Effective Practices of Synchronous and Asynchronous Emergency Remote Chinese Language Teaching

ABSTRACT

This article reports how two Chinese language instructors, teaching at a private grades 6-12 school and a university respectively, transformed face-to-face courses into an online format Spring 2020 due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. First, both instructors' instructional contexts and pedagogical principles are briefly stated. Second, the instructors share their experience on how to conduct emergency remote teaching, categorized into a synchronous format with an emphasis on the interpersonal mode, and an asynchronous format with an emphasis on interpretive and presentational modes. Online testing is also discussed. The authors reflect on their experience of emergency remote teaching and argue that it is time to blur the traditional boundary between face-to-face teaching and online teaching and make the best use of the advantages each can offer in order to improve students' learning outcomes. It would also make smoother the transition between face-to-face and online teaching.