Interactive Chinese Grammar (ICG) is a project that aims at facilitating the learning of Chinese by providing learners with enhanced input and feedback options in an engaging multimodal digital environment.
The project includes two parallel YouTube channels with identical video content, one for each of the two Chinese writing systems (traditional and simplified). Each channel contains twenty units, ranging from absolute novice level through more complex intermediate-level content. There are 144 videos in each channel, ranging between 2 and 6 minutes in length.
Each video represents a mini-lesson and focuses on one specific point of Chinese grammar, organized in a highly structured manner: An opening screen identifies the topic of the video, followed by an advance organizer that outlines the contents of the mini-lesson.
Contents include an illustrated presentation of active vocabulary with examples in context, a presentation of the grammar topic, examples illustrating the function of the grammatical structure and employing the lesson’s active vocabulary, followed by comprehension check activities. The system includes access to each video through a PlayPosit shell, which guides the learner through the mini-lesson and provides “quiz” opportunities for learners to demonstrate what they have learned.
The video project is truly multi-modal. Custom, hand-drawn illustrations serve to make the content comprehensible, while grammatical structures are also presented in a highly visual manner. Sentence word order is made clear through placement of elements on the screen, as well as through animated sequences. Chinese characters are supplemented with pinyin English transliterations to facilitate pronunciation and comprehension. Finally, the lessons are presented through native-English speaker voiceover with Chinese examples by a Chinese native speaker.