After decades of development, international Chinese education is now facing a historical turning point and needs to reflect and summarize. The new era brings new challenges and opportunities, and scholars explore coping strategies and seek growth points. Cui Yonghua proposed new topics for the post pandemic era, Zhao Yang believed that the 2019 conference marked a turning point, and Li Quan suggested that 2020 be the first year of transformation. Li Baogui and Liu Jianing emphasized risk prevention, promoting localization, specialization, and intelligent development. Guo Jing and Wu Yinghui pointed out that international political risks and opportunities coexist. The epidemic has had an impact on international Chinese education, and scholars have put forward their views to ensure sustainable development. This article proposes twelve key research areas, emphasizing the importance of basic research.

1、 Research on Language Ontology for International Chinese Education

As an emerging interdisciplinary field, one of the core research areas of international Chinese education is the study of language ontology. This field focuses on language issues in teaching Chinese as a second language, such as phonetics, grammar, semantics, pragmatics, and discourse research, which are crucial for frontline teachers to solve specific language problems in teaching. The use of special sentence structures and function words in Chinese language teaching, as well as the efficiency of Chinese character teaching, are the focus of exploration in this field. The depth and thoroughness of research on language ontology directly affect the teaching effectiveness of Chinese teachers. Therefore, in-depth study of language ontology and solving teaching problems are key to promoting the development of international Chinese education discipline.

2、 Theoretical and methodological research on language learning and language teaching

This article explores the theories and methods of language learning and teaching in international Chinese education, emphasizing the difficulties that learners may encounter in the language learning process, learning strategies, the impact of different mother tongues and personality traits on learning, as well as the role of learning environment, teaching theories and methods in learning outcomes. At the same time, it points out the positive correlation between language learning performance and ability, as well as the impact of language testing on learning process and motivation. The chapter also mentioned the insufficient understanding of learners' cognitive processes, as well as the late start of research on Chinese second language acquisition and the potential for international cooperation. Finally, the research of scholars such as Shi Chunhong, Feng Shengli, and Zhao Yang was cited, emphasizing the importance of learner centered research in international Chinese education.

3、 Research on Interactive Linguistics and Chinese Language Teaching

Interactive linguistics, as an emerging research perspective, emphasizes the interactivity of language communication, develops based on discourse and conversation analysis, and values the difference between spoken grammar and written language. Fang Mei et al. (2018) explored the progress of interactive linguistics in syntax, form, conversational sequence, prosody, and multimodal research. Interactive linguistics intersects with Chinese second language teaching, and its usage based research helps to reveal the grammar rules of Chinese. The study not only focuses on 'what was said', but also on 'how to say it', which is consistent with the speech act theory in pragmatics, but delves deeper into language power, communicative intention, and specific forms of expression. These theories are enlightening for the topic and context setting of international Chinese education, and attention should be paid to the development of linguistic theories to solve practical teaching problems.

4、 Research on the International Chinese Language Education Talent Training System

Lu Jianming and Ma Zhen proposed the knowledge, abilities, and cultural cultivation that Chinese language teachers should possess. Lu Jianming emphasized the importance of building a high-quality teacher team and pointed out that there are problems in the current training of Chinese language teachers, such as deviations in the training mode. There are 60000 students majoring in international Chinese education nationwide, with significant differences in curriculum and training objectives. The employment prospects for students after graduation are not optimistic. Shi Jiawei conducted a survey and research on the current situation and problems of talent cultivation, and proposed development directions. The international environment, educational technology, localization concepts, and changes in social demands have an impact on the talent cultivation system, and scientific evaluation is needed to improve the system.

5、 Research on the Development and Evaluation of International Chinese Education

Explored the development and evaluation of international Chinese education, and proposed suggestions for drawing on the experience of English international education, including adjusting the educational hierarchy, compiling national textbooks, and language and cultural teaching strategies. The importance of real-time evaluation of international Chinese education was emphasized, and the research of Qi Wei, Zhan Chunyan, Li Manna, Wu Yinghui, Ma Jianfei, Liu Jingjing and others was summarized. These studies provide valuable experience and suggestions for the development direction of international Chinese education.

6、 Research on International Chinese Education Resource Platform

Explored the necessity of an international Chinese education resource platform and pointed out the urgent needs of teachers and students for educational resources in the teaching and learning process. The article reveals the shortcomings of existing textbooks and dictionaries in terms of definitions and examples by analyzing the definitions of words such as "sturdy", "sturdy", and "sturdy" in the Modern Chinese Dictionary. At the same time, it points out the common problem of circular annotation in current outward oriented learning dictionaries, as well as the disconnect between Chinese language research and second language teaching needs. In order to address these issues, the author calls on the academic community to work together to build an international Chinese education resource platform, which will cover various aspects such as vocabulary definition, usage, examples, synonym discrimination, grammar format, common errors, language points in textbooks, cultural scenes, special purpose language problems, teaching evaluation, teacher development, various course information resources, research results and teaching transformation, as well as resources such as videos, MOOCs, classic lesson plans, and virtual reality micro courses. Emphasize the co construction and sharing characteristics of resource platforms.

