對外漢語專業生就業前景黯淡

In late April, Li Guo returned to the Chinese capital after a one-year voluntary stint teaching Chinese in Peru.

The 26-year-old master's student at Beijing Language and Culture University will graduate in July.

But Li, who is in her seventh year majoring in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages, has yet to find a full-time job.

"None of the girls living on the same dorm floor with me, all majoring in TCSOL, has found a teaching job so far," she said.

"Most of them are signing job contracts that are not closely related to the major."

BLCU was among the first four universities approved by the Ministry of Education in 1985 to offer the TCSOL program, formerly known as the Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language program.

There are 342 universities offering it. By the end of 2012, there were 63,933 students studying the major.

Shi Jiawei, former director of the university's TCSOL department and a professor of the major, said that among graduates with a bachelor's degree in TCSOL in the past three years, less than 10 percent of them have clinched jobs closely related to the major. More than 40 percent of them will continue to study for a master's.

"The major has long been popular among liberal arts students and attracts outstanding candidates," she said. "But we do have problems sending students out for the right jobs, especially undergraduates."

Shi gave two reasons TCSOL students have trouble landing a job after graduation.

"First, the major aims at cultivating Chinese teachers for foreign students. Yet it's extremely difficult to get a teaching position in any university. Most universities now require a doctorate. Second, many students who now aim to work overseas cannot do so due to visa problems and also because they do not have relevant teaching certificates in other countries."

Shi was enrolled in BLCU's TCSOL program in the mid-'90s, and Li was enrolled in the major at Zhengzhou University in Henan province in 2007. They had similar notions of the major when they signed up for it, including the dual emphasis on English and Chinese.

But the situation has changed, Shi said. While English-speaking adults made up most of the foreigners who studied Chinese in the past, more children are doing so now. That means a different set of teaching skills are needed. Foreigners learning Chinese also come from diverse backgrounds, including non-English speaking ones.

At a seminar on improving courses for the TCSOL program in October 2013, Zhou Shangzhi from the School of Education at Shanghai International Studies University said that the courses should focus more on non-English languages and not just offer courses in Chinese and English.

While landing a teaching position in foreign universities is tough, some TCSOL students are still willing to become Chinese teachers in private language schools. Many of them also realize that schools prefer teaching experience to master's degrees.

Ged Scheuber, general manager of Culture Yard, a private language school in Beijing, has been recruiting Chinese teachers for more than a year.

"Almost all the teachers we've recruited so far hold a master's degree in the major," he said. "Yet that does not necessarily mean they are qualified for the job. We emphasize on how well teachers are able to give students the confidence to speak. Teachers with good experience can identify the areas that foreign learners may find confusing."

Also, some foreign students and expats in China still heavily rely on self-study to improve their Chinese.

Magdalena Lowczynska, 31, a Polish student learning Chinese at the School of International Education and Exchange at Shanxi University, said learning a language is more about using it in real life conversations than memorizing vocabulary and grammar.

To help more students in the program get opportunities to work overseas, East China Normal University also started a cooperation program two years ago with universities in the United States, through which Chinese students are able to gain a local teaching certificate. This will enable the students to become Chinese teachers in the US.

Shi Jiawei, the former TCSOL director at BLCU, said the university is also working on similar programs in the US.四月底，李果（音）在祕魯志願教授漢語一年後回到中國首都。

這位26歲的碩士研究生將於今年7月份畢業於北京語言大學。

但是對於李來說，已經主修對外漢語教學專業七個年頭卻還沒找到一份專職工作。

“和我住在同一宿舍樓層的所有對外漢語教學專業的女孩們到目前爲止沒有一個人找到一份教學工作。”她說。

“她們中的大多數人都簽訂了和所學專業沒有密切關聯的工作。”

北京語言大學是教育部在1985年公認的首次開設對外漢語教學專業的四所大學之一，以前以作爲外語項目的漢語教學而聞名。

截至2012年底共有342所大學開設此專業，共有63933名學生學習此專業。

北京語言大學人文學院碩士研究生導師、對外漢語專業教授施家煒說過去三年裏對外漢語專業本科學位畢業生中少於10%的學生找到了與專業相關的工作。多於40%的學生將會繼續攻讀碩士學位。

“這個專業很受文科生的歡迎並且吸引一些優秀的候選人。”她說。“但是我們在分配給這些學生適合的工作這方面有困難，尤其是本科生。”

施對於對外漢語專業學生畢業後找不到工作的問題給出兩點原因。

“第一，這個專業的目的在於培養外國學生的中文老師。但是這在任何大學裏都很難找到教師的職位。現在大多數大學都需要博士生。第二，現在許多打算去國外工作的學生不能實現這個想法是由於簽證問題，也因爲他們在其他國家沒有相關的教師證書。”

施在90年代中期進入北京語言大學學習對外漢語專業，李在2007年進入河南省鄭州大學學習此專業。在入學時她們對這個專業有相同的看法，包括要着重於英語和漢語兩方面。

但是形勢已變，施說。在過去大多數學習漢語的人都是講英語的成年人，如今很多外國人從小就開始學漢語了。這就意味着我們需要一套不同的教學技能。學習漢語的外國人來自不同的背景，包括不會說英語的。

在2013年10月份的一次改善對外漢語專業課程的研討會上，來自上海外國語大學教育學院的週上之說這個專業應該更關注非英語國家語言，不只是開設漢語和英語課程。

然而在外國大學獲得教師職位是困難的，一些對外漢語專業學生還是希望成爲私立語言學校的中文老師。他們中的許多人也意識到許多學校更喜歡有教學經驗的人而不是隻有碩士學位的人。

北京天井越洋私人語言學校總經理Ged Scheuber已經招募中文老師超過一年了。

“到目前爲止幾乎所有我們招募的老師都有對外漢語專業的碩士學位。”他說。“但是這不意味着他們能勝任這個工作。我們着重的是老師能夠多好地給學生自信去說中文。有豐富經驗的老師可以辨別外國學習者學習時會感到困惑的地方。”

同時，一些在中國的外國學生和外籍人士仍然只能依靠自學來提高他們的漢語水平。

Magdalena Lowczynska，31歲，是在山西大學國際教育交流學院學習中文的一位波蘭學生。他說，學習一種語言在於在日常生活的交流中多使用它而不是記詞彙和語法。

爲了幫助更多這個專業的學生獲得在國外工作的機會，華東師範大學在兩年前就開始了與美國大學的合作項目，通過這個項目中國學生們能夠取得當地的教師證書。這將使學生們能夠在美國成爲中文老師。

北京語言大學對外漢語專業前領導人施家煒說美國的大學也在做類似的項目。