A Study and Analysis of Thai Students' Interest towards the Content of Chinese Cultural Books

Abstract

This research aimed to: 1) investigate the interests of students majoring in Chinese language teaching with intermediate Chinese language proficiency at a university in Thailand, regarding the content of Chinese cultural books. 2) propose guidelines for selecting Chinese cultural books that align with students' interests. The research adopted a mixed-methods approach, utilizing two research tools: 1) a questionnaire and 2) interviews. The target group consisted of 32 first to third-year Chinese language teaching students. The researchers analyzed two Chinese cultural books, namely "Chinese Culture《中国文化》" and "Contemporary Chinese Topics《当代中国话题》" and identified eight content categories: 1) Daily Life, 2) Leisure and Entertainment, 3) Gender and Emotions, 4) Travel and Tourism, 5) Social Relationships, 6) Education and Work, 7) Social Issues, and 8) Traditional Culture. The findings of the research were as follows: 1) Students were most interested in the category of Social Relationships, followed by Learning and Work, Social Issues, Travel and Tourism, Traditional Culture, Daily Life, and Relaxation and Entertainment, with the least interest in Gender and Emotions. 2)  Based on students' interests in the content categories of Chinese cultural books, the researchers suggested the following guidelines for teachers in selecting teaching materials including: 1. Understanding the basic cultural knowledge and selecting teaching materials accordingly, 2. Promoting communication and using flipped classroom teaching methods, and 3. Enhancing social and cultural awareness.