Bridging the gap between research and pedagogy: an introduction

Abstract

In the last twenty years or so, we have seen the rapid worldwide development of teaching Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) (Jiang, 2020; Liu, 2022; Zhang & Gao, 2021), with CFL establishing itself as an important branch of language education. Parallel to this development is the accelerating advancement of digital technology and how it influences our lives and society, including language education. These changes have also impacted on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) which has evolved into an international discipline. We have now reached the stage where CALL is "integrated" and "normalised": "the stage when the technology becomes invisible, embedded in everyday practice" (Bax, 2003, p. 23). The last sixteen-months of editing this special issue seems to perfectly reflect the extent to which technology has been embedded in CFL teaching and CFL teachers' lives. When we first called for papers in February 2022, the social restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were not fully lifted. Every CFL teacher had experienced "emergency remote teaching", a term coined by Hodges et al. (2020), from early 2020 when all teaching was forced to move to online, and some of these teachers were still teaching entirely online or with some online elements in early 2022. During this period, CFL teachers personally encountered CALL almost on a daily basis, regardless of their preferences and experiences. They had to take on the challenges as many of them had not been trained or did not have the right resources. In a positive sense, one may argue that the use of technology in teaching and learning CFL was accelerated due to the social restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic (Zhang, 2021). As a result, new teaching practices have been born which has had significant pedagogical implications. In the meantime, technology has moved on. Thus in late 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot which is based on the company's Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) series of large language models. As this special issue is approaching its final editing stage in the spring of 2023, ChatGPT has become the latest technological development arousing teachers' excitement as well as anxiety. Language educators cannot help but (re-)think that their relationship with technology is now at a critical point. How can language educators take charge of the development, engage with emerging digital technologies and prepare for the future, cognisant of the pace of technological development? Against the backdrop of the rapid development of CFL and technology advancement, this special issue addresses the above questions. It explores and showcases innovative approaches, research findings, and practical applications in the field of technology-enhanced teaching of CFL. The next section of this Introduction first summaries the articles contained within this special issue. Secondly, it discusses the extent to which this special issue bridges the gap between research and pedagogy at the intersection of CALL and CFL. Finally, it concludes with the potential impact of these articles in terms of their knowledge contribution to the field. This special issue consists of two practice-oriented papers, five research papers, one scope review, and one book review. In an attempt to increase accessibility for language practitioners, which is the latest feature of JCCALL, we include two valuable practice-oriented papers. They are distinct from the research papers, in that their authors focus on implementing a theoretical concept or framework in their teaching context and they contain practical information and findings that have significance and salience for comparable teaching contexts. The relevance and benefits of the theoretical framework are discussed before details regarding the adaptation process and practicalities are presented. The authors share their reflections in lieu of a conventional research investigation. "Reflection is both a research methodology as well as a good teaching and learning practice" (Hubbard, 2022, p. 29). Including such practice-oriented papers is one way to bridge research and practice. Thus Song and Kao (2023) delineate how to improve online learner motivation utilising the attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS) model and Tactics Checklist (Keller, 2010). They meticulously detail the various steps taken during the design and delivery of the online CFL courses to improve student attention, confidence and satisfaction by ensuring the courses were relevant to learners. This paper has the potential to stimulate further research in the field of online course design and learner motivation, for example, how best to use Keller's Tactics Checklist (2010, pp. 287–291) to identify areas for improvement. Paul et al. (2023) discuss the design of online CFL learning activities from an ecological psychology perspective. They focus specifically on -Abstract Truncated-