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Abstract
This article introduces an ongoing effort to use Internet resources in an Advanced Business Chinese for Professionals (ABCP) course in order to deepen learners’ language and cultural understanding. This course blends face-to-face (F2F) classroom instruction and online communications using Brix, an online course management system developed by the University of Hawai‘i. This article starts with the rationale and necessity of a hybrid course for ABCP and presents an overview of a traditional F2F business Chinese class with its strengths and weaknesses. Following the overview, this article outlines the design of a hybrid environment for this course, detailing its structure, content, and instructional processes. Illustrations of the F2F and online alternations in classroom teaching, online tasks with instructor’s guidance and feedback, and online forum discussion for each unit are offered. Experiences gained in this process regarding instructional intervention, projected learners’ learning outcomes, and interactive peer learning through the Internet will also be shared. Reflections and suggestions on aspects that may impact the success of this approach are proposed for future improvement in an ideal hybrid business language course.
Notes
1. 1These units were identified as outdated or least interesting by both the teachers and students from previous years: “Special Economic Zone and Development Zone,” “Intellectual Property Rights,” “Security Market,” “Business Dispute,” and “Enterprise Management and Culture.”
2. 2All quotations of students’ postings in Chinese are translated into English by the author.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Haidan Wang
Dr. Haidan Wang is Assistant Professor at the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. She played a leading role in the establishment and development of the Business Chinese program at UHM, and has been serving as program coordinator since 2007. Her research interests include language teaching pedagogy, program development, assessment and evaluation, curriculum design, teaching Chinese with technology. She was twice awarded the Business Language Research and Teaching Grant sponsored by the Consortium of University CIBERs. Her publications have appeared in the prestigious journal of Global Business Languages. Dr. Wang also served as principal investigator of several Title VI-funded projects.