Hard evidence – links between Chinese language use out of school and ALC

test results

Bernadette Brouwers

Dr Luc LeAustralian Council for Educational Research

Assessment of Language Competence

• Annual international certificate program

• Second language tests of listening and reading

• Multiple choice format

• Seven languages

• Three levels

• Some questions in TL

Context

• Teacher concerns

• Participation rates for languages• Need to increase the number of

classroom second language learners (Orton, 2008:5)

• Understand the nature of the learner group (Scrimgeour, 2010, Asia Education Foundation National Summit)

• ALC aims

Research context

• Care was taken not to introduce German, Russian or Italian into schools with a sizeable community speaking the language. (Clyne et al, 1997, 1)

• … exposure to the language within the home … is insufficient to develop more than minimal skills in production. (Clyne et al, 1997, 121)

Research context

… on the VCE Chinese examination there is a clear native/non-native speaker divide on all assessment tasks.

Only in the case of Chinese is there a clear relationship between language background and performance at the global level.

(Elder, 2005, 36)

Research Context

• … higher achievement is not necessarily attributable to ethnic background

• …other factors … study outside school … number of years study at school had some impact … .

(Iwashita & Liem, 2005, 47)

Research Context

• … learner background is the most powerful factor influencing levels of achievement … particularly so for Chinese … . (Scarino et al, 2007, 119)

Research Context

• … almost all those who begin Chinese as a classroom-taught language quit before year 10 … almost all those taking Chinese in Year 12 are Chinese first language speakers. (Orton, 2008, 16)

Research questions

• What is the relationship between out-of-school study of Chinese on test results for students taking the 2012 ALC Certificate 2 test of Chinese?

• What is the relationship between out-of-school use of Chinese with family members on test results for students taking the 2012 ALC Certificate 2 test of Chinese?

Why is this interesting or useful?

• Concern re provision of Chinese at

senior secondary level

• Lack of level playing field

• Real data from sizeable cohort

Research methodology

• 2012 ALC student results and survey data

• Certificate 2 listening and reading tests in Chinese

• Certificate 2 listening and reading tests in Japanese

• Certificate 3 listening and reading tests in Japanese

Assumptions

• ALC tests are designed for L2 students

• Students taking the ALC are L2

students

Survey frequency

• Chinese Certificate 2 (N = approx 830)

• Japanese Certificate 2 (N = approx 2000)

• Japanese Certificate 3 (N = approx 1000)

ALC student survey

Results – where studied

Language Tutor Distance Ed Sat/community Other

Chinese 2

Listening -0.03 0.04 0.28 0.18

Reading -0.04 0.04 0.20 0.12

Japanese 2

Listening 0.04 0.09 0.15 0.16

Reading 0.06 0.11 0.14 0.17

Japanese 3

Listening 0.06 -0.01 0.13 0.12

Reading 0.07 0.01 0.14 0.11

Tutor

Distance Education

Saturday/community school

Other

Results - SpokenLanguage Mother Father Sibling Other relative Friends

Chinese 2

Listening 0.50 0.47 0.26 0.46 0.23

Reading 0.39 0.37 0.21 0.34 0.22

Japanese 2

Listening 0.22 0.17 0.08 0.19 0.11

Reading 0.20 0.17 0.08 0.16 0.10

Japanese 3

Listening 0.19 0.12 0.04 0.16 0.05

Reading 0.18 0.10 0.06 0.15 0.06

Spoken with mother

Spoken with father

Spoken with sibling

Spoken with other relative

Spoken with friends

Discussion

• Other relative

• Context/purpose of language use

• Interrelationship between variables

• Program type

• Time on task

Summary

• Study at Saturday school shows strongest positive

correlation

• Language spoken with mother/father/other relative

shows strongest positive correlation

• Effects strongest for Chinese Certificate 2

• Effect slightly greater for listening than for reading

(CH)

Thank you !

References• Clyne, M., Fernandez, S., Chen, I.Y., & Sumo-O’Connell, R. et al (1997).

Background Speakers: Diversity and its Management in LOTE Programs. Belconnen: Language Australia.

• Elder, C., (1995). Do bilinguals perform better than monolinguals on school foreign language examinations? Melbourne Papers in Language Testing, 4(1), 21-54.

• Iwashita, N. & Liem, I. (2005). Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 28(1), 36-51.

• Orton, J., (2010). The Current State of Chinese Language Education in Australian Schools. Melbourne: The University of Melbourne and Confucius Institute.

• http://www.saale.unisa.edu.au/project.html