The Study on the Feature Analysis of Textbooks for Chinese as a Heritage Language -- Taking Series Primary School Textbooks as the Scope

The purpose of this study is to analyze the textbook features of Chinese as a Heritage Language. It compares Chinese heritage language textbooks with the first language textbooks for native Chinese speakers, and the second language textbooks for foreign learners. It aims at exploring the differences among the three, and evaluating the distribution of these textbooks’ orientations. With the increasing number of Chinese settling down around the world, the teaching of Chinese heritage language and the compilation of teaching materials for Chinese children become important issues. At present, the Chinese heritage language textbooks published in various places vary greatly in terms of their categories and content presentations. Some are designed for teaching Chinese as the first language, some are for teaching Chinese as the second language, and the other for a mixture of the two. Due to the lack of research on Chinese heritage language textbooks, the adaptability and rationality of the textbook compilation need to be taken into consideration, and much of the contents demands further polishing, for which will inevitably affect the learning effectiveness of Chinese learners. This study collected 12sets of 143 volumes of Chinese heritage language textbooks, and explored the characteristics of text types, phonetic symbols, new words, new phrases, sentence patterns, translation, skill emphasis and cultural presentation. It also analyzed the language processing characteristics and content presentation methods of the textbooks. It is found that the types of texts are orientated towards either the reading-type short texts of the first language textbooks, or the listening and speaking-type conversations of the second language textbooks. But in terms of the representations of these textbooks, various characteristics are different from each other, and it is difficult to judge from a single representation. This research analysis can provide the basis for overseas Chinese schools to make appropriate selection of textbooks and to better compile the future heritage language textbooks.

Keywords

overseas Chinese education, heritage language, Chinese textbooks, first language, second language

source

International Journal of Chinese Language Education; Jun 2024; Issue No. 15; p.1-19

Language

Chinese