1 Introduction

The body culture teaching method aims to help learners acquire the target language culture while learning a foreign language. Taking Chinese as a second language/foreign language as an example, it emphasizes that learners need to learn to use Chinese discourse strategies to negotiate communication expectations and intentions with Chinese people. The theory of the third space was proposed by postcolonial scholar Homi Bhabha and has since evolved across multiple disciplines. Kramsch regards the third space as a symbolic location for foreign language learners to communicate using multiple language resources and symbol systems, emphasizing that foreign language education should cultivate learners' ability to creatively use the target language. East Asian language teaching scholars have combined the theory of third space with embodied cultural teaching methods to promote the development of empirical research and teaching practices based on foreign language education and cross-cultural communication contexts. The embodied cultural teaching method shifts the focus of the third space from "self" to "negotiation between self and others", emphasizing that any use or innovation of the target language needs to be based on the consensus of both parties on the communicative purpose. Zhang and Jian proposed using the third space as a framework to reconstruct foreign language teaching into cultivating foreign language learners to become experts in negotiating intentions and expectations in another culture. This article aims to review the development and application status of the third space concept in the teaching method of physical performance culture, and propose future prospects.

2. Performance Culture and the Third Space: Theoretical Development

Walker and Jian (2016) linked the embodied cultural teaching method with the theory of the third space, emphasizing that the construction of cross-cultural third spaces is achieved through conversations and negotiations between people from different cultural backgrounds. The cultural teaching method of physical performance promotes the construction of a multilingual cross-cultural third space, where conversational communication is more effective in promoting knowledge exchange and absorbing new perspectives than declarative communication. Walker (2000) defined culture as the source of meaning for an individual's communicative intention, and the embodied cultural teaching method cultivates learners' awareness of "otherness," that is, awareness of new ways of communication that exist in other cultures. Jian (2021) proposed that the physical performance culture teaching method aims to cultivate learners to jointly build an "intentional third space", a space based on cultural negotiation and cooperation. Zhang (2021a) discussed how foreign language learners deal with the relationship between "self" and "other", and how to cultivate learners' ability to negotiate target language cultural expectations in specific cultural contexts through embodied cultural teaching methods, and develop a third space personality image. The physical performance culture teaching method helps learners accumulate language and cultural knowledge and behavioral memory through repeated exercises, construct a cultural worldview of the target language, and expand the third space personality image. This theory emphasizes the situational and dynamic nature of culture, identity, and cross-cultural communication, and advocates for cultivating students' two-way communication skills in foreign language teaching. Although there are limitations in the early stages of theoretical development, such as the specific construction process and power relations at the practical level, and the dynamic negotiation mechanism of identity recognition, more in-depth discussions are needed.

3 Sports Performance Culture and the Third Space: Empirical Research

In recent years, the theory of embodied culture and third space has been applied in the field of teaching Chinese as a second/foreign language, involving various aspects such as cross-cultural communication and language learning motivation. Zhang et al. (2023) studied the experience of ethnic identity construction in the third space of workplace negotiation between Chinese and non Chinese professionals in China, and found that both groups encountered a mismatch between their perceived and self presented personality images, requiring the development of language and cross-cultural communication strategies to cope with different target language and cultural expectations. Zeng (2018) conducted a case study on an American student's experience of constructing a third space in the Chinese workplace and found that there are both potential and limitations for learners to negotiate a third space with native speakers, due to factors such as language background and social identity of both parties in communication. Jia (2021) empirically studied the relationship between negotiating a third space, establishing specialized fields, and motivation for advanced Chinese language learning, and found that focusing on specialized fields and cross-cultural interpersonal communication and interaction are important driving factors for maintaining learning motivation. Zeng (2021) studied the experiences of Chinese learners in the third space of Zhihu community negotiation and pointed out that learners face complex challenges when dealing with the relationship between "self" and "other". The existing empirical research mainly focuses on qualitative research, with limited sample size and a lack of large-scale research support. Overall, the combination of performance culture and the third space provides a new theoretical framework and perspective for empirical research on Chinese language teaching, revealing the deep correlation between racial identity, specialized fields, learning motivation, and virtual community construction with the third space. It provides important insights and guidance for language learners to cope with cultural expectations, maintain learning motivation, develop specialized fields and cross-cultural skills, participate in virtual communities, and other specific practices.

4 Sports Performance Culture and Third Space: Teaching Practice and Learning Material Development

In recent years, scholars of sports performance culture have made progress in the construction and empirical research of the third space theory, promoting the emergence of new works on sports performance culture. The collection of papers by Wang and Jia (2023) presents the design and reflection of performance culture teaching, emphasizing the cultivation of third space abilities in real teaching environments. Zhang and Li (2023) introduced the field exercises and observation activities in the physical performance culture teaching method based on the third space theory, which helps international students integrate into the Chinese community. Zhang et al. (2023) designed an advanced Chinese course on "Interpersonal Relationships in the Chinese Workplace", which aims to cultivate learners' expectations of target language culture and multilingual third space personality through activities such as resume workshops and simulated interviews. In terms of learning material development, the "Sports Performance China" series, "Knowledge and Action Workplace", "Sports Performance Log" and other learning materials adopt a scenario based writing method, using real cases of Chinese learners in China as materials, aiming to help learners build personal memory and expand their third space personality image.

5. From Theory to Practice: Principles and Unique Advantages of Performance Culture in Cultivating Third Space Abilities

Explored the principles and advantages of the physical performance culture teaching method in cultivating learners' third space abilities. Zhang proposed that the embodied cultural teaching method helps learners identify and accumulate cultural expectations in the target language through cultural embodied performances in real Chinese cultural contexts, and cultivate "otherness consciousness". The teaching method guides learners to realize that the target language culture has diverse expectations for learners from different backgrounds. Through classroom exercises and extracurricular activities, students can accumulate individual memory and understand cultural differences in expectations. On this basis, through specific situational exercises, help students develop individual strategies and expand their third space personality. The teaching method emphasizes that teachers play the role of "others", provide authentic feedback, encourage learners to establish social connections with native speakers, and gradually expand their "other consciousness" and third space personality image.

6 Summary and Prospect

The theory of embodied culture and third space continues to deepen in empirical research, teaching practice, and theoretical construction, providing new perspectives for cross-cultural communication and foreign language teaching. Future research should focus on the construction of models for the third space, negotiation processes in different cultural backgrounds, diverse groups of Chinese learners, innovative interdisciplinary research methods for core concepts of the third space, and specific practices and research on the use of embodied cultural teaching methods in cultivating third space abilities.