21世纪汉语第二语言教学展望——第八届国际汉语教学讨论会暨西方学习者汉字认知研讨会述评

The Future of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language in the 21st Century-A Review of the EICTCSL and the CRCCWL

2005年夏在中国北京和德国格尔墨斯海姆市召开了第八届国际汉语教学讨论会和西方学习者汉字认知研讨会。这两次会议的讨论热点和与会论文的研究内容从四个方面集中反映了21世纪国际汉语第二语言教学的研究动向和发展前景:第一,汉语第二语言教学正在成为海峡两岸学者共同为之努力的事业;第二,汉语第二语言教学的研究在研究兴趣上正在走向国际化,在理论应用上正在实现本土化;第三,汉语第二语言教学与研究要根据汉语特点结合多学科的方法来进行,这正在成为大多数研究者的共识;第四,海内外汉语教学还存在较大差异,主要表现为海外汉语学习者的低龄化与国内汉语教材和师资的供需错位。

This article gives a review of the Eighth International Conference of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language and the Conference of Recognizing Chinese Characters for Western Learners （EICTCSL and CRCCWL）. There are four key issues discussed. Firstly, researchers from China's Mainland and Taiwan are working together for teaching Chinese as a second language. Secondly, numerous researchers from around the world are becoming more and more interested in similar fields of Chinese teaching. They also integrate their own theories with theories borrowed from a number of related fields such as linguistics and psychology. Thirdly, the majority of researchers reach a common understanding of Chinese teaching, especially in teaching Chinese characters. The fourth issue concerns a particular area that needs to be addressed. This is in lack of highly trained language teachers as well as appropriate teaching materials for learners of Chinese as a second language in overseas secondary schools. Meanwhile, most textbooks published in China are not suitable to the needs of students and most language teachers need training before they start teaching abroad.