Developing 'My Way' in Chinese Language Teaching

Much of L2 teacher cognition research has focused on L2 English education with native speakers teaching adult students at private institutes and tertiary levels. This book presents a study of Chinese language teachers’ cognition in teaching Chinese in New Zealand secondary schools. Taking ‘personal practical knowledge’ (PPK) as the theoretical framework and case study as the approach, the study selected three teachers to explore the characteristics of their PPK, and to identify the factors shaping that PPK. The study found that each teacher developed her own unique characteristic of PPK, which was captured by a dominant image, an overriding perspective that guided her practice. The factors shaping their PPK and practice are shown to be their prior knowledge, their awareness of their status as native and non-native speakers, their teaching experience, and the institutional context. This book provides language teachers with vicarious experiences to reflect upon, and language teacher educators and researchers with the impetus to find better ways of supporting teacher learning and professional development.