GoPutonghua: An online learning platform for self-learners to learn Putonghua

Abstract

Internet has become a part of our life. Online learning offers us convenience, flexibility and collaboration. In this paper, a new online learning platform - GoPutonghua is introduced for self-learners to learn Putonghua. The online platform includes components like learning materials, online exercises, online assessment, learning tools and communications tools. The platform allows learners to conduct online exercises that are related to the lecture contents in e-books and online lectures. An online assessment system is developed for learners to know their performance and seek for improvement. A character dictionary (zidian) and a phrase dictionary (cidian) are built to support mapping from Chinese characters to Pinyin. Learning tools like Pinyin converter and Text-to-Pinyin Speech have been developed to search for the Pinyin (with tone marks) of Chinese characters and produce the correct pronunciations in Putonghua. The two types of communication tools (asynchronous and synchronous) are also included in the platform. GoPutonghua is developed to provide more resources and services for self-learners to learn Putonghua in a hassle-free manner. This paper explains why there is a need of developing the new online platform. The components and the architecture of the platform will be introduced. The implementation details of some components will be discussed in this paper. Finally, an evaluation on the usefulness and the quality of the online platform will also be reported. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.