This publication describes the Chinese Treasure Chest project, an exploratory Chinese language and culture program developed by two elementary school teachers in the Aleutians East Borough (Alaska) School District. The project centers on the use of a large box of materials and a program plan designed to introduce elementary students in…

This study examined the differences in the use of language in television commercials from the United States, Japan, South Korea, and China to persuade viewers (consumers) to buy a product. Because cultural norms in these East Asian nations favor indirectness when suggesting or recommending, it was hypothesized that: 1) suggestions would be more…

Chinese folk art, known as "the small skills of carving insects," differs from artworks produced by skilled or highly educated Chinese artisans. Folk art is defined as works that are created by ordinary citizens and that often are items designed for personal use. The designation, "the small skills of carving insects," occurred…

Argues that if the concept of cultural pluralism is to be advanced with more success than the "melting pot" myth, the role of Asian Americans must be acknowledged, analyzed, and incorporated into the curriculum content of educational institutions at all levels of instruction. (Author/JM)

Because the conceptual and grammatical constructions of English and Chinese vary drastically, Chinese students often have difficulty learning to think and write in English. Cultural conflicts of young Chinese in America compound their difficulties with the English language. The old values expressed by Chinese affect students' abilities to write…

In this study, the aspirations and frustrations of Chinese youth in the San Francisco Bay area are surveyed and evaluated. The social and political history of Chinese immigrants in the United States is discussed. The interface between Chinese cultural background and American society is explored. Factors in and problems of assimilation are…

A multicultural social studies text for junior high school students of Chinese as a second language is presented. This level two text is designed for the Chinese Bilingual Pilot Program sponsored through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title VII. The book consists of 25 lessons with no more than 50 characters each. Each lesson has a…

THIS READER, ALONG WITH "BEGINNING CHINESE READER, PART II," IS CLOSELY INTEGRATED WITH THE SETON HALL UNIVERSITY TEXTS FOR SPOKEN AND WRITTEN CHINESE, "BEGINNING CHINESE" AND "CHARACTER TEXT FOR BEGINNING CHINESE." OF THE 400 CHARACTERS IN THESE TWO READERS, ALL BUT 33 HAVE BEEN PRESENTED TO THE STUDENT IN "BEGINNING CHINESE" AND "CHARACTER…

This book surveys the essential elements of both the written and the oral traditions that have contributed to the literary background of China's children. Chapter topics include (1) Chinese literature and its transmission from early times; (2) myths, legends, and symbolism; (3) traditional education and the classics; (4) storytellers, puppets, and…

The use of computers makes possible analysis of the vast amount of data available in recent dialect dictionaries and surveys and in the ancient Chinese rhyme books, such as "Guang yun" and "Ji yun." Comparison of dialects can enable a historical study of Chinese, a major language group outside the Indo-European area, to offer…

The Chinese language has long been regarded, mostly by historians and philosophers, as an inadequate vehicle for developing science. This is because the Chinese have developed only correlational logic, analogical thought and relational thinking, which are inappropriate to science. The cause is said to be the structure of Chinese, specifically: (1)…

A study was conducted to investigate and measure the foreignness of ten languages. Forty-five listeners judged the relative foreignness of 2,250 paired utterances, and ordinal scales were made from their judgments. The purpose of the investigation was to determine the feasibility of the development of an auditory, foreign-language aptitude test…

Analyzes the speech of three speakers of Linxian Chinese, indicating the dialect's features and the problems involved in communication between speakers of Linxian and speakers of Putonghua (or Standard Mandarin). (Author/AM)

The linguistic and cultural needs of Chinese students should be considered in English as a second language classes. A job interview is used as a social situation for an exercise to practice sentences demonstrating correct Canadian social usage. (SW)