Native Target Language Speaking Teachers’ Role and Impact in a Non-Target Language Speaking Environment

Dr. Yuanman Liu and Ms. Can Wang

This paper was completed and submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master Teacher Program, a 2-year faculty professional development program conducted by the Center for Teaching Excellence, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, 2012.

Introduction

Hidden curriculum, which was first proposed by Jackson (P. W. Jackson) in 1968, is a relative concept of

formal curriculum, or office curriculum, which is usually planned and implemented in an organized way in school

education.

Many obstacles in the process of foreign language study, such as emotions, attitudes, cultural perspective,

and values, which are usually affected most by the hidden curriculum, also have an impact on language learning.

Zhang Hongyun (2006) studied the teacher-student relationship and its impact on foreign students’ Chinese learning

based on qualitative and quantitative analysis.

In this research, she considered the teacher-student relationship, which is the most important and most

active interpersonal relationship in the teaching process, a major part of hidden curriculum. In her later research in

2009, she contrasted hidden curriculum and dominant curriculum based on eight key aspects.

Hidden Curriculum Dominant Curriculum

Implementer Teacher, course director, admin staff, and

students

Mostly teacher

Content Thoughts, values, attitudes, social norms Systematic knowledge on certain

subject

Medium General teaching environment in school Classroom teaching

Purpose Focus on developing non-rational aspects Focus on developing rational

aspects

Property of acquired Mostly non-academic, sometimes also Mostly academic

experiences academic

Presenting-mode of

teaching

Not public, implicit, indirect, concealed Public, explicit, direct, obvious

Student’s acceptance

mechanism

Unconscious, non-specific psycho-

reaction

Intentional, specific psycho-reaction

Result and evaluation Not predictable, difficult to quantify,

more evaluated by quality

Predictable, measurable, and more

evaluated by tests

Sha Zongyuan (2009) expressed concern that the extra-curricular language environment plays an important

role in the students’ acquisition of Chinese. He divided the extra-curricular language environment into

communicative language environment and non-communicative language environment, with both positive factors

and negative factors for students’ language acquisition.

Teachers are the most important factor in teaching and learning activities. The interaction between teachers

and students is always the most active, whether it occurs in a target language environment or in a non-target

language environment. We also noticed that the teaching effect can be significantly different according to the

different language environment. Some methods, which are very effective in a target language environment, seem to

work less effectively in a non-target language environment.

In the official curriculum system, the requirements of courses are always identified in the syllabus and the

lesson list. The more mature the course is, the more rigorous the syllabus and lesson list usually are. The question

is, under the same syllabus and lesson list, why might the teaching effect between different teachers be so different?

Even the same teacher’s teaching effect can vary greatly during different periods, regardless of unchanging course

requirements. What causes these differences?

1. Analysis of the teacher-student relationship in different language environments

1.1 Standards for Language Teachers

In The Standards for Teachers of Chinese Language, there is a list of the requirements for teachers which

can be easily and accurately evaluated such as basic knowledge and skills, culture and communication, second

language acquisition and study strategies, and teaching methods. There are also some other requirements about

teachers’ comprehensive qualities in The Standards for Teachers of Chinese Language, including teachers'

mentality, knowledge, teaching philosophy, teaching ability, teaching style, etc. But the evaluation of these aspects

is much more variable, can only be performed in practical teaching activities, and is difficult to be judged

definitively as black or white. If we consider the previous several standards as teachers’ hard power, which are the

basic standards of a competent second language teacher, the comprehensive qualities can be regarded as soft power,

which play an important role in ensuring the quality of teaching.

As a vital part of hidden curriculum, although the teacher-student relationship does not affect the students’

academic results directly, it does affect the students’ psychological level such as learning attitude, emotion, etc. It

has even more positive influence on the learners in an elementary level. It is found that, the teacher-student

relationship has a significant, positive correlation with how willingly teachers would like to help their students, and

how comfortable students feel in seeking academic help. Conversely, a poor relationship between teachers and

students can have a significant negative correlation with the students’ classroom anxiety during a second language

course.

