The speaking skills session started on 23 April and finished on 20 July 2001, a total of 97.5 classroom contact hours over 13 weeks with 1.5 hours tuition 5 days a week from 5 to 6.30 p.m. The participants were taught as a single group in the Language Laboratory of the Institute for Chinese Studies, Oxford University.

1.2 Teaching materials

Over 500 commonly used words, and the majority of basic sentence patterns and grammar points, were covered through 30 conversation topics during this session. The students learned approximately 40 words a week. The material was designed to develop conversation and oral presentation skills. (Please see Appendix 1 for examples of the material handed out at the end of each week.)

1.3 Teaching and research team

Five teaching and research team members took part during the session. Prof. Zhang Zhanyi [1] provided the original teaching material; Mr. Shio-yun Kan adapted the material ; Ms Liu Xiaoyu[2] carried out classroom teaching and wrote weekly revision material; Ms Fang Jing [3]made the tapes and tape related material; and Ms Song Yang [4]edited the indexes.

Ms Fang Xinxin [5] and Miss Anna Merton provided administrative and other support.

1.4 Students’ background

Fifteen students registered, of whom six completed the session. Of the four students from the Reading session who came as non-active participants three remained until the end of the Speaking session. The students’ mother tongues were English, Turkish, Japanese, German, Arabic and Thai. They ranged from undergraduates and post-graduates, to a university doctor, a college administrative officer, a museum researcher and three language instructors. This made the teaching of this session difficult, and the difference in linguistic capability between individuals became very apparent in the later stages of the session. This could be one of the reasons why attendance levels fell towards the end of the session.

1.5 Students’ performance records

The time that the students spent working at their material away from the classroom was monitored throughout the session, as can be seen in the following table.

Hours spent in learning the following items

Student	New words	Tapes	Conversation	Oral presentation
1	7.6	5.3	0.4	0.1
2	6.6	12.3	1	0.5
3	13.8	18.4	14.3	2.6
4	11	10.9	11.1	0
5	7.4	11.3	7.2	0
6	27.9	0	0	0
7	7.7	7.9	7.4	0
8	16.4	4.3	1.6	0

1.6 Outcome

Although individually recorded tests were carried out regularly (see Teacher’s Report), it was difficult to give marks which would reflect the students’ true performance in class. Besides, some students were intimidated by tape recorders. (Sometimes one could hear them swearing at or apologising to the machine.) Some students simply refused to record their test or skipped the test class completely. However, the recorded tests did indicate the remarkable progress that the individual students made during different stages of the session.

2. Teaching issues

2.1 Teaching pronunciation

Our FDTL project team believes that the speed at which a student can learn and remember foreign language pronunciation depends on how far the language relates to his or her immediate environment. If a pronunciation exercise relates to the student’s everyday life, it should be easier for him or her to master than a meaningless drill.

The aim of this experimental session was to teach students to grasp basic Chinese pronunciation so that they could quickly establish communication with native Chinese speakers. The emphasis was on communicative skills rather than accuracy of pronunciation and intonation. In order to achieve a high level of communication within the limited period of 13 weeks we decided to use the following two approaches:

At the beginning of the session we put more emphasis on teaching words and phrases, rather than individual characters, as the smallest components in sentences. This was because the mother tongues of most students consisted of multi-syllabic words and expressions. Words and expressions were closely related to students’ everyday life from the start, so that they could be used both in and out of the classroom. Characters were always introduced in the context of words or expressions, and wherever possible new characters were introduced via new expressions that contained at least one character that had been learned before.

There were some pronunciation problems that related to students’ mother tongues. For instance, beginners find it difficult to tell the difference between words beginning with zh and j, ch and q, and sh and x. This is because the written form of Pinyin is too similar to English, and it was for this reason we decided to delay the introduction of Pinyin pronunciation. It was felt that the right time to teach Pinyin would be when the students had learned enough words to communicate, and enough expressions to cover basic Chinese pronunciation.

