Enhancing non-native students’ Mandarin literacy in Sarawak primary school using the Liushu approach

Sik Ruoh Yih (2023) Enhancing non-native students’ Mandarin literacy in Sarawak primary school using the Liushu approach. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

	Text 24 PAGES.pdf Download (719kB)
	Text FULLTEXT.pdf Restricted to Registered users only Download (8MB)

Abstract

The Chinese language is rapidly becoming a popular second language to learn today. Since 2011, the Chinese language has been offered as an elective subject in Malaysian national primary schools under the Primary School Standards-Based Curriculum (KSSR). The purpose of this research was to look into the effectiveness of the Liushu teaching approach for teaching Hanzi (Chinese characters), which is considered difficult for non-native Chinese learners, and to discover if pupils could master the form, sound, and meaning of Hanzi. Furthermore, this research investigated whether the Liushu teaching approach could promote an enjoyable self-learning environment among pupils and Chinese culture among the non-native learners. An experimental research was conducted to test the hypothesis formulated in this research. Five national primary schools in Sarawak that offer Chinese as an elective subject were chosen as the primary research sites. Six teachers had volunteered to participate in this research. The non-native pupils from Year-3 classes were selected as the research sample. Pre-test and post-test were used in the control and treatment groups to collect the relevant data. The T-test was used to analyse the data in order to compare the means of the control and treatment groups for the pre-test and post-test. Interviews with the teacher participants were conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Liushu teaching approach and determine whether the Liushu teaching approach could promote an enjoyable self-learning environment for pupils and help promote Chinese culture among non-native learners. Questionnaires were distributed to teachers who taught Chinese as a second language in the selected national primary schools and also to parents of the participants of the present study. The questionnaire collected factual data to support and validate the statistical data and findings that emerged in the study. To ensure that the targeted data is accurate and relevant, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this research. After the experimental research was conducted, the mean differences between the control and treatment groups for the pre-test and post-test were compared. After 9 weeks of treatment, the treatment group that used the Liushu teaching approach in literacy Hanzi recognition learning had a greater mean difference than the mean difference of the control group. The findings of the research show that after introducing the Liushu teaching approach to pupils in learning Hanzi, there is an increase in the number of Hanzi pupils who can recognise the form, sound, and meaning of Hanzi. Furthermore, the teachers' interviews, observations and questionnaire responses show that the Liushu teaching approach can foster an enjoyable self-learning environment among pupils and promote the Chinese culture among non-native learners. The findings of this study thus have contributed to the existing literature by providing new knowledge to researchers who are interested in carrying out research related to the area of teaching Chinese as a second language.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Keyword:	Chinese language, Primary School Standards-Based Curriculum, Liushu teaching
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PL Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania > PL1-8844 Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania > PL1001-3208 Chinese language and literature > PL1001-1960 Chinese language
Department:	CENTRE > Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning
Depositing User:	DG MASNIAH AHMAD -
Date Deposited:	05 Sep 2024 10:47
Last Modified:	05 Sep 2024 10:47
URI:	https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/40853

Actions (login required)

View Item