L2 Chinese Language Teachers' Cross-Cultural Adaptation in Teaching Online Courses Using Videoconferencing Tools in a Foreign Country during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study

This case study is based on teachers' personal observation of students of Oberlin College, Ohio, US, and students' feedback, and addresses cross-cultural communication of Chinese as a foreign (L2) language teacher, who is also the first author of this article. The study was conducted during the global pandemic; L2 language teaching methods in Oberlin College had to be shifted from face-to-face lectures to online teaching using videoconferencing tools, particularly Zoom. It was used not only as the online class platform, but also an additional live communication tool in other activities. The case study presented in this article was conducted mainly through observations in daily classes before and after the pandemic. The results suggest that reserved personality and inadequate cultural contact are factors of accultured difficulties for L2 Chinese language teachers when working in the US. This paper proposes solutions for preparations for a cross-cultural adaptability for Chinese language teachers teaching L2 Chinese abroad, especially in conditions like using videoconferencing tools in online teaching classes. [For the complete volume, "Intelligent CALL, Granular Systems and Learner Data: Short Papers from EUROCALL 2022 (30th, Reykjavik, Iceland, August 17-19, 2022)," see ED624779.]