Audiovisual Method, Psycholinguistics and Sociocultural Approaches in Teaching Chinese

Growth of popularity of Chinese in Russia requires regular upgrading of the course contents, means, methods of teaching in the frame of international standards in language education. Communicative language teaching of Chinese suggests new effective methodological tools and techniques in language skills training. The purpose of teaching Chinese is built around the notion of communicative competence and seeks to develop functional communicative skills in students due to the set of methodological principles and syllabus specifications which are incorporated into the method which contributes to successful achievement of the aforesaid goal. The research methods are based on psycholinguistics and sociocultural approaches combined. Classroom activities include regular work with the practical audiovisual course developed by the authors. The course contains a Student's book, a Teacher's book, a CD with 55 short (max. 5 mins.) authentic films. Each section of the course is followed by exercises and methodological recommendations to work with audiovisual material. Such tasks as stating the main idea of the micro-film, debating, role-playing contribute to students' mastering communicative skills. As a result, the practical course of Chinese sets an appropriate level of challenge for Russian students and keeps them motivated. The activities in the course are designed to recycle knowledge and demonstrate language acquisition. Along with well-balanced combination of psycholinguistics and sociocultural approaches, both teachers and students feel a real sense of achievement. (C) 2016 Published by Future Academy www. FutureAcademy. org. uk