With the rapid rise of China as a global economic powerhouse, there is a growing worldwide trend of an increasing number of learners seeking to master Chinese as an international language. Along with the rapid growth of such learners is a corresponding sharp increase in demand within the international market for more educators who are properly trained to teach Chinese in English-speaking regions.

The Master of Arts in Teaching Chinese as an International Language (MA TCIL) programme is NIE’s strategic response to this worldwide trend. Offered by Asian Languages and Cultures Academic Group in NIE, the programme aims to train and prepare educators who are bilingual in both English and Chinese to teach Chinese in countries where Chinese is not the dominant language. It is primarily targeted at educators who desire to specialise in the theory and practice of teaching Chinese as a foreign/second/international language to learners whose first language is English (CIL learners).

Key programme features include:

An introduction to the understanding and correct use of English as an aid to help the learners master Chinese,

A combination of theory and practice, emphasising classroom training to ensure that graduates are competent in teaching Chinese in an English language teaching environment,

Use of the currently most prevalent Chinese textbooks in English-speaking countries as a teaching example to strengthen the teaching of relevance,

In comparison with international programmes of similar nature, there are 5 courses uniquely designed for this programme:

- MTCL801 Language Code: Theory and Practice

- MTCL803 Chinese-English Contrastive Analysis & Its Application

- MTCL809 Global Chinese and Contemporary China

- MTCL810 Critical Inquiry in TCIL

- MTCL811 Professional English for TCIL Instructors

Through MTCL803 Chinese-English Contrastive Analysis & Its Application, and MTCL811 Professional English for TCIL Instructors, the students' bilingualism and their ability in contrastive analysis between Chinese and English language is strengthened, this enables students to meet the future demands of work and daily life,

Increased opportunities for students to engage teaching in America, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand region after graduation.

STRUCTURE

There are two options within this programme. The coursework for this specialisation comprises 6 specialisation elective courses plus either:

• a dissertation OR
• two additional courses (one specialisation elective course and MTCL910 Critical Inquiry in TCIL)