2.2 Teaching words and sentences

Communicative skills were important for this experiment and it was decided that the material should be based on topics which related to real situations, in order to build up students’ vocabulary. As it was impossible for us to create a Chinese language environment, the methods of teaching were limited to imitation, repetition, translation and classroom drills.

2.2.1 Teaching and learning words

We decided to make tapes of the key new words, expressions and sentence patterns for the whole week and hand them to the students on a Monday. During the first five weeks. the tapes were the only pronunciation tool available for the students to use outside the classroom. The tape would say for example “New Words: 1. what shénme; 2. you nĭ…” We realised that the disadvantage of using tapes would be that the quality of the recording might give rise to confusion. For instance, “t” and “k” are difficult to distinguish on tape, as in tèbié and kèbié. The students would have to rely on the teacher to correct their pronunciation in class. We also decided to hand out simple written material to guide the students as they went through the tapes. (Please see Appendix 2 for examples.)

2.2.2 Teaching and learning sentences

We decided to use imitation and repetition methods for teaching and learning new words, and to use elicitation methods, translation, sign language and images to revise and consolidate vocabulary. After revision the students were able to turn their passive knowledge of Chinese into active skills to form sentences. For instance, after learning some new words the teacher would say:

“You have to tell a Chinese friend that we are going to school by bus.” This would give the students a clear purpose. Then the teacher would say: “In Chinese it will be: we take a bus to go to school.” This would indicate the Chinese word order. After that the teacher would ask: “How do you say we in Chinese? … How do you say take bus in Chinese? …How do you say go? …How do you say school?” The translation of the words was treated as vocabulary revision. As the words in the questions had already been laid out via the Chinese word order, it meant that no grammar had to be explained. The teacher then would ask: “How do you say the sentence in Chinese?”

2.3 Comprehension, practice, drill and consolidation

We decided to use substitution exercises to consolidate sentence patterns. For instance, we could replace the nouns we and school in the sentence pattern we take a bus to go to school with other nouns that the students had learned. We thought that another crucial aspect of communication skills was comprehension, without which speaking skills would be pointless. In order to teach this skill, the teacher added sentence components to a basic sentence pattern, and the students were encouraged to use the same method to form longer and more complicated sentences. For instance, a basic sentence such as what is his name can be developed through the following patterns.

tā jiào shénme

tā jiào shénme míngzi

lăoshī wèn tā jiào shénme

lăoshī wèn tā “ni jiào shénme míngzi?”

lăoshī jintian wèn tā shénme

As well as holding revision classes every Friday, we made handouts of all the material that the students had learned during the week.

3. Conclusions

3.1 Teacher’s report and further comments

Ms Liu Xiaoyu has written a very detailed and coherent report on the teaching elements of this session, and there is no need for me to repeat her findings here. However, when the outcome of the session is compared with our initial ideas, there are a few points that can be made.

The result of delaying the introduction of Pinyin for a few weeks was good. After 4 or 5 weeks the students were longing for a standard written form for Chinese pronunciation that was superior to their own version. Introducing Pinyin at that moment was ideal and it made the teaching of Pinyin less painful. Students could then easily distinguish the so-called ‘difficult sounds’ when the Pinyin for a word was taught.
The result of teaching sentence patterns instead of teaching grammar was also good, but as there were professional language teachers and students in the class, who had learned their other languages analytically, grammar questions were unavoidable. More grammar explanations could have been handed out as additional material at end of each week for those who were familiar with the traditional way of learning foreign languages.
Repetition and translation methods of teaching were effective, but we felt that if one applied them too much students would not be able to free themselves from their teachers’ guidance or from their mother tongue, damaging their confidence. Situation-related role-play exercises should be used for consolidation purposes.

Appendix 1

Example of material handed out at the end of each week:

Lesson Eight

Is Mr. Wang Qiang there?

一． (One)

We have learned the words for year, month and date in Chinese, but we may have to learn more time words if we have to make an appointment to see somebody. Let’s talk to a Chinese friend called Wang Qiang on the phone.

a. 喂，我是彼得。王强先生在吗？

hi, I am Peter. Wang Qiang Mr. in MA.

