A study of using Stanislavski’s system on learning and teaching narrative writing in Chinese as a second language
Submitted by:
Justine Po-Sau Woo
Abstract:
In Hong Kong, there is a growing need of learning Chinese as a second language after the change in language policy in 1997. The research study intends to fill in the research gap by investigating the implication of the Stanislavski’s acting system in Chinese narrative writing as second language.
The theoretical framework of the present 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 (1996);
2. The second pillar is Stanislavski (2008)’s Acting System;
3. The third pillar is the genre theories of narrative writing based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (1994).
In the study, the researcher as practitioner examined the Stanislavski’s Acting System in two different levels of the Chinese narrative writing classes. Lesson studies 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. Furthermore, qualitative research methods were used; two teacher-collaborators and students were interviewed. All sorts of research data will be triangulated to enhance the reliability of the study.
Results showed improvements in the overall writing performance after the intervention. Their ability of expressing feelings through Chinese writing was also improved as more emotive lexicons were found. Positive improvements on the students’ learning motivation are found from the interviews. All teachers indicated that combination of Stanislavski’s Acting System and Systemic Functional Grammar not only helped to enhance the students' writing ability but also the other Chinese language skills such as: listening, speaking, reading, thinking, affection and confidence.
References:
Halliday, M.A.K. (1994). An introduction to functional grammar. Second edition. London: Edward Arnold.
Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. London: Longman.
Long, M.H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In Ritchie, W.C. and Bhatia, T.K. (eds) Handbook of second language acquisition. San Diego: Academic Press, 413-68.
Stanislavski, K. (2008) An actor’s work. London and New York: Routledge.