The Research Of Xianshi Song's "Perfect Chinese For Foreign Self-learners"

This thesis focuses on a Chinese textbook for self-learners, Perfect Chinese for Foreign Self-learners, which was published during the period of Japanese imperialism in China.Through the case study of Chinese language teaching during Japanese colonial period, we can make a comparative analysis of Chinese teaching in terms of its transmission, similarities and differences and gains and losses so as to provide historical data and conclusions for preparation of the Chinese teaching materials and comparative study of the theories of Chinese teaching in China and Japan at the same perioed.The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter is a review which introduces the theoretical background of the project, such as the significance of this research, the current situation of research, and methods in the field of research. In addition to treating the background of the publication of the textbook, the author's career, and his other publications, I briefly discuss contents of Perfect Chinese for Foreign Self-learners and analyze the material selection and examples in the book.The second chapter focuses on the research in phonetics in the textbook. I introduce the phonetic system in terms of pronunciations and tone labeling. In particular, I compare the first tone and the second tone in Perfect Chinese for Foreign Self-learners with those in Official Chinese Language Selections edited by Yongyuan Gao.The third chapter places particular emphasis on vocabulary teaching. I undertook concentrated research in the criteria for the selection the vocabulary by the author and the usage of the vocabulary in all aspects.In the fourth chapter I examine word-class teaching. Referring to the principle of word-class in Jianzhong Ma's famous grammar book Ma Shi Wen Tong, I explore some word-class classification in the textbook.In the last chapter, I conduct a primary evaluation of the textbook based on its characteristics and the point of view of teaching Chinese as a foreign language and of teaching Chinese to speakers of Korean especially. In addition, I also analyze some shortcomings of this textbook in terms of Chinese textbooks which were designed for foreigners.