AN ANALYSIS ON THE CHINESE LANGUAGE LEARNING NEEDS AND CHALLENGES: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIAN CHINESE LANGUAGE STUDENTS

Abstract

Teaching materials used for foreign language learning should be in line with the students’ actual learning needs and objectives so as to help the students achieve their objectives for learning such language, and this is the same for Chinese language learning in Nigeria. The research was conducted to analyze whether the current textbooks used in the Nigerian Confucius Institutes can meet the students’ learning needs and also help them achieve their learning objectives. The data used for this research was taken from the questionnaires distributed to 188 Nigerian elementary Chinese language students who are studying Chinese language in the Confucius Institute of Nnamdi Azikiwe University and the Confucius Institute of Lagos University, Nigeria, after which a descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the data using SPSS. This research analyzed the students' learning needs, goals and difficulties in learning Chinese language. The research found out that the textbook has played a role in improving the learners’ abilities and language skills and also help improve their HSK performance. However, there is a certain gap between students' learning needs and the real content of their teaching material and as such does not completely satisfy the learning needs of the students. The textbook did not cover the topics related to Nigerian folklore and culture and there is also no consideration of any of the Nigerian local language in the phonetic teaching content of the textbook currently used as showed by the students’ needs analysis. According to the actual needs of students, the researcher suggested a need for the adaptation or revision of the current teaching materials to suit the Nigerian Chinese language students’ situation or provide an additional Chinese language textbook that will include topics related to Nigerian folklore and culture. In addition to this, provide auxiliary learning materials, hold more cultural activities, etc. which is hoped will be helpful in the teaching of the Chinese language in Nigeria.