New models, old patterns? : The implementation of the Common European Framework for Languages for Chinese
Casas-Tost, Helena (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Traducció i d'Interpretació)
Rovira-Esteva, Sara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Traducció i d'Interpretació)

Date:	2014
Abstract:	The last few years have seen a change in the paradigm of language teaching and learning with the introduction of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). In Spain, the CEFR has been implemented for Chinese in the same standardised way as for other languages. This over-strict implementation has not taken into account the particularities of Chinese. Consequently, Chinese has often been distorted in academic curricula to adapt it to this new approach. We question the application of European models to Chinese and the assumption that those models are universally valid, requiring no adjustments. We believe that this assumption reproduces old ways of approaching the Other, based on ethnocentrism, and perpetuates old myths and an orientalist discourse about the Chinese language, which have been criticised for decades by some linguists and should be a thing of the past. We critically analyse current adaptations of the CEFR to Chinese in Spain and suggest alternatives to the prevailing trends in scholarship on Chinese linguistics. We can thus establish models that do not reproduce old-fashioned patterns and attitudes and that enable us to describe Chinese in its own terms.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad FFI2011-29090
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Chinese as a foreign language ; Language curriculum ; Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) ; Chinese linguistics ; Linguistic ethnocentrism ; Chinese pedagogy
Published in:	Linguistics and education, Vol. 27 (September 2014) , p. 30-38, ISSN 0898-5898

DOI: 10.1016/j.linged.2014.07.001

Post-print 24 p, 245.4 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Arts and Humanities > Research Group in Chinese-Catalan/Spanish Translation and Interpreting (TXICC)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles