Fundamentals of Chinese

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID: CHIN 101
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is used in a Chinese language course for undergraduate and graduate students taught by Haiping Wu at California State University, Long Beach. It provides free instructional materials for both instructors and students, including a textbook, class activities, lecture slides, videos, assignments, and quizzes. The primary motivation for adopting an open textbook was to eliminate financial barriers for students enrolling in the course and to support their academic success. Most students access the textbook and related course materials through Canvas. As the majority of the materials are available in electronic format, students can conveniently access them on digital devices such as laptops, cell phones, and iPads.

CHIN 101 Fundamentals of Chinese
Brief Description of course highlights:  CHIN 101 is an elementary Chinese course designed for learners with no prior background in the language. The course aims to develop students’ foundational communicative skills in Mandarin Chinese while introducing them to essential aspects of Chinese culture and society. Students learn the Chinese phonological system (Pinyin), engage in basic conversational topics, and build essential vocabulary and grammar. They also develop the ability to read and write Chinese characters. By the end of the course, students are expected to achieve the Novice Mid proficiency level in accordance with the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines.

Link to Catalog: http://catalog.csulb.edu/search_advanced.php?cur_cat_oid=11&search_database=Search&search_db=Search&cpage=1&ecpage=1&ppage=1&spage=1&tpage=1&location=3&filter%5Bkeyword%5D=CHIN+101&filter%5Bexact_match%5D=1

Student population: This course is open to students of all majors at CSULB. High school students in the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) may also enroll in the online section of the course. There are no prerequisites. However, students who have previously studied Chinese—whether formally in a classroom setting or informally through self-study—must complete a placement assessment with the instructor to ensure enrollment in a course appropriate to their proficiency level. Native speakers of Chinese who have completed compulsory education in China are not eligible to enroll in this course.

Learning or student outcomes: 
By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Produce and recognize Mandarin sounds using Pinyin
2. Exchange basic information in familiar, everyday situations (Novice Mid)
3. Understand the main idea of very simple spoken Mandarin
4. Read and interpret basic texts at the word and sentence level
5. Write simple paragraphs using learned vocabulary and grammatical structures
6. Recognize and write high-frequency Chinese characters
7. Use beginner-level grammar to fulfill simple tasks in daily life (e.g., self-introduction, talking about hobbies and family, ordering food in Chinese)

Demonstrate foundational cultural knowledge for appropriate communication.

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: 

Brief Description: I am adopting an OER textbook titled CHIN 101: Elementary Mandarin I to replace the commercial textbook Integrated Chinese, which has been used at CSULB for several decades. The OER textbook was developed by Professor Carl Polley who teaches CHN 101: Elementary Mandarin I at Kapiʻolani Community College in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

I discovered this textbook on LibreTexts, where it is freely available to both instructors and students. After a thorough review, I found it comparable to our current textbook in terms of content coverage, explanations of vocabulary and grammar, as well as the quality and range of exercises and assignments.

This OER textbook is suitable for self-study, online instruction, or use in a traditional face-to-face college course. Designed for beginners learning Chinese as a second or foreign language, it introduces standard Mandarin pronunciation, foundational character knowledge, essential conversational expressions, core grammar and vocabulary, and key aspects of Chinese culture. Across eight chapters, students engage with topics such as greetings and self-introductions, hobbies, nationalities, family members and occupations, inviting friends to dinner, discussing food and beverages, and talking about classes and exams.

Importantly, the textbook also includes a rich array of multimedia resources, including instructional videos that enhance both linguistic development and cultural understanding.

Please provide a link to the resource  
https://commons.libretexts.org/book/human-66526
Authors:
Carl Polley, Kapi'olani Community College
Student access:  

Students can access all course materials free of charge through Canvas and LibreTexts (https://commons.libretexts.org/book/human-66526). They may choose to print the PDF version of the textbook or access the materials digitally on their electronic devices.
Supplemental resources:

This OER textbook provides quizzes, activities, Chinese character worksheets, lecture slides, videos, audio materials, and cultural notes.
Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.
The traditional textbook costs $69.92, the accompanying workbook costs $35.99, and the character workbook costs $29.99. If all of these materials are provided free of charge, the total savings per student would be $135.90.
License*: This OER textbook has the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license, which allows users to freely copy, redistribute, and adapt material for non-commercial purposes. 

