L/O/G/O 1 1 Teaching Intercultural Competence through Chinese Literature: the application of Reader...

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Teaching Intercultural Competence through Chinese Literature:

the application of Reader Response Theory

and Schemata Theory in TCFL

Xiuming (Vivien) CHEN

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Contents

Case StudyThe application of RRT and ST in the Chinese literature classroom

Theories

The merger of the Reader Response Theory (RRT) and the Schemata Theory (ST)

Literary texts and intercultural competence

Significance

Intercultural Competence (IC)

Definition ( Byram,1997; Kramsh,1998)

to interact with “others”

to accept the perspectives from other cultures

to be aware of the difference between different

cultures

Intercultural Competence

Components (Byram, Nichols and Steven,2001)

Attitude

• Curiosity

• Openness



Attitude

• Curiosity

• Openness

Knowledge

• Specific culture

• Social identities



Attitude

• Curiosity• Openness

Knowledge

• Specific culture• Social identities

Skills

Comparison, interpreting, relating Discovery, interactionCritical cultural awareness

IC and Literature Teaching

IC Components Literary Texts Specific requirements

Attitudevivid contentdevelop interests; stimulate curiosity

Text: Universal topics; Suitable for different age groupsSkills: Critical cultural awareness



Attitudevivid contentsdevelop interests; stimulate curiosity


KnowledgeCultural texts with cultural knowledge

Text: embedded with cultural elements and posed intercultural problemsSkills: discovery and interaction; interpreting and relating



Attitudevivid contentsdevelop interests; stimulate curiosity


KnowledgeCultural texts with cultural knowledge

Text: embed with cultural elements and posed intercultural problemsSkills: discovery and interaction; interpreting and relating

SkillsOpen to different interpretations

Text: above two conditionsApproach: Affective approach+ Cognitive approach

Conclusion

Literary texts are good material for improving students’ intercultural competence.

Significance

A Historical note

Time Literary Criticism

Foreign language Acquisition

Literature teaching

1910s-1930s

1920s-1950s

Russian FormalismNew Criticism

Grammar-translation

Canonical literary works

A Historical note



Literature teaching

1910s-1930s

1920s-1950s


Grammar-translation


1950s-1960s

Structuralism Audio-lingual Language

A Historical note



Literature teaching

1910s-1930s

1920s-1950s


Grammar-translation


1950s-1960s

Structuralism Audio-lingual Language

1970s-now Post-Structuralism(Reader Response)

Communicative Language Teaching;Intercultural language learning

CultureOpportunity for literature’s return

Teaching Approach

Traditional teaching approach

Teacher-centered; text-centered;

Single interpretation; “close” the open text

Modern teaching approach

Student-centered; reader-centered;

multiple interpretation; open the text

Proposed teaching approach: A merger of Reader Response Theory (RRT) and Schemata Theory(ST)

Reader Response Theory

Concept Reader Response Theory, begun in the 1960s, views

the reading process as a transaction between the reader and the text (Ali, 1994)

Readers are encouraged to fill in the areas of “indeterminacy” by their own creations according to their past experiences, beliefs, expectations and assumptions (Iser,1978;Fish,1980;Carson,1993)

Students freely respond to text and the teacher accept “multiple interpretations”(Amer,2003;Rosenblatt,1955)


Relationship


RRT research in China (CNKI)

38%

0%4

%

58%

Translation

TCFL

ESL/FLT

Others


Limitation of RRT Not every student has achieved the level that he

or she can freely express in a second language.

Learning the new vocabularies, new sentence

Patterns, new text structures and basic cultural

knowledge are still the important tasks in foreign

language classroom.

Reader’s cognitive skills are the foundation of free affective responses.

Schemata Theory

Concept Kant (1781): “the procedural rule by which a category or

pure, non-empirical concept is associated

with a mental image of an object.

Bartelett (1932): “Theory of Remembering”

Piaget (1977;1983): “Schemata, assimilation,

accommodation, equilibration”

Rumelhart (1980): “Our schemata are our knowledge” Reasons for misunderstanding a text Bottom-up and top-down reading

Schemata Theory

Classification Formal schemata and Content schemata (Carrell, 1983b)

Text schemata, genre schemata and content schemata

(Filmore, 1981)

World schemata, text schemata and language schemata

(Cook,1997)

Culture schemata (Holland & Naomi,1987)

My classification: language schemata, text schemata,

content schemata and culture schemata

Schemata Theory

Relationship

Schemata Theory

ST research in China (CNKI)

41%

1%

58%

ESL/FLTTCFLOthers

Schemata Theory

Limitation of ST The cognitive approach to representing narrative is not

adequate in representing literary texts. Purely cognitive

models cannot account either for the indeterminacy of

literary texts or for the variety of different and often

conflicting readings that result from the same text.

