Supporting the Learning of Chinese as a Second Language: Implications for Language Education Policy

Joseph LO BIANCO, AM, is Professor Emeritus in Language and Literacy Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and previously the Director of the National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia and the author of the 1987 Australian National Policy on Languages. He was elected President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2012, the first educator to serve in this role. From 2011-2017 he led the UNICEF Language and Peacebuilding initiative in Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand and pioneered a form of language problem solving called the Facilitated Dialogue which transforms public policy processes advancing language rights. He was awarded a number of honors, including Order of Australia (AM) "service to language policy and planning in Australia and overseas", Centenary Medal for "service to Australian society and the humanities in literacy planning" etc. He has more than 25 books and major reports and over 130 articles and chapters. 

Elizabeth Ka-yee LOH is Assistant Dean (Knowledge Exchange) and Assistant Professor at Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), and an Honorary Professor at the Radboud Centre of Social Sciences of the Radboud University in the Netherlands. Her research interests include Chinese as first or second language education, IT-assisted language learning, and learning motivation. Her work combines practical intervention to language acquisition as well as academic analysis of complex language problems of multilingual learners. She leads collaborative research and educational projects on curriculum planning, pedagogical innovation and solving language learning problems in complicated multicultural settings across preschool to secondary school and being granted for more than HK$100 million. She has over 70 publications, including co-edited books, international peer-reviewed journal articles, refereed book chapters and mobile application. She and her research partners have received Research Output Prize and Knowledge Exchange Award from HKU and international associations alike in recognition of their research contributions to the language education field.

Mark Shiu-kee SHUM was the Founding Head of Division of Chinese Language and Literature (2009-2015) and is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Advancement of Chinese Language Education and Research (CACLER) Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. His introduction of applying Systemic Functional Linguistics to researching Chinese language education is pioneer in Hong Kong. His research areas include Chinese language (in) education, text analysis, second language Chinese pedagogy etc. His major publications include The Functions of Language and the Teaching of Chinese by HKU Press, Teaching Writing in Chinese Speaking Areas by Springer, Integrating IB Philosophy and Pedagogy into Chinese Language Teaching by John Catt, Researching Chinese Language Education: from Functional Linguistic Perspectives by Routledge, and Appliable Linguistics Across Chinese Speaking Regions: Language (in) Education in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore by Springer, etc.

Policy of Chinese as a second Language; J. Lo Bianco.- Chinese as a second language in Hong Kong: The needs of the learners; M.S.K. Shum.- CSL learning support for ethnic minority students; M.S.K. Shum.-  Cognitive processing based curriculum for the facilitation of CSL young learners' Chinese character learning; E.K.Y Loh, T.S.P. Chan & W.Y.R. Fung.- Song stuck in my head: Acquisition on adjectival predicates for secondary school students in Hong Kong learning Chinese as a second language through Mandarin songs; Z.W.N. Kan.- Developing Strategies for Motivating Australian Secondary Students to Learn Chinese; H. Sit, H-L. Sun & S. Chen.- When Stanislavski met Halliday: A Case Study; J.P.S Woo.- Space of learning: The application of phenomenography and drama in CSL learning; E.K.Y. Loh, J. Winston & W.W. Ki.- The sharing economy in CSL classroom: mLang - a new approach of using IT to assist second language learning; E.K.Y. Loh.- Reading to learn and learning to write; M.S.K. Shum.-A Multiple-case Study of 1.5 Chinese Students' Writing Strategies; F.F. Fung.- We Are Here to Learn Something Useful": Contextualization of Adult Learners' Motivation; V.W.J. Bo.- Working with concepts: opening up new possibilities in curriculum design for Chinese; K. Purvis.- Chinese language education in Australia: attending to the life worlds of students; A. Scarino & M. Kohler.- Success or failure: The important role of emotionality for CSL teachers' professional development; E.K.Y. Loh & L.C.W. Tam.