A Study on Chinese Vocabulary Teaching Strategies for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language Classroom in Sri Lanka.

Abstract

In recent years, as a result of the economic and cultural interactions between China and Sri-Lanka, teaching Chinese language has successfully stepped towards the education system in Sri Lanka. Gradually, a vast number of students are motivated to learn Chinese language because of its essentiality in contemporary Sri Lankan society. Vocabulary teaching is very important in teaching Chinese as a foreign language (TCFL) in the language classroom. It is also the nuclear section of comprehensive Chinese study. This paper mainly focuses on the deficiency of vocabulary teaching, which is caused due to the usage of irregular teaching methods and suggests some teaching strategies and methods, which can be used in TCFL classroom. This research is based on a student questionnaire in order to study the vocabulary teaching strategies used in TCFL classroom in University of Kelaniya. The research sample consisted of 32 students belonging to 2015/2016 academic year, who study Chinese. They were questioned on the vocabulary teaching methods and strategies used by the Chinese language teacher and their satisfaction regarding Chinese vocabulary teaching. The results reveal that the Chinese vocabulary teaching methods prevailing in Sri Lankan TCSL class room are not flexible to attain the vocabulary enrichment goals in foreign language learning. It lacks student centered leaning activities, such as group work, pair work activities and other interactive classroom activities, which enhance four major language skills (writing, reading, listening, speaking). The interaction between teacher - student and student-student is not at all paid regular attention and it affects foreign language leaner‟s language learning efficiency. The teacher should use different kinds of teaching strategies in order to overcome the identified translation issues between the source language and target language. Classroom activities focused on vocabulary practice as well as games based on interacting with each student can be arranged in order to let the leaner actively participate in language learning. In addition, comparing and contrasting the targeted vocabulary with the leaners‟ mother tongue, letting them overcome certain vocabulary issues related to interpretation and translation can be recommended as well.