The Teaching Of Folk Culture In The Intermediate Stage Of Chinese As A Foreign Language

The teaching of culture plays a role of profound significance in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL). Without learning the culture underlying a certain language, one cannot be said to have a true command of the language. Chinese folk culture constitutes part of Chinese culture. In order to know better and blend into China, second language learners need to learn Chinese folk culture. Therefore, the teaching of folk culture in TCFL turns to be a research topic worth focusing on.TCFL aims to cultivate second language learners’ ability to use Chinese to conduct efficient communications within a short period, namely their intercultural communication competence. Folk culture is one of the crucial factors related to intercultural communication. A thorough understanding of Chinese folk culture, particularly that of the Han nationality, is of great benefit for second language learners to know better about China and learn Chinese more efficiently.This thesis focuses on the teaching of folk culture in TCFL (Intermediate level) and consists of four parts as follows.Part One serves as an introduction, which describes the motivation of this study, summarizes the concept and range of folk culture, reviews the relevant studies concerning this topic. The theoretical framework adopted in this study is a united one of linguistics, psychology and pedagogy. The research methods employed consist of documentary analysis, case study, and contrastive analysis.Part Two, which includes Chapter One, concentrates on the interrelationship between folk culture and the Chinese language and analyses the role of folk culture in TCFL. The folk culture teaching can cultivate students’ interest in learning Chinese, helping them know much better about Chinese culture, and cultivating their intercultural communication competence. The significance of folk culture teaching in TCFL is discussed, that is, close relation to daily communication, satisfaction of second language learners’urgent needs, and scaffolding for getting deeper into Chinese culture. Moreover, three principles in teaching TCFL folk culture are analyzed, namely, the accommodation between the content of folk culture and language teaching, the representativeness of selected folk culture, and the developmental principle of folk culture.Part Three involves Chapter Two and Chapter Three, which sorts out the folk culture information in New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook (Book5&6, namely the intermediate level), systematically investigates the cognitive instruction of the folk culture, and probes into the ways of introducing folk culture in Book5:first, folk culture is directly presented in the texts; second, folk culture is contained in the sample sentences of grammar; third, lead-in of folk culture is vocabulary; fourth, incorporation of folk culture in exercises. This part further discusses the principles of introducing folk culture, namely principle of moderation, principle of comparison and contrast, and principle of practicability.Part Four discusses the methods of folk culture teaching:like developing students’ interest in Chinese folk culture, taking into consideration of folk culture teaching in language teaching, highlighting cultural comparison and contrast. This part also focuses on some tips in folk culture teaching, that is, teachers had better possess the intercultural awareness, especially notice to study learners’mode of thinking, and finally help the learners have a thorough understanding of the thinking mode in Chinese culture.This study is expected to provide necessary assistance to the learners and teachers of Chinese as a second language and call on them to attach as much attention to Chinese folk culture and come to know about different nationalities in China, the Han nationality in particular and help learners learn Chinese faster and better.