序 本中心自 1967 年开始编制教材,迄今编写五十余本,广为台湾各语言中心使用。原使用之主教材《实用视听华语》编辑至今近二十年,实须因应外在环境的变迁、教学法及教学媒体的创新与进步而新编教材,故筹画编写此系列教材《当代中文课程》。
本系列教材共六册,最突出、不同于其他教材的地方是,将理论研究与实务教学的成果完美的结合在教材中。主编邓守信博士本身是着名的语言学家,并有多年在美国实际教授外国学生学习汉语的课堂授课经验,对于汉语语言以及华语教学语法的研究都有独到之处。这套教材所採用的词类系统能有效防堵学习者产生的偏误;语法点的呈现则是一次只讲一个语言形式,先说明功能,再扩展句式,最后提醒学习者使用时应注意的地方。与一般教材将类似形式放在一起,重形式操练,少功能介绍的方式不可同日而语。
这套教材预计今年(2018)底即将完成六册的出版工作。从 2012 年筹划至今,这一路来除了特别要感谢主编的劳心劳力外,还要感谢我们 18 位极富教学经验的第一线教师愿意在繁忙的教学之余,积极参与这套教材的编写工作。每册初稿完成,为了广纳各方意见,我们很幸运地邀请到美国的 Claudia Ross 教授、白建华教授及陈雅芬教授,担任顾问;台湾的叶德明教授、美国的姚道中教授、储诚志教授及大陆的刘珣教授,担任教材审查委员。每册教材平均在本中心及台湾其他语言中心,进行一年的试用;经过顾问的悉心指导、审查委员的仔细批阅,并集结授课教师及学生提出的宝贵意见,再由编写教师做了多次修订,才定稿付梓。对于在这整个过程中,努力不懈的编辑团队―我们的执行编辑张莉萍副研究员、张黛琪老师及教材研发组成员蔡如珮、张雯雯,我要致上最高的谢意。
最后,特别感谢联经出版事业股份有限公司,愿意投注最大的心力,以专业的制作出版能力,协助我们将这套教材以最佳品质问世。我们希望,《当代中文课程》不只是提供学生们一套实用有效的教材,亦让教师得到愉快充实的教学经验。欢迎海内外教师在使用后,给予我们更多的指教与建议,让我们不断进步,也才能为华语文教学做出更大的贡献。
国立台湾师范大学国语教学中心主任
沈永正
Foreword The Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University has produced teaching materials since 1967, including over 50 publications used in language centers all across Taiwan. Our core teaching series Practical Audio-Visual Chinese has been in circulation for almost 20 years; however, in order to adapt to the changing cultural landscape and to advances in pedagogy and educational media, we are publishing a new learning series, A Course in Contemporary Chinese.
This exceptional six-volume series distinguishes itself from other teaching materials through its seamless integration of theoretical research findings and practical teaching expertise. The development of this new material has been led by Chief Editor Dr. Shou-hsin Teng, an esteemed linguist with many years of classroom experience in the United States teaching Chinese to foreign students, and whose research demonstrates unique insight into pedagogical grammar and the Chinese language.
Equipped with a unique parts-of-speech framework, this series will effectively prevent students from producing errors in communication. Whereas other teaching materials often present several related grammatical constructions at the same time and put emphasis on repetitive drills without clearly explaining the unique grammatical function of each construction, the grammar sections of our series present one construction at a time.
The description of its function is followed by example sentences and notes on the usage of each structure.
We hope that all six volumes of this series will be in publication before the end of 2018. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Chief Editor Teng, who has been dedicated to this project since initial preparations began in 2012, and to our team of eighteen seasoned educators who found the time outside of their busy teaching schedules to enthusiastically participate in the writing and editing process. The series has benefited from the invaluable feedback provided by our consultants in the United States, Professors Claudia Ross, Jian-hua Bai, and Yea-fen Chen, and review committee: Professors Teh-ming Ye (Taiwan), Tao-chung Yao (US), Cheng-zhi Chu (US), and Xun Liu (China).
Each volume of the series has already been in trial use at MTC and other language centers throughout Taiwan for roughly one year. Incorporating a wealth of feedback, from the thoughtful guidance of our consultants to the meticulous evaluations of our review committee to observations from instructors and students, the series has undergone multiple revisions before being sent to the press in its final form. Over the course of this entire process, our editorial team has worked tirelessly and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to them: Associate Research Fellow Liping Chang, Tai-chi Chang, and Ru-pei Cai and Wen-wen Chang from the MTC division of teaching material development.
Lastly, I would like to thank Linking Publishing Company for their professionalism and whole-hearted commitment to ensuring that this series be published with the greatest possible quality. It is our hope that A Course in Contemporary Chinese will not only serve as an effective, useful resource for students, but also will facilitate an enjoyable, enriching teaching experience for instructors. We invite instructors in Taiwan and abroad who use this series in class to send us comments and/or suggestions so that we can continue to improve the Course and thus make an even greater contribution to the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language.
Yung-cheng Shen
Director, Mandarin Training Center
National Taiwan Normal University
主编的话
From the Editor’s Desk Finally, after more than two years, volume one of our six-volume project is seeing the light of day. The language used in A Course in Contemporary Chinese is up to date, and though there persists a deep ‘generation gap’ between it and my own brand of Chinese, this is as it should be. In addition to myself, our project team has consisted of 18 veteran MTC teachers and the entire staff of the MTC Section of Instructional Materials, plus the MTC Deputy Director.
The field of L2 Chinese in Taiwan seems to have adopted the world-famous ’one child policy’. The complete set of currently used textbooks was born a generation ago, and until now has been without predecessor. We are happy to fill this vacancy, and with the title ‘number two’, yet we also aspire to have it be number two in name alone. After a generation, we present a slightly disciplined contemporary language as observed in Taiwan, we employ Hanyu Pinyin without having to justify it cautiously and timidly, we are proud to present a brand-new system of Chinese parts of speech that will hopefully eliminate many instances of error, we have devised two kinds of exercises in our series, one basically structural and the other entirely task-based, each serving its own intended function, and finally we have included in each lesson a special aspect of Chinese culture. Moreover, all this is done in full color, the first time ever in the field of L2 Chinese in Taiwan. The settings for our current series is in Taipei, Taiwan, with events taking place near the National Taiwan Normal University. The six volumes progress from basic colloquial to semi-formal and finally to authentic conversations or narratives. The glossary in vocabulary and grammar is in basically semi-literal English, not free translation, as we wish to guide the readers/learners along the Chinese ’ways of thinking’, but rest assured that no pidgin English has been used.
I am a functional, not structural, linguist, and users of our new textbooks will find our approaches and explanations more down to earth. Both teachers and learners will find that the content resonates with their own experiences and feelings. Rote learning plays but a tiny part of our learning experiences. In a functional frame, the role of the speaker is often seen as prominent. This is natural, as numerous adverbs in Chinese, as they are traditionally referred to, do not in fact modify verb phrases at all. They relate to the speaker.
We, the field of Chinese as a second language, know a lot about how to teach, especially when it comes to Chinese characters. Most L2 Chinese teachers world-wide are ethnically Chinese, and teach characters just as they were taught in childhood. Truth is, we know next to nothing how adult students/learners actually learn characters, and other elements of the Chinese language. While we have nothing new in this series of textbooks that contributes to the teaching of Chinese characters, I tried to tightly integrate teaching and learning through our presentation of vocabulary items and grammatical structures. Underneath such methodologies is my personal conviction, and at times both instructors’ and learners’ patience is requested. I welcome communication with all users of our new textbooks, whether instructors or students/learners.
Shou-hsin Teng