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option.
I have chosen to adopt this textbook because it substantially reduces the cost of course materials. Many students enrolled in my CHIN 101 course work part-time to support themselves. Lowering the cost of required materials can help them remain in the course and succeed academically, reduce withdrawals due to financial constraints, and encourage more students to continue studying Chinese independently beyond the classroom.

In addition, instructors have the flexibility to adapt, revise, and combine the course materials to meet the specific needs of their classes. New content can be incorporated efficiently and in a timely manner, ensuring that the materials remain current and responsive to instructional goals and methodologies.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? I completed the AL$ self-paced course, attended AL$ workshops, and consulted with Angel Pablico-Kobayashi, who has been extremely helpful throughout the process. Through these experiences, I was introduced to several valuable OER platforms, including MERLOT, LibreTexts, COOL4Ed, and OER Commons.

Sharing Best Practices: Before taking this course, I rarely considered the potential challenges students face in obtaining required textbooks. I now believe that transitioning to OER or low-cost materials does not compromise instructional quality, provided that instructors make careful selections and thoughtfully review peer feedback before adopting resources.

One important realization for me was how little attention I had previously paid to licensing issues. I had assumed that materials could be used freely for instructional purposes in an educational setting. However, through this course, I came to understand that different types of licenses carry specific requirements, and our use of materials must comply with those terms. When adapting, remixing, or combining OER and other low-cost resources, it is essential to pay close attention to potential licensing conflicts to ensure proper and ethical use.

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned.

One challenge is the sheer volume of OER and low-cost materials available. Identifying and evaluating appropriate resources before adoption take a lot of time. In addition, not all materials are of high quality or designed to meet specific instructional needs. As a result, instructors cannot simply adopt materials found online wholesale; instead, they must carefully select and adapt the portions that best serve their courses.

Furthermore, the availability and quality of OER resources vary considerably by field. For example, there are far fewer instructional materials available for Chinese modern literature than for Chinese language instruction. In response to this gap, I am considering contributing to the development of an OER textbook focused on Chinese literature.

Haiping Wu
I am an associate professor in Chinese language and linguistics at CSULB.

Please provide a link to your university page.
https://cla.csulb.edu/departments/aaas/faculty-and-staff/

Please describe the courses/course numbers that you teach.

I teach the following courses: 

• CHIN 101 Fundamentals of Chinese (1) 
• CHIN 102 Fundamentals of Chinese (2) 
• CHIN 201 Intermediate Chinese (1)
• CHIN 202 Intermediate Chinese (2)
• CHIN 311 Advanced Spoken Chinese 
• CHIN 370 Chinese Literature in English Translation (GE course)
• CHIN 380 Languages and Dialects in China 
• CHIN 421/521 Current Affairs in China (Advanced seminar in English)
• CHIN 451/551 Chinese Culture and Tradition (Advanced seminar in English)
• CHIN 485/585 Masterpieces from China (Advanced seminar in English)
• CHIN 490 Introduction to Conversation Analysis (Advanced seminar in English)
• CHIN 490 Chinese Contemporary Films (Advanced seminar in English)
• CHIN 491/591 Chinese Contemporary Film (new course)
  
  Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.

I teach both language and content courses, including CHIN 101 and 102, Chinese Contemporary Film, Chinese Culture and Tradition, Current Affairs in China, and Chinese Literature in English Translation, integrating linguistic development with cultural and historical perspectives. The shift to online teaching during the pandemic prompted me to rethink earlier assumptions about rigor and responsibility and to recognize more clearly the relationship between instructional design and student outcomes. My teaching philosophy now centers on being a “warm demander”: upholding high academic standards while providing empathy, clarity, and structured support, particularly for historically underserved students. Informed by my research on AI-mediated language learning, student confidence, and affective comfort, I adopt equity-minded and student-centered practices, including the use of low-cost materials, transparent course design, multimodal instruction, scaffolded and flexible assessments, and structured peer collaboration. I integrate technology thoughtfully—permitting responsible AI use while emphasizing critical thinking—and incorporate experiential activities and low-stakes games to reduce anxiety and foster engagement. Overall, my approach reflects an ongoing commitment to balancing rigor with care, tradition with innovation, and research with reflective practice.

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