Research On Teaching Chinese Proverbial Tales Class In University And Colleges In Thailand

As far as language is concerned, vocabulary is the most adapt tool to transmit culture and in Chinese vocabulary, chengyu may be the best example, because they narrate a short story or convey in their meaning a precise argument. Thus by learning Chinese chengyu, foreign students will grasp the main points and difficulties of cross-cultural communication.Chengyu are characterized by fixed knowledge and cultural value accumulated in thousand of years of usage by Chinese people. Mastering chengyu is therefore a key point in intercultural communication and, at the same time, one of the main difficulties in learning Chinese.This thesis will investigate upon the present situation of teaching chengyu, in Thailand using Silpalkorn University as an example. An analysis of the circumstances and teaching materials for the chengyu class will be carried out, the problems and deficiencies of the approach will be presented and, according to the research results, the author will offer commendations to improve teaching chengyu process.This thesis is composed by five different chapters:Chapter one will work as an introduction, as it will present the significance of the topic and the objective of the work. It will briefly present the current situation of teaching chengyu in universities and colleges in Thailand and the main problems of the field. It will mention the previous works regarding Chinese International Education and Chinese chengyu, offer a comparison between works on the same subject and present the methodology applied to the research.Chapter two will focus on the Chinese chengyu teaching situation at Silpakorn University of Thailand and it will describe the current situation and the objective of the academic programme for teaching chengyu. It will briefly present its content and it will illustrate the methods and evaluation of two books used in class. It will summarize the content of the course and the teaching materials provided and a survey and analysis of Chinese chengyu Teaching.Chapter three will deal specifically with the teaching Chinese chengyu materials in Silpakorn University of Thailand. The author will analyze the two different textbook used throughout the academic course: “172 Chinese idioms stories”, used by students in 2008 academic year and “36 Chinese idioms stories” adopted during 2009 and 2010 academic year. Information regarding the sources, lay out order, grade of difficulty will be provided, as well as proposals on possible rearrangements.Chapter four will provide suggestions regarding Chinese chengyu teaching,focusing on compiling and designing teaching materials.Chapter five will offer a summary of the results provided by the thesis.