Methodology in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL): Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in Native and Non-Native Chinese-Speaking Contexts
There has been a large body of literature exploring issues related to teachers’ beliefs. However, there is a paucity of empirical research on beliefs of teachers who teach Chinese to speakers of other languages (TCSOL), especially of those who were born and educated in Mainland China but are working in different contexts, where Chinese is not taught as a first language. With the fast growth in the number of learners of Chinese worldwide, TCSOL teachers have to respond to multilingual classes within different academic cultures. As such, TCSOL teachers’ beliefs about teaching methodology in different non-Chinese contexts should call for researchers’ attention. This research, therefore, fills the gap by investigating TCSOL teachers’ beliefs about teaching Mandarin Chinese in Mainland China, a native target-language context, and in New Zealand, a non-native target-language context. The main aim was to discover the common beliefs these teachers held about teaching methodology and the factors influencing their beliefs. Four TCSOL teachers working in Mainland China and New Zealand were invited to participate in this cross-case study. Narrative inquiry and thematic analysis were used for processing the data. This research has explored the four teachers’ content-specific beliefs and self-efficacy beliefs about teaching methodology, and has discussed some factors that have impacts on their beliefs, such as teachers’ identities, expectations, cultural influences, and Maslow’s seven layers of human beings’ needs. This research has also summarised how these influential factors work together on teachers’ present beliefs and practices. These research findings are expected to provide empirical evidence for TCSOL teacher educators, especially for those who are working or planning to work in different first-language contexts.
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