Teaching activities are mainly implemented in classrooms in either target or non-target language

environments. The interaction between teachers and students occurs consistently throughout the entire teaching

process, usually independent of third party involvement; therefore, supervision of the quality of classroom teaching

is more difficult to conduct than with many other more open activities.

Zhang Hongyun (2008) identified a widely existing phenomenon – that many teachers only emphasize the classroom

studying, overlooking out-of-class studying, or, emphasize knowledge teaching and ignore emotional

communication. She proposed six ways to establish a good relationship between teachers and students:

communication, empathy, paying attention to the students' needs, expectations and experience, democracy and

authority, and an emphasis on cross-cultural communication.

1.2. The Categories of Language Teachers

In a target language environment, teachers use their native language as the language of instruction. They

can usually identify students’ expressional mistakes immediately, not only because of their theoretical understanding

and research on the language, but also because of their natural intuition. Most teachers who teach their native

language as a second language tend to follow this principle, which is to teach as much as possible in their native

language, and to rarely use the students’ native language. This is, first, because the teachers’ foreign language skills

are limited – they are not necessarily experts in the foreign language. Secondly, it is because the students come

from different countries. Although English is the most commonly used language around the world, still, not

everyone speaks English. That’s why students can have a comprehensive target language environment.

Most foreign language learners, however, study in their own countries, a completely mother tongue

environment. Teachers there are generally local teachers, including teachers who had learned the target language as

a foreign language, and also teachers who are native target language speakers but have mastered the students' native

language as well. Some of them grew up in a local bilingual environment; some started teaching after they

graduated in this country, and they are also familiar with the students' native language. Without a conscious control

of the classroom communication, these teachers usually tend to communicate in the students’ native language when

it is difficult to communicate with the students in the target language.

In many universities within the United States, there are also some visiting language teachers from the target

language speaking country, who teach their native language as a second language abroad. Recently, the number of

these foreign language teachers is increasing in a non-target language-speaking environment, especially in countries

with a developed educational system. They may understand the students' native language to a certain extent, but the

extent is usually very limited. Because these teachers mainly teach in their own country, facing language learners

from multiple countries with different language backgrounds, they are accustomed to communicate with students in

only their own language, the target language.

1.3 The Communicators in a Target Language Environment In a target language environment, the language learners can have at least four types of communicators:

language teachers, school managers, other language learners, and members of community. Students have different

levels of communication with all these communicators. The relationships between them can be described as follow:

The teacher-student relationship and other relationships supplement each other. Teachers are the main

knowledge instructors and communicators, but they are not the only communicators. Students can also

communicate with other teachers in different courses. Students’ dependence on their teachers gradually decreases as

their language level rises. The higher their language level gets, the more resources of language they can make use of,

and the less important the teachers are as communicators.

In a target language environment, there are usually plenty of classes and courses for students in different

language levels to choose. According to over 1000 students' feedback, we found that when students evaluate

teachers, the factors they consider most often include the following several aspects: control of the class, teaching

methods, communication skill with students, teaching style and personal charm, and extensive and multidimensional

knowledge. Some students would even rather make some sacrifices for the sake of a favorite teacher, such as going

to a class in a lower level or with more students.

1.4 The teacher-student relationship in a non-target language-speaking environment

In a non-target language environment, there are much fewer communicators with whom the learners can

communicate in the target language. Students communicate with school managers and other language learners only

in their native language. Other communications between the students and other members of community are also

usually in their native language, unless there is a special language learning purpose. Teachers become almost the

only target language communicators. Students rely on their teachers much more than in a target language

environment. Other communicators become more and more personalized.

In the target language environment, most students do not only study the target language full time, every

day. There are also many fewer parallel classes for the each language level. With limited time and limited classes,

students have very little choice in the selection of teachers or classes.

Teachers become the interactive subject with students during the process of language teaching. Teachers are like

counselors; not only do they need to answer questions about the target language itself, but also other questions about

the target language countries’ culture, politics, history, contemporary social life, etc.

