The knowledge base of Chinese as a second language teaching in K-12 settings

The field of teaching Chinese as a second language (CSL) is expanding and growing in importance worldwide. Related fields, such as Chinese language pedagogy, language policy, and the acquisition of Chinese as a second language, are attracting increased attention in research. However, research into K-12 CSL teacher cognition (what teachers know, think, and believe) has been very limited. It has been reported that more understanding of language teacher cognition has significant impacts on the development of teacher training and professional development programs (Borg, 2015Borg, S. (2015). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. London: Bloomsbury Academic.; Kubanyiova & Feryok, 2015Kubanyiova, M. and Feryok, A. (2015). Language teacher cognition in applied linguistics research: Revisiting the territory, redrawing the boundaries, reclaiming the relevance. The Modern Language Journal, 99(3), 435–449. ). Many aspects of CSL teacher cognition are underexplored when compared with language teacher cognition research in general and K-12 language teacher cognition research specifically. This article reviews current theoretical and empirical research into language teacher cognition with a particular focus on existing studies in the field of CSL teaching in the context of K-12 education. The purposes of the review article are (1) to document the current knowledge base of CSL teaching, and (2) to discuss current gaps in and future directions of teacher cognition research in this area. It first discusses general theories and research concerning second language teacher cognition within current research paradigms, and then provides a review of CSL teacher cognition research. Finally, it reviews pressing issues and suggests directions for future research in K-12 Chinese teacher cognition.

近几十年来，国际汉语教学在全球范围内蓬勃发展。与此同时，国际汉语教学的相关领域如汉语教学方法、汉语作为第二语言习得、语言政策等受到了专家和学者的广泛重视。然而，汉语教师认知，特别是中小学汉语教师的认知这一主题在领域内却极少有人关注。研究表明，对语言教师的深入了解和研究对现有的教师培训项目有极大的教师认知的研究广度和深度相距甚远。 因此，本文在对教师认知和语言教师认知研究进行梳理的基础上，对目前已有的中小学国际汉语教师认知的有限研究进行整理与讨论。此外，本文还将根据中小学国际汉语教师面临的挑战以及外语教师认知研究的基本方向对中小学国际汉语教师认知的研究前景提出展望和建议。