Abstract
This is a qualitative case study which used interviews and observation to investigate the role of interaction between international and Chinese students with regard to Chinese language learning. It was guided by Long’s Interaction Hypothesis and Swain’s Comprehensible Output. The findings revealed that English was a dominant language of communication for the students which reduced emphasis on Chinese language learning. However, a few students who used Chinese as a medium of communication had positive results in their learning of oral Chinese but not in the reading and writing of Chinese characters. These findings suggest the importance of an integration of both oral and written conversational interaction in learning and mastery of the four skills of Chinese language. The findings of this study may be applicable to the learning of other languages similar to Chinese, which do not use the Roman alphabet.
Key words: China, second language learning, interaction, foreign language learning, comprehensible output, comprehensible input.