According to our research, the interpersonal trust level is proportional to the contact time, as is classroom

pleasure related to contact time. The deeper people understand each other, the more relaxed their communication

will be. Because the contact time between teachers and students is very limited in a non-target language

environment, it is very important to make full use of the classroom time, and meanwhile try to increase other

opportunities for contact after class, including both dominant and hidden contact. In addition to the role of guide

and instructor, the teachers’ role as a communicator is highlighted in a non-target language environment.

2. Teachers’ initiative role in a non-target language environment

2.1. Change the Teaching Philosophy According to Chinese traditional culture, the Chinese believe that teachers are the people who preach the

truth, teach knowledge, and answer questions. Historically, teachers have always had considerable authority and

have had the upper hand in the teacher-student relationship, especially in past generations. But in the teaching of a

second language, especially in a target language environment, this teaching philosophy needs to be updated.

Learning is a very constructive process of which every participator in the course should be a developer and a creator.

The teachers can be the authority of the language knowledge and skills, but it is getting harder for teachers to be the

authority of everything academically. The teacher-student relationship becomes more interactive and generative in

this information age, by which the teachers and students can share their knowledge, wisdom, and sentiments.

2.2 Course design

Teachers must prepare sufficiently for their teaching, and the course must be designed before the teaching

is implemented. Several factors are listed in Teaching Tips (Marilla Svinicki and Wilbert J. McKeachie), such as

writing objectives, goals, or outcomes; ordering textbooks, lab supplies, or other resources students may need;

choosing a textbook or other reading materials; drafting a syllabus for the course; preparing class session plans;

planning for out-of-class learning; choosing appropriate teaching methods; selecting appropriate technology;

rechecking course resources; starting a portfolio; sending an email welcoming the students; etc. In many academic

institutions with long history of teaching, a larger teaching load, and more complete course organization, the content

of courses is usually designed in advance. The teachers who just teach a parallel class need to use the preselected

teaching material, adhere to the uniform teaching syllabus and course requirements, and prepare the class based on

the uniform lesson list. But in other ways, the teachers can develop their own teaching style with a large amount of

flexibility, such as choosing appropriate teaching methods, selecting appropriate technology, negotiating with

students by emails, etc.

2.3 Develop Students' Cultural Confirmation.

Understanding the culture of the target language countries is a very important part of foreign language

study. For example, in Chinese teaching, the first cultural issue we address should be names. Many teachers are

used to, or prefer to, call their students their English names, and never give them Chinese names. Some other

teachers support this approach by citing that not every Chinese person who moves to a foreign country receives a

new name in the local language, and it is still acceptable for local people to call them by their original name. But

one thing we must acknowledge is that Chinese is different from English; Chinese is not a phonetic language. A

Chinese name is usually only two or three syllables. If we transliterate the students’ English names directly into

Chinese, not only will the name repetition rate be very high, but also the names will be 3-5 times longer of native

Chinese names, and will be much more difficult for common Chinese to remember. Since Chinese names can

convey a very strong piece of cultural information, and their logic is so different from that of Western names, to give

the students an authentic Chinese name at the very beginning of their Chinese studies, and to use this name in and

out of class, will not only help students experience the Chinese culture quickly and directly, but can also help them

to be accepted by Chinese speakers much faster in the future.

Since the meanings of characters in Chinese names are highly emphasized, and it’s believed that names

somehow affect people’s fortune, when giving students Chinese names, teachers should consider both the relation to

the original name, and the reflection of Chinese culture. Therefore, giving students Chinese names should be

considered when designing the course.

Take 10 students’ Chinese names as an example： Name Simplified

characters Meaning

Cetnar, James 苏健民 苏 Sū 健 Jiàn : health 民 mín: people, citizen Gill, Elaine 季爱莲 季 Jì 爱 ài: love 莲 lián: lotus Ellis, Oriana 李丽楠 李 Lǐ 丽 Lì: beautiful, pretty 楠 nán: nanmu Hoff, Matthew 何茂亭 何 Hé 茂 Mào: luxuriant 亭 tíng: Chinese pavilion Kester, Cody 柯甘德 柯 Kē 甘 Gān: sweet 德 dé: morality, ethics Patterson, Adam 潘沐德 潘 Pān 沐 Mù: shower 德 dé: morality, ethics Reeves, Alexander 雷立贤 雷 Léi 立 Lì: to stand, establish 贤 xián: virtuous,

