The Influence of Canadian Pre-service Teachers\u27 Chinese Language Learning on Understanding Teacher-Student Relationship Between Canada and China

Cross-cultural learning experience plays a very important role in the development of pre-service teachers. This research uses narrative inquiry as the methodology to explore the Canadian pre-service teachers’ Chinese language learning experience as well as its influence on their understanding of teacher-students relationship through their three-month reciprocal learning in China. This research is contextualized in Dr. Shijing Xu’s Reciprocal Learning Program between University of Windsor and Southwest University China and Xu and Connelly’s (2013-2020) larger SSHRC Partnership Grant Project. It could fit in the fourth theme of the Grand Challenges as it would improve the development of the teacher education of the two countries and help increase the mutual understanding between the two countries. This research involves a lot of fieldwork includes daily participant observations, group debriefings, individual interviews, newsletters and portfolios. The major research question of the study is: how do the Canadian pre-service teacher’s Chinese learning help with their cross-cultural learning in China and how these experiences influence their understanding of teacher-student relationship while they were learning and teaching in China. The findings of this study show that the Canadian pre-service teachers’ Chinese language learning not only helped with their reflection on teacher-student relationship but also helped them redefine a good relationship between teachers and students. In addition, the reciprocal learning of the three months had a positive influence on the Canadian pre-service teachers’ future personal and academic development