Hello, this is Peter. Is Mr. Wang Qiang there?

b. 在。我就是王强。彼得，你有什么事？

Yes, I just am Wang Qiang. Peter you have what matter

Yes, speaking. Hi, Peter, what’s up?

a. 我想请你吃饭。

I want invite you eat meal.

I would like to invite you for a meal.

b. 太好了！什么时候？

extremely good LE! What time

Great ! When ?

a. 下星期三晚上七点半。

next week three evening seven o’clock half

7.30 next Wednesday evening.

b. 在什么地方？

at what place

Where?

a. 北京饭店。

Beijing Hotel.

b. 好，谢谢，再见！

good, thanks, goodbye

OK thanks, bye!

二． (Two)

There are some new words in the above dialogue.

吗 MA is a question particle which is placed at the end of a statement, to change the statement into a question.

王强在吗？

Wang Qiang in MA Is Wang Qiang there?

你是彼得吗？

you are Peter MA Are you Peter?

他们要这个吗？

They want this MA Would they want this one?

你们知道吗？

you know MA Do you know?

2. 先生 has several meanings in Chinese. It can mean Mr., and it can also be used to address a senior person such as a scholar or an important person.

3. 王强 Wang Qiang is the name of a person.

王Wang is a surname and 强 Qiang is a given name. A surname is followed by a given name in Chinese. A title such as 先生Mr. is place after a name or surname as in 王强先生 Wang Qiang Mr. Try to say the following names.

Chairman Mao Zedong

Mr. Deng Xiaoping

Premier Zhu Rongji

Miss Zhang Lingling.

小姐 means miss.

太太 means Mrs.

4. 在to be in, on or at (a place) is used as a verb in the following sentences.

a 王强在家吗？ Is Wang Qiang at home?

Wang Qiang is at home MA

b. 在家，他爸爸不在家。 Yes, he is, but his father is not at home.

is at home, his father not is at home

a. 他爸爸在哪儿？ Where is his father?

his father is at where

5. The adverb 就( jiu ) has many meanings in Chinese. It is used to emphasize

是the verb to be in the following sentences.

a. 我就是王强。 I am Wang Qiang.

I just am Wang Qiang.

b. 我就要这个。 I just want this one ( but not any other ones).

I just want this one [MW]

6. 事means matter, affair, thing, or business.

a. 有事 ( I ) have got matters to attend to/ things to do.

have matter (to attend) .

有什么事？ What is the matter?

have what matters

b. 没事 Nothing.

not have matters.

想 means want to, intend to. It is placed before the main verb of a sentence and is

used as a modal verb, as indicated in the following sentences.

a. 他想去北京。 He would like to go to Beijing.

he intend go Beijing

b. 你想问什么？ What would you like to ask?

you intend ask what

8. We have learned 请问 please ask which means may I ask …. or excuse me as a set phrase. 请can also be used as a verb and means to invite, as here:

a.我请你吃饭。 I would like to invite you for a meal.

I invite you eat meal

b. 谁请你哥哥？ Who is inviting your older brother?

Who invite your older brother

9. 太好了！太too, very is used as an adverb.

The expression 太好了 means great!

10. 星期 week

a. 这个星期 This week

this one [MW] week

b.下（xia ）means below, next

下星期

next week

c. 星期三 Wednesday

week three

Other weekdays are:

Monday week one

Tuesday week two

Thursday week four

Friday week five

Saturday week six

Sunday is 星期日week sun in Chinese.

Read after me from Monday to Sunday, please!

11. 晚上evening

The following time words can also be useful when we want to make conversation.

上午 morning

up noon

中午 noon

middle noon

下午 afternoon

down noon

12. When we read out the time, 点means o’clock.

七点

seven o’clock

八点

eight o’clpck

Place点 o’clock after a number to tell the following times:

one o’clock two o’clock ten o’clock twelve o’clock

Please remember the Chinese sequence of time: year, month, date, day, part of day, hour, minutes…

上午七点 7 o’clock in the morning (7 am)

morning 7 o’clock

13. 半means half. When it comes to telling the time 半 means half an hour

分means minute and秒 means second.

