A Comparative Study Of The Old And New Chinese As Second Language Syllabus For Victorian Certificate Of Education In Victoria,Australia

Chinese language education in Australia has a history of more than 150 years.After the 1990s,Australian language policy showed a clear preference for Asian languages.Against this background,Chinese education in Australia has ushered in a period of rapid development,and Victoria has become a leader in the development of Chinese education in Australia.At present,Chinese teaching in Victoria' s basic education stage has begun to take shape.In 1992,Chinese was included in the Victorian certificate of education(referred to as VCE),and as a result,Chinese became an elective subject of Victoria's college entrance examination.After nearly 30 years of development,the VCE Chinese Course has four groups:Chinese first language,Chinese second language advanced,Chinese second language,and Chinese Language,Culture and Society.In 2019,the new syllabus of Chinese second language advanced and Chinese second language began to be tried out,and the 11-year-old old syllabus began to withdraw from the historical stage.The syllabus studied in this article is the Chinese second language advanced syllabus and the Chinese second language syllabus,they are collectively referred to as "VCE Chinese as second language syllabus".This study will make a detailed comparison between the new and old VCE Chinese as second language syllabus,aiming at discovering the main will of the maker of the new syllabus,and putting forward some practical suggestions for the implementation of the new syllabus based on the current Chinese teaching reality in Victoria.Finally,based on the above analysis,this article discusses the principles for compiling country-specific Chinese syllabuses and specific strategies for promoting Chinese language towards Australia.This article uses a variety of research methods such as literature research method,comparative analysis method,and interview method,and finally draws the following conclusions:The preparation of the new sy]labus reflects four levels of implicit language planning.These plans ultimately point to two goals:(1)Reduce the contradiction between the background group and the second language group,ensure the stability of the number of background learners and encourage more second language learners learn Chinese,eventually leading to a gradual increase in the total number of Chinese]earners;(2)Improve the quality of Chinese education through higher Chinese learning requirements and more sophi sticated Chinese teaching methods,so as to ensure that the language proficiency of Chinese learners is equal to that of other second language learners,and to train high-level Chinese talents with international vision for the future development of Australia.At present,the new syllabus faces the reality of Chinese teaching:(1)Chinese learners have complex backgrounds and the number of second language learners is declining;(2)Chinese teachers with different backgrounds have in herent shortcomings;(3)Chinese classroom teaching is difficult and there is no unified textbook.Facing this reality,the author puts forward the following suggestions for the implementation of the new syllabus:(1)Establish and improve the details of course application requirements to achieve standardization of group operations;(2)Provide sophisticated and detailed teaching training for different Chinese teachers;(3)Adjust the mode of classroom teaching to balance and meet the learning needs of different learners;(4)Develop a new Chinese textbook supporting the new syllabus,and incorporate the four levels of the new syllabus of implicit planning.Based on the above discussion,the author thinks that in the preparation of future country-specific Chinese syllabuses,we should focus on the balance between localization and retaining Chinese characteristics.For the promotion of Chinese language in Australia,efforts should be made from the following three aspects:(1)To provide intensive Chinese language courses outside the Australian national education system;(2)To cooperate with the Australian side to compile Chinese textbooks and digital resource libraries for different Chinese learners;(3)Improve the training courses for Volunteer Chinese Teachers going to Australia and launch the program of Master of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages jointly developed by Chinese and Australian universities.