From TCFL/TCSL Courses of the US 100K Strong Initiative to English-Taught Classes: A Case Study of Yuan Ze University

Abstract

How to categorize Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) or Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL) courses in higher education depends on hosting institutions, national-level governmental policies, international diplomatic, overall global trends, and even economic factors. In Euro-American higher education, they belong to Asian Studies Programs, Departments of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Departments of Foreign Languages and Literatures, or Departments of World Languages and Literatures. In Mainland Chinese higher education of the post-2010s, they are categorized as classes in College of Chinese as a Foreign Language (對外漢語學院). In Taiwanese higher education of the post-2010s, they are placed under the administrative umbrella of Graduate Institutes of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL), Departments of Chinese, Language Centers, or English-taught classes all over the Taiwanese campuses. This article aims to analytically record the case study of how hosting institutions, national-level governmental policies, international diplomatic, global trends, and even economic factors gradually affected and reshaped Yuan Ze University’s TCFL/TCSL courses of the US 100K Strong Initiative and English-taught classes in the recent five-year period from 2011 to 2016.^[i]

Keywords: TCFL, TCSL, 100K Strong Initiative, Alcorn State University, English-Taught Classes, MY Camp, MIT, University of Notre Dame, PTV, CTV, Yuan Ze University, Far Eastern Group

Notes

[i] Ms. Nai-ling Lu (呂迺玲), the secretary at the Global Affairs Office in Yuan Ze University, offered valuable information to me in order help me complete this article. I owe a debt of gratitude to her.