Creating virtual and real interactive environment to enhance Putonghua learning

Although universities in Hong Kong offer Putonghua classes of various levels, learners find it difficult to practice the language after class. Besides, the traditional Putonghua classroom teaching can not meet the students’ need of multimodal learning. Therefore, the aim of this project is to fill the gap by offering Putonghua Salon for both native (Cantonese) and non-native Chinese speaking students and staff members, and introducing computer-aided Putonghua teaching in the existing mainstream university courses. The objectives of this project indicate that upon the completion of this program, the students should be able to 1) speak Putonghua fluently, naturally and confidently; 2) use accurate and appropriate expressions and intonation in interactive communication in daily life; 3) apply various paper-based and multimedia resources (e.g., newspapers, grammar books, online dictionaries, pronunciation and vocabulary software, study games, movies, TV programs) to further self-learning with ease; 4) develop listening comprehension, get used to listening to various speakers and develop speaking proficiency; 5) track their learning progresses. Putonghua Salon has proved to be successful. The Salon activities include face-to-face individual and group counseling service and various modes of practice including group discussion and presentation on certain topics or events, guessing games, role plays, mock interview, translation competition, singing, and film appreciation… etc. Since Putonghua Salon is an extracurricular activity, participants’ attendances are purely voluntary. They may join the Salon by signing on the attendance book without reservations. The attendance figure is around 30 to 50 people per week. Survey and interview studies have revealed very positive results on the effect of the Salon activities.In the meanwhile, this university-funded project has purchased a language learning package with integration capacity to the University Blackboard system. The Principal Investigator of the present project has conducted a series of research on the effect of the package, and the results show that the technology use is positively correlated with students’ motivation in learning Putonghua and their general examination scores.