Developing critical listening skills in CFL advanced class through technology

李坤珊

Associate Professor of the Practice

Department of Asian and African Languages and Literature

Duke University

Although the use of online technology is popular with CFL (Chinese as a foreign

language) educators, an effective integration of the technology into listening exercises is yet to be explored. Traditionally, listening exercises are treated as purely textbook- based activities; listening activities have little or no relevance to real-world functions. A lack of the target cultural environment has made the teaching of listening skills even more challenging. Nonetheless, those challenges can be overcome by creative use of online technology. Based on studies from Second Language Acquisition, this paper will discuss the roles of listening in foreign language teaching as well as introduce different modules for listening activities, i.e. top-down, bottom-up, and integrated approaches. With a demonstration of a multimedia website specifically designed for upper level CFL learners, the author will introduce various learning activities and explain how technology might complement different learning styles, learning strategies, and language backgrounds (i.e. heritage versus non-heritage) from an advanced CFL class.

Through the integration of a content-based curriculum and web-based authentic video instructional modules, the design of the listening activities has a two-fold purpose. One is to use technology to bring the target cultural environment to CFL learners who are in a non-Chinese environment by systematically introducing authentic audio-visual materials that provide rich cultural cues and a variety of accents and language on subject matters. The other purpose is to develop critical listening skills in the context of topic-oriented teaching and learning materials for upper-level Chinese courses. Every listening activity is led to a speaking activity. Both breadth and depth of content are reinforced in addition to the teaching and learning of the language. The teaching techniques that aim at developing critical listening skills by incorporating both form and content of a subject matter into classroom instruction will be discussed as well. The audience will actively learn about the very project that is designed to enhance listening fluency for advanced CFL class.