Methodology

In this study，students in the advanced levels of Chinese language were required to read Chinese literature and discuss their thoughts afterwards.A“comparative，synchronic approach”as proposed by Sylvie Henning has been applied.After reading the given Chinese literary texts，the students were asked to discuss about which part(s)of the texts could not be understood within their own cultural context.The comparison took place between the students’cultural backgrounds and the texts.This chapter also adopts Piera Carroli’s suggestion involving comparison and discussion of literary texts in class with other learners and，subsequently，with the educator.These approaches proved to be quite suitable and efficient in boosting students’awareness and understanding of Chinese language and culture.The textual materials for the learners to read range from excerpts from novels to unabridged essays written by well-known or lesser-known Chinese writers.This approach aimed to improve students’awareness of literary and cultural similarities and idiosyncrasies as well as expand their cultural knowledge.The students became more sensitive and openminded towards cultural diversity，which is vital in an increasingly globalized world.As a university course，learning to read does not simply mean to recognize the Chinese characters and understand the meanings of sentences;reading has a much more important imperative which is to nurture，to nourish and to enhance students’understanding the target culture.Applying this“close reading”and“comparative reading”of Chinese literary works enables a wideranging dialogue to occur among students as well as between educator and learner.And even for individual students it can bridge different cultures and shed light on the student’s own cultural past and present.