Teaching modern Chinese literature to second language Chinese students through the use of drama

Abstract

Among many challenges teachers have while teaching Chinese literature to students who study Chinese as an additional language, one prominent problem is students’ lack of understanding of the social, cultural, and contextual background of the texts they read. Teachers need to adopt effective pedagogical methods to solve this problem in their teaching. This chapter reports findings from a case study using drama conventions to teach Chinese as an additional language (CAL) students to read a text of Chinese literature. Research participants were students of a mainstream secondary school in Hong Kong with intermediate level of Chinese proficiency. Drama conventions being used include still image, reader’s theatre, in-role writing, and teacher-in-role. Findings indicated that students engaged in the drama lessons gained a deeper understanding of the text and could evaluate the behaviours of the characters critically. Significance and implications of the findings for the teaching of modern Chinese literature are discussed at the end of the chapter.