Jianhua Bai, professor of Chinese, teaches linguistics and Chinese at all levels as well as training and supervising teaching assistants in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. He also serves as the faculty director of the language laboratory and has served as chair of the Asian studies program. Beyond Kenyon, he has served on the executive board of the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA) for two terms (1995-98) (2001-2004) and is currently the president of the CLTA. He is also chair of the Committee of Curriculum and Articulation of the Ohio Foreign Language Association. Bai directed two study-abroad programs in China--the Associated Colleges in China (ACC) Program in Beijing and the Hopkins/ Nanjing/CET Summer Program at Nanjing University. During the summer, he directs the Chinese School at Middlebury College. He is also actively engaged in other professional activities such as organizing international conferences, evaluating conference papers and journal articles in his field, serving as a reviewer for program assessment and faculty reappointment and promotion at other institutions, and maintaining a discussion list that promotes communication among teachers, researchers, and students of Chinese. His recent research projects include developing proficiency-based materials for advanced Chinese; schema theory and reading Instruction; how web-based and distance learning technology can be used to enhance Chinese language pedagogy; the implications of pragmatics to Chinese pedagogical practice; and action research, how to document excellence in teaching Chinese as a foreign language.

Areas of Expertise

Foreign language pedagogy, linguistics, computer-assisted language instruction

Education

Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh
Undergraduate degree: English language and Literature, Hebei Teachers University.

Selected Publications

The spiraling principle and Chinese language curriculum design. Journal of CLTA. 2001.

Integrating multimedia technology into the Chinese language curriculum. In Proceedings of Wuhan International Conference on Chinese Language Pedagogy, 2000.

(With Sung and Zhang). Across the Straits (Liang-an Duihua). Cheng and Tsui Co. 1998.

Constructing tests that reflect instructional goals. Journal of CLTA.1998.

Teaching text structures, why and how, Journal of CLTA. 1997.

(With Sung and Xing) Communicative Chinese for Intermediate and Advanced Learners. Cheng and Tsui Co. 1996.

Some thoughts on better methods, Journal of CLTA. 1996.

Courses Taught

CHNS 111 Intensive Introductory Modern Chinese
CHNS 213 Intermediate Modern Chinese
CHNS 321 Advanced Modern Chinese