Zheng-sheng Zhang
BA 418A
594-1912
zzhang@mail.sdsu.edu
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Professor Zhang received his Ph.D. in 1988 from Ohio State University, where he was trained in theoretical linguistics. He joined the Chinese program at SDSU in the fall of 1990. His research interests include the linguistic structure of the Chinese language, Chinese language pedagogy and computer-aided language instruction. Since his arrival, he has actively participated in projects supported by the Language Acquisition Resource Center. He has developed two macintosh programs for the teaching of Mandarin pronunciation and Chinese words and characters. He has digitized the texts for the first year textbook Integrated Chinese, the result of which is distributed on the Chinese Program Website in MS Word and Njstar file formats. He has also digitized the complete Mandarin syllable inventory in 16 bit audio (wav, au and QT format), which will be available as syllable charts on the same website in sound-annotated MS Word file format. Dr. Zhang is the co-author of the Chinese VOCI test, a proficiency test using video. His current projects include the development of business Chinese VOCI and a reading program for Chinese based on the authoring software of GALT and LIBRA. In addition to these development activities, he has also presented at CALICO and contributed a number of software reviews and a critical survey of CALL for Chinese for the Journal of Chinese Language Teacher's Association.
Classes Taught:
First, Second and Third Year Chinese
Advanced Conversation
Newspaper Chinese
Business Chinese
Aspects of Chinese (in English)
Introduction to Classical Chinese
Professor Zhang has developed interactive computer programs for teaching Mandarin Pronunciation and Chinese characters.
I. Mandarin Pronunciation
This program features semi-intelligent feedback and performance tracking, in addition to systematic presentation, practice and testing for all areas of Mandarin pronunciation.
II. Chinese Word and Character Tutor
This program features the animated writing display for all the characters, once the teacher/develper has taught the program how. It also allows the testing of sounds, meaning, stroke number and stroke orders of characters and words. It includes extensive hypertext links between related entries and it is an open-ended template that allows easy addition of entries by teachers.
III. Chinese VOCI
This video testing instrument, developed in 1995 with Cynthia Ning of the University of Hawaii, allows more efficient testing of students' oral proficiency.
IV. Business Chinese VOCI
This is VOCI for Business Chinese, which will be available later this year. The Business Chinese VOCI differs from the gereric version described above in a number of ways. Not only is the language more specialized than the generic version, it also employs more advanced test-item delivering and processing mechanisms.
V. Computer-Assisted Reading Program
This program, currently under development, is based on the template GALT/LIBRA for reading but incorporates a number of features specifically addressing the difficulties in reading Chinese. The assistance goes beyond glossing (vocabulary, grammar and cultural background) and aids the reader in sentence segmentation and syntactic analysis.
VI. Digitized Syllabic Inventory
Over 1100 Mandarin syllables have been digitized and are available in wave, au, and QuickTime soundtrack formats. They will be organized and distributed as syllable charts in sound-annotated Microsoft Word files format on the Chinese Program Website
VII. Digitized Texts for Integrated Chinese (I & II)
The texts of all 23 lessons of the new first year textbook Integrated Chinese (by Yao et al.) will have been digitized and distributed by the end of the Spring semester of 1999 on the Chinese Program Website in both MS word and Njstar file formats. Digitized lab assignments for all the lessons will also be found there.
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