The reader emphasizes creating the schemata rather than

comprehending the text. (Miall,1989)

Reader’s affective response guides the process of schemata creation (Miall,1989).

A merger of RRT and ST

Relationship

RRTAffective learning,

i.e. emotions, feelings, opinions

Eemphasize a reader’s past experience and background knowledge.

ProductProcess


• Purpose of foreign language teaching

IC



• Teaching material with intercultural elements

IC Literary Text




• Approach: focus on affective response

IC Literary Text

RRT




• Approach: focus on cognitive skills

• Approach: focus on affective response

IC Literary Text

STRRT

By linking RRT to ST, it will be possible to create a model for teaching literary texts.

Conclusion

Theories

RRT and ST are suitable approaches for teaching intercultural competence through literature.

Case Study

Participant Five university students studying intermediate or advanced

Chinese. Among them, one has Chinese background, one has Vietnamese background, the remaining ones are Australian. They have learned Chinese from 2.5 years to 9 years.

31%

31%

13%

19% 6%

Expected achievement through Chinese literature reading?

Improve Chinese languages skillsLearn Chinese society, his-tory and culture about ChinaAesthetic pleasureObtain Chinese literature knowledgeJust for entertainment

Case Study

Text Genre: short-shorts

focuses on one incident, has a single plot, a single setting, and a small number of characters; and covers a short period of time

(Gelfant, Blanche & Graver, Lawrence, 2000)

Content:“The reading of love” by Huifen Xu The story begins with a man’s wife who has just attended an old man’s

funeral ,suddenly dying. When the man is remembering his wife and packing up her possessions, he finds a love letter to her from the dead man. Through dialogue with his daughter, the man emphasizes that his wife loved him rather than cheated him because no one without love would conceal the truth for over twenty years. He feels that he was a happy man retaining his wife’s love and also feels guilty that he could not offer his wife the love she wanted.

Case Study

Procedure and Response The Reader’s prediction （ RRT and ST ）

Pre-reading predicting: what are your expectations when you

see the title of the story

Student’s response:

All students: 爱，爱的故事 All students: 爱情

A: “ 解开我…” (A sang one part of a Chinese popular love song)

B 、 C ： Friendship

C: 可以用对爱情，也可以互相帮助B 、 D: 朋友

D: 也可以爸爸和儿子，同学

Case Study

Plot prediction: what do you think the man will

discover?


A: 写的信，E: 信

D: 最后的日记C: 前夫的照片或者是她自己的照片

B ：写给丈夫的信

Case Study

Sentence and words prediction: 1. Guessing meaning according to the Context. 人很难把握生命。一位医生说，毛病不断的人，不一定短命。（然

而）， ______________________ 。

2. Use a noun to describe the “life”. 人很难把握生命。一位医生说，毛病不断的人，不一定短命。（生命）就像

_____________ 。就像就像一只瓷瓶 , 即使已经显现出裂缝，但如果仔细爱护，也可避免破碎。而一只好碗，一不当心也会粉碎。

3. Guessing the adjective words according to the context. 每一样东西，都让他重温妻的一切： _____ 的笑脸， ____ 的声音，偶

尔也发一点 ____ ，还有那双为他长年端汤端药的 _____ 得一点不像读书人的手。

4. Guessing the measure words according to the context.

几十 ___ 蓝色的信纸，每一 ___ 上都有着长短句——这是一个男人写给女人的几十 ___ 情书……一笔一划，写活了一 ____ 持续了二十多年的静悄悄的爱 !

