CFL Teacher Preparation and Development

Abstract

While the growing demand for Chinese language instruction in U.S. schools is commonly reported in the national media, less media attention is focused on the complexities inherent in developing a highly skilled and well qualified teacher force capable of meeting this demand. This chapter examines the challenges facing Chinese teacher education as Chinese expands from its traditional place as a post-secondary subject of study to the largely uncharted waters of traditional, immersion, and bilingual environments in K-12 settings. The chapter also discusses the current context of American education where Chinese language learning is situated, a context where demands for educational reform have resulted in efforts to reach consensus on what U.S. children need to learn in order to ensure their success as twenty-first century citizens. How these reforms have been fashioned into frameworks developed to guide both language instruction and language teacher development are highlighted, as well as the most vexing challenges that must be overcome if Chinese language education is to become sustainable and successful.