14. 地方 means place. Try to work out the meanings of the following sentences.

a. 这个地方是北京。

this one [MW] place is Beijing.

b. 那个地方是什么地方？

that one [MW] place is what place

15. 好，再见！

We have learned 你好 hello. Here, 好means OK.

再again is used as an adverb and 见 means see. 再见 means see

you again.

三． (Three)

1. Try to practise the following words.

先生 Mr

下 next

星期 week

在 to be in, on at…

再见 again see

什么 what

事 matter

是 to be

时候 time

2. Invite your friends to have dinner or to do something with you.

四． (Four)

Homework:

1. Say from Monday to Sunday in Chinese;

2. Tell your classmates what are you going to do from Monday to Sunday.

Appendix 2

Example of material handed out at the beginning of each week

Lesson Eight

Is Mr. Qiang Wang there?

Part one: new words

1. (personal name)

2. Mr.

3. be in/on/at

4. question particle

5. hello

6. just

7. matter, things, business

8. would like to

Part two: expressions

A. (extremely good particle!) Great!

B. (you have what business?) May I help you?

C. (you have business particle?) Are you busy?

Teacher’s report by Liu Xiaoyu

FDTL - Speaking

来自课堂教学的反馈

从2001年4月23日到7月20日，“说话”课程进行了13周。课堂教学的情况如下：

一．学生

参加课堂学习并正式报名在册的有15人，旁听前后共有4人。到6月末大学学期结束时参加课堂学习的正式学生有8人，旁听3人。本课程结束时正式学生6人，旁听1人，母语国家分别是土耳其，日本，德国，英国，泰国，和苏丹。

二．内容和进度

前两周每天一课，周五复习。从第三周开始每两天一课，周五复习。从第9周开始安排较为灵活，基本上还是两天一课，个别时候三天一课，复习以时间和课数结合而定，约每结束两课或每两周一次。按大纲，教学材料和集体讨论的要求，前15课教完疑问词，结果于5周内完成。后15课引入拼音，教完主要语法点，也顺利完成。13周共完成30课。

三．课堂教学

1。新材料的导入

1）课文

先从话题或情景开始，让学生了解本课可能接触的词汇或句式，然后按词汇—词组—句子的顺序导入。初学时先给英文，再给中文。比如：“what,名字—what name,什么名字—call what name叫什么名字—you called what name, what’s your name,你叫什么名字”。如果句子里的词都学过，教师说英语，让学生尝试自己说出中文来。后来是如果有新词，只给新词的英文，别的直接说中文，比如“like，喜欢—我喜欢—我喜欢东西—我喜欢你的东西—我喜欢你写的东西”。

2）重点词语的活用

学生知道了一个词语在课文中是什么意思，是怎么说的，这还并不意味着他对这个词已经掌握，如果介绍不够，学生会自己造出错误的句子来。为了学生更好地了解，也为了巩固记忆，同时复习学过的内容，需要介绍一些该词的其他使用方法，如对象，场合，和其他词的搭配等。如：

课文句子-- 李方结婚了吗？

活用—我还没结婚。（否定状态）

他结婚七年了。（时间补语）

我想跟/和他结婚。（对象）

你们不能结婚。（对象的另一种表达）

又如：

课文句子—太阳出来了。

活用—他病了，不想出来。（主语是人）

昨天我在家里，没出去。（用“去”替换“来”）

他出教室去了。（处所词放在“来”或“去”的前边）

等等。

这种活用以词汇在课文中的意义为基础，以使学生掌握基本用法为原则，不过于求全。

3）拼音

在前四周内完全不引入拼音，学生了解发音和学说完全靠课堂模仿，课下听录音带，记录也用他们的母语。第五周开始给拼音，把全部的拼音材料一次性给学生自习，阶段复习时教师提示与英语发音和拼写不同的拼音，并做难音练习。