7、 Research on the Application of International Chinese Education Technology

The importance of international Chinese education technology application was discussed, emphasizing the critical role of technology in resource platform construction, smart classrooms, teaching support platforms, and teaching resource integration. Technological advancements, especially cloud computing, big data, and the Internet of Things, have changed the traditional language teaching model. Modern educational technologies, such as short videos and social platforms, provide new auxiliary materials and interactive methods for teaching. At the same time, the chapter points out the need to study the practical impact of technological means on teaching effectiveness, and pay attention to the new research topics brought by online teaching in the era of the epidemic.

8、 Research on International Chinese Education Standards and Level Syllabus

The development process of international Chinese education standards and syllabus was discussed. Since the 1980s, institutions such as the Chinese Society for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, the Office of the National Leading Group for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, and the Hanban have successively issued multiple Chinese proficiency level standards and syllabus. In 2021, the "International Chinese Language Education Chinese Proficiency Level Standards" were officially released, laying the foundation for the standardization and normalization of international Chinese language education. The formulation of these standards has a guiding role in curriculum design, learning modes, textbook development, and language proficiency testing, and is an important step in the international standardization construction of Chinese education. At the same time, it was emphasized that these standards and level outlines need to be continuously improved and upgraded in practice.

9、 Research on the Integration and Service of International Chinese Education Basic Resources

The importance of research on the integration and service of international Chinese education basic resources was emphasized. The construction of an international Chinese education resource platform requires the integration of a large number of basic resources, such as large databases, corpora, and smart teaching platforms. These resources are the material foundation and valuable resources for developing international Chinese education products. The article mentions multiple corpora, such as the Modern Chinese Corpus of the National Language Commission, the CCL Corpus of Peking University, and the BCC Corpus of Beijing Language and Culture University, which play important roles in language ontology research and language application research. In addition, the ideas and challenges of building an international Chinese education resource database were discussed, as well as how to achieve effective integration and service of resources.

10、 Regional and National Studies on Chinese International Communication

Chinese international communication faces different challenges in different countries and regions, and requires targeted research. The research content includes targeted communication, textbook development, teacher training, targeted research, and external factors of language dissemination. The demand survey of countries along the "the Belt and Road" shows that the international Chinese language education environment and conditions are different. Zhao Jinming (2014) comprehensively considers the internationalization and localization of international Chinese education. Li Yuming and Shi Chunhong (2017) proposed the positioning of Chinese functions and local roles in the process of localizing international Chinese education. Zhang Xinsheng and Li Mingfang (2018) believe that localization is the only way to achieve Chinese becoming an international language.

11、 Research on Standardized Examinations and Skill Testing

In depth exploration of the complexity of language testing as an interdisciplinary field of psychometrics and linguistics, emphasizing the core position of reliability and validity in language testing theory. We discussed two testing theories, standard reference and norm reference, and pointed out the problems in measurement accuracy of exam products such as HSK and C-test. At the same time, the application of exam results, the influence of exam services, and the potential issues of excessive or misuse that exams may bring were raised. In addition, the necessity of scientific evaluation of vocabulary, Chinese characters, and grammar level outlines in standardized exams, as well as the reliability issues of adaptive testing and automatic essay grading systems, were emphasized. Finally, the weak links of skill based testing in standardized exams were pointed out, and how to improve the consistency and credibility of subjective evaluation was discussed.

12、 Research on Chinese Textbooks and Outgoing Lexicons

In the field of Chinese textbooks and outward oriented dictionary research, there are numerous textbooks, including influential ones such as "301 Sentences of Chinese Conversation", as well as textbooks designed for specific purposes such as business. The compilation of national textbooks has received attention, and the Global Chinese Textbook Library has collected over 17800 textbooks. Textbook research involves writing concepts, content design, and other aspects, and progress has been made in the localization and nationalization of international Chinese education textbooks. The research on extroverted dictionaries focuses on the definitions, examples, and writing principles of dictionaries, with metalinguistic extraction and application being key issues. There are still topics to be further studied in dictionary writing, such as semantic networks, electronic dictionary applications, difficulty in defining syntax, and cultural issues.

brief summary

As an emerging discipline, international Chinese education faces many challenges. This article proposes twelve key research areas with the aim of planning and responding in advance. These fields include disciplinary history, ontology, methodology, etc. Although the discipline is young, historical research is equally important. Cultural and cross-cultural communication issues are reflected in curriculum, talent development, and textbooks, but it is not realistic to comprehensively cover all issues. This article aims to inspire further research.