worthy Robertson, Tyler 罗泰 罗 Luó 泰 Tài: peaceful, safe Stanley,Drew 沈著 沈 Shěn 著 Zhù: outstanding Susong, Charles 苏丞思 苏 Sū 丞 Chéng : assistant officer 思 sī: think, thought Brown, Sarah 白诗戎 白 Bái 诗 Shī: poem 戎 róng: military,

army Medeiros,Jacob 梅雅博 梅 Méi 雅 Yǎ: elegant, refined 博 bó: plentiful, rich

2.4 Teachers' Emotional Devotion

Trust should be established between teachers and students to facilitate academic guidance in areas such as

selecting one’s major, foreign language skills, future career planning, and learning strategies for students with

different cognitive types and learning styles. Teachers can create a cheerful atmosphere in classroom activities with

simple explanations, vivid and lively model sentences, compact and efficient practice, and a pace that alternates

between rapid and relaxed.

It’s also important for teachers to understand the students' lives so that they can tailor classroom activities

to the students’ interests. When talking about their own life in the target language, students often feel a greater

sense of success than when they do so using example sentences from their textbook, which are sometimes perceived

as boring and unrelated to their real life.

Well designed and well decorated classrooms can also increase students’ joy during the learning process.

Some examples of this may be the arrangement of desks and chairs, decorations, presentation of student

achievement, etc. These all improve the communication between students and their teachers and classmates.

3. Some Innovations in Teaching Methods

3.1 Foreign Language Learning Time at West Point

The management system and teaching facilities at West Point for foreign language study meet students’

needs well. The dominant curriculum is rigorously designed, with a strict syllabus and lesson list to guide teaching.

As seen in a hidden course, the class size for Chinese language is also pretty ideal, with only 15 people or

less, while other language sections are trying to limit their students to 20 cadets. Still, if we look at the learning

time, it is obviously much shorter than in a target language environment.

In the target language environment, the average study time is about 4 hours a day, 20 hours per week. Additionally,

there are also plenty of opportunities for out-of-classroom cultural activities such as communicating with local

Chinese people, watching Chinese TV and movies, etc. It is an all-around target language environment which can

ensure enough time for students to acquire the target language.

In this native language environment here, however, beginners have only one hour a day, five days a week

allocated to their target language study. There is almost no other opportunity for students to use the target language

after class. According to the students' evaluation feedback, students spend very limited time on Chinese after class.

Time for Chinese studying after class (per day) Numbers of students

＜30 minutes 10

30-60 minutes 37

1 - 2 hours 31

＞2 hours 10

Too much time 4

We can see from this chart, after 55 minutes of classroom study, most students here spend 30 minutes to 2

hours on Chinese study each day. They mainly spend this time finishing homework or preparing for tests. The

practice they do is usually Chinese character writing, recognition, and typing. Many cadets admitted that they never

listened to the sound files for the text during the past two semesters, and that they spent even less time practicing

speaking. If the teachers don’t adjust classroom time to address this imbalance, the students’ speaking and listening

ability will lag behind the reading and writing skills.

3.2 Reduce the Negative Psychological Suggestion

It is very important to help beginners approach a language correctly from the very beginning of their study.

Beginners need to use very limited vocabulary to make simple sentences. Some sentences can be grammatically

correct, but a positive or negative tone attached to the sentences can produce a large difference in the teaching effect.

Let’s compare two groups of sentences:

Negative examples Positive examples

1. 中文课很难。 1. 中文课很有意思。

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

＜30 minutes 30 - 60 minutes 1 - 2 hours ＞2 hours Too much

Time for Chinese studying after class (per day)

Series 1

Chinese class is difficult. Chinese class is interesting.

2. 我今天考试考得不好。 2. 我今天考试考得不错。

I didn’t do well in the test today. I did pretty well in the test today.

3. 我沒有朋友。 3. 我有很多朋友。

I don’t have a friend. I have many friends.

