Chinese Language Teaching: 
Means and Standards

II. Philosophy of Teaching

The program adopts communicative approaches to language teaching which, while emphasizing authentic purposes and audiences of language use, strike a balance between language forms and language functions. It is premised upon the belief that language learning is a form of socialization which entails two parallel processes — (i) the language learner is socialized to use the target language; and (ii) the language learner is socialized into the target culture through language use. Accordingly, to know a language means not merely to master the morpho-syntax of the target language, but also to understand the norms, expectations and preferences of the target culture. In other words, “culture” is not treated as a separate entity apart from phonology, morphology, syntax and discourse; instead, it is treated as something that inherently inhabits the details of language and that emerges from language use. For example, the Chinese cultural notion of “face” is seen as residing in the choice of respect forms in lexicon (address terms, pronouns, intensifiers, diminutives, etc.), sentence grammar (statements implying questions, interrogatives masking imperatives, and so forth), and discourse structure (the sequential ordering of various elements and moves in oral interaction and written communication). In terms of pedagogical design, this perspective on language learning/teaching makes it mandatory that discrete linguistic forms be taught in situated contexts.