Case Study


（ 1 ）句子推测 B: 没有毛病的人，不一定长命。

(2) 句子推测，比喻练习 C: 生命就像天， day, 很短

D: 一场戏 B: 生命是一个故事， one chapter

E: 生命像戏

(3) 单词猜测什么样的笑脸： A: 高兴的 E: 美丽的

C: 温柔的什么样的声音 : D: 温柔的声音 B: 美妙的 A: 甜的

发一点什么？ C: 发火什么样的手？ All: rough, 不知道怎么

说

(4) 量词练习一 ____ 信纸： B: 篇

D ：张每一 ____ All: 张

一 ____ 情书 All: 本一 ____ 爱 C: 个

Case Study

Semantic field training (ST)

Semantic field training (1) ： love

Semantic field training (2):“ 相 --”

亲情

•父子情•母女情•手足情

友情

•同窗情•知己•诤友

爱情

•初恋•热恋•黄昏恋

相遇

• 他和她遇见了对方，他们 ˍˍˍ 了。• 他们开始了解对方，慢慢地 ˍˍˍ 。• 三个月以后，他们发现自己喜欢上了对方，他们 ˍˍˍ 了。• 三年以后，他们结婚了，他们要一直 ˍˍˍ 到老。

相伴相知

选词填充：相 ~

相爱

Semantic field training (3):“ 死”委婉说法

Case Study

去世 Leave the world 见马克思 See Marx

升天 Go to heaven 往生 Live in

another world

安息 Rest in peace 牺牲 Sacrifice

oneself

瞑目 Close eyes 夭折 Died young

仙逝 Become immortal 圆寂 Monk or

nun passed away

qù shì

shēng tiān

ān xī

míng mù

xiān shì

jiàn mǎ kè sī

wǎng shēng

xī shēng

yāo zhé

Yuán jì

Semantic field training (3):“ 死”委婉说法

Case Study

Case Study

Intercultural comparison （ RRT ） Question: why the author use “ 走” replace “ 死” ? Are

there any similarities or difference in your culture?


All: pass away ，基本上都说 pass away

A: 越南也说“往生”，很像C 、 D: Kick the bucket ，就有点像蹬腿

Case Study

Personal response (RRT) Please use an adjective to describe the mother and the

father’s image?

If you are the daughter of the father, what will you say to your father?

If you are the father in the text, how will you respond when you find your wife’s love letters?


(1) 用一个词形容这位妻子 A: 美丽 E: 漂亮 D: 温柔 C: 难过

B: 善良 D: 努力工作（勤劳）

（ 2 ）如果你是女儿，你会怎么劝爸爸？

C: 你放心吧，别哭啊 E: 不要难过 D: 你还有我

(3) 如果你是这位父亲，你的感受是什么？

A: 很高兴对女儿，对妻子很生气

D: 震惊、失望 B ：背叛

(4) 如果你是父亲，你会怎么说 ? A: 我还有你

B: 很无奈，进退两难 D: 更多的机会在前面

Case Study

Describe a person you love or dream love:

Do you think the story could happen in real life? Why?

In your reading experience or life experience, what is the

most touching love story?

Role-play: daughter and father


Case Study

(5) 请你描述一下你的另一半或你的梦中情人（白马王子，白雪公主）

D: 黑马王子可以吗？

A: 她漂亮的个子，美丽的脸，闪亮的眼睛， don’t care, not big not small, 不大不小，温柔的声音

E: 我没有这样的，他，不知道

C: 高的个子，帅的脸，大的眼睛，大大的，不管眉毛，瘦的眉毛，长的鼻子，有意思的声音

D: 高的个子，哦，不高不矮的个子，漂亮的脸，可爱的眼睛，细的眉毛，高的鼻子，温柔的声音

B: 不高不矮的个子，正好的个子（中等个子），白白的脸，大大的眼睛，不粗不细的眉毛，红红的鼻子，很好听的声音

D: 很 manly 的声音是不是可以说英雄的声音？

B: 应该说洪亮

父亲怀念母亲。父亲和女儿发现母亲的情书。

1. 老先生与母亲的爱2. 母亲对父亲的爱3. 父亲对母亲的爱

父亲母亲老先生女儿

母亲参加完老先生追悼

会突然倒地。

母亲去世，父女悲痛。

女儿劝父亲原谅母亲。

1 2

5

3 4

主题

人物

Story Poker Card 　　　　　　　　　

父亲从母亲的情书中读到了“爱”。6

Story map and story-telling (ST and RRT)

Case Study

Conclusion

Case StudyThe merger of RRT and ST can be effectively applied in Chinese literature classrooms.

Conclusion

Case StudyThe merger of RRT and ST can be effectively applied in Chinese literature classrooms.

Theories

RRT and ST are suitable approaches for teaching the intercultural competence through literature.

Literary texts are good material for improving students’ intercultural competence.

Significance

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