Engaging Stage1 students in Western Sydney Mandarin classes through pictographic characters : a unit of work for Stage 1 children

Abstract

This thesis reports a case study conducted in the Western Sydney region, where the teacher-researcher teaches Mandarin in a Stage 1 class. The study aimed to construct a localised unit of work that focuses on Chinese pictographic characters to improve student engagement. It adopted suggestions from local teachers and then applied six lessons for a specific class within a Western Sydney public school context. Data were collected from interviews, reflective journals, formative assessments, post-it notes questions and students' focus groups. The teacher-researcher concludes that the unit of work has many positive effects. Games, pictures and videos help to increase student engagement behaviourally, emotionally and cognitively. Further, the pictographs help students develop stronger memories of the Chinese characters they learned. However, future research could focus on the writing order and pronunciation of Hanzi.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English