4. 我很累，我下了课就睡觉。 4. 我很忙，下了课就去运动。

I was tired. I went to bed right after class. I’m busy. I went exercising right after class.

Obviously these two groups of sentences reflect very different attitudes. If teachers keep repeating that

Chinese is hard, a common misrepresentation of Chinese study, then students will be unconsciously affected and

tend to think Chinese is hard; consequently, they will gradually show a negative mood rather than one that should be

joyful and interested. Therefore, teachers should be concerned with students’ lives. They will then be able to create

more acceptable and effective model sentences, which more closely relate to the students’ real lives, and can be

expressed in a practical and humorous way.

3.3 Build up a Relaxed and Enjoyable Target Language Speaking Atmosphere

A good relationship between teachers and students can promote students' enthusiasm and commitment to

learning and motivate students to perform their best.

Music is always an easy and great way to lead into a lesson in a small target language environment.

Playing some widely known songs or music as background music - classic or popular, old or new - before class, can

not only reduce the students anxiety and fatigue, but can also help the students experience Chinese music and

musical instruments in a direct way.

Both teachers and students should use the target language in class as much as possible. Teachers should try

to avoid using students’ native language in class. When students understand that they cannot expect their teachers to

use English, they will have to try to communicate in Chinese. The more of the target language they can understand

and speak, the more relaxed and enjoyable the class will become.

3.4 Value Feedback

3.4.1 Feedback about teachers

3.4.1.1 Get Feedback from the Class Assessment

Student feedback is an important reference for us to improve our teaching. There is a midterm course

assessment consisting of 17 items that is used at West Point. Some items evaluate materials used, some evaluate

existing teaching methods, some measure student gains from the class, and some elicit their suggestions or

expectations. This feedback allows the instructor to adjust his or her teaching strategy during the second half of the

semester.

We collected and studied the results of students’ mid-term course assessment questionnaires during the first and

second semesters of academic year 2012. To the question "what is the instructor doing in this course/section that is

most effective in helping you learn?” most students commented on the method of teaching the four language skills,

teaching styles, and classroom activities.

LC203 Mid-term course assessment, 1-2012

"What is the instructor doing in this course/section that is most effective in helping you learn?”

Comments

On:

Concrete Comments Numbers of

comments

Content LOTs of grammar 1(2%)

A lot of Reading comprehension 1(2%)

Sufficient talking; Much of the class is conversation in Chinese. 4(9.5)

Explain characters 1(2%)

Listening and dictation of Pinyin 3(7.1)

Writing characters in class 2(4.8)

Teaching

method

Using hands to pronounce words in a correct way with correct tones. 3(7.1)

Allowing board time 1(2%)

Rolling Review Reporting our name, the date and other useful sayings in

class.

6(14.3)

Videos 1(2%)

Tests us 1(2%)

AI Knowledge and study strategies guidance 4(9.5)

Teaching

style

Knowledge 1(2%)

Being active, engaging; Make everyone participate. 2(4.8)

Interesting manner 1(2%)

Games. 1(2%)

Exciting, nearly impossible to not pay attention. 1(2%)

Relationship

practicing speaking with our classmates 1(2%)

Ready to help 1(2%)

Cares about students 2(4.8)

Positive attitude 1(2%)

Encouragement 2(4.8)

Quick to correct 1(2%)

For the question of “What would you suggest be done during the rest of the semester to improve this course”, the

feedback is as follows:

LC203 Mid-term course assessment, 1-2012

“What would you suggest be done during the rest of the semester to improve this course”

Comments

On:

Concrete Comments Numbers of

comments

Pace of

teaching

Slow down 5(16.1%)

More review time 5(16.1%)

Speaking

practice

Talk more with partners 1(3.2%)

Continue a lot of conversations 3(9.8%)

Writing

practice

Writing out sentences/story in Chinese. 2(6.5%)

Have a Chinese pen pal to write letters. 1(3.2%)

Writing more on paper less on boards 3(9.8%)

More time on character recognition in class 1(3.2%)

Less character writing assignment 2(6.5%)

