Video segments are used to serve pedagogical objectives by helping convey meanings, not as mere decoration. The user can listen to the pronunciation of any word or sentence throughout the whole program by clicking on the character or the sentence. QuickTime movies feature native speaker actors playing in various real-life situations described in the related texts. The user has the option to play the entire video or play only the video segment containing the sample sentence or characters. The design of the exercises and drills in CyberChinese is structural rather than notional-functional.
Emphasis is placed on morphology and syntax.
Learners' responses are evaluated for their conformity to the structural norms of the target language rather than their informational contents. Aided by sound, animated characters, video segments, and effective interactivity, CyberChinese provides thoughtfully designed activities and exercises which aim to enhance the learner's reading, listening, and writing skills. CyberChinese fully adopted the content of the Practical Chinese Reader textbook, which excels in linguistic accuracy in terms of grammar and authenticity. Unfortunately, this reviewer detected some typos in CyberChinese, which result in serious lexical or grammatical errors. The final word is missing in the title sentence in the Introduction section of Lesson 25.