help bg
Go Back

The Practicality Principle in Chinese Classroom Teaching

As we all know, the purpose of learning Mandarin Chinese is to use the Chinese language into the practical life fluently. Therefore, the principle of practicality becomes an important principle in learning and teaching Chinese language. When teaching Chinese, teachers should realize that the practicality principle is a principle with universal guiding significance in teaching Chinese as a foreign language.

In order to teach Chinese language better, teaches should know clearly about the Chinese teaching concept. Chinese teaching as a foreign language is a subject with strong practicality. The goal of Students who study Chinese is not to acquire much Chinese knowledge, but to apply the knowledge to the practical communication, thus training the ability of using Chinese language.

The application of a certain language is nothing without putting it into practice. Therefore, in the teaching process, teachers should develop a variety of practical activities in class. Only when students join in the activities to learn Chinese language can they really master the Chinese language. Accordingly, the principle of practicality is a fundamental principle in the classroom teaching in Chinese teaching as a foreign language.

A certain teaching activity should have relevant bases. For the importance of the practicality principle in Chinese teaching, there are two bases we should know. First of all, people study and acquire a certain language not mainly depends on the theories but the practice. The foreign learners who study in China all know that a certain language is produced and developed in the process of practice. Therefore, only by practice can they master the language firmly.

However, in the field of Chinese teaching as a foreign language, there is always the emphasis that the systematic language theories are the key to learn Mandarin better. Therefore in the Chinese teaching, teachers regard the language knowledge, language analysis, language lecturing and language knowledge exercise as the first importance. As a result, students pay their attention to mechanically memorizing the rules and regulations in Chinese language but not the practice.

The emphasis of the language knowledge will not be helpful for beginners of Chinese learning to understand. What’s more, more extra learning burdens will be pressed to the learners. More importantly, students fail to speak out even they know. The Audio-lingual Method is beneficial for students to learn to speak Chinese. It emphasizes that learning a language is learning a new code of language and the habit formation needs a large quantity of practice and exercise.

During the process when foreign learners learn Chinese in China, they may hear people say that the language is acquired by practice not learning. Therefore, we believe that people learn and master language depends on practice but not theories. Of course, at the same time, we don’t deny the directive function of the language theories in language teaching.

The purpose of emphasizing the practicality is to put the practice in the first place and theories serve for the practice. Chinese language teachers in Mandarin learning courses should realize that the practice we emphasize is the practice with regularity, with the guiding of the language theories and with systematic plan. The most important thing is that the practice should be that of the students can take part in.

Another basis for the importance of the practicality principle is that the practice is the standard to test learners’ communicative ability with Chinese. The examination performance doesn’t truly reflect students’Chinese learning results. We should check whether learners study Mandarin Chinese effectively or not by evaluating whether they can use Chinese language in the real life fluently.

When foreigners come to learn to speak Chinese in China, they may know that sentence said by Chairman Mao that practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. The cultivation, development, formation and test of the language ability need language practice. Teachers should organize and guide students to practice the language correctly, including the classroom practice and the social practice. Therefore, the classroom teaching should base on the social practice and serve for it.

In short, people learn and master a certain language mainly depends on practice but not theories. And the practice is the standard to test whether learners master the language or not. Therefore, in Chinese teaching as a foreign language, we should obey the principle of practicality which is the basic principle with great directive significance.

Please use vertical scrolling on your mobile device.