Imparting Cultural Values to Chinese Children Through Literature

Abstract

Based on the occurrence of modernization and globalization in Chinese society over the last few decades, the content of 145 stories, published in the most popular Chinese children's story magazine from the 1980s to the present, were examined for the representation of cultural values. The presence of Chinese, Western and social-moral values in stories were assessed using checklists. The ANOVAs analyses compared cultural values found in the fiction and folklore stories published in each of the three decades reviewed. The presence of Western cultural values steadily increased over the past 20 years. Some Chinese traditional values (e.g., selfcontrol) were consistently reflected in stories across all decades, while a few traditional values occurred less frequently, and Western values were introduced. Fiction stories reflected more Western cultural values, but fewer Chinese traditional values than folklore stories. The findings suggest that Western culture has an impacted on Chinese children's stories. However, the continuity of Chinese traditional culture appears to be as strong as ever within the Chinese children's stories reviewed.Résumé Compte tenu de la modernisation et de la mondialisation qu'a connues la société chinoise au cours des dernières décennies, le contenu de 145 histoires, publiées des années 1980 jusqu'à maintenant dans les magazines d'histoires pour enfants les plus populaires de Chine, a été examiné sous l'angle de la représentation des valeurs culturelles. Des listes de contrôle ont permis d'évaluer la présence de valeurs sociales et morales chinoises et occidentales. Les valeurs culturelles trouvées dans les histoires de fiction et de folklore publiées à chacune des trois décennies observées ont été comparées au moyen d'analyses de variance (ANOVA). La présence de valeurs occidentales a augmenté constamment au cours des 20 dernières années. Certaines valeurs traditionnelles chinoises (par exemple, le contrôle de soi) apparaissent constamment alors que quelques autres se manifestent moins et que des valeurs occidentales sont introduites. Les histoires de fiction reflètent davantage de valeurs occidentales et moins de valeurs traditionnelles chinoises que les histoires folkloriques. Les résultats suggèrent que la culture occidentale a eu un impact sur les histoires chinoises pour enfants. Néanmoins, la continuité de la culture traditionnelle chinoise semble toujours aussi forte dans les histoires chinoises pour enfants analysées.Resumen Basado en las ocurrencias situaciones de modernización y globalización en la sociedad de China en las últimas décadas, el contenido de 145 historias, publicada en la revista de historia de los niños más popular en China desde los años ochenta hasta el presente, fueron examinados por en sus valores culturales. La presencia China, los valores Occidentales y la moral social en las historias fueron evaluados por una lista. Los análisis del ANOVA compararon los valores culturales encontrados en las historias de ficción y las historias folclóricas publicadas en cada una d...

Effects of Online Learning and Digital Conversation-Based Activities on the Transfer of Cultural Values in Language and Literature Classes

“…Cultural products such as electronic materials, books, movies, songs and folk tales can effectively reflect the cultural values of a society. As a cultural product and an indispensable element in the socialization of students, stories, anecdotes, and religious texts can function not only as a tool to provide students with new vocabulary and rules, but also as a tool to impart cultural values if they can be integrated into the course content (Holeva, 2004;Özkartal, 2009;Zhang & Morrison, 2010). In Özkartal's (2009) study titled "The effect of Dede Korkut Epic on the acquisition of national values in the art activities course", it was aimed to draw attention to the existence of Turkish epics, which are cultural artifacts, in the development of individuals' personality and sense of belonging and to contribute to the continuation of traditional values.…”

“…However, literary works to be used for value transfer in character education should also have some qualities in this respect (Imada & Yussen, 2012). Özbay and Taysi (2011) and Zhang & Morrison (2010) state that national, moral and human values are introduced and adopted through language and literature, thus ensuring the continuation of national life. In this direction, it is seen that literature lessons play an important role in values education.…”