More in-class character writing 1(3.2%)

More character games 1(3.2%)

Tests and

Grades

Fewer graded events 1(3.2%)

Assignments for bonus points 2(6.5%)

Cultures

More DVDs 1(3.2%)

Food, cultural items 2(6.5%)

Based on this feedback, we adjusted the course for the second semester, and designed more classroom

activities tailored for students at this Academy. Additionally we proposed several ways to improve the course

testing system, such as adding a role playing portion to the oral test and adding an extra class period before each oral

test, which increases opportunities for Chinese practice. In the spring of 2012 questionnaire survey, we can see

some changes in the students based on the comments given.

LC204 Mid-term course assessment, 2-2012

"What is the instructor doing in this course/section that is most effective in helping you learn?”

Comments

On:

Concrete Comments Numbers of

comments

Content LOTs of grammar 7(10.1%)

Go over oral 1(1.4%)

Sufficient talking; Making us to speak Chinese as much as possible. 11(15.9%)

explain characters 2(2.9%)

Listening and dictation of Pinyin 1(1.4%)

Extensive covering topics, thorough 2(2.9%)

Go through vocabulary for each lesson 1(1.4%)

Focus on reading comprehension 1(1.4%)

Extra vocabulary 1(1.4%)

Teaching

method

Reading characters without Pinyin 1(1.4%)

Writing sentences on board. 6(8.7%)

Rolling Review Reporting our name, the date and other useful sayings in

class.

7(10.1%)

DVDs 1(1.4%)

Speak in a medium pace, understandable, repeating 4(5.8%)

AI Knowledge and study strategies guidance 2(2.9%)

Teaching

style

Being active, engaging Make everyone participate. 5(7.2%)

Interesting manner 1(1.4%)

Games, activities 2(2.9%)

Exciting, nearly impossible to not pay attention. 2(2.9%)

Relationship

Patient, never lost temper 1(1.4%)

Knowledgeable 1(1.4%)

Cares about students 3(4.3%)

Positive attitude, love teaching, enthusiastic 4(5.8%)

Encouragement 1(1.4%)

Good corrections 1(1.4%)

Compared with the comments from the same course last year, we can see some effect of the adjustment.

3.4.1.2 Getting feedback from Test Results

Tests (exams and quizzes) in a language course often occur much more frequently than in other courses.

Exams and quizzes are good for grabbing students’ attention and urging them to study. But tests also easily cause

students anxiety and even, in some instances, hatred toward the course. But if the students can prepare for the

exams sufficiently, their anxiety can be reduced. They can actually derive more fun from testing; particularly, a

good grade can build up their confidence. Therefore, teachers should not focus on the results – which could lead to

increased stress and anxiety toward learning if poor; rather, their focus should be more on students’ improvement.

Tests can be a very useful tool to help students figure out how much they have learned. Preparation for

tests can maximize students’ learning results. But, what is the best way to prepare for a test? Nelson introduced

some test preparation measures, such as reading and reviewing strategies, study groups, review sheets, and review

sessions among others. Test preparation should be part of the learning process for the student. Test preparation can,

likewise, provide feedback on learning and teaching effectiveness up to that point.

In our beginner level course at West Point, we have two WPRs each semester, involving all four language

skills. By analyzing the results, we can see on which parts we have better teaching effect, and which parts need to

be improved. If we can adjust our teaching methods in time, mistakes can be corrected early. Over the past two

years, we made very few changes to the exams of the course; therefore, the changes in performance reflect the

teaching effect to a certain point. We discovered that the in the second WPR, 72.7% of the students in our two

sections were above course average, and 63.6% students in these two sections got an A (including A- and A+).

These two percentages were notably higher than the first WPR in the areas of listening (70.4%, 44.4). This feedback

shows the effect of the changes made in teaching methods.

