This book suggests that the effectiveness of new teaching methods and the initiation of new subjects are contextual. Learning a foreign language (e.g. Chinese) is more than language acquisition; it is also understanding other cultures and participating in intercultural interaction and communication. Thus, education and learning (particularly a foreign language) is related to a broader social transformation in the process of globalisation and in the development towards a knowledge society.
Mads Jakob Kirkebæk, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University, Denmark. His research and publication focuses on Chinese-Danish history, and the development of teaching methods for educators teaching Chinese as a foreign language in a Danish context, in particular, Chinese character teaching.