Twenty-sixth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Writing in Chinese has been one of the most difficult parts of learning the language. Most teaching focuses on grammar, vocabulary, and reading. Writing, on the other hand, has been neglected compared with these other skills. In the United States, learning to write in Chinese is often not even included in the current curriculum but exists chiefly as a by-product of classes in reading. Only recently, with the development of the Chinese language pedagogy the instruction in how to write is received more attention. In my heritage classes, I employ process theory, a test of learning; and post-process theory, a tool for learning other things through learning to write. When the former, I find that most students struggle to write a few short paragraphs consisting of simple sentences using basic words and phrases with little variety in sentence structures. With the latter, I find that learning to write helps students to better understand the subject of their writing and explain it to others. However, these observations are from my perspective as an instructor. In the presentation I first briefly introduce the process and post-process writing theories. Then I introduce how I apply these theories into my classes. The main focus is to explore the acceptance and benefits of students’ experiences with instruction in writing from students’ perspectives. A questionnaire and interviews were used for this research.