Information Technology In Teaching Chinese: Analysis And Classification Of Digital Educational Resources
Abstract
The intercultural approach to teaching Chinese as a foreign language in Russia was first implemented by us in a model for co-learning languages and cultures. This model was developed in 2009-2011, it took into account the specifics of teaching the Chinese language, which is studied simultaneously with the English language. The model was tested in the international multicultural educational region of Siberia and the Far East of Russia and northeastern part of China. However, the intercultural approach has wide potential for implementation not only in conditions of direct contact with representatives of another culture. In the modern world, information technologies for teaching foreign languages are increasingly in demand. For a number of objective reasons, large technology companies until the beginning of the 21st century could not begin to develop information technologies that support the Chinese language. Therefore, the history of the creation and use of information technologies for teaching the Chinese language is happening right now before our eyes. In this regard, the analysis and classification of information resources for teaching the Chinese language is relevant and in demand. As a result of the research, we identified the most effective information technologies for teaching the Chinese language and developed their classification: learning resources, Corpus of Electronic Texts, electronic dictionaries, communication resources, information resources, new type of software.
Keywords: Chinese languageinformation technology training
Introduction
The development of the sociocultural approach to teaching foreign languages in our country has led to the formation of a new intercultural approach (Elizarova, Khaleeva, Pluzhnik, Huseynova, Tareva, Guruleva, etc.). The essence of the approach is to prepare the student for intercultural communication from the perspective of an intercultural mediator, and the goal is the formation of intercultural communicative competence. Experts emphasize that the main difference between the intercultural approach and other cultural-like approaches is the transition of the native culture and the language of the student from the category of means of comprehending another language and culture to the category of the object of rethinking and interpretation from the perspective of an updated picture of the world. This significant difference in the intercultural approach allows researchers to talk about the formation of a new intercultural linguodidactic paradigm that is different from a culture-like paradigm (Tareva, 2017).
Since the early 2000s, an intercultural approach has been the basis for the development of various concepts and models of teaching foreign languages. One of the first concepts of co-learning a language and culture based on an intercultural approach was the concept developed by Elizarova (2001) on the material of the English language.
In teaching Chinese as a foreign language as part of an intercultural approach, we developed the first model for co-learning languages and cultures in 2008-2011 (Guruleva, 2008; Guruleva, 2011). The model was tested in the conditions of the international multicultural educational region of Siberia and the Far East of Russia and northeastern part of China (Reznik & Guruleva, 2009).
However, the implementation of the intercultural approach is possible not only in direct contact with a representative of another culture. In the modern world, the professional educational community is more and more attentive to the information technologies of teaching foreign languages. In the absence of direct contact with a native speaker, these technologies provide the opportunity to create an intercultural educational environment in which students receive authentic patterns of communicative behavior and participate in real intercultural communication.
Problem Statement
In Russia there is rich experience in the use of information technology in teaching European languages. The first bilingual electronic dictionaries, training platforms, mobile applications, etc. began to be used in our country in the context of teaching European languages, primarily English. In addition, if we talk about the development of information technologies for teaching foreign languages, it is precisely the information tools for teaching English that have been created among the first in the world.
As for the Chinese language, for a number of reasons, such as the linguistic situation in China, the level of development of information technology and the global Internet in this country, typological features of the Chinese language and written language, insufficient number of linguistic and linguodidactic research in the field of Chinese, etc., large technology companies until the beginning of the 21st century could not begin to develop information technologies that support the Chinese language.
The indicated set of factors has led to the fact that information resources in the Chinese language are not used enough in the Russian professional community, they have not been ranked in terms of the effectiveness of teaching the Chinese language, their varieties have not been classified, and the possibilities for effective use of certain types of resources have not been studied.
As for the latest Chinese research in this area, Chinese scientists mainly study the effectiveness of individual educational information technologies, substantiate the significance of their use in the educational process, and also identify the problems of their use. So, Wang and Jin (2018) emphasize the importance of teaching teachers of Chinese as a foreign language to use information technology in the classroom, which is a requirement of the time and is in line with international practice in teaching foreign languages. At the same time, they urge not to use “technology for technology” and to remember the “true nature of learning” (p. 46). Dong (2016) also says that multimedia technologies cannot be a full substitute for traditional learning, while under certain conditions the use of multimedia learning tools is necessary and they are of great importance for the learning process. Feng Jinghui (2015) also points out the effectiveness of e-learning tools in his research. He emphasizes that the use of information technology increases the interest and effectiveness of teaching Chinese as a foreign language (Feng, 2015).
Research Questions
The research questions are the following:
1. What does the concept of "educational information resources" include?
2. Which of the existing educational information resources are most effective in teaching the Chinese language?
3. What are the possible grounds for classifying the information resources of teaching foreign languages in general and the Chinese language in particular?
4. What is the classification of information resources for teaching the Chinese language?
5. What information resources are the most effective? For what purposes to use them?
Purpose of the Study
The named problem and questions allow us to formulate the following research objective: to analyze and classify the information resources of teaching the Chinese language.