Result of Listening Part of LC204 WPRs

LC204

WPR

Listening

Part

Course

Average

of all 7

sections

Number of

Test Takers

in our 2

sections

Students number and Percentage

above Average

in our 2 sections

Students number and Percentage

Above A-(90)

in our 2 sections

Student Number Percentage Student Number Percentage

(1) 2-2012 83.7 27 19 70.4% 12 44.4%

(2)2-2012 80.3 22 16 72.7% 14 63.6%

3.4.2 Providing feedback to students

3.4.2.1 Guidance of learning strategies

There are many different learning types. Students with different learning habits acquire knowledge in

different ways. Therefore, the role of a teacher is not only as the instructor of knowledge, but also as a counselor of

learning strategies and study methods for the individual student. Richard M. Felder listed several guiding principles

for different types of students in his research, Learning Styles and Strategies, such as active and reflective learners,

sensing and intuitive learners, visual and verbal learners, and sequential and global learners.

The AI (Additional Instruction), an augmentation to teaching during normal class periods, is an effective

method for students to review and practice. Unfortunately, during these two years, we found that the students who

have a B or above rarely attend AI. The students who have lower grades usually only come for AI before tests, and

the students with really low grades usually are called for AI by their teachers. To students with different

motivations, teachers should give tailored feedbacks in a timely manner.

In general, once a study habit is formed, it is not easy to change. In most instances, the study habits of

students with better performance are more stable, but there are always some students’ whose performance goes and

down regarding study habits. Teachers should continually seek to discover changes in performance and investigate

the exact reasons for students’ unstable performance. Furthermore, they should be generous to give positive

feedback for even slight progress.

3.4.2.2 Written feedbacks on Students’ tests

In the chapter, Good designs for written feedback for student (Teaching Tips), the author suggests that the

instructors should consider the elements related to the feedback, such as the formulation of written feedback

comments, fostering feedback dialogues, making teacher feedback contingent on learners’ needs, supplementing

teacher feedback with peer feedback, and activating and strengthening inner feedback. There are also some

recommendations for writing feedback: they should be understandable, selective, specific, timely, nonjudgmental,

balanced, forward-looking, and transferable. At the end of the chapter, it is distilled into the three overarching

guidelines: 1. Expressed in learner action; 2. Contingent on and responsive to student needs; 3. Perceived by

students as nonjudgmental.

Generally speaking, teachers will explain the test questions in class after class. But on each individual test

paper, teachers can give different types of feedback. If the test is more theoretical and subjective, it can be given a

letter score with some comprehensive comments. But in a language course, which is basically a skill-preferred class,

a different type of feedback is obviously needed. Some teachers only mark the mistakes and don’t write concrete

corrections or comments on the paper. Some teachers not only mark all the mistakes, but also write down all the

corrections and comments. As such, there can be a big variance regarding the time and work required to grade tests.

We found that many students packed away their test paper immediately after getting it back even without looking at

it. Very few students immediately correct the mistakes on their paper. This might be the reason that some students

continue to make the same mistake many times.

We have written down all the corrections on students’ test papers; yet, even with numerous red corrections,

some students still pack away the paper into their folder without even looking at it. This is difficult to supervise, and

the teachers cannot confirm whether the students have understood their mistakes or not. Unfortunately, sometimes

students think they have solved the problem but actually have not. They will make the same mistake the next time.

Based on this situation, we have changed our correction strategy. Instead of providing all the corrections

on the paper, we marked the errors, and ask the students to redo those questions according to the teachers’ guidance,

and finally let the student explain own mistakes to make sure they really got it. Since the corrections are worth some

points, this adjustment has brought marked effect. For many situations, students don’t devote enough time to study,

or they don’t pursue accuracy. It’s not always because they are not intelligent enough. Sometimes, the lack of

supervise and encouragement can be the reason, too. Therefore, counting corrections as part of the test grades can

effectively and positively motivate students to correct their mistakes.

In summary, we believe that, in addition to providing timely, specific, and clear feedback of tests, teachers

also need to track the feedback and make sure the students can understand and correct their errors.

3.5 Maximize the Using of the Textbook

A good textbook is always a very carefully designed teaching material. There are plenty of targeted

training sessions on listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Recently, it is getting more and more popular to

provide live-action video materials that correspond to the printed textbook. These video materials undoubtedly

provide a temporary simulated target language context for students who are otherwise in a non-target language

environment where they can seldom hear or talk to native target language speakers.

