Hard evidence – links between Chinese language use out of school and ALC test results Bernadette Brouwers Dr Luc Le Australian 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 LanguageTutorDistance EdSat/communityOther Chinese 2 Listening Reading Japanese 2 Listening Reading Japanese 3 Listening Reading

Tutor

Distance Education

Saturday/community school

Other

Results - Spoken LanguageMotherFatherSiblingOther relative Friends Chinese 2 Listening Reading Japanese 2 Listening Reading Japanese 3 Listening Reading

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), Iwashita, N. & Liem, I. (2005). Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 28(1), Orton, J., (2010). The Current State of Chinese Language Education in Australian Schools. Melbourne: The University of Melbourne and Confucius Institute.