The use of the medium of instruction in primary chinese teaching: a case study of the confucius institute at v.n. karazin kharkiv national university

Abstract

When teaching Chinese overseas, the author finds that using the medium of instruction as an auxiliary teaching is an indispensable part in the process of international Chinese teaching, especially in overseas Chinese teaching classes. In addition, the level of foreign language of Chinese teachers abroad is different. For example, a large number of Chinese teachers who teach in the Russian-speaking areas do not fully master Russian, some Chinese teachers are not very good in English, neither. This article takes the teaching reality of the primary Chinese class in Ukraine as an example.

There are many benefits in using the medium of instruction, such as saving time, improving teaching efficiency, and getting closer to students. It is worth mentioning that it also helps learners better understand two different languages. At the same time Chinese teachers can use other languages in Chinese classes, but they cannot spend most of their teaching time on speaking foreign languages. We can not achieve "immersive" Chinese teaching at the current stage of overseas Chinese teaching, but we should input Chinese as much as possible to create the Chinese learning environment for students as much as possible, while reducing the impact of negative language transfer.

This paper combines teaching practice to summarize how many medium of instruction used in primary Chinese class can be beneficial to teaching, and also will analyze the correct timing of using medium of instruction, and how to use medium of instruction to better assist learning Chinese. At the same time, the author believes that when selecting and dispatching Chinese teachers, we should pay attention to the cultivation of Chinese teachers' language ability and teaching ability. The author believes that these measures will help reduce the negative influence of medium of instruction on students.