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An Exploration of Embedding Intercultural Knowledge to Engage Students in Chinese Language Learning: a Bilingual Beginning Teacher’S Xingzhi/Action Research Project

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An Exploration of Embedding Intercultural Knowledge to Engage Students in Chinese Language Learning: a Bilingual Beginning Teacher’S Xingzhi/Action Research Project AN EXPLORATION OF EMBEDDING INTERCULTURAL KNOWLEDGE TO ENGAGE STUDENTS IN CHINESE LANGUAGE LEARNING: A BILINGUAL BEGINNING TEACHER’S XINGZHI/ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT Xiaoyan WANG Bachelor of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Honours) School of Education Western Sydney University August 2016 Acknowledgements Firstly I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to the Ningbo Education Bureau for providing the support for my participation in the ROSETE program at the University of Western Sydney. The experiences, as a student at UWS and a teacher-researcher in a western Sydney public school, have been life changing. To Dr Jinghe Han I extend my sincere thanks for her patience, encouragement and the benefit of her research and teaching experience to help me undertake this research and to refine my ideas during the analysis and writing stages. I am indebted that she made herself available any time (when on holidays or leave) to support my research and study. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Professor Michael Singh for helping me, and all the ROSETE students, with the many cultural activities provided to us (soccer games, social barbecues, and an introduction to Aboriginal and historical culture). Professor Singh’s support with the relevant literature for teaching and learning Chinese language in Australia must be mentioned. The knowledge provided by Ms Cheryl Ballantyne must also be acknowledged. Cheryl provided expert lectures and workshops to introduce the ROSETE students to intercultural language teaching in the Australian. I must also recognize the contribution of the Gardens Public School, the students and classroom teachers who welcomed me into the school and supported my teaching and research. This school has a very high profile in supporting Chinese language teaching. This resulted in my experiences being very welcoming, positive and rewarding. For this I sincerely thank them. Next I would like to thank my ROSETE colleagues. We supported each other both with our teaching and study and with daily life. This connection enabled friendships that prevented homesickness. This was very important because there was a feeling of being part of a home base here and I could focus on my teaching and study. Finally I would like to thank my family who encouraged me to continue with this study and research. Statement of Authentication This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of a Master of Education (Honours) degree at Western Sydney University, School of Education. The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not previously submitted this material, either in whole or part, for a degree at this or any other institution. Signature…….. (Xiaoyan Wang) Date 26th August, 2016 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 2 Statement of Authentication ......................................................................................... 3 List of Tables.............................................................................................................. vii List of Figures ........................................................................................................... viii Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. ix Abstract ........................................................................................................................ x CHAPTER 1 THE RESEARCH .............................................................................. 1 1.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to this research project .................................................................. 1 1.1.1 Australian context ............................................................................................ 3 1.1.2 The introduction of the ROSETE program ..................................................... 4 1.1.3 The teacher-researcher’s knowledge background and research interest ......... 5 1.1.4 The teacher-researcher’s expectations regarding the teaching of Chinese in Australia ................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Research focus/problems ..................................................................................... 8 1.2.1 Contributory question 1: Teaching content ..................................................... 8 1.2.2 Contributory question 2: Scaffolding strategies .............................................. 9 1.2.3 Contributory question 3: Teaching and learning activities ............................. 9 1.3 Significance of this study ..................................................................................... 9 1.3.1 The significance for the multi-objectives of Chinese language learning ...... 10 1.3.2 Significance of this study for anti-racist education ....................................... 12 1.3.3 Significance for post-monolingual education ................................................ 13 1.3.4 Contribution to the literature ......................................................................... 13 1.4 Aims and outcomes of this study....................................................................... 14 1.5 The outline of this thesis .................................................................................... 14 i CHAPTER 2 A REVIEW OF RECENT LITERATURE .................................... 17 2.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 17 2.1 Key concepts and theories ................................................................................. 18 2.1.1. Understanding language ............................................................................... 18 2.1.2 Understanding culture ................................................................................... 19 2.1.3 Intercultural: the relationship between languages and cultures ..................... 21 2.1.4 Intercultural: language teaching and learning ............................................... 22 2.1.5 Selecting teaching content ............................................................................. 23 2.1.6 Delivering classroom activities through scaffolding ..................................... 25 2.1.7 The activities in intercultural language learning ........................................... 28 2.2 Chinese language education in Australian schools ......................................... 30 2.2.1 Lack of guidance at the curriculum level ...................................................... 30 2.2.2 Unmotivated learners..................................................................................... 31 2.2.3 Challenges for Chinese native-speaker teachers ........................................... 32 2.2.4 The advantages outweigh the challenges ...................................................... 32 2.3 Bilingual teacher’s identity ............................................................................... 33 2.3.1 The teacher-researcher’s bilingual background ............................................ 34 2.3.2 The teacher-researcher’s stance in this research—a transcultural sojourner. 35 2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 3 LANGUAGE EDUCATION RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND METHODS ...................................................................................................... 37 3.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 37 3.1 Methodologies in educational research ............................................................ 37 3.2 Teacher Xingzhi research and action research ............................................... 39 3.2.1 Teacher Xingzhi/action research in the classroom ........................................ 40 3.3 Research design-teacher Xingzhi/AR cycles .................................................... 41 3.4 Research principles ............................................................................................ 44 3.4.1 Triangulation ................................................................................................. 45 3.4.2 Validity and reliability ................................................................................... 46 3.4.3 Generalizability ............................................................................................. 47 3.4.4 Ethics and approval to conduct the research ................................................. 48 3.4.4.1 Centre for Educational Research (CER), School of Education (SOE) .. 48 ii 3.4.4.2 Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) ........................................ 48 3.4.4.3 State Education Research Application Process (SERAP) ...................... 49 3.5 Site ....................................................................................................................... 50 3.6 Participants ......................................................................................................... 50 3.7 Data collection ...................................................................................................
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