Jingzi Huang, Ph.D Associate Professor Monmouth University NJ, USA

Guiding Questions:  Facing the requirement for standards- based foreign language instruction, what are the Chinese teachers struggling with in their effort to align their teaching with the national standards?  Can successful foreign language program models provide helpful implications for Chinese teaching?

Background of the Study Five Cs for learners (ACTFL,1996): Goals for Foreign Language Learning  Communicate in Language Other Than English  Gain Knowledge & Understanding of Other Culture  Connect with Other Disciplines & Acquire New Information  Develop Insight into the Nature of Language & Culture (through Comparison)  Participate in Multilingual Communities at Home and Around the World

Background of the Study ACTFL (2002) SPA Standards for Teachers:  ACTFL SPA Standard 2. Cultures, Literatures, Cross-Disciplinary Concepts. Candidates (a) demonstrate that... they integrate the cultural framework for foreign language standards into their instructional practices; (b)... and (c) integrate knowledge of other disciplines into foreign language instruction and identify distinctive viewpoints accessible only through the target language.  ACTFL SPA Standard 4. Integration of Standards into Curriculum and Instruction. Candidates (a) demonstrate an understanding of the goal areas and standards of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning and their state standards, and they integrate these frameworks into curricular planning; (b) integrate the Standards for Foreign Language Learning and their state standards into language instruction; and (c) use standards and curricular goals to evaluate, select, design, and adapt instructional resources.

Background of the Study A need to address the standards in a systematic way:  The National Standards (ACTFL 1996) specifically require attention to the integration of content and culture into the teaching of foreign languages. Nevertheless, classroom language teachers find themselves struggling in an effort to address the linguistic and the content/cultural goals in an integrated way.

Struggles Experienced by Teachers:  Public Schools  Heritage Weekend Chinese Schools

Linguistic ResourcesContent KnowledgeActivities Text Structureslexisgrammar

A Field Tested Model (Huang and Mohan, 2009): Background Knowledge ClassificationPrinciplesEvaluation Action Situation DescriptionSequenceChoice The Knowledge Framework (Mohan 1986)

Setting: Elementary school in Western Canada where dominant language and culture is English.

Participants  A Canadian-born Chinese Canadian whose strongest language is English and who is fluent in Cantonese. Mandarin Chinese is her second language which she acquired later as a university student.  Students: 23 students who started the program in year 1 at the ages of 8 and 9 in third and fourth grades and continued into year 3. All speak English as their first language with no Chinese backgrounds except for one boy who is from Cantonese cultural background.

Data collection: three years Data sources:  observation;  field notes;  student written work;  audio taped oral products;  video taped lessons;  informal interview;  lesson notes from the teacher;  curriculum and instructional resources and materials.

Findings: Year 1 activities conducted on the topic of Family (Huang, 2003b) ClassificationPrinciplesEvaluation DescriptionSequenceChoice

Findings: Year 3 Activities Conducted around the KF on the Topic of Personal Information (Huang, 2003a) ClassificationPrinciplesEvaluation DescriptionSequenceChoice

Findings: Grammatical and lexical systems (Halliday 1994, Martin 1992) through which semantic relations are reflected: Form-Function Relations in Student Discourse (Monhand & Huang, 2002) CLASSIFICATIONPRINCIPLESEVALUATION General Theoretical Level * Generic Reference * Relational Process * Additive Conjunction * Taxonomic, Part/Whole Lexis * Generic Reference * Material Process * Consequential Conjunction * Cause-Effect Lexis * Generic Reference * Mental Process * Comparative Conjunction * Evaluative Lexis Specific Practical Level * Specific Reference * Relational, Existential Process * Additive Conjunction * Attributive Lexis * Specific Reference * Material Process * Temporal Conjunction * Sequential Lexis * Specific Reference * Mental Process * Alternative Conjunction * Oppositional, Choice Lexis DESCRIPTIONSEQUENCECHOICE

Findings: A Spanish Example (Huang & Facer, 2009) - Unit Design Addressing Five Cs: Schools in the US and Argentina ClassificationPrinciplesEvaluation Content Outcome:  identify and classify: regions, countries, and their capitals that speak Spanish;  Students will be able to identify and classify items found in schools in Argentina and the US Connection Content Outcome:  explain how the school year is organized in Argentina;  explain the basic school system in Argentina and the vocational tracking system Culture Content Outcome:  Based on differences between schools in the US and Argentina, justify the preference for a school system Comparison, Community Language Outcome :  use vocabulary words from the list when categorizing items: El caribe Puerto Rico, San Juan, puertorriqueño (countires)  use vocabulary words from the list when categorizing items. Words: escuela, lápiz,bolígrafo,libro puerta, bus escolar, mochila (scholl supplies) Communication Language Outcome:  use the wording for seasons (summer, winter, spring, and fall) indicating conditions when explaining the school year.  explain the tracking system with the use of specific vocabulary indicating results: escuela, colegio, polymordial, año Communication Language Outcome:  become familiar with and use phrases of like /dislike... because... Me gusta/ no me gusta... when expressing justified preference. Communication DescriptionSequenceChoice Content Outcome:  describe people from those countries. Culture, Connection Content Outcome:  sequence the school system in Argentina Culture Content Outcome:  choose what school system they prefer according to the cultural information, using the Venn diagram created in previous lesson Comparison, Community Language Outcome:  try to use adjectives that describe the people from those countries such as Argentino, colombiano, chileno etc. Communication Language Outcome :  participate in a discussion about the sequence of the school system using primero, proximo ( First, next) Communication Language Outcome:  oral story about a perfect day, using expressions such as I prefer, rather, in my opinion, I choose. Communication

Conclusions (Huang and Mohan, 2009): At the curriculum level:  Embrace the five Cs in an integrated way At the level of activities:  Integrate language and content systematically;  Bring about a wide range of form-function connections.

References ACTFL (1996). Standards for foreign language learning: Preparing for the 21 st century. Lawrence, KS: Allen Press, Inc. ACTFL (2002). ACTFL Standards for the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers. Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). An introduction to functional grammar (2nd Ed.). London: Edward Arnold. Huang, J. (2003a) Activities as a Vehicle for Linguistic and Sociocultural Knowledge at the Elementary Level. Language Teaching Research 7, (2), pp Huang, J. (2003b). A Content-Based Approach to Achieving the Dual Goals of Language and Culture Learning for Young Beginners – A Case Study of an Elementary “Mandarin Chinese as a Foreign Language Program”. Language, Culture & Curriculum 16 (1), pp Huang, J. & Facer, C. (2009). A Functional Approach to a Culture-Based Language Curriculum – When goals of foreign language education go beyond language. Paper presented at the 36th International Systemic Functional Conference, July , Beijing, China Huang, J. & Mohan, B. (2009). A Functional Approach to Integrated Assessment of Teacher Support and Student Discourse Development in an Elementary Chinese Program. Linguistics and Education 20, pp Huang, J. & Morgan, G. (2003). A Functional Approach to Evaluating Content Knowledge and Language Development in ESL Students’ Science Classification Texts. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 13, (2), pp Martin, J. (1992). English text. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins. Mohan, B. & Huang, J. (2002). Assessing the Integration of Language and Content in a Mandarin as a Foreign Language Classroom. Linguistics and Education, 13 (3), pp