On 12-13 January 2012, the Confucius Institute at the University of Liege (University of Liege and Beijing Foreign Studies) organizes an international conference on the teaching of Chinese language entitled “from the specific patterns of Chinese language to its teaching”. This international conference is the fruit of the collaboration between the University of Liege and Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Topics of discussion

Being able to account for the various internal tensions within Chinese language— between written and spoken Chinese for instance— while at the same time recognizing its specific patterns seems to be key to an effective teaching process. One may wonder however if the ever more frequent use of modern technology within the learning process is not likely to cause a cultural impoverishment, partly because of a greater distance with written practice of Chinese language.

How can one allow maximizing the inputs of new technologies within the teaching of Chinese language while keeping down the potential losses that these technologies may bear? How to integrate these new means to the teaching process so as to optimize the acquisition of the linguistic skills aimed at? Eventually, how can one foster a teaching of Chinese language which allows for the integration of everyday cultural and societal elements in order to render the learning process more interesting for the students? These are some of the issues that will be dealt with at this international conference.

  Workshops

  Keynote adresses

  Scientific committee

Submission of proposals

Abstracts of up to 500 words in English or Chinese should be sent to confucius@ulg.ac.be before 14 November 2011. Successful applicants will be notified by 30 November 2011. Participants will have to register before 15 December 2011.

The conference organizers are considering publishing a selection of the 8 best papers presented at the conference in an academic journal ( journal title will be specified soon).

Working languages

The languages for paper presentations will be English and/or Chinese.

The conference benefits from the support of Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters and of the education department of the Chinese Embassy in Belgium.