2。巩固练习

1）词汇

师生问答：如“难”：你觉得学汉语难吗？- 不是我觉得汉语（不/很）难。

“因为”：为什么你拿着雨伞？- 因为今天下雨。

游戏：如学数字的时候边说边做体操。

2）句型

学生互相问答，如疑问词的练习。

老师说英文，学生翻译。

从第五周开始，教师逐渐加大与学生汉语问答的比重，特别是根据课文回答问题。

3）对话

如学完“去什么地方旅游好？”，学完后学生两三人一组对话。有时用图画辅助，如学了“跟…（不）一样” 和“比”，给甲乙学生不同的图画，或内容不同，或图片顺序不同，让他们不看对方的画，用汉语进行比较。

从第七周开始，围绕课文的情景或话题进行的师生自由对话的比重增加。比如学完坐车去某地后，教师问去伦敦，去爱丁堡可以坐什么车，花多长时间，车费是多少，根据不同情况坐什么车最好，等等。

4）成段表达

如学完“欢迎来我家”，让学生介绍自己家的面积，房间，周围环境等。

看图说话或讲故事。

5）发音

用图片辅助练习一些难音，如zh组，复合元音，也把一些易混淆的音做了比较练习，如z组和j组，ou和 uo，前鼻音和后鼻音等。除个别学生母语影响较顽固造成混淆，比如：t和c（泰国），x和s（英国），r和l（泰国，日本，苏丹）外，效果比较好。声调在强调时（比如说课文和绕口令）效果显著，在语流中仍不能令人满意。

3。阶段复习

给学生的总结材料中包括本阶段所学过的：

词汇 -- 按词类划分，方便学生看到词类大致回忆起用法。用语言游戏来复习，比如词汇接龙（后一人的第一字要与前一人的最后一字发音相同，如果声调不同，要指出来。），量词搭配（每人各写五个名词，五个量词，把所有名词打混，所有量词打混，任意抽出一个名词一个量词，如果不能放在一起，要分别找到合适的搭配。）

基本句型 — 除了给出本阶段所学过的重点语句外，在前两次里还出了句型替换，鼓励学生用学过的词语自己作出符合汉语规则的表达。也可以用语言游戏，比如两人各说一句话，第三人要用学过的副词，连词，固定表达式等把两句话拉上关系变成一句。

语法小结 — 由于本课程不把语法分离出来讲，只是通过大量的模仿和按汉语顺序翻译英文让学生自己比较与领会，所以需要必要的提示（如“在”多种意义和用法）和集中比较（比如作为介词的“对”和“给”，“一点儿”和“有点儿”，“了”和“过”，“正在”和“着”，做状语和补语的形容词的位置和意义等等），用表格等形式给出。

说话的情景 — 让学生了解本阶段所学过的话题。由于在巩固练习中已经做得比较充分，这时可以略去不做。

4。阶段成果考查

在第2，4，8，11和13周进行了5次录音。前三次是给出重点句型让学生翻译，内容基本与课文一致。考查结果大致可以反映学生的掌握情况，但是由于不是自然的表达，效果不如课堂，特别是声调，过分的注意导致发音不准。后两次是给出课文的概要，学生可以据此用学过的语句自由表达。实际上学生还是用翻译的方法来做了，但是可以了解学生通过模仿，看材料和一些练习，对汉语的表达方式，特别是语序，基本上可以掌握，但母语影响在所难免。声调仍然是主要的问题。

四．思考和建议

汉语靠词序来表现词汇意义和语法意义，缺乏形态标记，这使初学者在掌握必要的词汇后就可以尝试使用有时是比较复杂的形式来表达，比如在第一周时，学生学了“我问他”，“谁知道”和“老师叫什么名字”，“哪个饭店好”，就可以说出“我问他老师叫什么名字”，“谁知道哪个饭店好”这样的句子来。再比如，在学了“一”到“十”的数字以后，就可以从“一”一直说到“九十九”，加上“星期”和“月”就可以容易地说出从“星期一”到“星期五”，从“一月”到“十二月”来。这些成果都给了初学的学生很大的鼓励。从意义方面的表达来看，汉语对初学者来说并不难。即使是语法小结，由于同样要通过足够的例句让学生跟说，教师只做提示和必要的点醒，不“讲“语法。这种做法的结果是学生即使对“了”和“把”这样的汉语“老大难”问题的掌握也远比传统教法的情况好得多，表现在一是学生不回避使用，二是大多数情况下用得还很准确。

