Chinese Language Development for Non-Chinese Background Teachers (NCTs)

1. Chinese Language Development for Non-Chinese Background Teachers (NCTs) Master Thesis – work in progress Claudia Prescott CTTC, MGSE, The University of Melbourne c.prescott@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au 非汉语背景的老师

2. Chinese language learning Current context – ISSUES Language training – ISSUES 3. Curriculum design –SOLUTIONS 非汉语背景的老师

3. 1. Current Context Key Issue #1 Nationally, – approx 2% of Chinese Second Language learners complete Yr 12 – 95% of L2 classroom learners drop out In Victoria, – no classroom learner achieves A+ (Orton 2008, and LoBianco & Slaughter 2000) 非汉语背景的老师

4. Key ISSUE #2 NCT – Victorian numbers: • 400+ Chinese teachers 15 x NCTs / 4 x under 40 years old ∴ Roughly 4% of Victorian Chinese teachers NCTs Roughly 66% of Victorian Japanese teachers are NJTs 非汉语背景的老师

5. Key ISSUE #3 Pre-service training: NO specific training to teach the basic distinctive features of Chinese: oral skills - tones, pronunciation, rhythm and stress literacy skills - orthographic, phonological and morphological knowledge traditional ideology and cultural codes 非汉语背景的老师

6. Generic teacher training No specific work on: metalinguistic awareness of unique features of Chinese intercultural competence in relation to Chinese language learning strategies specific to Chinese. > Even L1 background teachers learn little about how to teach the language > contributes to drop out rate 非汉语背景的老师

7. L2 learners can be more successful. They need to be taught in new ways. Neither I nor other NCTs have the language skills to do this kind of new teaching. I set out to develop that kind of proficiency. 非汉语背景的老师

8. 2. Language Training – ISSUES WHY Bother? • Australia more reliant on China than any other nation in the world. • China our biggest trade partner, single largest export destination and foreign investor. • Australian Foreign Policy predicts China’s new economic model = China seeing a better 30 years than it just had! 非汉语背景的老师

9. As the media attests Today no single subject matters more for Australia’s future prosperity than what is happening in China.(Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific Editor, The Australian, 22/5/11) Corporate and political leaders don’t even reach the simplest stage of understanding.(Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific Editor, The Australian, 22/5/11) The lack of Australian business people with Chinese experience is a major obstacle for the country.(Tom Stanley, COO, KPMG’s Global China Practice, 6/6/11). Other countries are investing more heavily in China by any meaningful measure of competitiveness.(Alan Dupont, Director, CISS, University of Sydney, 22/6/11) Australia is entering a strange new world for which it is nowhere near psychologically or attitudinally prepared.(Michael Wesley, Director, Lowy Institute, 5/6/11) 非汉语背景的老师

11. 2010: set out to raise own language level Beijing – Intermediate Chinese language course (Semester One) Goal…increase language proficiency Sacrificed…children and teaching position Result? 非汉语背景的老师

13. Emails to supervisor: “Teachers continue to force feed us characters at a very fast pace (over 100 new characters per wk) without adequate time to use them”. “HOW can I have applied 1500 characters in 3 months?? It really is very demoralising!” “We’re now using SIX different textbooks!!” “They really need to test Asian students and Western students separately!” “I’m so frustrated with the total absence of student-centred focus. I've no time or space to operate in my own learning style”. 非汉语背景的老师

14. 2010: efforts to raise own language level cont. Melbourne – 4th Year Chinese (Semester Two) Goal…increase language proficiency Sacrificed…time, cost, energy 非汉语背景的老师

15. More of the same … 60 students / incl 2 Anglo Saxon reading & writing based teacher centred → teacher as expert all memorisation → short term memory burden NO learner perspective NO skill development 非汉语背景的老师

16. Contradiction 85% average Intermediate course –Beijing 75% average 4th Yr course – Melbourne … yet I still don’t meet AFMLTA (2007) Standards! 非汉语背景的老师

17. Teacher standards - Chinese-specific annotations 1 using Mandarin in a principled way forregular classroom management /organisation, instruction and discussing and creating a classroom environment appropriate to the needs of students 2 reading and writing informal e-mails and /or letter 3 principles of character formation (strokes, components, radicals) 4 knowledge of characters found in school contexts and the ability to write them accurately 5 understanding the relevance and use of idiomatic expressions (e.g. four character expressions) 6 awareness of the relationship between traditional and simplified character systems, and the regions where these are used (AFMLTA, “Professional standards for accomplished teaching of languages and cultures – Language specific annotations: Chinese”, DEEWR, 2008). 非汉语背景的老师

18. 3. Curriculum design – SOLUTIONSWhat we need Produce a design for people like me Get the Chinese we NCTs want language skills to meet AFMLTA Standards improve student outcomes 非汉语背景的老师

19. WHY Bother? → NCTs add value by understanding the learner →Do not face difficulties native teachers face: converting experiential knowledge into pedagogical knowledge conceptualising and representing Chinese from the learners’ perspective understanding the task from the learners’ perspective (Andrew Scrimgeour, “Managing a differentiated classroom”, Research Centre for Languages and Cultures, University of South Australia, June 2010). 非汉语背景的老师

20. Proposed new content & method Design questions: • What content? • What methods? Specialist areas: • CLIL • Rhythm based oral development • MLA based literacy development • AIM 非汉语背景的老师

21. CLILContent and Language Integrated Learning Content areas being worked on: • Martial arts • ICT • Cooking Other: History, Culture, Health, Current Affairs, Buddhism For example: Kathy Macfarlane, “A case study of an I.C.T. CLIL Program", Independent Schools Victoria, January 2011 非汉语背景的老师

23. CLIL example Martial Arts – Long Fist / Chángquán 16 classes over 8 wks No English Movement + language = retention Video = personal evidence 非汉语背景的老师

24. Rhythm based oral development Cognitive science shows powerful role gestures + language play in deep learning processes Proposed benefits: • Gestures improve intonation, rhythm, fluency and tone • Gesture = implicit knowledge = enhanced learning • Movement + discourse = synchronicity = retention For example: Church, Ayman-Nolley and Mahootian 2004; Gullberg 2006; Tellier 2008 非汉语背景的老师

25. MLA based literacy development(metalinguistic awareness) Curriculum posed by CTTC: • 400 components (semantic, phonetic and visual functions) • Traditional characters (seeing ‘the full story’) • ‘Character Catalogue’ online resource (character analysis) For example: Scrimgeour, A., (2010 in press). Issues and approaches to literacy development in Chinese second language classrooms, in "Chinese as a Second Language: Local Contexts, Global Challenges". 非汉语背景的老师

26. AIMAccelerative Integrated Methodology Currently used in an ISV CLIL trial: • Pared down language • 200 high frequency vocab items For example: Jenny McKinney, “Voices Speak, Gestures Shout!", Hearsay Language Learning Downunder, 2011 非汉语背景的老师

27. Conclusion A new tertiary language course designed for teachers of Chinese Teachers will master language for running their classroom in one or two specialist areas They will acquire the needed language AND some proficiency in using the methods and resources proposed 非汉语背景的老师