An Examination of Heritage and Non-Heritage Learner Outcomes within the Overseas Chinese Flagship Program

1. An Examination of Heritage and Non-Heritage Learner Outcomes within the Overseas Chinese Flagship Program Dana Scott Bourgerie Brigham Young University Six Heritage Language Research InstituteJune 18-22, 2012UCLA

2. The Flagship Consortium: Diversity of Backgrounds, Common Goals • Brigham Young University Center (2002) • The University of Mississippi Program(2003) • The University of Oregon K-16 Center • Arizona State Partner Program (2007) • Indiana University Partner Program (2008) • The University of Rhode Island Partner Program (2008) • Western Kentucky University Pilot Program (2009) • Hunter College (2010)

3. BYU Chinese Flagship Mission Statement The Chinese Flagship Center seeks to prepare students for careers related to China. The Program’s aim is to provide participants with the linguistic, cultural, and professional skills necessary to realize their professional goals within a Chinese environment.

4. Participant Backgrounds • Regular Track Students • Heritage Learners • Former Missionaries • Expatriate returnees • Diverse Language Backgrounds

5. Definitions • Heritage speaker • What is a native? • L2 vs Heritage • Over hearers • Varied experiences (quasi-heritage) • Self-defined • Continua and discrete definitions

6. % Heritage for Chinese Flagship since 2003 (all Programs)

7. Some Flagship Domains • Public Relations • Business • Accounting • Political Science • Public Health • Development • Environment Issues • Chemistry • Law • Engineering • International Studies • Economics • Journalism • Marketing

8. Various Domestic Models: Domain-based training • Content Courses • Tutorials • LAC • Cultural Training

9. Goals of Program • Take Learners from Advanced (2/2+) to Superior (ILR 3/3+) • Increase Specialized Professional Proficiency Level for Advanced Students • Provide General and Domain Level Cultural Training • Develop Self-Directed, Autonomous Learners To put graduates in the position to act as full professionals in the target language and culture

10. The BYU Model • Performance based approach • Individualized and directed study: Maximizing time on task based on task type • Domain-specific study, articulated with in-country experience • Backward design toward direct enrollment

11. Achieving the Program Goals: Key Domestic Features • One-on-One Tutorials and small group work • Peer Tutoring • Language Across the Curriculum (LAC) • Distance Learning • Media exposure • Performance based approach • Natural language corpora use • Behavioral and Professional cultural training • Deliberate exposure to variation (dialects and register)

12. Online Chinese Corpora 北京大学中国语言学研究中心（Beijing University Corpus）(http://ccl.pku.edu.cn:8080/ccl_corpus/ • 中央研究院現代漢語平衡語料庫 (Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese) http://db1x.sinica.edu.tw/cgi-bin/kiwi/mkiwi/mkiwi.sh

13. Subscription Based Chinese CorporaLinguistic Data Consortium (1) • LDC96S55 CALLFRIEND Mandarin Chinese-Mainland Dialect • LDC96S56 CALLFRIEND Mandarin Chinese-Taiwan Dialect • LDC98T26 Hub-5 Mandarin Transcripts • LDC98S72 Taiwanese Putonghua Speech and Transcripts • LDC2001T11 Chinese Treebank Version 2.0 • LDC2002L27 Chinese-English Translation Lexicon Version 3.0 • LDC2002T01 Multiple-Translation Chinese Corpus

14. Subscription Based Chinese CorporaLinguistic Data Consortium (2) • LDC2002T01 Multiple-Translation Chinese Corpus • LDC2003T17 Multiple-Translation Chinese (MTC) Part 2 • LDC2003T17 Multiple-Translation Chinese (MTC) Part 2 • LDC2003T09 Chinese Gigaword • LDC2004T07 Multiple-Translation Chinese (MTC) Part 3 • LDC2005T10 Chinese English News Magazine Parallel Text • LDC2005T14 Chinese Gigaword Second Edition • LDC2005T06 Chinese News Translation Text Part 1 • LDC2006T04 Multiple-Translation Chinese (MTC) Part 4

