Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology
English Abstract
The digital age in education inspires Chinese teachers to integrate Web 2.0 technologies into Chinese as a second language (CSL) curricula to enhance teaching effects. However, few studies examine the challenges that teachers face when integrating Web 2.0 technologies to improve student oral proficiency in Chinese. This study aims to investigate students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the Web 2.0 technology VoiceThread (VT). It examines the challenges of integrating VT to enhance student oral proficiency. The authors conducted two studies with 31 students responding to a questionnaire in Study 1 and 48 students responding to the same questionnaire in Study 2. All students are beginner-level CSL learners. Three results were obtained. Result 1 shows that documents and articles report VT as popular and easy to use, however, few teachers employed VT in their teaching practices. Result 2 indicates another discrepancy. Although students highly evaluated the usefulness of the VT-facilitated activities, they were reluctant to perform these activities. By comparing Study 1 and Study 2, the authors obtained Result 3: Students in Study 2 evaluated VT-integrated teaching practices consistently higher than those in Study 1. Teachers’ using experiences primarily led these perception differences. This study provides CSL teachers with a vision of the opportunities and challenges that may occur when they integrate Web 2.0 technologies into curricular to improve CSL oral proficiency.
Manuscript Language
English
Recommended Citation
Chen, Guangyan and Zhang, Junyu
(2019)
"Challenges of Employing VoiceThread to Enhance U.S. Collegiate Chinese Language Learners’ Oral Proficiency,"
Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology: Vol. 2:
Iss.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cltmt/vol2/iss1/2
Included in
Chinese Studies Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, First and Second Language Acquisition Commons
