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The Effectiveness of a Hybrid Model to Maintain Chinese Proficiency
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The Effectiveness of a Hybrid Model to Maintain Chinese Proficiency
Xie Tianwei
California State University, Long Beach
Fred Rao
eChineselearning.com
Paper abstract submitted to the CLTA annual conference
November 2008, Orlando, Florida
Summer language programs become more and more popular. The students usually greatly improve their language proficiency through summer study. The question is: how do these students maintain their language proficiency after the summer work? The California State University, Long Beach had a residential Chinese program in Summer 2007 and the students do their study abroad in China in Summer 2008. How do they maintain and improve their learned skills during the intervening period? In order to meet this challenge, a pilot program was designed and implemented in Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 to allow the students to continue to be exposed to the Chinese language. This is a hybrid model that consists of three parts: long distance online teaching, mentor professor supervision and graduate student tutoring. The teachers from eChineselearning.com (Beijing) use Skype to meet the students who are physically located in various places (California, Taipei and Beijing) online once a week for the entire academic year. The interaction is centered on 20 topics with an emphasis on speaking skills. The local mentor professors of students!/ profession help them in reading of their professional texts. The graduate assistants (GA) assist the students in their learning (face-to-face or online).
Two evaluation mechanisms (subjective and objective) will be used:
1. Surveys among the students, mentor professors and graduate students: The students will report their subjective opinions about the convenience, effectiveness and feasibility of this model. The mentor professors and graduate assistants will report their reflections and opinions from their perspectives.
2. Standardized tests: In order to measure the outcomes of the progress, SAT in Chinese is used as the major assessment tool. Three tests are administered at different times: at the beginning of 2007 summer program, at the end of the summer program and the end of the hybrid intervening program. An OPI test is also used to evaluate actual proficiency level at the end of the hybrid program. The results will show to what extent the students!/ achievements from the summer study are !0maintained!1 in terms of SAT scores. The results will also show if they have made any progress through this hybrid study and what their actual proficiency level will be.
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The Effectiveness of a Hybrid Model to Maintain Chinese Proficiency
Xie Tianwei
California State University, Long Beach
Fred Rao
eChineselearning.com
Paper abstract submitted to the CLTA annual conference
November 2008, Orlando, Florida
Summer language programs become more and more popular. The students usually greatly improve
their language proficiency through summer study. The question is: how do these students maintain
their language proficiency after the summer work? The California State University, Long Beach
had a residential Chinese program in Summer 2007 and the students do their study abroad in China
in Summer 2008. How do they maintain and improve their learned skills during the intervening
period?
In order to meet this challenge, a pilot program was designed and implemented in Fall 2007 and
Spring 2008 to allow the students to continue to be exposed to the Chinese language. This is a
hybrid model that consists of three parts: long distance online teaching, mentor professor
supervision and graduate student tutoring. The teachers from eChineselearning.com (Beijing) use
Skype to meet the students who are physically located in various places (California, Taipei and
Beijing) online once a week for the entire academic year. The interaction is centered on 20 topics
with an emphasis on speaking skills. The local mentor professors of students!/ profession help them
in reading of their professional texts. The graduate assistants (GA) assist the students in their
learning (face-to-face or online).
Two evaluation mechanisms (subjective and objective) will be used:
1. Surveys among the students, mentor professors and graduate students: The students will report
their subjective opinions about the convenience, effectiveness and feasibility of this model. The
mentor professors and graduate assistants will report their reflections and opinions from their
perspectives.
2. Standardized tests: In order to measure the outcomes of the progress, SAT in Chinese is used as
the major assessment tool. Three tests are administered at different times: at the beginning of 2007
summer program, at the end of the summer program and the end of the hybrid intervening program.
An OPI test is also used to evaluate actual proficiency level at the end of the hybrid program. The
results will show to what extent the students!/ achievements from the summer study are !
0maintained!1 in terms of SAT scores. The results will also show if they have made any progress
through this hybrid study and what their actual proficiency level will be.
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