christykou@cuhk.hk

1. Using formative assessment to help South Asian Ethnic Minority students learn Chinese as a Foreign language christykou@cuhk.edu.hk

2. Teaching and Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language (NCS) • Chinese is a lingua franca in Hong Kong. Secondary school students from other countries such as India and Pakistan (NCS: None Chinese Speaking; NNU: None Native Users) may take Chinese as a Foreign language. • These students are alphasyllabary language users. Research has revealed that these students have difficulties in writing Chinese characters, mastering Chinese grammar rules, and comprehending Chinese readings.

3. Teaching and Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language (NCS) • The Education Bureau (EDB) of Hong Kong is committed to assisting all non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students in adapting to the local education system and integrating into the community as early as possible. • Starting from the 2014/15 school year, the Education Bureau (EDB) has provided schools with the “Chinese Language Curriculum Second Language Learning Framework” (Learning Framework) to help NCS students overcome the difficulties of learning Chinese as a second language with a view to enabling them to bridge over to mainstream Chinese Language classes.

4. Targets, learning progress and learning outcomes

5. About this study • In this case, a collaborative research project was conducted in school to enhance students’ Chinese language literacy, improve their Chinese language competence, and aim to help teachers in setting progressive learning targets step by step.

6. About this study • The project was guided by two research questions: How can formative assessment be used to understand where students are in their learning? How can formative assessment be used to capture students’ growth over time?

7. About this study • Two phases

8. progressive learning targets :Teaching of Chinese Characters writing

9. Writing Chinese Characters • Morphological compounding has been shown to affect Chinese children’s character reading and vocabulary (Chen, Hao, Geva, Zhu, & Shu, 2009; Liu & McBride-Chang, 2010); vocabulary development and paragraph reading comprehension (Wu et al., 2009). ( Shum, Ki & Leong, 2014)

10. Writing Chinese Characters • Morphological compounding • Phonetic radicals and semantic redicals 叮 [ tiŋ ]丁[ tiŋ ] 口 [ k‘ou]

11. Characters excises and quiz

12. progressive learning targets :Characters and words

13. progressive learning targets :Exercise & Quiz: translation

14. progressive learning targets :sentence processing

15. progressive learning targets :sentence processing

16. progressive learning targets :Grammar exercises (arrange the word order)

17. progressive learning targets :Composition topics • My favorite food 26/09/14 • My friend 22/10/14 • Sentence making 05/11/14 • My birthday 19/11/14 • I am hungry 16/01/15 • Sentence making 14/04/15

18. Composition topics

19. Composition topics

20. where students are in their learning ? Check points (step by step): • Writing Chinese characters, words (orthographic processing ) • Mastering the sound and meaning of characters and words • Memorize and recognize the characters and words • Sentence processing • Mastering of grammar • Usage of the characters and words (Writing short compositions, conversations)

21. where students are in their learning ?

22. How can formative assessment be used to capture students’ growth over time? • Can they meet the target of vocabulary?(how much) • Do they have obvious progress with grammar learning? (simple sentence / complex sentence: with connectives, as well as some adjectives or adverbs) • Can they use the words in a proper way? (verbal style 開心 / written style 高兴, Writing short compositions, conversations……)

23. what needs to be done to get students to reach the targets? • Check homework • Design quiz, dictation, exercise, classroom activities…… • Conduct review, give feedback…… • Periodic adjustment……the adjustments can be made to lessons, instructional techniques, and the type and difficulty of the assessments • To modify teaching strategies (e.g., giving more examples to illustrate the usages of Chinese characters, adjust the teaching plan.)

24. Highlights of the ongoing second phase • The second phase of this project began in January 2015 and will last six months, focusing on Chinese reading comprehension and writing of complex sentences.

25. Reading comprehension: T/F , answer questions in English

26. conclusion • After the first phase study, it was found that the students had progressed satisfactorily. For example, they recognized Chinese characters with different forms, sounds and meanings. They can complete the homework, quiz properly, and can have some simple daily conversations in Chinese with teachers or among themselves. ……

27. conclusion • According to the result of assessment, teachers using feedback to help students with their difficulties and try to motivate them in Chinese Language study and daily use.

28. References • Black, P & Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educ Asse Eval Acc, 21:5–31DOI 10.1007/s11092-008-9068-5 • Mark Shiu Kee Shum, Wing Wah Ki & Che Kan Leong . (2014). Cognitive and linguistic factors affecting alphasyllabary language users comprehending Chinese text. Reading in a Foreign Language April 2014, Volume 26, No. 1, ISSN 1539-0578 pp. 153–175

29. Thank you