).

Using Skype to learn Chinese as second language is extremely popular among many non-Chinese spoken countries (i.e., UK, USA, Australia, Thailand and Canada). Skype has helped this Chinese online teaching industry to grow enormously (e.g., ChineseDawn).

Pros: audio, video, and convenience

First of all, when learning a second or foreign language, the authentic pronunciation input given by native speakers of the target language is crucial.

For those who are auditory learners, Skype has provided a high quality and stable sound system as compared to other VoIP Internet Calls. The more students listen to Chinese through Skype in Chinese as a foreign language context, the better their Chinese proficiency can be increased, because their brain does the work in acquiring Chinese while spending one or two hours listening to Chinese online.

Chinese as a second language learners, therefore, can get clear and authentic pronunciation from their tutors via Skype and improve their Chinese language competence and performance.

Secondly, convenience. if you are busy doing your job over the daily course of your life, Skype online learning might be a good choice for you to learn Chinese. As long as you can set up a time when you and your Skype Chinese teacher can meet online, you still can learn Chinese in spite of your busy schedule. Skype makes Chinese learning accessible for those who need to learn Chinese, but have busy schedule.

Third, in comparison to numerous software-based Chinese learning e-tools, Skype has an advantage since visual learners can see the face of their tutors to best help them learn Chinese.

Cons: non-verbal cues, feedback

A teacher is limited in modeling non-verbal Chinese communication events for students over Skype. For instance, when we apologize to someone in our native languages, we have non-verbal expressions along with the words we speak.

What's more, when a Skype online Chinese teacher drills his (or her) students to practice pronunciation, reading, or writing, it is difficult to monitor students' real performance and progress. Therefore, the issue of Skype-based Chinese language assessment and evaluation might be a big concern for Skype engineers or Chinese pedagogy educators to deal with.

Conclusions

Nevertheless, Skype ultimately offers a decent E-environment for online Chinese learning. It gives a high quality web-based platform for both sound communication and visualization, assisting all the possible Internet-based foreign language teaching and learning practice.

References

1. Graduate Institution of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, National Taiwan Normal University. (2007). Conferences. Retrieved Oct 26th, 2007 from http://www.ntnu.edu.tw/tcsl/
2. CLTA Job Anouncements. (2007). ChineseDawn. Retrieved Oct 26th, 2007 from http://clta-us.org/employ.htm