An Engaging Digital Curriculum for Intermediate Chinese Language and Culture

FAIN: HAA-280982-21

Allegheny College (Meadville, PA 16335-3903)
Xiaoling Shi (Project Director: January 2021 to present)

Convening a three-day meeting bringing together Chinese language scholars, instructors, and digital technologists to design a free online curriculum for teaching Chinese language in a cultural context. 

Our proposed curriculum intends to advance a pedagogical shift in language teaching by taking up opportunities afforded by Web 2.0 to explore ways to improve communicative competence and develop critical cultural awareness. Three characteristics are: creating an immersive learning environment by pulling in rich resources from the online world; engaging learners by utilizing online engagement tools/platforms and social media; developing critical cultural awareness by taking advantage of the immersion and engagement created. It will serve as a model for curriculum design not only for other less commonly taught languages, but also for language and culture teaching as a whole. A Level 1 grant will enable Allegheny College to convene a conference to collect comments and feedback on experiments and innovations made in classrooms and revise them accordingly. The project will culminate with a white paper and a website delineating if, why, and how the digital curriculum will achieve its goals.

Media Coverage

Allegheny receives grant for Chinese instruction (Media Coverage)
Publication: The Meadville Tribune
Date: 9/10/2021
Abstract: This is the link to the article, "Allegheny receives grant for Chinese instruction" in The Meadville Tribune.
URL: http://www.meadvilletribune.com/news/allegheny-receives-grant-for-chinese-instruction/article_9e082e34-10e9-11ec-9fdf-0b7c0ca03fd7.html

Allegheny College Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Grant to Support Digital Innovation in Chinese Language and Culture Curriculum (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Josh Tysiachney
Publication: Allegheny College Website
Date: 9/8/2021
URL: http://sites.allegheny.edu/news/2021/09/08/allegheny-college-receives-national-endowment-for-the-humanities-grant-to-support-digital-innovation-in-chinese-language-and-culture-curriculum/