Presentation
The European Association for Chinese Teaching (EACT) organizes an international symposium every two years in different countries in Europe, aiming to strengthen academic exchanges among practitioners and scholars in Europe and all around the world, to jointly discuss academic and disciplinary issues of concern, and to promote the development of Teaching Chinese as Second language as an academic discipline. The first symposium was held in Budapest, Hungary in 2017, and the second in Dublin, Ireland in 2019. The third symposium will be held at the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal.
However, due to the situation of the pandemic crisis and delay of vaccination in most European countries, the date for the symposium is now postponed to 29 and 30 October 2021, instead of 2 and 3 July as previously planned.
The 3rd International Symposium is jointly organized by the European Association of Chinese Teaching and the University of Minho which also hosts the symposium. The partners include the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching, World Scholarly Association for the History of Chinese Language Teaching based at Beijing Foreign Studies University, and University of Saint Joseph in Macao, with assistance from the Confucius Institutes at the University of Minho and University of Coimbra. The theme of the symposium is "The Past, Present and Future Development of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language from the European Perspective". It is the continuation of the last symposium “Pushing Forward the Discipline of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language- European Efforts in the World Context ". It further explores the development of practices and theories of Chinese second language teaching and learning in Europe and around the world from the historical perspective, and how this has influenced the development of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language as an academic discipline, and how the discipline can better meet the needs of the times and the future.
This symposium will be held in Portugal, an EU country with a long tradition of Chinese teaching by and for missionaries. The symposium aims to dig deeper into the traditions and development of teaching Chinese as a second language in Europe and other countries in the world, to review and research on early Chinese teaching methods, textbooks and their lan-guage teaching concepts, to explore its impact on the modern and contemporary Chinese sec-ond language teaching discipline, to reflect and make suggestions on the development of both theories and practices of Chinese second language teaching in today's globally diversified en-vironment, and to share academic perspectives and research outcomes.
The symposium will set up a scientific committee to conduct anonymous review of submitted abstracts, and the author of the accepted abstract will present the paper in the relevant panel (each presentation lasts 20 minutes, including question and answer time) at the symposium.
THE MAIN FIELDS OF THE SYMPOSIUM INCLUDE:
- 1. History, tradition and development of Chinese teaching in European countries
- 2. The influence of European missionaries' views and teaching methods on Chinese teaching
- 3. Research on the history of Chinese second language teaching materials in Europe and the world from a cross/inter-cultural perspective
- 4. The role of learning motivation and cultural identity in the teaching of Chinese as a second language in Europe and other parts of the world
- 5. Comparative study of the documents and the lives of early European missionaries and sinologists and their influences on Chinese teaching
- 6. Exchanges and mutual influence of academic research on teaching Chinese as a second language between Europe and modern China
- 7. Research on the development and discipline construction of teaching Chinese as a second language in countries and regions outside Europe.
- 8. Special session on topics related to the Portuguese missionary sinologist Joaquim Gonçalves as well as the role of Ming-Qing missionary colleges in Macao in Chinese teaching (organized by GELA-CEHUM and University of S. Joseph in Macao).
