Deepening International Exchange and Cooperation: CHL Visits Swarthmore College and Attends the 8th International Conference on TCSL

13 Faculty members and students from the Department of Chinese Language Studies (CHL) visited Swarthmore College in the United States from 9-10 June 2023 to participate in the 8th International Conference on Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL), organised by Swarthmore College.

Dr Liang Yuan, Acting Head of the Department, delivered the keynote speech at the conference, presenting research findings on language contact, academic self-concept, and Chinese character writing ability among non-Chinese speaking students in Hong Kong. Colleagues from the Department covered various topics in their academic presentations, including interdisciplinary approaches in international Chinese language teaching, identity research of language learners, corpus-based teaching applications, research on the medium of instruction in Chinese language classrooms, and Chinese character writing. These presentations attracted significant attention and sparked interactive discussions among the attendees. Additionally, students from the Department's Doctor of Education (EdD) programme and the Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Chinese Language) programme shared their research findings on topics such as learning motivation, electronic assessment, and community vocabulary during the conference.

Initiated by Prof Si Chung Mou from CHL at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), the International Conference on TCSL has been successfully held for eight sessions in collaboration with partner universities, including Swarthmore College, the University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan Normal University, and National Kaohsiung Normal University. The 8th International Conference on TCSL received a total of 154 submissions, with 70 accepted and 63 ultimately presented. Participants from 23 countries and regions attended the conference. Alongside Chinese language teachers and researchers from renowned institutions such as Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Columbia University, Princeton University, and Brown University in the United States, the conference also welcomed participants from primary and secondary schools. Additionally, Chinese language teachers and scholars from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were also in attendance. During the conference, Faculty members and students from CHL engaged in academic exchanges with scholars from different regions on various topics related to international Chinese language teaching and explored possibilities for future research collaborations. This overseas visit further strengthened the exchange and cooperation between the Department and international colleagues, enhancing the influence of EdUHK in the field of international Chinese language teaching research.

For more details, please visit the website of the 8th International Conference on TCSL: https://tcsl8th.swarthmore.edu/

Group photo at the conference opening ceremony

Faculty members and students from CHL with the organisers

Keynote speech in the conference venue