在美國非華語環境下中文教學策略之行動研究

Abstract

本研究為行動研究，目的是要解決研究者在美國加州大學此非華語環境下教授中文課程時，所面臨的三大教學困境，包括：（一）大班短時（每日50分鐘）（二）在非華語環境（三）華裔與非華裔混班學習。研究者採行動研究法進行教學試驗，從發現問題、假設原因、發展教學策略、實際驗證、到反省修正等一連串教學歷程，除了期望在改進本身教學方法後，能提昇教學品質外，更期望在非華語環境下學習中文之學習者在聽、說、讀、寫四項語言技能上能全面提高。 教學試驗過程是按著課程規劃及教學目標來實施教學活動，而其過程主要包括兩部分：課程實施及學習評鑑。課程實施之重點為藉由教材中詞彙、語法點、課文等內容來設計教學活動，以培養及訓練學生獲得中文各項語言技能；學習評鑑乃經由考試、作業、課堂表現等方式來檢驗學生學習情況及獲得教學反饋與反省。至於教學活動之設計，皆以學生之現況、學校要求，以及美國外語教學協會（ACTFL）公布之外語學習目標及能力標準為依據。強調師生與生生語言互動，給予學生較多的思維空間，並配合各種教學法來激發學生的主動性、積極性以及創造性。 根據試驗教學評估顯示，研究者使用所發展的教學策略後，確實改善在美國此一非華語環境下從事中文教學時所面臨的困境，並提出解決這三大困境的初步建議：（一）以媒體輔具提高教學效率、以互助合作提高學習興趣，來解決大班短時教學上的困難（二）以「全中文環境」提高聽力、以「溝通式教學」培養口語能力，以及利用網路資源培養自學能力，來解決在非華語環境下教學的困難（三）以「合作學習法」相輔相成來進行學習任務，以及依學生不同背景適時安排學習任務，來解決華裔與非華裔混班的教學困難。

The purpose of this research is to resolve three teaching problems in teaching Chinese under non-target language (NTL) environment at the University of California, USA, such as: 1) large-class, short-section courses, 2) non-target language environment, and 3) mixed classes of heritage and non-heritage learners. This research’s experiment applies “Action Research,” which starts from exploring the problems and digging into possible causes, to developing teaching strategies to verify the effectiveness of the theory and doing a series of amendments. The expectation is not only to improve the quality of teaching, but also to enhance students’ achievements in listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities under NTL environment. The teaching experiment was guided by curriculum and objectives. It consists of two parts: the implementation of curriculum and learning evaluation. Implementation of the curriculum is used to organize and design teaching activities by focusing on vocabulary, grammar, text etc., so that the learner can acquire Chinese language ability efficiently. Learning evaluation includes examinations, homework, and class performance. Through the evaluation, the instructors will obtain feedbacks from the students. The teaching is based on the students’ needs, school’s requirements, and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ (ACTFL) standards, and should emphasize the interactions between instructor and students, in order to offer more rooms for creativity and active learning supported by various teaching methods. Under this pilot teaching assessment, properly designed teaching strategies will indeed improve the efficiency of teaching Chinese in the USA under NTL environment. The three teaching strategies are: 1) employing multi media and cooperative learning to improve teaching efficiency, motivate students’ learning interests, and eliminate the difficulty of large-class, short-section course; 2) building a Chinese-only environment to improve listening ability; using “Communication Language Teaching” to enhance the oral ability; and encouraging the use of Internet resources to cultivate self-learning and to resolve the teaching difficulty in NTL environments; 3) adopting "Cooperative Language Learning" and arranging different tasks for students of varying backgrounds to eliminate the difficulty raised by mixed classes of heritage and non-heritage learners.