Tuesday 23 April 2024, 9:30 AM – 15.00 (UTC+00)
Our conference
This training day in collaboration with the Online Confucius Institute of The Open University, shares best practice in teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. The one-day event can be joined online or in-person. Academics will share their insights on Virtual Exchange, Continuation Theory and Character Learning Strategies.
Venue: Lecture Theatre 19, B Floor, Lancaster University, Management School
Conference language: English
Keynote speakers
- Dr Mirjam Hauck - Associate Head of School for Internationalisation, The Open University and President of EUROCALL
- Dr Guo Zhiyan - Professor, Subject Leader of Chinese, University of Warwick
- Professor Mei Yang - Professor of Applied Linguistics, South China University of Technology
- Richard McCurry - Founder of Newby Chinese
- Dr Kan Qian - Senior Lecturer in Chinese, The Open University
Program and registration
Registration for the Chinese as a Foreign Language Conference is now open and is free to attend. Lunch and refreshments will be provided for those at the venue.
Program and registration accordion
09.30 – 09.50: In-person attendees arrive, register, and refreshments provided
09.40 Event opens to online registrants
09.50 Welcome
10.00 – 11:00: Virtual Exchange for Global Citizenship Education
Dr Mirjam Hauck
Associate Head of School for Internationalisation, The Open University and President of EUROCALL
Language learning and teaching – as Satar, Hauck and Bilki (2023) remind us – increasingly means using multimodal, multicultural, and multilingual skills in digitally mediated environments. Undoubtedly, there are many benefits to such multifaceted and instant communication across time zones and geographical distance. Yet, the challenge for language educators is how best to prepare learners – including teachers as learners - for agentive, equitable and influential engagement in these environments.
Virtual Exchange (VE), an educational practice that combines the deep impact of intercultural dialogue with the broad reach of digital technology (EVOLVE, 2020) has emerged as one way to successfully approach this challenge. For over two decades, VE has enjoyed increasing popularity in university education, including pre- and in service (language) teacher education programmes (O’Dowd, 2018). Collaborating online with colleagues and students from different cultural backgrounds and educational systems has allowed trainees to experience and reflect on issues related to technology and pedagogy in authentic linguistic and intercultural contexts. I will offer an introduction to VE and its various formats illustrated by exchange examples from language education and other subject areas.
Session one slides: What is virtual exchange by Mirjam Hauck
Session one recording: What is virtual exchange by Mirjam Hauck
11.00 – 12:00: Running VE in a Chinese language programme at a University in the UK
Dr Guo Zhiyan
Professor, Subject Leader of Chinese, University of Warwick
While VE has been widely recognized as conducive to intercultural learning, how to embed it in a Chinese language programme at the university setting seems to be a recent endeavour in both teaching and research. In this workshop, Zhiyan will share her practice-based and research-informed experience from running a VE project among students of Chinese as a foreign language in both degree and institution-wide language programmes at School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Warwick. She will compare the two types of tasks that participants completed in the past years and offer practical tips on how to empower learners to manage exchanges with the minimum teacher presence.
Session two slides: Running VE in TCFL by Guo Zhiyan
Session two recording: Running VE in TCFL by Guo Zhiyan
12.00-13.00 Lunch
13.00-14.00 Continuation Theory and Its Application in Chinese Language Teaching
Professor Mei Yang
Professor of Applied Linguistics, South China University of Technology
The Continuation Theory, or the xu-argument, states that language is learned via xu and high efficiency in language learning can be achieved through xu (Wang, 2016). Xu is a Chinese word bearing the meaning of continuation, which describes how interlocutors participate in interaction through the actions of (utterance) completion, (content) extension, and (topic) creation. Alongside its potential power in uncovering the mechanism underlying language acquisition, the xu-argument has direct implications for second language (L2) pedagogy, as it offers valuable insights into how the efficiency of L2 instruction and learning may be improved through interaction and alignment.
I will introduce the Continuation Theory first, then discuss its use in second language instruction, specifically focusing on the xu-based tasks, or continuation tasks (Wang, 2019). I will then introduce two empirical studies, investigating reading-writing integrated tasks and continuation speaking respectively, and invite teachers to discuss on how to help L2 learners to achieve high efficiency in Chinese learning through the use of continuation tasks.
Session three slides: Continuation Theory by Mei Yang
Session three recording: Continuation Theory by Mei Yang
14.00-15.00: Exploring Chinese characters - Learning and Teaching Strategies
Dr Kan Qian - Senior Lecturer in Chinese, The Open University
Richard McCurry -Founder of Newby Chinese
Kan Qian will start the session by summarising the findings of the existing research on Chinese character learning strategies at beginners’ level, used by adult learners in the fast-moving digital age. Richard will follow it up by sharing his experience of learning Chinese from a learner perspective and outline the problems Chinese language pedagogy presents to Westerners - with specific regard to literacy. He will then discuss with the audience a different approach of learning Characters. This session will be interactive and expects the teachers to share their practices, and what they think are effective character learning strategies for their beginner students.
Session four slides: Chinese character learning by Kan Qian and Richard McCurry
Session four recording: Chinese character learning by Kan Qian and Richard McCurry
In-person: Register to join in-person at TryBooking.
In-person attendees are asked to register by midnight on Friday 19 April 2024. You will be sent further details about location.
Online: Register to join online at TryBooking.
Travel information
The conference will take place at Lancaster University Management School.
Travel information accordion
The university’s travel page provides detailed instructions on how to get here by car, rail, bus, air, and bicycle.
There are two options for campus accommodation, please see the links below.
- On-campus bed and breakfast accommodation (guest rooms on campus)
- Lancaster House Hotel (four-star hotel, located at the edge of campus)
If you prefer staying in Lancaster (town), there are several options, which you can easily find on booking websites.
Organising committee
Dr Mirjam Hauck, Dr Guo Zhiyan, Professor Mei Yang, Richard McCurry, Dr Kan Qian, Colette Webb
How to contact us
Please email: ci@lancaster.ac.uk