A Functional Linguistic Approach to Teaching Chinese as an Additional

Language - Helping Classroom Teachers Address the

National Standards in a Systematic Way

Jingzi Huang, Ph.D

Associate Professor

Monmouth University

NJ, USA

jhuang@monmouth.edu

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 StudyACTFL (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

A Socio-Cultural Perspective for a Successful Foreign Language Program

Model

Linguistic ResourcesContent Knowledge Activities

Text Structures lexis grammar

A Field Tested Model (Huang and Mohan, 2009):

Background Knowledge

Classification Principles Evaluation

Action Situation

Description Sequence Choice

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)

Classification Principles Evaluation

IDENTIFYING family members

Creating a family tree CLASSIFYING family

members by height

Culture, Connection

Engage in the process of writing a short play depicting a Chinese family at meal time according to cultural customs: REASON the motives of including the lines in the play

Culture, Connection

SURVEY THE CLASS’ PREFERENCE for the number of siblings and create a bar graph showing the result

MAKING COMMENTS on the skit role played by classmate

Connection, Comparison , Community

DESCRIBING family members by age and height

Connection

Role play the skit Making a paper cat

follow the correct SEQUENCE (Chinese folk art)

Culture

REPORT THE RESULT of the class survey on preference for number of siblings

Connection , CommunityDescription Sequence Choice

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

Classification Principles Evaluation

CLASSIFYING people into those who attend school and those who don't; those who work and those who don't

Connection, Community

EXPLAINING the REASONS you engage in three major daily activities

Connection

EVALUATING your daily life and the life of a Chinese elementary school student by COMPARING and CONTRASTING them

Culture, Comparison

DESCRIBING yourself and your classmates by name, age, sex, grade, nationality, etc.

DESCRIBING yourself and/or your family

Connection, Community

SEQUENCING your daily activities.

Connection

Showing your PERSONAL PREFERENCE for the kind of daily life

Culture, Comparison

Description Sequence Choice

Findings: Grammatical and lexical systems (Halliday 1994, Martin 1992) through which semantic relations are reflected:Form-Function Relations in Student Discourse (Monhand & Huang, 2002)

CLASSIFICATION PRINCIPLES EVALUATION

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

SpecificPracticalLevel

* 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

DESCRIPTION SEQUENCE CHOICE

Findings: A Spanish Example (Huang & Facer, 2009)- Unit Design Addressing Five Cs: Schools in the US and Argentina

Classification Principles EvaluationContent 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 USConnection

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

Description Sequence ChoiceContent 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.

ReferencesACTFL (1996). Standards for foreign language learning: Preparing for the 21st century. Lawrence, KS: Allen Press, Inc.

ACTFL (2002). ACTFL Standards for the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers . http://www.ncate.org/documents/ProgramStandards/actfl2002.pdf

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. 3-33.

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. 70 - 89.

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 14 - 18, 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. 22-38.

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.234-262.

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. 405-433.