在新旧世纪之交的1998~2002年四年间,美国的汉语教学稳步发展,成绩显著。同时也面临着很多问题和挑战:学习汉语的美国大学生的绝对人数增加了,但是他们所占美国大学生总数的比例却所增无几;美国说汉语的人数从占美国说外语人数的第五位跃居第二位,但是在美国大学学习汉语的学生人数还没有如此的飞跃;美国的华裔学生人数增多了,扩大了美国汉语教学规模,但也模糊了在美国对外汉语教学和华语教学的界限;对外汉语教学教拼音还是教注音符号在美国大学的教学实际中已有定论,但是教繁体字还是教简化字的问题仍莫衷一是;美国的汉语教学实践和理论研究都有了新的发展,但是究竟如何吸引更多的美国非华裔学生学习汉语并把汉语学好,还需要今后在教学理论和实践上有新的突破。 During the four years between 1998 and 2002, the teaching of Chinese in the United States developed steadily with remarkable achievements. They also face many problems and challenges: the absolute number of American college students who study Chinese has increased, but their share of the total number of university students in the United States has increased only marginally; the number of Americans speaking Chinese has dropped from the fifth in the United States as a foreign language speaker But the number of students who study Chinese in American universities has not taken such a leap forward. The number of Chinese students in the United States has increased, which has expanded the scale of Chinese teaching in the United States, but also blurred the boundaries of teaching Chinese as a foreign language and teaching Chinese in the United States. Teaching Chinese as a second language Pinyin or phonetic notation has been concluded in the teaching practice of American universities. However, the problem of teaching traditional Chinese characters or teaching simplified words is still not clear; both the Chinese teaching practice and theoretical research in the United States have made new progress. However, after all, How to attract more non-Chinese American students to learn Chinese and learn Chinese well requires further breakthroughs in teaching theory and practice in the future.