This book presents recent advances in foreign language education as well as recent work on Chinese language education and CFL teacher development in international contexts. It also reports the results of three qualitative studies on the experiences and beliefs of teachers of the Chinese language in in Denmark. There are rising concerns over quality issues in both Chinese language education and teacher development in Scandinavian countries and worldwide, broadly due to China’s rapid growth and the increasing worldwide popularity of Chinese. What CFL (Chinese as a Foreign Language) teachers believe in teaching and experience in the intercultural context have proposed new questions and issues. The book addresses issues and topics such as teacher beliefs about Chinese language teaching, factors shaping teacher beliefs, the teaching of Chinese by both native and non-native teachers, Chinese language and culture teaching, intercultural encounters and challenges, etc. It provides both macro- and micro-level insights into the key issues and challenges in the development of Chinese language teachers in Denmark and the Scandinavian region. Taking the perspectives of Chinese language teachers’ beliefs and experiences, this book reveals teachers’ beliefs about their roles, objectives, and ways of teaching at the micro level. It also discusses the macro-level factors that promote or impede the adaptation of native-speaking teachers of Chinese and the development of Chinese-language education in this Nordic country. It will be of interest to teachers, teacher educators, administrators of Chinese as a foreign language, and researchers concerned with foreign language education in an intercultural context.

This book examines how the two educational systems of China and the Nordic countries intersect. Over the past decade, there has been increased growth and interaction between China and the Nordic countries due to both government encouragement and academic curiosity. This book rejects a simplistic approach that presents both spaces as culturally uniform, confronting ‘East’ and ‘West’ entities, and suggests a comparative and contrastive approach that is critical and reflexive in both theory and methodology. This does not solely concentrate on difference, but emphasises similarities, including studies on philosophical, conceptual and methodological issues. This nuanced edited collection will appeal to students and scholars of Nordic and Chinese education as well as globalisation and interculturality.

This collected volume examines the multifaceted contexts and experiences of Chinese students, teachers and scholars in Australia, Denmark, France, Japan, the UK and the US. It can serve both as an introduction to Chinese people's mobility and migration in Higher Education and as a thorough review for more knowledgeable readers.

This book is based on educational research conducted by researchers from the Department of Learning and Philosophy and the Confucius Institute for Innovation and Learning at Aalborg University. Empirically, it reports on different approaches to teaching and learning of culture, including a student-centered task-based problem-based learning (PBL) approach, a digital technology-supported approach and more. It also reports on how, when teaching and learning culture, teachers’ professional identity and the informal teaching and learning environment impact the teaching and learning of culture in different educational settings from primary school to university. A central theme in the book is the power of context. The studies illustrate in multiple ways, and from different angles, that “culture is not taught in a vacuum or learned in isolation”, but may be influenced by many factors both inside and outside the classroom; at the same time, culture also influences the context of the learning. The context may be “invisible” and hide itself as tacit knowledge or embedded values, or it may be very visible and present itself as a fixed curriculum or an established tradition. No matter what forms and shapes the context takes, the studies in this book strongly indicate that it is essential to be aware of the power of context in teaching and learning culture in order to understand it and negotiate it. This book suggests that teachers should not try to limit or avoid contextual influences, but instead, should explore how the context may be integrated into and used constructively in the teaching and learning of culture. This allowance of context in the classroom will allow for teachers, students, subjects and contexts to enter into a dialogue and negotiation of meaning that will enrich each other and achieve the established goal – acquisition of cultural awareness and intercultural understanding.

This volume offers a comprehensive overview of Chinese language teaching in New Zealand, in light of the declining interest in foreign language learning in Anglophone countries. While existing scholarly works have discussed Chinese language education in other Anglophone countries, this book is the first to provide an in-depth examination of the landscape of Chinese language teaching in contemporary, multicultural New Zealand, featuring insights from leading experts. The book consists of 21 chapters written by 29 contributors, including research students, experienced teachers, and leading scholars in every educational sector, from preschool to university and from mainstream education to community schools. As the first volume to focus on this subject, the book provides both historical perspectives and multilevel analyses of critical milestones, based on the latest data, policy changes, and politico-economic conditions shaping the future direction of Chinese language education in New Zealand. Its purpose is to offer insights and an overview of the New Zealand case that can help policymakers, programme leaders, researchers, teachers, and learners in the Anglophone world and beyond, to better respond to the rapidly changing and challenging environments they face. In addition to the Foreword by Patricia Duff and the Epilogue, the book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in Chinese language education in New Zealand, and serves as a catalyst for further discussion and research on this topic.

Over the past two decades, Chinese as a foreign or second language (CFL/CSL) has been increasingly taught and learnt as an important language both within and outside China. Studies in the field have attempted to address deep-seated tensions between existing educational ideologies, concepts, strategies, and approaches and student learning process and performance, and between existent teaching methods and techniques and the globalization of Chinese language education.

This book calls for a change in the way interculturality is introduced in Chinese language education, while the demand for Chinese language teaching increases around the world. The concept of culture – as in the phrase ‘Chinese culture’ – has often been one of the main emphases of Chinese language education, providing students with facts about China and ‘recipes’ on how to meet Chinese people and how to behave like them. However, Chinese culture, like all cultures, does not constitute a closed system, but is constantly evolving and exchanging with other cultures. This unique volume comprises studies from around the world that promote intercultural awareness, dialogue, and encounters in Chinese language education. Written in a clear and readable style, this book will appeal to a diverse readership, from practising and training teachers of Chinese, to researchers interested in language and intercultural education.