| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 語文與創作學系華語文教學碩士班 === 107 === Taboos have an important influence on cultural interaction related to success and failure of cross-cultural communication. Therefore, the researcher is reflecting on how to enable learners to understand Chinese “taboo culture” and enhance cross-cultural competency while learning Mandarin Chinese (hereafter referred to as “Chinese language”) and designs a Chinese language course that utilizes Chinese “taboo culture”. This study has three research questions: (1) What is the significance of “taboo culture” in Chinese language teaching? (2) Which themes of taboos are applicable for Chinese teaching? (3) How does one construct a curriculum model for “Chinese culture course(s)”?
This study adopts the “action research method”. First, the researcher designed a course according to the analysis of literature content, a mixed questionnaire on “Chinese taboo survey”, and the learners. Next, during an eight-week period the course was implemented in the field. At last, according to multiple assessment findings, the researcher analyzed the course and summarized the results and findings.
This study is based on the data triangulation of learner, researcher, and observer records and is organized into three results: (1) In terms of language, students’ Chinese levels had improved by some degree. In terms of culture, students not only actively analyzed taboos from a scientific perspective but also discussed the impact of taboos on intercultural communication. (2) The themes of ‘food’ and ‘ghosts and gods’ elevated participant’s motivation. The themes of ‘marriage’ and ‘housing’ had the issue that some topics did not directly relate to student’s personal experiences. (3) The course design used in this study was based on the “experiential learning cycle” as described by Moran (2009): participation, description, interpretation, and response. Following the implementation of the course, the researcher chose to further divide the stages ‘interpretation’ and ‘response’ into two separate steps. In other words, students obtained general understanding of the target culture content during the first cycle then underwent a second step involving ‘interpretation’ and ‘response’ to further consolidate knowledge acquired during the first cycle.
This study has three conclusions: (1) In terms of language, taboo teaching not only enables learners to effectively learn language within a cultural context but also enhances the effectiveness of language learning through cultural learning. In terms of culture, learners can begin to glimpse Chinese culture while learning about taboo knowledge. Additionally, learners not only develop their cross-cultural comparative abilities but also cultivate their cross-cultural awareness. (2) Themes that correspond with students’ personal experience can elevate participant’s motivation and enhance their learning efficacy; themes that correspond with more difficult cultural knowledge should pay consideration to the practicality of the content. (3) The researcher constructed a curriculum model for “Chinese culture course(s)”. Future course instructors can use this model to integrate other cultural aspects—such as tea culture, festival culture, and etc.—so that learners can systematically learn more from the target culture.
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