Scaffolding L2 Chinese Learners' Critical Cultural Awareness via Projects

1309 

Practice-Oriented Paper 

Chinese 

Chinese 

Danwei Li  
University of Connecticut

Danwei Li  
University of Connecticut

Culture and Language are interwoven. As culture is a big concept, it is still a debated question how to implement it appropriately and efficiently in language courses at different levels(Garrett-Rucks, 2013). The purpose of the current study is to explore a way to engage L2 Chinese learners in in-depth cultural learning as well as facilitate their intercultural communicative competence (ICC) development from beginner level to emerging advanced level. Guided by Byram's (1997) ICC model, Translanguaging theory, and NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-do Statements, a series of projects have been designed and carried out in two elementary courses and an intermediate-to-advanced level course. Participants were scaffolded to complete a series of projects concerning cross-cultural communication. Discourse analysis of their reflections from the follow-up questionnaires revealed that the two major goals for the present study had been met.

Participants will learn the pertinent frameworks that guided this project. participants' feedback as well as the pedagogical implications.

Participants will get some ideas on how to design and implement the projects to foster learners' intercultural communicative competence at different language levels.

Participants will be shared with the participants' feedback as well as the pedagogical implications.

The current study aims to engage L2 Chinese learners in in-depth cultural learning and facilitate their ICC development from beginner to advanced level. Guided by Byram's (1997) ICC model, Translanguaging theory, and NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-do Statements, a series of projects have been implemented in Chinese language courses at different levels.

Post-Secondary

Curriculum and Instruction