華語文教學的文化衝擊與跨文化適應敘事探究—以美國馬里蘭州某公立中學華師為例

Abstract

本論文以敘事探究的方法，敘說研究者在美國華府地區某私立大學擔任華語文教師七年以後，為了追求更穩定的職業生涯，轉換跑道到美國馬里蘭州某公立中學。因為陌生的教育制度、公校環境、教學對象與教學型態產生許多文化衝擊，而為應對上述四個主要面向的困境，研究者所採取的跨文化適應策略與模式。研究資料以自入職公立中學開始的2022年9月到2023 年5月這段完整經歷文化適應歷程的8個月，期間與學校行政、同事、學生間口頭對話的文字回溯紀錄，與同事的聊天群組訊息記錄、學生學習成果的照片記錄以及環境觀察的文字紀錄為研究文本。主要研究問題有二：第一，研究者為臺灣教育環境下成長、培育的教師，在美國公立中學任教的文化衝擊與跨文化適應歷程為何？第二、研究者的華語文教學場域自美國的大學轉換到公立中學，因應教學對象改變的跨文化適應歷程模式、策略為何？研究結果發現，跨文化適應是一個動態的調整歷程，對應於不同情況與事件，可能採用不同的適應策略。由於臺灣與美國的中學在各方面差異頗大，因此在適應行政體制與人事相處方面，研究者採用同化策略；在班級管理與師生關係經營時，應情境兼採同化與整合的策略模式。教學場域由美國的大學轉換到中學時，對教學方式、風格、活動、評量等，為適應學生年齡的特質與學習風格，則採用整合的適應策略。最後，研究者也針對自大學到中學的轉場與應變歸結出新的意義：一、重新平衡的工作、薪酬與個人生活；二、重新定位老師的自我角色與期待；三、重新思考華語文的教與學。Narrative inquiry is used in this thesis as a research method to inquire that the researcher served as a Chinese language teacher for seven years in a private university in Washington, DC. After that, she switched careers to a public middle school Chinese teacher in Maryland, USA, to pursue a more stable position. The researcher encountered a few culture shocks from the unfamiliar educational system, public school environment, new students, and learning styles since then, and to cope with the difficulties accordingly, cross-cultural adaptation strategies and models were adopted.The research materials were collected from September 2022 to May 2023, including conversations with school administrators, colleagues, and students, group chat messages with colleagues, photo pictures of students' learning achievements, and environmental observation. There are two main research questions: firstly, what are the cultural shock and cross-cultural adaptation process of the researcher as a teacher who grew up and was trained in Taiwan's educational environment but taught in American public middle schools? Secondly, what are the models and strategies of the cross-cultural adaptation process for the researchers when transitioning from teaching Chinese in American universities to public middleschools? The results show that cross-cultural adaptation is a dynamic adjustment process, and different adaptation strategies may be adopted according to different situations and events. Because of the great differences between middle schools in Taiwan Province and the United States in various aspects, researchers adopt assimilation strategies in adapting to the administrative system and getting along with personnel; In class management and teacher-student relationship, the strategy mode of assimilation and integration should be adopted in both situations. When the teaching is changed from American universities to middle schools, integrated adaptation strategies are adopted for teaching methods, styles, activities, evaluation, etc., to better adapt to the features of students' age and learning styles. Finally, the researcher also summed up new meanings for teaching in middle school: Firstly, to rebalance work, salary, and personal life; Secondly, to reposition the teacher's role and expectation; Thirdly, to rethink teaching and learning Chinese.