The THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ON TEACHING CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Abstract

Due to an increased number of economic and business relationships between Ukraine and China, the number of those who learn Chinese language multiplies each year. However, the main problem is that Ukrainian educational institutions do not possess enough resources and academic staff to meet the growing demand. The research sheds light on the current state of teaching Chinese as a second language (CSL) on the example of International Humanitarian University (Odesa, Ukraine) and shares the experience of technology-assisted curriculum that contributes to the Chinese teaching process. To do that, the paper compares the scores of the students who learn Chinese as a foreign language in experimental (EG) and the control (CG) groups. EG used a number of modern technologies to assist the educational process, while CG used only the traditional teaching approaches. The learning objectives and final test were unbiased and had same tasks for both groups. The results show that 64% of the students in EG got an A, while just 14% of those in the CG managed to perform the same. Moreover, the paper presents a SWOT analysis of the use of Edmodo (online educational platform) and some other applications for the teaching and learning foreign languages, namely Quizlet, Kahoot! and Duoliguo for Schools. And the last but not least, the study develops a student-centered model that helps a teacher to assist unlimited number of students and, therefore, minimize the academic expanses and resources on learning activities. The major limitations of the research are related to the small number of participants and insufficient development of the Ukrainian educational system in terms of the implementation of online educational platforms. Further research can focus on the potential ways of using technology-enriched curriculum for maximizing the academic outcomes among CSL students.