The effectiveness of unit design of teaching micro-novels through genre theory = 運用文類教學理論設計微型小說單元教學的成效

Abstract

The ineffectiveness of language teaching, the declining level of language proficiency of students, and a lack of motivation to learn, have always been of great concern to the society and the education sector. With the implementation of the 334 New Senior Secondary School System, self-designed elective unit of Chinese Language curriculum is launched. It could eliminate the shackles of public examination pressure. Teachers can have a larger space to try to use different materials and teaching approaches. They can design and implement school-based curriculum based on the interests and abilities of students which could be beneficial to students. With this Chinese Language Curriculum Reform, the researcher has carried out a unit design teaching experimental study in which micro novels are used as teaching materials and genre theory is used to design pedagogy. The subjects of the study are the Form Five students of the researcher’s school. The students are divided into two groups, control group and experimental group. Students from the control group were taught with traditional teacher-centred pedagogy, while students from the experimental group were taught with a pedagogy which is based on genre theory. Through analyzing questionnaires and interviews for all students, and interviews for teachers involved, the researcher could find out the appropriateness of using micro novels as teaching materials. After implementing the new pedagogy, the researcher compared the micro novels written in pretest and posttest by students from the control and the experimental groups and recognized the effectiveness of this new pedagogy. The research results show that most of the students and all the teachers involved thought that micro novels are suitable Chinese Language teaching materials and are useful in improving students’ interest in learning Chinese language. According to comparative analysis of the students’ works, the performance of the experimental group students’ in posttest is significantly better than that in the control group. The students being taught with the newly designed pedagogy have significantly higher writing ability than the students being taught with traditional pedagogy. Micro novels can meet the needs of the students, arouse students’ motivation, and also meet the requirements of the new Chinese Language Curriculum. They are ideal Chinese Language teaching materials. Furthermore, using genre theory to design pedagogy to teach micro novels enable students to systematically grasp the characteristics of micro novels. On the other hand, using explicit method to teach students the function, generic features, register and mode of micro novels could strengthen students’ stylistic awareness of micro novels. Besides, group discussion, joint construction and cooperative learning could help provide a scaffold for students to consolidate their learning. By using marking checklist for peer assessment, students could have immediate feedback and thus enhance their interest and ability in writing. In a nutshell, using micro novels as teaching materials could arouse the students’ interest in learning Chinese Language and reduce individual differences of motivation in learning. Using genre theory to design pedagogy could reduce the individual differences in students’ abilities. Even students with low abilities can have great improvement. Both the new teaching materials and new pedagogy can meet the needs and reduce individual differences of the students. This is exactly the essence of school-based curriculum. 語文教學成效不理想，學生語文能力水平不斷下降與及缺乏學習的動機，一直以來都是社會和教育界極為關注的問題。 隨著三三四新學制新高中中國語文科課程的推行，尤其是選修「自擬單元」的出現，消除了師生在公開考試壓力的束縛，教師能有較大的空間嘗試使用不同的教材和教學處理方法，可根據學生的興趣和能力，設計及推行更切合學生需要的校本課程，讓學生有更多的得益。研究者嘗試配合中國語文科的課程改革，以微型小說為教材，以「文類教學理論」設計的教學法，進行單元教學設計實驗研究，並對教學結果進行研究分析，以了解新的教材和新的教學法的成效。 研究者以所任教學校中五級學生為研究對象，學生分為控制組和實驗組，控制組用傳統以教師為主導的一般小說教學法教授微型小說，而實驗組則採用根據「文類教學理論」設計的教學法。通過對全體學生的問卷調查和訪談，與及對任教老師的訪談，研究者得以了解「微型小說」作為教材的適切性，通過對控制組和實驗組在進行微型小說教學單元前後寫作的前測和後測作品比較分析，可了解新的教學法的成效。 研究結果顯示，絕大部分的學生和所有任教老師都認為微型小說是適合作為中國 語文科的教材，亦能提高學生學習中國語文的興趣。而通過學生作品比較分析可見，實驗組學生後測作品的表現都明顯優於控制組，且差異亦顯著，接受以「文類教學理論」設計的教學法教授微型小說的學生在寫作微型小說方面的能力明顯高於接受一般教學法的學生。 微型小說能符合學生的需求，能引起學生的學習動機，亦能符合新高中中國語文科課程的要求，是中國語文科理想的教材。而運用「文類教學理論」設計的教學法來教授「微型小說」，可以讓學生有系統地掌握微型小說的特點，在教學過程中，以明示式的方法教授「微型小說」的功能、文類結構、語域和語式等知識，可加強學生對微型小說的文體意識，此外使用小組討論、集體創作的合作學習形式，能在師生互動、生生互動的情況下，為學生提供支架，鞏固所學，使用評改量表、同輩互改的評改方式，能通過互動的模式，讓學生得到及時的回饋，提高寫作的興趣及能力，因此運用「文類教學理論」設計的教學法會較一般傳統的教學法更有成效。 總括而言，以「微型小說」作為教材，可提高學生學習中國語文的興趣，能減少學生學習動機的個別差異。運用「文類教學理論」設計的教學法，能讓學生有系統地掌握文類的特點，成效顯著，能減少學生能力的個別差異，即使低水平的學生也可有很大的進步，而無論新的教材和新的教學法都能切合學生的需要，能更有效地「照顧學生的個別差異」，這亦正是「校本課程」的精要所在。