1 Introduction
In the digital learning environments of the post-COVID-19 era, blended
teaching has emerged as a prevailing trend. Recent discourse in the
domain of foreign language education has introduced the concept of
’principled eclecticism,’ advocating for the integration of varied
teaching methodologies, techniques, and strategies. This approach aims
to tailor education to the diverse goals, needs, and situations of
learners, thereby enhancing the flexibility and diversity of foreign
language instruction. Such learner-centered and diversified teaching
methods align not only with the contemporary model of hybrid teaching,
necessitated by the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, but also resonate with
the ancient Chinese educational philosophy of ’teaching in accordance
with aptitude’ (因材施教), as advocated by Confucius.
A comprehensive review of the pertinent literature indicates that the
term ’principled eclecticism’ was first proposed in the early 2000s
(Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2011; Mellow, 2000, 2002) and has since
been predominantly discussed within the context of English language
teaching. Yan, et al. (2007) discovered that 81.3% of English language
educators at Chinese universities endorse the principled eclecticism
approach. Interviews conducted as part of their research further
elucidated that principled eclecticism significantly benefits students’
English language learning, particularly in enhancing vocabulary,
listening, and reading skills. Valledor et al. (2023) substantiated that
diverse teaching methods exert both similar and distinct impacts on
learners’ acquisition of English, with communicative language teaching,
the audio-lingual method, and task-based language teaching enhancing
communication skills; content and language integrated learning
facilitating the absorption of English content knowledge; and whole
language teaching improving learners’ proficiency in contextual English
usage. However, Rakrak (2022) cautions against the indiscriminate
combination of teaching approaches without a theoretical or
research-based foundation, as it may negatively affect students’ writing
skills.
Utilizing Boolean Logic, this study conducted a comprehensive search
across major academic research databases—including Taiwan’s online
Airiti Library, ERICDATA, the National Digital Library of Theses and
Dissertations in Taiwan, the China Academic Journals Full-text Database
(CJFD), the China Masters’ Theses Full-text Database (CMFD), the China
Dissertations Database, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, and the Education Resources
Information Center (ERIC)—to investigate the application of principled
eclecticism in Chinese language teaching. The search revealed a notable
paucity of discussion on this subject. Hence, this study endeavors to
bridge the knowledge gap in Chinese language teaching research and
practice by conducting a systematic literature review on the core
concepts of principled eclecticism in foreign language education.
Furthermore, it develops a lesson plan example for Chinese language
teaching, along with a checklist for principled eclectic Chinese
language teaching, intended for application in future research and
practice.