Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language （TCFL） has become a prevalent phenomenon around the world in recent years. Current TCFL pedagogies are influenced by Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language （TESL/TEFL）...Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language （TCFL） has become a prevalent phenomenon around the world in recent years. Current TCFL pedagogies are influenced by Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language （TESL/TEFL） so much that many traditional TESL/TEFL pedagogies such as the Grammar-Translation approach and the Audio-Lingual approach dominate current Chinese classes. This article provides an introduction and an initial validation of a newly developed pedagogy, Sheltered Initiation Language Learning （SILL）, and its recent application in TCFL in San Diego, California. Compared with traditional ESL/EFL pedagogies which have been criticized for the neglect of the learner＇s communicative development, SILL is innovative for its emphasis on authentic and spontaneous speech, modified input as well as asymmetric teaching sequencing. With these factors, SILL is designed to promote students＇ oral language skills for communicating effectively in concrete situations. The initial validation of SILL suggests that despite several fallacies in classroom activity designs, SILL is a successful pedagogy welcomed by both teachers and students. Based on these discussions, the article proposes that SILL has the potential to be an effective pedagogy for Chinese Oral Language Teaching.展开更多
文摘Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language （TCFL） has become a prevalent phenomenon around the world in recent years. Current TCFL pedagogies are influenced by Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language （TESL/TEFL） so much that many traditional TESL/TEFL pedagogies such as the Grammar-Translation approach and the Audio-Lingual approach dominate current Chinese classes. This article provides an introduction and an initial validation of a newly developed pedagogy, Sheltered Initiation Language Learning （SILL）, and its recent application in TCFL in San Diego, California. Compared with traditional ESL/EFL pedagogies which have been criticized for the neglect of the learner＇s communicative development, SILL is innovative for its emphasis on authentic and spontaneous speech, modified input as well as asymmetric teaching sequencing. With these factors, SILL is designed to promote students＇ oral language skills for communicating effectively in concrete situations. The initial validation of SILL suggests that despite several fallacies in classroom activity designs, SILL is a successful pedagogy welcomed by both teachers and students. Based on these discussions, the article proposes that SILL has the potential to be an effective pedagogy for Chinese Oral Language Teaching.
