Language and Meaning: Pre-Qin Chinese Scholars’ Concerns and Implications for Literacy Education Then and Now

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Confucianism and Taoism: Learning to Read and Learning to Be

Abstract

From the ancient times on, Chinese thinkers were keenly aware of the difference between language expressions and what these expressions could actually mean. Such awareness is realized in ancient scholars’ constant debates about names, their practice to define/redefine and explain some key named concepts (such as 仁 , 义, and 礼), their discourses on language, and enormous efforts to edit and compile ancient texts. While the language-versus-meaning dilemma as a subject has received substantial attention from researchers across many disciplines, we have yet to understand its impact on literacy instruction. The present study examines this scholarly obsession with language and meanings for its ramifications on literacy practice and literacy acquisition, and its implications for today’s literacy education.

Authors

• Liqing Tao, College of Staten Island - CUNY

• Gaoyin Qian, Lehman College - CUNY