Research On Teaching Chinese Culture Courses To Chinese Majors In Turkish Universities

In the context of globalization in the 21 st century,with the continuous development of China's economy and the continuous improvement of its international role,the Chinese language has been increasingly attracting people worldwide.The number of people learning Chinese is increasing substantially in recent years,and a new round of “Chinese language craze” began booming in the world.In the process of teaching Chinese,it is essential to teach Chinese culture to students as well,but the development of cultural courses falls behind the development of the language courses.To better implement cultural courses,we must strengthen the research on the teaching design and practice guidance of cultural courses,especially the research on specific cultural courses' teaching design.Turkey has a long history of Chinese language education.Since 1935,the Chinese language in higher education institutions has played an essential role in promoting the Chinese language in Turkey.The primary source of Turkish-Chinese language interactions is the graduates of Chinese-language majors.Therefore,in Turkey and China,there is more and more research on Chinese language teaching in Turkish universities.According to the data from CNKI and the Thesis Center of Turkish Higher Education Institutions,there is currently no research on Chinese culture teaching for Chinese majors in Turkish universities.Therefore,particular research needs to be carried out to improve the teaching of Chinese culture in Turkey.In order to provide complete and more creative Chinese culture course teaching experiences for Chinese majors in Turkish universities,this research explores the current situation and needs of Turkish universities' Chinese majors in teaching culture,and proposes: “How is the current situation of Chinese culture teaching in Chinese culture courses in Turkish universities?”,“What are students' opinions and needs in Turkish universities of Chinese majors for teaching culture in Chinese courses?”,“What are the thoughts of the Chinese teachers of Chinese majors in Turkish universities on teaching culture?”,“What are the thoughts and expectations of Turkish universities' Chinese language teachers on the current Chinese culture course design?” Under the highlight of these questions,The researcher constructed research ideas and frameworks from four aspects,namely:1)Analysis of the current situation and needs of Chinese culture courses of Chinese majors in Turkish universities.This research uses three research methods:First,semi-structured interviews,questionnaires,and document analysis methods.Semi-structured interview subjects are teachers of Chinese majors in Turkish universities,and the questionnaire subjects are all students in Chinese majors at Turkish universities.A detailed document analysis of Chinese majors' teaching design in Turkish universities is also carried out,and the results are sorted and analyzed.The current research findings can be divided into three parts.The first part is based on the analysis of semi-structured interview data.It explores the current Turkish Chinese teachers' opinions and expectations on teaching culture and relevant teaching syllabus design.Although most teachers are well aware of the necessity of Chinese language and culture teaching should be simultaneously,yet they think that the first-year students' language proficiency is not enough,and the Turkish language materials used in the class are just a few.Therefore,most of the culture courses are placed after the second year.The lack of a unified Chinese syllabus in Turkey's universities also dramatically impacts Chinese majors' teaching.Although the teachers agree on the need for a unified Chinese teaching syllabus,as only four universities offer Chinese majors in Turkey currently,the teachers believe it is not needed.In terms of syllabus design,teachers believe that the current teaching methods are effective,but there are many problems in the Chinese culture course textbooks,including the difficulty of obtaining textbooks,the lack of new edited textbooks,and also textbooks are not based on students level.Practical activities are an essential part of the cultural teaching process,but Chinese majors' practice activities in Turkish universities are far from enough.There is too much content in ancient Chinese culture and too little content in understanding contemporary China in terms of cultural courses' teaching content.In the second part,through the questionnaire,it is found that which aspects students are satisfied and dissatisfied with the current culture teaching.Although most students are very interested in Chinese culture,some students think that existing teaching methods are too traditional and the content of textbooks is not suitable for students' language level,lack of cultural practice activities in and out of class.In the third part,through the document analysis method,the Chinese majors' cultural syllabus design characteristics were obtained.The main content can be divided into five parts: teaching purpose,teaching content,teaching time,teaching materials and methods.The teaching purpose is designed according to the purpose of the establishment of the major.The teaching content is concentrated and related to traditional culture.The teaching time varies for each university.The commonly used teaching materials are pictures,videos,and movies,and the commonly used teaching methods are discussion,group cooperation,and presentation.2)The following problems and reasons found in the current research results:Inadequate access to resources,not fixed and suitable for students' level and not standardized old edition textbooks,lack of cultural practice activities,not unified syllabus,and the lack of emphasis on the content of modern Chinese culture.These problems have associated with whether the university has established a Confucius Institute,the teaching materials are prepared and selected by the teachers themselves,as there is a lack of selection resources,the lack of teaching materials according to students' level,and the lack of teaching facilities and equipment's.3)After analyzing the status quo,the ADDIE instructional design model was used to design Chinese culture courses' syllabus.The ADDIE model originated from Florida State University in the U.S.in 1975 and was applied by the U.S.Army.This model is commonly used and effective in the teaching scope and includes five stages;analysis,design,development,implementation,and evaluation.The researcher obtained the students' cultural learning needs through the questionnaire.Considering different levels,students' needs should be analyzed according to their level.The analysis results can include expectations on culture class hours,teaching methods,teaching materials,teaching tools,course content,the teacher's nationality,and the language used in the culture class.4)In this study,after an in-depth understanding of Chinese majors' Chinese culture course in four Turkish universities,based on the teacher's opinion and the analysis of students' needs,the syllabus of culture courses is designed.The study object is first-year students of Chinese majors in Turkish universities.The researcher especially hopes that this research can improve Chinese culture teaching in Chinese majors in Turkish universities.Through this research,the author also hopes that teachers and students who study Chinese as a foreign language and Chinese culture in Turkey can pay more attention to the importance of the Chinese culture course teaching.