ABSTRACT
The phrase “Chinese Heritage Learners (CHL)” refers to students who have had exposure to Chinese outside the formal educational system, typically in their home or community. At Carnegie Mellon University, CHL make up approximately one quarter of the students at the elementary level, one third of the students at the intermediate level, and two thirds of the students at the advanced level. This chapter examines the motivation and linguistic needs of the CHL, and discusses how to blend a learner-centered approach, technology, and the 5Cs principles of the National Standards for Foreign Language Education— Communication, Cultures, Comparisons, Connections and Communities—in the pursuit of robust learning for CHL. It focuses on some aspects of blending technology, motivation, and linguistics to create robust learning for CHL, with a focus on the Elementary level of CHL. It demonstrated that, due to the special features of CHL, the incorporation of these three aspects should provide an effective, innovative, and interesting learning environment for the CHL.
