Exploring Task-Based PBL in Chinese Teaching and Learning

This project is based on educational research conducted by Confucius Institute for Innovation and Learning at Aalborg University. It aims to bridge the gap between the traditional methods of teaching Chinese and the student-centred learning method in a non-native context such as Denmark. The establishment of a conceptual framework for Task-Based PBL offers an alternative approach that encourages innovative teaching practice and promotes research-based teaching in language education. Empirically this book reports how teachers designed and conducted tasks, how the classroom setting was affected, and how students evaluated the course. Teachers’ reflections and recommendations are included along with 20 ready-to-use tasks developed by our teachers to disseminate our experiences and methods with a broad range of teachers, student and educational contexts.

Initial findings of this project suggest that effectiveness of new teaching methods and the initiation of new subjects are contextual. Learning a foreign language (e.g. Chinese) is more than language acquisition; it is also understanding other cultures and participating in intercultural interaction and communication. Thus, education and learning (particularly a foreign language) is related to a broader social transformation in the process of globalisation and in the development towards a knowledge society.