This paper analyses elementary school Chinese
language textbooks for teaching reading and writing in primary grades
in the People's Republic of China. The paper begins by examining the
characteristics of the Chinese written language, particularly how the
reforms of written Chinese in China since the 1950s have affected
instructional materials. Methods used to teach reading and writing
and popularize standard Chinese or Mandarin are examined through a
content analysis of 38 children's books and 12 teachers' manuals for
teaching the Chinese language. The paper concludes that children
learn to speak Mandarin as they learn to read and write, and that the
same materials are used to teach reading, writing, listening,
speaking, and handwriting through a multi-modal approach. The paper
notes that two methods for teaching Chinese characters are used: the
Contextual Teaching approach and the Concentrated Drill method. (Two
tables of Chinese characters, 1 table of data, and 27 footnotes are
included; a list of the manuals and texts studied is attached.)