Active Learning and Professional Development: A Case of Thai Chinese Teachers

Abstract

While Chinese has been taught as a school subject outside of China for decades, there is little research on how Chinese subjects are taught in secondary schools outside of China’s mainland with regard to the use of active learning and the impact of professional development events on teachers’ professional growth in classroom Chinese teaching. This article explored Thai Chinese teachers’ use of active learning methods at public and private secondary schools in the south of Thailand. It also examined the impact of a government-administered Chinese teaching seminar on their professional development. A sequential mixed-methods explanatory design was employed, involving focus group interviews and pre- and post-tests. The phenomenological approach with thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data from the focus group interviews, while the Wilcoxon test was run to compare the pre- and post-test data. Findings revealed the application of active learning with discussion and role-playing activities involving audio-visual materials. The pedagogy of Thai Chinese secondary schools has shifted from knowledge transmission through lectures to knowledge generation and transformation via dynamic learning activities. After attending the seminar, teachers’ comprehension of active learning methods increased considerably (Z = 3.740, p < 0.001). However, teachers expressed concerns over the lack of innovative teaching techniques for teaching Chinese characters and the problems encountered by both students and teachers during the teaching and learning process. This study recommends that Hanban and the Thai Ministry of Education plan their seminars and workshops in a way that allows Thai Chinese instructors to continuously address their students’ and their own deficiencies while they are engaged in active learning activities, and it calls for additional research on the use of active CFL methods in secondary schools outside of China.