Chinese language teachers' expectations and perceptions of American students' behavior: Exploring the nexus of cultural differences and classroom management

Legitimate teacher authority is fundamental to effective teaching, but is often a thorny issue that teachers need to grapple with when teaching in cross-cultural teaching contexts. By interviewing 18 pre-service Chinese language teachers on their understanding of legitimate teacher authority throughout teaching practicum at international schools in Hong Kong, this study revealed that the teachers changed their perception about the essentiality and the nature of the pedagogical and interpersonal components of legitimate teacher authority. They developed a more nuanced and balanced understanding about legitimate teacher authority over time. However, their abilities in reaching the balance were constrained by their cultural knowledge and skills in achieving positive interpersonal dynamics when implementing student-centred pedagogies.

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Understanding Legitimate Teacher Authority in a Cross-Cultural Teaching Context: Pre-Service Chinese Language Teachers Undertaking Teaching Practicum in International Schools in Hong Kong.

For decades, the Confucian heritage culture (CHC) learner phenomenon has aroused the interest of researchers in different areas. However, few studies have focused on the attitudes of international ...

Traditional Chinese Views on Education as Perceived by International Students in China: International Student Attitudes and Understandings:

This study explored the congruence and disparities among three groups of foreign language (Chinese, French, and German) students’ and teachers’ perceptions of collaborative/cooperative language learning (CLL) strategies in novice-level classroom contexts. A total of 168 participants from a university in the USA took part in this mixed-method study. The quantitative findings from a 10-item CLL questionnaire suggested that while the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of CLL strategies were generally consistent and positive, some disparities emerged in terms of their perceptions towards pair work, 3–6 as a group work, interview, and role playing. The qualitative findings from interviews and classroom observations provided some possible explanations to the differences discovered. The quantitative findings also revealed that foreign language type was not a factor differentiating students’ and teachers’ perceptions of CLL strategies. Some practical implications are provided for the effective implementa...

Understanding collaborative language learning in novice-level foreign language classrooms: Perceptions of teachers and students

Teachers who teach in cross-cultural settings play a vital role in nurturing students’ appreciation of cultural diversity but they tend to experience tremendous challenges in their early years of teaching. To draw a dynamic portrayal of those challenges, this study primarily collected and analyzed 521 reflective journals written by 14 Chinese language teachers throughout their first 2 years of teaching in U.S. public schools. The study found that the teachers experienced a wide range of challenges in managing classrooms, developing curricular materials, crafting instructional strategies, assessing students, catering to learner differences, and collaborating with others. The seriousness of the challenges varied across areas and transformed differently over time. Cultural difference, school context, and teacher’s background and ongoing learning collectively contributed to the formation and transformation of the challenges. This paper concludes with practical implications on how to prepare and support teachers to work in cross-cultural settings.

Chinese Language Teachers’ Challenges in Teaching in U.S. Public Schools: A Dynamic Portrayal

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Hui Xu

Papers

Challenges native chinese teachers face in teaching chinese as a foreign language to non-native chinese students in u.s. classrooms