Chinese Studies Public Lecture

Friday, Apr 10, 12:00 noon

Tokioka Room (Moore Hall 319)

Madeline Spring, UHM East Asian Languages & Literatures

“Looking Forward: New Models For Connecting Language Proficiency and Cultural Literacy"

ABOUT THE TALK: Students in the 21st century are faced with unprecedented challenges relating to economic globalization, social mobility, and professional competitiveness. Learners of Chinese need to have high levels of linguistic proficiency and cultural competence, so that they can function professionally, regardless of whether their focus is on international business, global health, literature, environmental protection, or any other field that transcends the borders of individual nations.

Over the past several decades, undergraduate programs in Chinese Studies and/or East Asian Studies have been, for the most part, designed for a type of student with a far different profile. Generally faculty who developed courses taught in such programs assumed a division between students who excelled in language acquisition and those who excelled in “discipline” studies, and curricular decisions were made accordingly. This presentation focuses on suggestions for rethinking some of those previous assumptions in light of current and future college student populations. Specifically, it will consider ways to attract learners of Chinese language who are also serious learners of Chinese “content” courses, without compromising academic standards. In addition, it will present innovative ways to connect language proficiency and cultural literacy, for all students, including those who have K-12 or heritage backgrounds in Chinese.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Madeline K. Spring is director of the UHM Chinese Language Flagship at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Before coming to UHM in Fall ’14 she was at Arizona State University, where she served as director of both the Chinese Language Flagship and the Chinese Flagship/ROTC Pilot Program. She was also director of the ASU Confucius Institute, and of the Chinese Language Program. Her research interests are divided between medieval Chinese literature (especially Six Dynasties to Tang prose and rhetoric) and current issues in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL). In that area her focus is on curricular design and implementation, content-based instruction, intercultural communication, online communities, and other issues related to developing Superior Level language proficiency. Dr. Spring has played a leadership role in defining and disseminating information about Chinese Language Flagship programs both nationally and internationally. She has also developed models for collaboration between the Language Flagship, Confucius Institutes, state Departments of Education, and faculty and students in university-level Chinese programs and in other academic department and units across campuses.

Event Sponsor
Center for Chinese Studies and Confucius Institute at UHM, Mānoa Campus

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