Guiding Mandarin assignments is a vital task for elementary school teachers and practitioners of after-school care and education programs. This paper focused on the guiding principles and skills of the constructivist approach for Mandarin assignments. In addition to citing relevant literature, the author reflected on his own experience and obtained related data through document collection, observation, and interviews. An elementary school where instructors employ the theories of constructivism in guiding students’ assignments has served as the data collection site; the assignment guiding practices of the instructors from grade one through six were gathered. The author then analyzed the assignment guiding principles and skills of the constructivist approach implicated in these data. This paper concludes by proposing guiding principles and skills for Mandarin assignments, targeting four types of inadequacies students commonly demonstrate: “thoughtless and meaningless copying,” “mistakes,” “inability to accomplish,” and “incomplete or could be condensed.” To summarize, teachers may flexibly use comprehensive, interrogative, and prompted questions in the process of guiding assignments. Explanation and demonstration could also be used if necessary. Meanwhile, teachers must create opportunities for pupils to think and explore as well as discover and solve problems independently. Moreover, teachers may guide and encourage pupils to voice their thoughts aloud before writing. These guiding principles and skills may not only assist students in correcting their inadequacies and solving their problems, but may also help develop higher-level mental functions. Such principles and skills are also beneficial in cultivating the attitudes of inquiring actively and writing seriously.
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Principles and Skills of the Constructivist Approach in Guiding Mandarin Assignments
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