Participants in this session examined the Utah Chinese Literacy Framework, from the national
conversation on literacy that inspired the project to the current curriculum decisions guiding Utah’s
statewide implementation of Chinese in its K–12 public schools. Presenters discussed national
literacy trends and their role in student-proficiency outcomes, and traced the development of the
Utah Chinese Literacy Framework and how it guided the K–12 Chinese curriculum. Utah Chinese Dual Immersion Programs was presented, as well as the framework’s assessment structure and future plans for grade seven through 12 articulation.
Transaction Management in Database Management System
Language, Literacy Assessment in Utah's Chinese Immersion
1. National Chinese Language Conference Language and Literacy in Utah’s Chinese Immersion Program April 15, 2011 MyriamMet Immersion Consultant Susan Gong Coordinator Chinese Dual Immersion USOE World Language Consultant Sandra TalbotDirector Chinese Dual Immersion USOE World Language Consultant
6. Language, Literacy, and Academics Academics in the primary grades Concept development in later grades describe the characteristics of sounds and vibrations, including how sounds are produced, received and used. describe the relationship between fractions and decimals Identify situations that are represented by negative numbers. explain how early European and African cultures influenced colonial lifestyles.
7. Literacy in Immersion Research on the transfer of literacy Alphabetic languages Non-alphabetic languages Oral language and literacy development Alphabetic languages Chinese?
20. Program: content allocation K-3: English/Chinese Math, Social Studies and Science Reinforcement (55 min.) Math (70 min.) Integrated Social Studies, Science and Health in Chinese (55 min.) English Language Arts (125 min.) Chinese Literacy (55 min.)
37. Collaboration Provide professional development Train teachers to make student-centered lesson plans StarTalk teacher workshop AUDII (Annual Utah Dual Immersion Institute) Six PD sessions per school year
40. Language and Literacy in Utah’s Chinese Immersion Program – Assessment Strategies Utah's Chinese dual immersion programs currently enroll approximately 1400 K-2 Chinese dual immersion students and will exceed 5,000 K-6 students by 2015. The Utah State Office of Education has set an aggressive goal of graduating 6th grade immersion students with intermediate-mid to intermediate-high proficiency in Chinese (on the ACTFL scale). As this critical mass of students moves through the developed K-6 Chinese immersion curriculum for Utah, careful analysis of the literacy curriculum and its effects on student proficiency levels is critical to the national conversation on Chinese second language acquisition. A carefully developed assessment plan is necessary to evaluate the success of the literacy curriculum developed for these Chinese immersion students and its impact on their second language proficiency outcomes.
41. LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT Utah language proficiency assessment strategies are built on the ACTFL proficiency scale. Goals are: 6th grade = intermediate-mid 9th grade = intermediate-high 12 grade = advanced
43. Can Do Statementsdeveloped by Greg Duncan, National Consultantin association with Gregg Roberts, USOE World Language SpecialistAnn Tollefson, National ConsultantMyriam Met, National ConsultantUtah Team of Chinese immersion specialists and teachers
44. Grade 7-12 Projected Curriculum Outline DUAL IMMERSION CHINESE COURSE SEQUENCING, Grades 7-9Two courses per grade level, content course aligned with core requirements
45. DUAL IMMERSION CHINESE COURSE SEQUENCING, Grades 10-12 University Level Coursework directed toward Chinese Minor Requirements One course per grade level
46. Core Content Assessment (K-2) Utah State Legislature Reporting Year End Testing English Reading Levels (Dibbles) Math (District Specific) All tests administered in English 2010 End of Year Results 2011 Mid-Year Results in Math
49. Criterion Referenced Testing Beginning in third grade, student core content knowledge of immersion students will be assessed in English with year-end criterion referenced testing In 2014, as part of a multi-state piloting consortium, Utah will begin using the new computer adaptive criterion referenced tests currently under development by CCSSO
Students don’t just read about these topics to learn; they are also expected to write to display their learning as well as to learn through writing. Clearly, immersion students’ ability to use literacy as a tool to acquire, enhance, and display their learning is critical to acquiring an academically rigorous curriculum. In immersion programs in cognate languages, students are usually able to carry out such tasks.
However, by third grade things change dramatically: students are no longer learning how to read, they are expected to read in order to learn. At the same time, the curriculum becomes less amenable to hands-on concrete experiences to convey curriculum content, and instead, is increasingly abstract, relying more on language. It is precisely at this point that the issues of literacy in immersion become pressing.
For most second language readers, we first teach them to read the print forms of language they’ve already mastered orally. However, for second language readers of Chinese we have an additional issue: high frequency oral language which students may control may not coincide with those characters we’d teach first in terms of their complexity and learnability; in contrast, characters we’d teach early in literacy development might be low frequency vocabulary items.
We are struggling with this challenge in Chinese immersion. We’re doing well—we have evidence that our students are indeed successful. But we need to learn how to do what we’re doing even better—and especially now as Chinese immersion in K-5 moves from a hothouse context to a more mainstream form of immersion education.And that is why we are here. We need to answer some of big questions:How literate can we get our students to be? How well are we doing now?How can we make them as literate as they need to be as quickly as possible?
Not just Chinese
Look at an example of a thematic unit
Content obligatory language: structures and vocabulary needed to master academic content encountered in the lessons of this unitEncountered in unit related readings, needed for students to meet defined language objectivesContent optional language: structures and vocabularyFit naturally into the lesson structure
Add a few props like a safari hat, flap jacket, etc.