Chinese Language Teaching: 
Means and Standards

IV. Means of Assessment

IV.1. Elementary Level. 

Students give weekly oral presentations and take by-weekly written quizzes and two oral quizzes to demonstrate their oral and written skills.

IV.1.a. Assessment of listening/speaking skills takes the following formats: 

  • weekly oral presentation: each week students are required to give an oral presentation which may be a imitation of the textbook dialog under study or retelling/discussion of video segments viewed in class or retelling of / reaction to extra reading materials. Students are strongly encouraged to work in groups or pairs.
  • accuracy test: toward midterm, students take a one-on-one accuracy oral test which includes reading characters aloud, reading pinyin (phonetic representation of Chinese characters), and simple unstructured conversation. The emphasis is on correct listening comprehension, acceptable pronunciation, appropriate diction, and comprehensible grammar. 
  • fluency test: toward the end of the semester, students take a one-on-one fluency test which includes conversations on prepared topics, conversations based on visual/pictorial prompts, and/or discussions of reading materials prepared by the instructor. The emphasis is on the student’s ability to comprehend aural input, to claim and maintain speaking turns, to elicit feedback, to back channel and to initiate repair.

IV.1.b. Assessment of reading/writing skills takes place through an average of 5 quizzes per semester. The written quizzes include the following formats:

  • answering questions about facts based on reading passages
  • filling in the blanks with grammatically and contextually appropriate items
  • turning pinyin sentences into characters
  • completing written dialogs 
  • translating sentences from English to Chinese

IV.1.c. Assessment of speaking skills for heritage language learners takes the following formats:

  • weekly oral presentation: each week students are required to give an oral 
  • presentation which may be a topic that relates to the text the students just learned or an argument that reflects different cultures. Students are strongly encouraged to work in groups or pairs and to use a variety of presentation formats such as discussion, debate, and interview.
  • oral test: Students present a story, or present an argument. The emphasis is on the student’s command of vocabulary, grammar, register, as well as his/her ability of using vivid language and details to support a main idea.

IV.1.d. Assessment of reading/writing skills for heritage language learners takes place through an average of 5 quizzes per semester. The written quizzes include the following formats:

  • write each stroke of the following characters in order
  • answering questions about facts based on reading passages
  • filling in the blanks with grammatically and contextually appropriate items
  • turning pinyin sentences into characters
  • put the characters in the right order to make a sentence
  • completing written dialogs 
  • translating sentences from English to Chinese

IV.2. Intermediate Level. 

Students give weekly presentations and take by-weekly written quizzes and one oral quiz to demonstrate their oral and written skills.

IV.2.a. Assessment of listening/speaking skills takes the following formats: 

  • weekly oral presentation: each week students are required to give an oral presentation which may be a retelling/discussion of video segments viewed in class, retelling of / reaction to extra reading materials or an impromptu speech based on topics assigned on the spot. Students are strongly encouraged to work in groups or pairs and to use a variety of presentation formats such as discussion, debate, and interview.
  • oral test: in the second half the semester, students take a one-on-one oral test which include three components—(i) conversation on a prepared topic, (ii) impromptu conversation on a topic of general interest, and (iii) conversation about some visual or written materials that are presented to the student on the spot. The emphasis is on the student’s command of vocabulary, grammar, register, as well as his/her ability to move the conversation forward.

IV.2.b. Assessment of reading/writing skills takes place through an average of 5 quizzes per semester. The written quizzes include the following formats:

  • answering questions about both facts and opinions and tones based on reading passages
  • filling in the blanks with grammatically and contextually appropriate items
  • providing antonyms and synonyms of learned vocabulary
  • completing written passages (guided, scaffolded writing)
  • translating from English to Chinese and vice versa
  • composing mini essays on selected topics

IV.3. Advanced Level

IV.3.a. Assessment of listening/speaking skills 

As most of the students enrolled in this class already speak Mandarin natively, no formal oral test was arranged. 

IV.3.b. Assessment of reading/writing skills takes place through an average of 4 quizzes per semester. These written quizzes include the following formats:

  • answering questions about facts, opinions and article structures based on excerpts from newspapers or magazines
  • composing news reports according to the given facts
  • composing essays on selected topics
  • composing article reviews or film reviews on selected articles or films