Chinese Undergraduate Student Teaching Assistants in a U.S. Collegiate Chinese Language Program

Given present limited opportunities to study in China, how can U.S. collegiate Chinese language programs take advantage of the presence of Chinese international students on campus to improve their Chinese language students’ intercultural communication skills? This article first reviews the background of “peer tutoring” in European and American collegiate institutes and describes some exemplary models in the field of Chinese as a Foreign Language in the U.S. Then, the article reports on a study of a tutor and grader system at a U.S. liberal arts college employing Chinese undergraduate students. Through both quantitative and qualitative data, the author analyzes the positive impact and existing challenges found in this program. Finally, the author proposes feasible solutions for future improvement. It is hoped that in reading this article, administrators of other Chinese language programs with similar systems or plans to adopt similar systems will consider ideas presented in this study with regard to designing, training, and supervising the tutor system, and thereby improve their program’s overall teaching quality