Instructional Technology and Literacy Skills in First- and Third-Year Chinese

Grant:

Faculty Development Fund (FDF)

Academic Year:

2012 - 2013 (June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013)

Funding Requested:

$6,000.00

Project Dates:

Tue, 05/01/2012 - Sun, 08/31/2014

Applicant(s):

dporter

lijinyi

lsgrande

Overview of the Project:

Students of the Chinese language face unique challenges in attaining even a modest degree of literacy owing to the notorious difficulty of mastering Chinese characters. Instructional technology holds considerable promise for helping students to meet these challenges and to develop their reading and writing skills in a more efficient and systematic way. Over the past four months, we have developed and classroom tested beta versions of two software tools targeted at the specific literacy hurdles of first- and third-year students. The goal of this project is to expand both of these tools for use with additional lessons in the first- and third-year curricula at the University of Michigan.

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

1) Develop a custom Chinese character trainer mobile app to help students in first-year Chinese courses learn how to write required characters correctly 2) Develop custom web-based Chinese audiotext reader software to help students in third-year Chinese improve their oral and written comprehension skills using assigned course texts

Project Achievements:

The two software development objectives were met. The character trainer software was used successfully last year in Chinese 101 and 102; revised versions will be offered to students this fall in Chinese 100, 101, and 201, potentially reaching over 200 undergraduate students. Students’ informal feedback on the App in AL102 was positive; they liked having a digital tool for practicing characters anywhere and anytime they chose. They also liked the audio feature (new in Fall 2013), which allowed them to hear and mimic model pronunciation as each new character displayed. With students using the app, instructors no longer spend time repeatedly writing the same comments on the 50+ multi-page sets of character sheets each week. Instead, they can spend a short time in class up front going over writing mechanics and aesthetics, and let students discover on their own how the principles are applied hands-on. This leaves time in class to stress that, unlike in English, disciplined hand-writing in Chinese is a key component of Chinese language proficiency, and a long-esteemed art embodying rich cultural traditions. An early version of the app won a prize in the annual UM Mobile Apps competition. The audiotext reader software, according to instructors, has been working very well and has been proved to be very helpful to students in mastering assigned reading texts. Course instructors upload it each semester to the Ctool sites of all sections of AL 301-302 and 304-305.

Continuation:

A major round of upgrades to the character trainer app was undertaken this past summer, based on student and instructor feedback. The instructor for second-year Chinese, meanwhile, secured separate CRLT funding to develop a version of the same app for the second-year course, which will be launched this fall. As the content of these courses remains constant year-to-year, it is expected that the app will continue to be used in first- and second-year Chinese courses at UM for some years to come. Instructors of the third-year course, meanwhile, have expressed interest in developing a mobile version of the audiotext reader app, an idea which has apparently generated considerable interest among students.

Dissemination:

All of the software developed with this grant is freely available to UM faculty and students through a protected UM webpage. All of the instructors of relevant Chinese courses know of the software's availability, and most are already using it in their courses.

Advice to your Colleagues:

* Regular meetings of the PIs and LRC staff were very helpful in brainstorming and planning development phases. * Technical support from LRC staff was critical at several points in the development process. * It seems a good idea to develop such large projects incrementally, field-testing and refining as you go.

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