Sociolinguistics In Practice:a Study Of A MTSCOL Program For International Students

In the midst of China’s growing status as a world power in both economical and political standards, the learning and teaching of Chinese as a foreign language is a growing phenomenon that is spreading across the globe along with China’s world status. Promoting the education of Chinese language, the graduate MTCSOL (Master’s in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages) program is offered to both native Chinese and international students. Confucius Institutes train them to become Chinese language teachers in their own country. However, the matter still stands as to whether or not the training provided fulfills the education standards needed to successfully and effectively teach a language as complex as Chinese, especially when the trainee is not a native language speaker of Chinese and that they will be returning to their own countries to teach Chinese.This study attempted to bring this issue to light through an analysis of the2011and2012classes of international students in Xiamen University’s MTCSOL program. The study is also focused on the suitability of the MTCSOL curriculum towards international students, these students’motivation and investment attitudes and the sociolinguistic factors that affect their attitudes. As a result of this study, these factors were found to be regarding cultural differences and communication difficulties pertaining to students’own social identities. Along with a conclusion, this study also provides recommendations for future MTCSOL program curriculum, in hopes that future programs will be better suited for international students.