Panel Abstract

 

Developing a Rigorous Curriculum for Chinese Flagship Students at the University of Rhode Island

 

Wen Xiong 熊 文, Assistant professor of Chinese

Associate director of Chinese Language Flaship Partner Program at URI

University of Rhode Island

 

Erin Papa, Coordinator of The URI Chinese Language Flagship Partner Program

University of Rhode Island

 

Hong Qian 钱虹, Chinese Lecturer

University of Rhode Island

 

Yichen Chiang 江怡贞, Chinese lecturer

University of Rhode Island

 

 

1. Wen Xiong: The challenge and innovation of the curriculum to bring

students to high proficiency level of Chinese

The Chinese Language Flagship Partner Programat University of Rhode Island is an intensive undergraduate program for highly motivated students preparing for global careers. 

 

A general comparison about the length of time that the learners will spend to achieve a certain languages proficiency level varies from language to language. The inevitable conclusion is that one must spend more time onthe study of Chinese in order to achieve higher levels of proficiency.

 

Generally speaking, it can be assumed that the students who start Chinese from the very beginning in college will hardly achieve advanced or superior levels of proficiency (according to ACTFL) by graduation. For example, the typical URI college year is8.5 months or about 30 weeks, and a typical language course is 3hours a week orroughly 90-150 hours per year plus preparation outside of class. Therefore, rigorous and intensive programs must be added, such as study abroad, extra courses, and winter/summer immersion programs, etc., in order to help students achieve a high level of proficiency in Chinese.

 

This paper presents the challenge of bringing students to the superior level in Chinese and also the procedure for developinga rigorous curriculum in order to achieve that goal.  The relationship between the innovation of the curriculum beyond regular coursework and student performance based on proficiency testing is  analyzed.

 

 

2. Erin Papa: The administrative challenges posed by the rapid rise of

Chinese Language Flagship

 

The University of Rhode Island began development of its Chinese language program in the fall of 2006 and in 2008 became a Chinese Language Flagship Partner Program.   The simultaneous development of the general Chinese language program and The Chinese Language Flagship Partner Program is essential to meeting the demands of our students and industrial partners, but poses many unique administrative challenges.  Students from diverse academic and socioeconomic backgrounds require constant, personalized advising.  Designing a program that allows students to reach Superior proficiency (ACTFL scale) in Mandarin requires careful planning of additional contact hours in the form of workshops and between-semesters immersion programs, as well as regular proficiency assessment and tutoring.  Staffing a rapidly increasing number of courses in tough economic times with a shortage of qualified instructors in the United States requires dedication, creativity, and often extra training.  Learn how the University of Rhode Island is tackling these challenges and share your institution’s experiences during this panel discussion.

 

3. Hong Qian: Improving and ExpandingStudents' Vocabulary Acquisition

 

Learning to communicate effectively in a second language involves the manipulation of four main skills: listening, speaking, reading,and writing. One crucial factor is the amount of vocabulary one possesses, as vocabulary makes upthe largestpart of meaning inany language. Vocabulary, however, is the biggest problem for most learners. In view of this, vocabulary acquisition is currently receiving attention in second language pedagogy and research.

Integrated Chinese (IC) has been widely used as a textbook in Chinese language classes in the U.S. Given the crucial role of vocabulary in second language learning, it is essential to know how the students learn the words and how well they retain the vocabulary.

This research is based on a questionnaire designed to explore students’ understanding of the words learned in IC Level 1,Parts 1 and 2. There were 100 items total. Two groups of studentsinvolved in the studyhad taken Chinese for one semester and two semesters respectively. The results show that there are gaps between what vocabulary we teach and what the students learn. A revised test will be administeredto explore the validity of this study. The result of the study will provide implicationsfor classroom teaching.

 

 

4. Yichen Chiang: Student Performance in an IntensiveReading Workshop

 

The Chinese Flagship Program aims to help students achieve Superior proficiency in Chinese and to prepare them for global careers. Not only does it require a communicative oral speaking ability, but it also requires that students of Chinese be equipped with strong reading and writing skills to ensure their success in the academic and professional world. In order to improve their reading ability, students in the Chinese Flagship Program at URI attend reading workshops weekly. Course design, observations of student performance, and feedback from students will be discussed in this paper.

 

Students meet once a week for a 50 minute reading workshop. In each session, reading skills and cultural issues specific to the day’s reading are explicitly introduced.  Each reading is then followed bya variety of questions to be answered. All selected reading materials are related to Chinese culture or contemporary issues in order to familiarize students with Chinese culture and society.

 

In this paper I will focus on the following topicsfor discussion: the selection of reading topics, the design of questions, and the training of reading skills and strategies. I will look deeper intostudents’ application of the reading skills after the skills are explicitly taught. In addition, the application of reading skills among students at different language levels will be observed and compared. Furthermore, a survey of students’ attitude toward the use of reading strategies, the training of reading skills, and the reading of various texts and topics will be conducted and then analyzed and discussed.