| Summary: | 博士 === 逢甲大學 === 中國文學系 === 104 === Contrary to the approximately 50-year-old “Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other
Languages (TCSOL)” program that has already been extensively studied, “international promotion of the Chinese language,” which was introduced by China in 2004 as its new national development strategy plan, is currently a subject of great attention worldwide. However, concrete research of policy changes from the time during which this new promotional strategy was introduced to the present day is very limited. This study analyzed the primary policies and achievements of the international promotion of the Chinese language in China between 2004 and 2014. Some of the achievements are described as follows: (1) amassing of official and reliable information; by using time as the vertical axis and a causal relationship as the horizontal axis, a systematic investigation was performed to compare the characteristics and effect of the conversion from TCSOL to the international promotion of the Chinese language; and (2) evaluation of the overall achievement of the international promotion of the Chinese language, overseas countries were considered as the
highest-performance indicator for the “inclusion of the Chinese language in the national primary and secondary education systems.” The international promotion of the Chinese language in 126 countries through the Confucius Institutes (programs) was examined. The research results showed that 73 countries in 5 continents have included Chinese as part of their national education curriculums at the primary and secondary education levels. The results showed that successful integration of Chinese into mainstream education systems is the most meaningful advancement and signifies a breakthrough for Chinese toward gaining international recognition, signifying that the promotion of Chinese has already advanced from “sowing” to “taking root.” A prosperous future with possible additional value outputs is anticipated for the Chinese language. The world requires Chinese, and Chinese has become a global language. The growth of Chinese has likely become an irreversible trend, and therefore more detailed policies that can facilitate encouraging the learning of Chinese are required to support its growth.
The contribution of the research results are as follows:
1 1. The evaluation of the country-wise and region-wise performance of China at promoting the inclusion of the Chinese language in the national primary and secondary education systems of the five continents can be used as a reference to adjust support to the necessary areas of Chinese language learning in the future;
2 2. The evaluation of the governmental support of various countries toward Chinese language education can be used as a reference for developing a strategy for further promoting the integration of Chinese into the national education system of the countries;
3 3. From the trend of rapid inclusion of learning Chinese in national primary and secondary education systems, a declining age of learners can be expected. The teaching model has changed from TCSL to Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. All teachers must change their teaching materials and methods in accordance with student requirements; and
4 4. The trend of Chinese changing from an ethnic language to a common foreign language is evident. To satisfy the actual demand of the international market and continue to optimize the promotion of Chinese, China and Taiwan should collaborate and communicate to establish a new prospect for the sustainable development of Chinese language promotion.
Keywords: International promotion of the Chinese language, Chinese education, Confucius Institute, inclusion of the Chinese language in the national education system
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