Abstract
This study focused on analyzing the utterances in each dialogue embedded in the Chinese as Foreign Language (CFL) textbooks entitled “Happy Chinese.” These books are used in Philippine public high schools under the Special Program for Foreign Language - Mandarin. This study utilized the mixed-methods research design and Jakobson's communicative language function model in the analysis and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data. The results showed that language functions are not equally and fairly distributed in every textbook. The results of this study revealed that in Textbooks 1 and 2, the most observed language function is referential, while in Textbook 3, the most observed language function is phatic. It is observed in all three textbooks that metalinguistic and poetic functions are less frequent. Thus, these textbooks in terms of their communicative ability do not provide comprehensive support for all the six (6) language functions. Hence, the study recommends textbook developers to consider communicative language function as mean to evaluate CFL and other foreign language learning textbooks. Lastly, the results of this study will provide valuable input to the Department of Education, the Philippines in enhancing and improving the instructional materials being used in the implementation of Chinese Mandarin as a foreign language program.
Highlights
Since the establishment of the first Confucius Institute in 2004, learning Chinese Mandarin has become increasingly prevalent in the modern world
The goal of this study is to evaluate the Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) textbooks used in the Philippine public high schools titled “Happy Chinese.”
This implies that the textbooks in terms of their communicative ability do not provide comprehensive support for all the six (6) language functions
Summary
Since the establishment of the first Confucius Institute in 2004, learning Chinese Mandarin has become increasingly prevalent in the modern world. The rapid growth of China’s economy as well as its exchanges with the world had contributed to the significant increase in the demand for Chinese language learning (Hanban, 2014). The number of non-native Chinese speakers learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) worldwide has been increasing (Du et al, 2017). According to the 2017 annual report of the Confucius Institute (Hanban, 2017), at least 9.16 million students were learning Chinese Mandarin worldwide, including the CFL learners in the Philippines. Chinese Mandarin, along with Spanish, Japanese, French, German, and Korean, is being learned as a foreign language in the Philippine public high schools after it was included in the K-12 curriculum under the Special Program in Foreign Language in 2011. The program aims to enhance the learners’ macro skills that are fundamental in acquiring communicative competence in a foreign language (Deped, 2017)
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