According to the feedback during these two years, we can see that one of the most exciting parts of the

beginner level Chinese course is the watching of video material. Additionally, we found how playing DVDs can

also bring different teaching effects. For example, when and how many times to play a DVD, to play it

uninterruptedly or to play it by paragraphs or sentences, all will impact our teaching effect. An effective way of

playing these video materials is:

1st Playing: Read and watch. The students are allowed to read the dialogues in the textbook while they watch

the DVD.

2nd Playing: Watching only by paragraphs. Divide the long conversation into 3 or 4 paragraphs. When playing

the video, pause by paragraph. The students are only allowed to watch the video. They have to focus on listening.

The teacher can ask questions about each paragraph to make sure that the students understand all the content.

3rd Playing: Watching only and repeat by sentences. Watch the video again, and pause for every sentence, and

ask the students to retell it. By this moment, the students have fully understood the content, and the retelling will

not be only a repeating like a parrot without understanding the meaning.

3.6 Homework and Assignment- After class practices

Dr. Jinghua Yin (2006) emphasizes the principle of "Connection of in and out", which means the after class

review and preview can consolidate the classroom study indispensably. The homework and assignments should also

be designed carefully, so that they can dovetail with the classroom teaching materials and the key points well. In

our course curricular, we designed the assignments such as text typing, sentence or paragraph writing, etc. It’s very

important to use new technology in the non-target language environment, such as some good language studying

software or internet resources. They are very helpful for the students to consolidate their knowledge and get more

up-to-date information about their target language country or countries. We can also use technology to design some

homework that students can search and figure out by themselves.

3.7 Rolling Review：

At the beginner level, vocabulary and grammar are basic, and the sentences are all very practical. It is a

very helpful way to categorize the vocabulary and sentences with certain logic, and spend a few minutes going over

them daily. This kind of routine review is not only conducive to refresh the memory of the old vocabulary and

grammar, but also very effective to foster students' sense of the target language. After doing this 5-minute daily

reinforcement, we found that most students can understand many of the most frequently used expressions at a very

normal native speed, and even can even blurt out many sentences fluently and naturally.

3.8 Innovated Report Form of the Section Marcher

According to the Department rule, one cadet as the section marcher should call attention and report the

attendance in Chinese. “中文班，立正！老师，同学们都到了/~~没来。”(Chinese section, attention! Teacher,

everyone present. / XX is absent.) We extended this simple attendance report by adding some more information. In

addition to attendance, the marcher has to report some other things using 3-4 sentences in Chinese, with the

vocabulary and grammar they have learned.

At the very beginning, they can introduce the day or themselves, such as the date, time, their name, age,

birthday, country, hometown, hobby, family, etc. Along with the increasing of their Chinese skills, they can

describe some more complete situations about their real life, such as the weather, weekend plans, daily activities,

and even current news. This new form of section marcher’s report successfully motivated the students to express

themselves in Chinese; plus it’s a very good warm-up activity. Every day a different section marcher will start the

class with their familiar topics, which can reduce the anxiety of a foreign language class and lead to a harmonious

and pleasant classroom atmosphere.

Postscript

We, both, had been involved in teaching Chinese to international students in China for many years before

we came to West Point. During these two years of teaching Chinese as a foreign language in a non-target language

environment, we have found that there are many different needs and regulations when compared to teaching in the

target language environment.

How can we, native target language speaking teachers, play to our own advantages, and improve our

teaching effectiveness? This is the question we have pondered constantly over these past two years, and the

motivation for writing this paper. Both of us feel fortunate to have had the precious opportunity to participate this

two-year MTP project. The reading and discussion with other teachers has been really inspiring and helpful for our

teaching. Limited to our English level, this paper took us a long time. At this point, we would like to express our

heartfelt gratitude to CPT Ronald Hijduk, who took his time and helped to carefully correct the grammar mistakes.

We also want to sincerely thank Dr. Stephen Finn, and Dr. Mark Evans, for all their help and understanding during

these two years, and for giving us this grace period to finish our work.

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