在初学阶段不给拼音，并不影响学生学习发音，反而由于没有拼音的障碍，学生更能集中在听音和学说上。在学生接触了几乎所有的汉语音节后，汉语拼音的出现显得很自然，稍加练习就可以正确地认读和拼写，这是比传统方法优势较大的一点。虽然在后面的阶段中，几乎所有学生仍用母语记录，但认读和拼写汉语拼音的能力也一直保持不降，随时可以进行。

虽然是“说话”课，但语言的各种技能并不冲突，在有所侧重的前提下可以有效地利用互助的优势。比如在教学进行到一定阶段，加大听力的比重，不但不妨碍说话的训练，反而会有很大的促进作用，比如在听和听说交流的过程中，学生可以通过注意和比较来修正自己的发音，又可以增加表达方式的多样性，增强交流的动机和信心。又比如虽然在课堂教学中完全不给汉字，但是汉语字符组合意义的特点使必要的提示显得事半功倍，如“新闻”和“百闻不如一见”中的“闻”是同一个汉字的同一个义项，两处互相照应，学生印象很深。学生学了“动物园”，告诉他们“园”字的意思，加上他们学过了“公共汽车”，“幼儿”，“花”，“学校”，稍加帮助就能自己说出“公园，幼儿园，花园，校园”来，增强自信，又不易忘。实际上在教学过程中，学生遇到发音相同的字时也总是会自动地问“是不是一个字？”“这个字是什么意思，那个字是什么意思？”可见汉字对他们的理解和记忆是有影响的，虽然字的形象并不出现，但他们有“这几个词中有同一个…字，意思是…”这样的概念，这也正符合汉语以汉字为基本意义单位的实际特点。

在课程初期，主讲教师引入新材料后，有其他教师辅助进行练习，这是对学生的表达进行“监控”的一种方法，这时的学生不具备基本的汉语表达技能，对自己的发音和表达进行自我监控的能力很低，需要教师的大量帮助。随着表达水平的提高，部分学生渐渐掌握发音和句子结构方面的知识，在学生之间的对话中，能够辨别正误并尝试自我矫正，但大部分学生还需要教师的辅助。况且说话是一种交流，而且言语是灵活的，言语使用的对象和场合等也是灵活的，教师给的和学生练会的言语材料只是表达的基础，单凭这些是无法适应真实交际的需要的，所以只有教师或学生的单向言语输出都是不够的。这里的教学缺乏语言环境，学生无法在课下实践，检验和扩大自己的学习成果，而应付这些问题单凭一个教师在课堂中是不能胜任的。因此以主讲教师引入新材料，助理教师协助学生进行言语交际的方法仍然很必要，对相对较慢的学生，可以更好地消化所学的内容，对相对较快的学生，可以接触所学语句的更多的表达方式，更好地理解新内容。

根据具体情况，在课堂上，在录音带和给学生阅读的辅助材料的制作过程中，都对原始材料有细微的改动和调整，这不一定要完全一致，目前也没有学生提出疑问，细微的不同或并不引起注意，或引起了学生的思考并被他们自己解决了。只是如果条件允许，不同的录音角色用不同的人来担任更理想。

北京大学对外汉语教学中心

刘晓雨

二零零一年七月

写于牛津大学中国学术研究所

[1] The Vice President of Beijing New Asia University.

[2] Language lecturer at Peking University.

[3] Instructor in Chinese, University of Oxford.

[4] Instructor in Chinese, University of Oxford

[5] Assistant to General Secretary, The International Society for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language