A Study on the Current Situation of Learning Spoken Chinese Online: A Case Study of First-Year Students in University of Kelaniya

Abstract

The teaching and learning of Chinese language as a foreign language officially commenced as a basic course at the University of Kelaniya in 1972 and has now progressed up to a degree level. It is a must to learn Chinese with an emphasis on the Spoken Chinese. This study focused on the most successful way of learning Spoken Chinese online during the COVID 19 pandemic. Many research studies on learning spoken Chinese through the online methodology had been conducted in various countries. However, it’s evident that no research studies had been conducted on learning Spoken Chinese online in Sri Lanka. The purpose of this study was to analyze the extent to which this new online methodology enables students to learn Spoken Chinese and discover the problems faced by students. The significance of this study is to provide solutions. The research study was conducted in collaboration with the general first year students studying Chinese Language as a foreign language at the University of Kelaniya. The researcher intended to create a questionnaire for the selected 120 Chinese general first year undergraduates and conducted a statistical analysis and a case study. This study explores the methods that can be used to learn Spoken Chinese online in China and other countries where students learn Chinese as a foreign language. This study reveals mainly the effectiveness of learning Spoken Chinese online and the methods to learn Spoken Chinese online in Sri Lanka. Based on the questionnaire, the problems faced by the students were investigated. Moreover, the study examines the advantages and disadvantages of learning Spoken Chinese online for beginner level students at the University of Kelaniya. It’s sensible for students to use the alternative methods such as You Tube, PRAAT because the online methodology isn’t much effective for the students to sharpen their spoken Chinese.