Facilitated by the economic growth of China and the fact that Chinese is spoken by one-fifth of the world’s population, the number of Dutch schools that include Chinese in their curriculum is currently increasing (Beeker, Canton, & Fasoglio, 2008). This trend is clearly seen in other European countries, mainly France, followed by Germany, where Chinese has already been established as an official foreign language at schools (Beeker, et al. 2008; Guder, 2005). In contrast to these countries, the Dutch educational system provides schools with a high amount of freedom in organizing their curricula (Kuiper, Van den Akker, Letschert, & Hooghoff, 2005). Hence, its implementation cannot be fully compared with the implementation in other countries. Consequently, the conditions for a successful implementation of Chinese as a foreign language within the Dutch educational context need to be investigated.

Given this growth of interest in teaching Chinese, the Dutch Ministry of Education has requested to draft a curricular program for Chinese in Dutch secondary Education, including standards for the examination program (Beeker et al., 2008). These standards are in line with the standards of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR; Council of Europe, 2001; see also Guder, 2005). Consequently, the Dutch Ministry of Education has requested to empirically investigate both the feasibility and the testability of the qualifications or standards described in the proposal in a three-year pilot study (school years 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13). In short, the goal of this pilot study is:

To investigate the feasibility and testability of the various domains (i.e., the four language skills –reading, listening, writing, speaking – and the Chinese culture) and proposed standards of the new school subject by empirical research.

Taking the typology of curriculum representations, especially useful in the analysis of the processes and the outcomes of curriculum innovations (intended, implemented and attained curriculum; Kuiper, 1993; van den Akker, 2003) as a basis, the aforementioned aim has been divided into the following research questions (RQ):

RQ1. What is the underlying rationale as specified in the curriculum proposal? (intended curriculum)

RQ2. What are teachers' interpretations and perceptions concerning the intended curriculum? (implemented curriculum)

RQ3. What do teachers do in terms of learning activities and testing practice, and how much do they correspond with the intended curriculum? (implemented curriculum)

RQ4. What are the students' experiences and opinions with the subject and how much do they correspond with the intended curriculum? (Attained curriculum)

RQ5. To which extent are the intended learning effects (according to the proposed standards) achieved? (Attained curriculum)

Beeker, A., Canton, J., & Fasoglio, D. (2008). Chinees op school: Voorstel voor een leerplan Chinese Taal en Cultuur voor het vwo [Chinese at school: Proposal for an educational programme for the subject Chinese Language and Culture in Secondary Education]. Enschede: SLO. Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Guder, A. (2005): Chinesisch und der Europäische Referenzrahmen. Einige Beobachtungen zur Erreichbarkeit fremdsprachlicher Kompetenz(en) im Chinesischen [Chinese and European reference framework. Some observations on the availability of foreign language competence (s) in Chinese]. Chine-sischunterricht [Teaching Chinese], 20, 63-78. Kuiper, W. (1993). Curriculumvernieuwing en lespraktijk [Curriculum reform and teaching practice]).(Dissertation). Enschede: Universiteit Twente Kuiper, W., Akker, J. van den, Hooghoff, H., Letschert, J. (2005). Curriculum policy and school practice in a European comparative perspective. In: Curriculum development re-invented. Enschede: SLO. Van den Akker, J. (2003). Curriculum: An introduction. In J. van den Akker, W. Kuiper, & U. Hameyer (eds.), Curriculum landscapes and trends (pp. 1-13). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.