The application of Stanislavski's system for the enhancement of narrative writing in Chinese as a second language for secondary school students = 演戲學中文 : 應用史坦尼斯拉夫斯基表演體系促進中文作為第二語言中學生記敘文寫作的研究

Abstract

Writing is the most challenging task in second language learning, especially Chinese characters that are made by components and structures, which is an ideographic rather than an alphabetic writing system. It affects students’ motivation to learn Chinese as second language. In Hong Kong, due to the increasing number of ethnic minority students, there is a growing need of learning Chinese as a second language after the change in language policy in 1997. Nevertheless, frontline teachers still lack effective teaching strategies. Therefore, this study focuses on easing the writing difficulties of ethnic minorities students in Chinese and also supporting Chinese teachers by providing them a solution with the adoption of Stanislavski’s System in the learning and teaching Chinese narrative writing as a second language. Over the past decade, applying drama in learning and teaching a second language has become a popular research topic. Most studies focus on English as a second language, but there is limited research on both learning and teaching Chinese as a second Language and applying acting methods in learning and writing Chinese. This study intends to fill in this research gap by investigating the implications of the Stanislavski’s system in Chinese narrative writing as a second language.

The theoretical framework of the study consists of three main pillars: 1. The first pillar comprises the second language acquisition theories and the Input Hypothesis Model of Krashen (1985) and the Interactive Hypothesis of Long (1985, 1996); 2. The second pillar is Stanislavski’s system (1936, 2008); 3. The third pillar is the genre theories of narrative writing based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (1985).

In this study, the target sampling method will be employed. The research participants include two Chinese language teachers in a local secondary school in Hong Kong, and two classes of Form 1 and Form 2 ethnic minority students (N=19). The researcher-as-practitioner collaborated with the teachers using Stanislavski’s system in the Chinese narrative writing classes. In addition, lesson study and pre-experimental research design were used to evaluate the effect on the enhancement of the students' writing performances with different levels of Chinese proficiency. Finally, qualitative research methods i.e. semi-structured interviews and multiple case studies were used; the teachers and students were interviewed. All sorts of research data were triangulated to enhance the reliability of the study.

The results of the study showed improvements in the overall writing performance of both the low and high achievers. Their ability of expressing feelings through Chinese writing was also improved as more emotive lexicons were found. Regarding the students’ learning motivation, positive improvements were found. The most significant changes in high achievers and low achievers are “intrinsic motivation orientation” and “self-efficacy” respectively.