Research Methods
The research is based on the dialectical method of philosophical methodology, which allows us to consider learning tools – information educational resources in the relationship of their types, in interaction with other basic categories of linguodidactics, such as goals, content, teaching methods and technologies. The dialectical method serves as the basis for the use of a general methodological systematic approach to the analysis of the information resources of teaching the Chinese language. Of the concrete scientific methods of pedagogical science, theoretical methods were used, such as a theoretical analysis of scientific articles, as well as various types of information resources for teaching Chinese. A comparative method was used to identify the effectiveness of information resources for teaching the Chinese language. For experimental verification of the effectiveness of information resources in teaching the Chinese language, was used the empirical method: a longitudinal pedagogical experiment, as well as the method of processing empirical data: a method of qualitative analysis of experimental data. In formulating conclusions, theoretical methods of synthesis, abstracting, and generalization were used.
Findings
Educational information resources – data contained in information systems that are in demand for educational use.
An information system is a combination of information contained in databases and the processing of information technologies and technical means (“Federal Law on ...”, 2006). Information technologies – processes, methods for searching, collecting, storing, processing, providing, disseminating information and methods for implementing such processes and methods (“Federal Law on ...”, 2006).
Information resources can be adapted for smartphones and tablets in the form of mobile applications. For optimal interaction between mobile applications and information resources, developers are encouraged to use a client-server architecture, where clients are mobile devices (smartphones, tablets), personal computers, laptops, etc., moreover, mobile devices act as full-fledged clients with full use of functionality (Rakhimov, 2016).
Educational information resources may include: educational resources themselves (training web services, platforms (portals), podcast terminals, mobile applications, etc.), as well as other resources demanded in the learning process, such as electronic dictionaries, electronic corps of texts, information resources of authorities, information resources of social and cultural spheres, electronic encyclopedias, electronic libraries, social media, etc.
Educational information resources provide digital material and are called digital educational resources. Digital educational resources are one of the varieties of electronic educational resources. At first, electronic educational resources existed in analog form, now in digital form, and in the future, they can develop in quantum, laser and other forms.
We have carried out the analysis and classification of the digital information resources of teaching the Chinese language.
An analysis of the existing digital informational educational resources in the Chinese language showed that one of the most optimal grounds for the general classification may be
Another type of mobile application is a specific application focused on learning only the Chinese language. Some applications are aimed at learning the pronunciation and perception of the Chinese language by ear:
A number of applications are designed to study Chinese vocabulary. For example,
To study the hieroglyphs, the
A number of applications are devoted to the formation of competencies of certain types of speech activity. The
For the comprehensive formation of the communicative competence of the Chinese language, an application such as
Specific Chinese language learning applications also include HSK and YCT mobile exam preparation applications. These exams establish your Chinese language proficiency. The
II.
Another dictionary for the Chinese and Russian languages pair is the
There is also an electronic dictionary
Among the Chinese-Russian and Russian-Chinese online dictionaries, the most widely used are the
There are many online Chinese-Chinese dictionaries in the Chinese segment of the Internet, for example:
There are also online resources for converting hieroglyphic writing into pinyin transcription and vice versa, for example,
With the rapid development of technology, many dictionaries are developed in several forms and at the same time can have an offline version that requires installation on a PC, an online version, which is often an interactive crowdsourcing project and a mobile version for installation on a smartphone or tablet.
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Conclusion
Thus, theoretical, comparative analysis and longitudinal pedagogical experiment allowed us to identify the following types of effective digital information educational resources in the Chinese language: learning resources, Corpus of Electronic Texts, electronic dictionaries, communication resources, information resources, new type of software.
When learning Chinese, it is effective to use Web 2.0 technologies. Web 2.0 technologies are services actively improved and developed by the users themselves, i.e. social media (according to Tim O’Reilly). The content of educational social services: language exchange communities, ordinary foreign-language communities, interactive crowdsourced dictionaries is dynamically developing “thanks to the organization of interactive user interaction with the website or with other users, the exchange of audio, video and text files, the result of which is the creation of user-generated content” (Gulaya & Romanova, 2014). The advent of Web 2.0 technology led to the emergence of a new type of training – electronic learning (e-learning). The combination of e-learning with traditional forms gave rise to a blended learning type.
Mobile technology has also become a new, convenient learning tool, thanks to which a large number of language learning applications and dictionaries have been created that provide learning opportunities anytime, anywhere using a smartphone or tablet. The development of mobile technologies has led to the emergence of a new type of training – mobile learning (or m-learning).
Web 3.0 technologies – a concept of development of Internet technologies, formulated by Jason Calacanis in continuation of the concept of Web 2.0. Its essence is that Web 2.0 is only a technological platform, and Web 3.0 will allow it to create high-quality content and services on the basis of professionals. The content in the field of learning Chinese created by professionals can be attributed to Corpus of Modern Chinese, learning web services (ChinesePod), online platforms (Talkmate), etc.
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20 November 2020
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Sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, bilingualism, multilingualism
Cite this article as:
Guruleva, T. L. (2020). Information Technology In Teaching Chinese: Analysis And Classification Of Digital Educational Resources. In Е. Tareva, & T. N. Bokova (Eds.), Dialogue of Cultures - Culture of Dialogue: from Conflicting to Understanding, vol 95. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 208-218). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2020.11.03.23