The Dialectical Unfolding of Paradigmatic and Narrative Thinking in a Chinese-as-a-Foreign-Language Classroom

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Bibliographic Details
Title: The Dialectical Unfolding of Paradigmatic and Narrative Thinking in a Chinese-as-a-Foreign-Language Classroom
Language: English
Authors: Lee, Sheng-Hsun (ORCID 0000-0002-7698-6174)
Source: Classroom Discourse. 2020 11(4):316-336.
Availability: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 21
Publication Date: 2020
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Chinese, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Language Teachers, Student Interests, Teaching Methods, Classroom Communication, Thinking Skills, Foreign Students, Korean, Native Language, Narration, Instructional Materials, Cooperative Learning, Intercultural Communication, Program Descriptions, Undergraduate Students, Audiolingual Methods, Cultural Differences
DOI: 10.1080/19463014.2019.1633550
ISSN: 1946-3014
Abstract: How do language instructors fulfill institutional mandates while also nurturing students' interest? What becomes of this process when it unfolds not in one class meeting but in a series of pedagogical events? Classroom research has suggested the importance of integrating authentic, conversational, and rapport-building talk with instructional practices. What remains unknown but central to classroom practices is the temporal, institutional, and psychological underpinnings this integration entails. This ethnographic study explores the dialectical unfolding of paradigmatic and narrative thinking in a course of domestic U.S. students and international Korean students. Paradigmatic thought is concerned with truth, scientific logic and categorization, which are essential for explaining language features. Narrative thought 'strives to put its timeless miracles into the particulars of experience, and to locate that experience in time and place.' Drawing on classroom recordings, participant interviews, and instructional artifacts, the study shows that ordinary materials designated by the institution to underscore paradigmatic thinking were rendered extraordinary when the instructor and students collaboratively transformed them with interpersonally and interculturally meaningful stories across a chain of pedagogical encounters.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2020
Accession Number: EJ1275396
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:How do language instructors fulfill institutional mandates while also nurturing students' interest? What becomes of this process when it unfolds not in one class meeting but in a series of pedagogical events? Classroom research has suggested the importance of integrating authentic, conversational, and rapport-building talk with instructional practices. What remains unknown but central to classroom practices is the temporal, institutional, and psychological underpinnings this integration entails. This ethnographic study explores the dialectical unfolding of paradigmatic and narrative thinking in a course of domestic U.S. students and international Korean students. Paradigmatic thought is concerned with truth, scientific logic and categorization, which are essential for explaining language features. Narrative thought 'strives to put its timeless miracles into the particulars of experience, and to locate that experience in time and place.' Drawing on classroom recordings, participant interviews, and instructional artifacts, the study shows that ordinary materials designated by the institution to underscore paradigmatic thinking were rendered extraordinary when the instructor and students collaboratively transformed them with interpersonally and interculturally meaningful stories across a chain of pedagogical encounters.
ISSN:1946-3014
DOI:10.1080/19463014.2019.1633550