15. Benefits of an Individualized Instruction Approach • 90-95% of all communication occurs on a one-on-one basis • Actual performance time is much higher than in the classroom (no dead time) • Content and intensity can be tailored to individual student needs and abilities • Ability to differentiate on background (e.g., heritage)

16. Overseas Centers and Collaborations • The Nanjing Center (Direct Enrollment) Administered by Brigham Young University • American Councils for International Education (Internships and Summer Study Programs) • Chinese Overseas Coordination Council

17. Chinese Flagship Program:Key Components of the Advanced Program • 4 Month Direct Enrollment (Nanjing University) • 3-4 Month Internship in a Chinese Institution (Various locations in China)

18. Key Components of Overseas: Direct Enrollment at Nanjing University • Direct Enrollment in Domain Interest area • Building Collegial Environments • Media and Culture Studies • Peer Tutoring • Symposia, Presentation by Local Leaders • Practicum Experience • Community Involvement and Service

19. Overseas Standards and Expectations • Media Chinese Proficiency • Exposure to modern literature, history, and politics(Achievement Culture) • Basic Literary Chinese(Register Command) • Domain Training • General Language Proficiency • Pre-Program Culture Preparation(Professional and Material Culture)

20. Standardized Assessment • CATRC: A Computer-Adaptive Test for Reading Chinese (Brigham Young University) • CCALT: Chinese Computerized Adaptive Listening Comprehension Test (Ohio State University) • ACTFL-BYU Reading and Listening Tests (domestic use) • AC Reading and Listening Tests (pre- post overseas capstone • HSK: Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi [Chinese Standardized Test] • DLPT: Defense Language Proficiency Test (or other ILR test when available) • ACTFL-OPI: Oral Proficiency Interview • ACTFL-WPT

21. Flagship Standardized Test Outcomes

22. ACTFL-OPI Exit Scores by Year(All Institutions)

23. BYU ACTFL-OPI Exit Scores by Year

24. ACTFL-OPI Exit Scores by Heritage Status (%)Since 2003

25. ILR-OPI Exit Scores by Heritage Status (%)Since 2003

26. HSK Exit Scores by Heritage Status (%) Since 2003

27. Capstone ACTFL-OPI Gain

28. Capstone ILR Gain

29. Qualitative Assessment • Internship Provider Survey (Chinese) • Internship Provider Survey (English) • Intern Survey (Chinese) • Participant Surveys • Learning Journal Analysis • Portfolio Tracking • ALLPS • Linguafolio

30. Portfolio Components • Self-assessment essay (Chinese and English). Learning performance in and out of class, job performance (experience, achievements, gains from job) • Linguistic history (including time abroad, home language(s) if appropriate, language learning career) • Video/Audio language samples • Writing samples (Chinese and English) • Updated Resume (Chinese and English). Make sure the Chinese version follows norms that you have learned in China. • Reference letters (Academic, internship hosts, Chinese contacts, job assessments, etc. (Chinese with English translation, English) • Official Documents (Diplomas, Flagship Program completion certificate, awards, thesis abstract) Language test scores (HSK, DLPT, others)

31. Issues with Heritage Students in China • Journals––––what do they worry about • The unexpected: “traitor,” unrealistic expectations (greater scrutiny on culture, greater ability to offend), Nationalism, What culture? • Positive: Greater access, cultural insights, over hearer ability. • Challenges: register, code-mixing, often less independent as learners. “traitor” to China.

32. Negotiating Classroom Culture

33. “I audited Professor Chen’s modern film class today, and I think I have an answer to my question of yesterday, “Is Professor Chen’s familiarity with us students typical?” … I was surprised by Chen Laoshi’s abrupt beginning of class. The pre-class chatting and humorous comments to class members were replaced by a serious, down-to-business face. He didn’t address any of the students by name—probably because he didn’t know them, nor had he taken the time to know them. The joviality that graced our BYU class was replaced by a soberness and wall of inaccessibility. “ KI, Comparing a sheltered film class to a regular film class

