Concurrent Sessions

Ancient Language Meets Modern Technology – Teaching Chinese in the 21th Century

Tue 11:00 – 11:45AM — Governors Ballroom 6
Hannah Lin, West Virginia University
Don McLaughlin, West Virginia University

During the past decades, the extensive use of computers and the internet in teaching languages is evidenced by a proliferation of web resources and multimedia software. The presentation will use Chinese, one of the oldest languages, as an example. 1) Mandarin Chinese is generally considered the most difficult foreign language for American students, mainly due to the difficulties arising from the tonal pronunciation and the production and recognition of the characters. With advanced software applications, students are now able to practice pronunciation and characters easily and efficiently on their own. Three applications (i.e. tone graph, character annotation, and animated character display) will be introduced to demonstrate how computer technologies are used in the teaching and learning of this ancient language. 2) In order to provide students with opportunities for oral communication in a low-anxiety environment when learning Chinese, the presenter conducted a study using computer voice technology that showed the relations between the affective factors in studying Chinese and the use of the technology. The results of the study illustrate how the software can help reduce student anxiety and fuel motivation and risk-taking when studying a difficult foreign language. The technology chosen for the study was the Wimba voice tools.

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