MST-Department of Fine Art and Design

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Browsing MST-Department of Fine Art and Design by Subject "Fused Chinese Han"

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    Reproduction of Visual Materials for the Confucius Institutes in Kenya Using Fused Chinese Han and Kenyan Maasai Cultural Artifacts
    (Kenyatta University, 2022) Shanpeng, Zheng; George Vikiru
    This study reproduced the visual materials for the use at the Confucius Institutes in Kenya using fused Chinese Han and Kenyan Maasai cultural artifacts. Globalization has led to the necessity of teaching and learning of foreign languages in many institutions today as the world economy has become increasingly interdependent. Effective Foreign Language Learning (FLL) is paramount with nativazation enabling learners to comprehend and interpret the language being learnt better and more effectively. One type of nativization called cultural nativization happens when elements from the cultural artifacts of the language being learnt are fused with those from the learners’ language. A pilot study done on the visual materials at the Confucius Institutes in Kenya reported only 6.25% of graphic design applications at the Institutes had combined elements from both Chinese and Kenyan cultures. This insignificant percentage implied a less optimal learning of Chinese as a foreign language at the Institutes. This study therefore redesigned the visual materials at the Confucius Institutes in Kenya using cultural nativization and by applying polymorphism as a technique of fusion. Elements from six types of Chinese Han and Kenyan Maasai cultural artifacts were selected for the study. Six different methods of polymorphism were applied to the selected artifacts to develop new design compositions that were used in the reproduction of visual materials for the Confucius Institutes. It is expected that the reproduced materials would involve the students at the Institutes more and promote their interest in Chinese language better for effective learning of Chinese language that is taught at the Confucius Institutes.