34. “I feel directionless in my studies because I have no syllabus to refer to, no pre-class knowledge of what the lecture will be about, or any pre-thought out questions that can fuel an interesting discussion…A difference between Chinese and American university experience is the way class is conducted. Professor Xia berated our Media Studies class for not taking her sikaoquestions seriously. ‘I asked you last week to think about these questions so that you could come to class and have something interesting to say to start a discussion.’ Students stared expressionlessly at their tea receptacles or cartoon animated notebooks…Do you want me to be like the American teachers and assign enormous amounts of reading and writing homework, or can you be mature enough to do that kind of learning on your own? ”-KI

35. Cultural Issues in the Workplace

36. Language Variation “The instructors with heavy accents that I have (2 out of 3) realize that their Nanjing accent isn’t the easiest to decipher, and so to compensate it seems that every time there is a phrase or word they use that might not be commonly recognized they write it on the board. This helps me tremendously, because if they didn’t bother to take that extra effort I would, in most instances, be lost from the discussion altogether.” -OB

37. “An acquaintance of mine [who is of Asian decent]…once commented to me that the point when people stop complimenting your Chinese ability but allow you to seamlessly interact with them, you can be assured that your Chinese is truly good…When I meet a new Chinese person, regardless of the situation and independent of what they may know about my background, they will have certain strong, almost reflexive preconceptions of me as a Caucasian, the most poignant being that I cannot possibly speak advanced Chinese. I am required, then, in nearly every such situation to prove and reprove my abilities because people nearly to a rule have the same assumptions.” -OY

38. “The truth of it is my experience in China will never be like [my classmates who are not Chinese background]. They walk into class and get gawked at. People speak more slowly and simply or they speak English. They meet people quite readily, people who are willing to meet foreigners. However, I walk into a room and am expected to act like everyone else even if I don’t know the proper etiquette. I ask a question, a simple directional one and can’t understand the answer. When I don’t understand or react appropriately, I get weird looks as though I’m incompetent. When I get those “What are you stupid” looks, I want to respond with, “Hey, I’m not from here. I’m American,” but that’s an easy way out. Better pretend I’m Chinese and learn bit by bit about the language and customs of people here.” -KI (an Asian-American)

39. “Strangely, it seems that the more educated a person is, the more difficult to convince them that I can actually speak Chinese. The Laoban that I buy a bowl of 混沌 (wanton)from every day and the other unschooled Chinese that I associate with … have no apprehensions about treating me as a linguistic equal. Old ladies are willing to just pour out their souls. Old men take no thought for whether or not I understand. Middle-aged workers are also very accommodating. Nanjing professors, students, and others who have more education (and therefore generally more contact with Westerners) don’t grasp the concept that I can understand what people say even when spoken at normal speeds. -OY

40. “ I have spent much time learning tricks to impress people into accepting me as a satisfactory Chinese conversationalist. The best trick, of course, is prolonged conversation over the course of many encounters. People can only keep up the dumbed-down talk for a limited amount of time, after which, if the conversations still roll and communication is still present, they let their guard down and talk much more naturally. It is frustrating, however, because my six years of Chinese experience have to be proven over and over again with each subsequent new acquaintance. “-OY

41. “The most dangerous caveat in this struggle to convince people that I am a linguistic equal is, of course, that I am not. Although I can function adequately in almost any language environment and can express myself clearly and in a timely fashion in any situation, my Chinese still does not even approach native quality. There are still myriad idioms and phrases and even every day words that I do not know and cannot understand beyond context.“…One day, as Dr. Yang was explaining lipid anchor membrane proteins, 高弘leaned over and asked me a question about the material. Unfortunately, she was giving me exactly what I wanted: pure unadulterated native to native style Chinese.” -OY

42. Cultural Encounters

43. 我第一次到中国来的时候没有感觉到什差异，可能是因为时间的问题吧。但是从青岛的暑期班开始我就觉得华裔学生对中国人来说就是中国人。可能是因为中国人口的问题吧。我们外表是中国人，所以在中国人都认定我们也是中国人。我第一次到中国来的时候没有感觉到什差异，可能是因为时间的问题吧。但是从青岛的暑期班开始我就觉得华裔学生对中国人来说就是中国人。可能是因为中国人口的问题吧。我们外表是中国人，所以在中国人都认定我们也是中国人。 When I first arrived in China I did not feel a great difference–––maybe it had to do with the timeframe. However, since the beginning of the Qingdao summer program I felt that that Chinese Americans were seen by Chinese as Chinese. Maybe it has to do with the issue of Chinese population. On the outside we are Chinese, so Chinese also suppose we are Chinese.

