Chinese language teachers’ instructional contexts, knowledge, and challenges in teaching students with special needs

Guided by Shulman’s (1987) concept of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), this study investigates pre-service and new Chinese language teachers’ instructional contexts, their PCK, and their challenges in teaching Chinese to students with disabilities in public K-12 schools in two Midwestern states in the United States. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from a survey. The study finds that Chinese language teachers are teaching in very complicated and difficult contexts for students with disabilities, and they are facing tremendous challenges, which may have contributed to their lack of PCK and seriously undermined their confidence and instruction as well. Therefore, more assistance and support are needed for public K-12 Chinese teachers in the U.S. inclusive classroom to promote more sustained development of Chinese education. Since there has been little research on this aspect of K-12 Chinese education in the United States, this study may help prompt more discussion on the topic in our field.