A critical review of telecollaboration in Chinese as a second language education: a post-COVID-19 outlook

Abstract With the advent of information and communication technology, telecollaboration projects in foreign language education have received growing attention. This study critically reviews telecollaboration practices in the context of Chinese as a second language. Our objective is to identify the inherent problems associated with existing programs and suggest a comprehensive framework for new telecollaborative practices, encompassing aspects such as language partner-matching, research topics, in/pre-service teacher-related issues, and overall benefits, adverse effects, and limitations of such. The study employed VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer to visualize partial results and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocol (PRISMA-P) for screening literature. The findings indicate a pressing need to address the rationale behind selecting and matching language partners for Chinese as a second language. The predominant research topics concern student perception and learning gains resulting from telecollaboration projects, with scant attention given to teacher perception and requisite training, specifically among pre-service Chinese teachers. Additionally, the researchers examined the implications for future research, notably the establishment of a shared resource platform designed to enhance writing, reading, interpreting, and translating skills within the scope of informal Chinese language learning contexts, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.