44. 在中国车是不会让人的，所以人都得让车。我有好几次都没有注意在拐弯的车，但是他们还是没有停下来。有一次我其中一个同学，他也没有理在拐弯的车，但是那辆车就停下来。我觉得就是因为他长得有一张外国人的脸。在中国车是不会让人的，所以人都得让车。我有好几次都没有注意在拐弯的车，但是他们还是没有停下来。有一次我其中一个同学，他也没有理在拐弯的车，但是那辆车就停下来。我觉得就是因为他长得有一张外国人的脸。 • In China vehicles don’t yield to pedestrians, so people need to yield to vehicles. There have been quite a few times when I was not paying attention to a turning vehicle, but the car did not stop. Once when I was with a classmate, he wasn’t paying attention to a turning vehicle, but that car stopped for him. I think it was because he had a foreigner’s face.

45. 我和两位“外国”同学去了南京的工子弟学校教英文。我们学生一眼就肯定他们是外国人，但是当我的同学问那些小学生我是否美国人那些小朋友就一口咬定我是中国人。我和两位“外国”同学去了南京的工子弟学校教英文。我们学生一眼就肯定他们是外国人，但是当我的同学问那些小学生我是否美国人那些小朋友就一口咬定我是中国人。 I went to a school to teach English with two “foreign” students. Our students took one look at them and were certain they were foreigners. But when my classmates asked the students if I was an American the youngsters without hesitation said that I was a Chinese.

46. 我觉得华裔的同学在中国生活会遇到更多难接受的方面，如不认识你的中国人会认为你是中国人，但是他们跟你说话的时候你的反应就会很迟钝。或者我会觉得中国人对我的外国同学特别的体谅和照顾。但是当他们知道你是华裔的时候，他们可能也会不断地问你问题。我觉得华裔的同学在中国生活会遇到更多难接受的方面，如不认识你的中国人会认为你是中国人，但是他们跟你说话的时候你的反应就会很迟钝。或者我会觉得中国人对我的外国同学特别的体谅和照顾。但是当他们知道你是华裔的时候，他们可能也会不断地问你问题。

47. I always associated myself a person of two cultures, American and Chinese. But I felt like I belonged more into the group of Chinese when I was in America, because when I signed forms, I would mark that I was Chinese. I knew deep down that I was American, but I stood out because I was Chinese. In America, I never had any problems with my identity because all my friends were also in my position. We knew how it felt to be a person of two cultures.

48. When I first came to China, I finally felt the differences that are between me and real Chinese people. Even though I look Chinese, I feel like in China, I associated myself to being an American. I think it is because I don’t feel confident enough in my Chinese to associate being Chinese. If I say to other Chinese people that I am American, they will understand why my Chinese is not up to par. I think another reason why I associate myself to being American is because there are a lot of habits that I see most Chinese people do, and I know that I will never do that. For example, Chinese people do like wait in line. I feel like as an American, I was trained to wait in line and respect others that have stood in line. No one in America likes to be cut in line, but in China it is a very common problem.

49. Another habit that Chinese people do is smoking everywhere. In America, it is absolutely rude to smoke indoors, but in China, even when there are signs that say smoking is not allowed, people do it anyways. I feel like Americans follow the rules better than the Chinese. These little habits that I see in the Chinese make me want to distance myself from them. I don’t want to be associated with people that do those types of action, because I know I wouldn’t do it myself.

50. Living in China, being a Chinese American is really difficult at times... Because I look Chinese, people automatically assume that my Chinese is amazing, but it’s not. They would always criticize me for not being able to speak my own language well. Another difficulty that I encounter is trying to convince people that I am not Chinese and that I am American. I remember going to a club in Nanjing and one of the workers there heard me speaking in English. He asked me how did I learn to speak English so well, and I told him that I was American. And he was like no, you’re not American, you’re Chinese. And we argued about this for at least 5 minutes before he finally believed that I was American. I feel like going back to the States I will appreciate more that I am Chinese and all the more that I have become, but in China, I like to remember that I am still an American.