A Research On The Development Strategies Of Chinese Teaching In Sweden

Focusing on the Chinese teaching in Sweden in the recent century, this thesis devotes to a research on the rapid development of Chinese teaching and the corresponding strategies in Sweden since the20th century.As a small country located in North Europe, Sweden has a relatively short history of Chinese teaching, yet it has maintained a steady growth, generally speaking. However, the large number of world-renowned Sinologists, along with the remarkable achievements in Chinese teaching has made Sweden one of the world’s important research centres of Sinology. Especially ever since the21st century, Chinese teaching and learning in Sweden has seen an explosive growth, thanks to China’s boost of economy and uprising in the international community. All of the above point to the practical and realistic significance of studies of the rapid development strategies of Chinese teaching in different historial periods and the sustainable development of Chinese teaching in the future in Sweden.For doing such a meaningful research, the author adopted different approaches including historical approach, statistical method, case study, interview etc.. In preparing of the thesis, the author accessed to a large number of related materials in Chinese and other foreign languages, collected, identified and classified some useful data, surveyed the cases in Stockholm University and other institutes. And the interviews of teachers and students were done through e-mails.This thesis contains five chapters. In Chapter1(Introduction), the author focused on introducing the goal and values of the research, the literature review in this field, the research approaches and structures. In Chapter2(The Historical Steady Development Strategies of Chinese Teaching in Sweden), the author, in the historical perspective, analyzed the Chinese teaching development in Sweden in the20th century. The developmental stage was divided chronologically into three main periods:the initial period led by Bernhard Karlgren from1910’s to1960’s, the growth period led by Goran Malmqvist from1960’s to1990’s, and the innovative developing period led by the new generation of the sinologists from1991to2000. An analysis was done based on materials from different periods of history to explain a series of strategies presented in Sweden to enhance Chinese teaching and learning. In Chapter3(The Contemporary Rapid Development Strategies of Chinese Teaching in Sweden), the author discussed the strategies of the rapid development of Chinese teaching since the21st century corresponding to the "Chinese craze" in Sweden. Such strategies were generally adopted to maintain the healthy and effective development of Chinese teaching and learning in Sweden. In Chapter4(The Sustainable Rapid Development Strategies of Chinese Teaching in Sweden), the author explored the favorable factors and the environment for the rapid development. The author pointed out the deficiencies at the current stage. Advices were also offered, based on the experiences from both the Chinese domestic and international success of Chinese teaching. In the conclusion, the author summarized the findings of the research, and explained its values in the aspect of international Chinese teaching studies.In a word, this thesis described the development process of the Chinese teaching in Sweden with introductions to corresponding strategies respectively and proposed five strategies for the sustainable rapid development in the future. According to the research, Sweden had adopted the following strategies to insure the steady development in the20th century:in the initial period from1910’s to1960’s, Bernhard Karlgren innovatively combined the methodologies and resources of teaching and started Chinese teaching in several schools; in the growth and innovation period from1960’s and1990’s, Sweden emphasized training talents at different levels, thus expanding the coverage of Chinese teaching and learning without losing focus on high-level talents; at the end of the20th century, Sweden achieved the spin control through innovations and maintained the stable development; in the21st century, Sweden adjusted the goal and direction of Chinese teaching and learning according to the real needs of the learners with a view to realize the rapid development of Chinese teaching in Sweden. A social teaching and learning network had formed with multiple perspectives and a complete coverage. Speed, scale and quality were equally emphasized so that Sweden could maintain its high standard in this field. However, deficiencies were also observed. According to the author, transactions should be made in the following six areas to realize a sustainable rapid development: government investment, teacher training, course design, textbook development, resource utilization and China studies.The author hoped that the research would promote the Chinese teaching in Sweden, to play a supplementary role in the research of country experience of Chinese teaching, to be valuable for the Chinese teaching in other countries and helpful for the development of the Confucius Institutes and the international Chinese education.