How does a beginning Chinese foreign language teacher improve teaching Chinese through a communicative approach via reflection? : an action research project

Abstract

This study is an action research project conducted by a teacher-researcher who is teaching Chinese as a foreign language to students in NSW public schools. It involves two action research cycles in order to investigate how a beginning teacher can improve Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) practice through continuous reflective teaching. The first action research cycle employs the NSW Quality Teaching (QT) pedagogical model as a tool to support reflective teaching. The second action research cycle aims at testing out and further improving the findings of the first action research cycle by drawing on principles of intercultural language teaching (ILT). This study seeks to contribute to current language education research in several areas. Firstly, it generates data about Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) which is an emerging field. Secondly, it includes theoretical and practical understanding about CLT and ILT as foreign language pedagogies. Thirdly, while using action research as the methodology, the reflexivity of action research was further developed in this study through the integration of reflective teaching cycles into action research cycles. Fourthly, an approach to reflective teaching, namely, 'tension-focused reflective teaching' has been developed. Fifthly, tension-focused reflection has also given rise to a method for enhancing foreign language teaching via a communicative approach, which I termed Quality Intercultural Communicative Activities (QICA)-in which QT elements are incorporated into the design of classroom activities for intercultural communicative competence development. Sixthly, QICA also constitutes a mode of implementation of QT in the context of CLT and ILT to improve the quality of foreign language pedagogy. Seventhly, this study evaluates and tries to develop QT as a self-reflection tool for teachers.

Date of Award	2013
Original language	English