Technology progresses at a breakneck pace, with effects on every field and profession. Computers need unlimited Internet access, photos can be quickly digitally printed, and historical books need to be digitally preserved. Look around an MRT compartment and most people are holding one device or another; whether on a smart phone or an iPad, people are online playing cards, “liking” something, or watching movies. The progress of digital technology also brings limitless possibilities to e-learning.

Chinese ranks first among the world’s languages by number of users, and has become the most popular choice of a second foreign language.  With China on the rise, Chinese is naturally becoming the hottest language to learn, in the midst of the global Chinese craze, in order to improve domestic language education and develop high-quality Taiwanese language e-learning resources, the National Science Council urged a number of domestic academics to take part in the development and production of e-learning systems related to Chinese language study, hoping to free language learning from the limiting factors of time, geographic location, and money by allowing those with an interest in learning to obtain abundant digital language learning resources online. The e-learning projects headed by National Taiwan Normal University professors Hsin Shih-Chang and Sung Yao-Ting have achieved considerable results in this regard. Professor Hsin has worked for a number of years on online Chinese language education and the training of qualified Chinese teachers. The e-learning project that he heads, “Design and Implementation of Transnational Chinese Language and Culture Education,” has continually implemented video and online Chinese language education programs with foreign universities, and tries to integrate Chinese language and culture education into transnational video courses, allowing Chinese language teachers and students from other countries participating through online video conferencing to naturally use the language to express their thoughts and opinions rather than using the language for the sole purpose of learning it, improving their language skills in the process and learning about and understanding cross-cultural differences. The “Competence-Oriented Omniform Learning System for Chinese as a Foreign Language” e-learning project headed by Professor Sung provides an omniform e-learning environment for competence-oriented study. The e-learning environment is designed to be adaptive and diverse to accommodate learners’ different Chinese levels and cultural backgrounds, as well as to emphasize self-motivated learning. In addition to contributing to Taiwan’s research of e-learning, it can also expand the reach of the Chinese language and culture research achievements so that they may benefit more people from other countries and Taiwanese abroad.

Do you remember the demonstrating spouses who called out “don’t call me a ‘foreign bride’”? In recent decades, the influence of the wave of immigration due to transnational marriages and foreign workers coming to Taiwan has resulted in major changes in the sociocultural and population structure of Taiwan, with a multicultural ethos and diversified population structure gradually emerging, with new immigrants with different accents, skin colors, and diets now among us. They are not just foreign nurses providing home care for the elderly or the neighbor’s Vietnamese wife, and they deserve more respect and opportunities to study and work. In order to allow new immigrants to adapt to life in Taiwan faster and to help them display their diverse cultural character and give them appropriate education, the government has continually moved forward with policies related to immigrant adaptation and Chinese language learning. It is hoped that if new immigrants are able to engage in independent study, they will form self-study communities through word-of-mouth, with mutual interaction slowly shaping a more organic community and increasing their influence in society. The e-learning project “A Study of the Construction of a Mobile Phone E-Learning Platform for Immigrants Based on Self-Improvement,” headed by Professor Hsu Wen-Lian has helped foreign-born spouses like Ruan Qing-He, who first used the Everyday Chinese for Cultural Immigrants teaching materials (originally provided as a free download from the Immigrant Chinese Language and Culture Research Center, now submitted to a publisher for revision, redesign, and publishing and no longer available for download), and relied on her own efforts to reverse the stereotypes held by others, showing that foreign-born spouses are not tools to be used to cook and have babies for the Taiwanese; she went on to successfully test into the history department at National Cheng Kung University, becoming one of the few new immigrants in the country to study for a doctoral degree and changing Taiwanese biases towards immigrants. This example shows that as long as they are willing to work hard, immigrants can achieve great things through learning, which not only helps personal growth but allow immigrants to soar.

The continuous investment of efforts in e-learning systems by the government, academia, and industry has produced apparent results in such systems in various fields. Taiwan has constantly expanded its soft power in recent years, and Chinese language e-learning is the best tool for displaying this soft power. Through Chinese e-learning systems, in addition to studying Chinese language, users can also learn more about Taiwanese cuisine, local customs, and travel destinations, not only introducing people in other countries to Taiwan but also serving to market it.

 
Teaching instructors pass on teaching experience and guide lesson planning. Photo provided by Hsin Shih-Chang

 
The transnational video education platform for the subjects of Chinese language and culture allows those interested in studying Chinese to learn online.

 
The “Everyday Chinese for Cultural Immigrants” teaching materials have helped many immigrants obtain opportunities to study and work.