夏威夷大学和美国的中文教学

University of Hawaii and Chinese Language Instruction in the United States

美国大学的中文教学始于19世纪末叶。至今已有一百多年的历史。在这一百多年中,最初的半个世纪中文教学发展的速度非常缓慢,只有少数几所大学设有中文课程。夏威夷大学于1921年开始教授中文,是美国早期设置中文课程的大学之一。美国的中文教学从第二次世界大战以后开始加快成长的脚步,到了最近的十多年更是以几何级数在快速成长,近半个世纪美国中文教学越来越专业化。全美中文教师学会于1962年成立,曾在夏威夷大学任教的杨觉勇是创办人之一。美国第一个全国性的中文测试在1986年问世,这个项目的主持人是夏威夷大学的李英哲。随着中文教学的需要,美国大学的老师们编写的中文教材也越来越多,夏威夷大学老师们编写的教材在美国颇受欢迎。本文旨在指出夏威夷大学跟美国的中文教学的发展有着密切的关系,并从美国中文教师学会、测试、教材、电脑教学、孔子学院、星谈计划等几个方面来介绍夏威夷大学的老师们在中文教学上所做的贡献。

Chinese language instruction in the United States （US） started over a century ago. The development was very slow during the first half of century. Only a handful universities offered Chinese language courses. University of Hawaii started to teach Chinese in 1921. It was one of the earlier universities to offer Chinese. The development of Chinese language instruc- tion moved faster after World War II. The Chinese Language Teachers Association （CLTA） was established in 1962. John Yang who taught at the University of Hawaii （UH） for ten years was one of the founders of CLTA. The Chinese Proficiency Test （CPT）, the first one in the US, was developed by Ying-che Li of UH in the early 1980＇s. Several of the popular Chi- nese language textbooks were authored by UH teachers. This article will discuss the contributions made by UH teachers to the field of Chinese language instruction in the US in the following areas ： CLTA, Chinese language testing, teaching Chinese using technology, Confucius Institute, StatTalk, etc.