by Weifeng Mao Designing and Implementing Activities Promoting Literacy Development in Primary Chinese Classrooms

Teaching Chinese characters is an essential part of the Chinese curriculum at any level. In practice, the richness of learning characters as the written form of Chinese language is appreciated by both teachers and students. However, students' literacy development in Chinese as a second language is slow, and often challenging. This module explores the key role that Metalinguistic Language Awareness (MLA) plays in Chinese literacy development. It discusses the principles of designing and implementing learning activities to promote literacy development of young second language learners. The module also argues that interculturally-oriented student-centred class activities create a relevant environment for improved learning about language.

What is MLA and why does it matter? How to design and implement learning activities to promote MLA in Chinese literacy development.

What is MLA and why does it matter? Emergent literacy is defined as consisting of the skills, knowledge and attitudes that are the basis for reading and writing development (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). When students learn Chinese as a second language, their Chinese literacy development is closely associated with their English experience. This association is especially strong for learners at a young age.

What is MLA and why does it matter? Metalinguistic Language Awareness (MLA) refers to the ability to identify, analyse and manipulate the structural features of languages. Research suggests that MLA plays a significant role in first language and second language literacy development.

Research has shown that … MLA plays an important role in developing literacy skills (Nagy, 2007) MLA is a strong indicator for future success in literacy development in second language learning (Shu, Anderson & Wu, 2000) first language (L1) MLA has a powerful influence on learners' understanding and learning of second language (L2) writing (Koda, 2005) What is MLA and why does it matter?

and most importantly, MLA is teachable and can improve the nature and rate of literacy development in an L2 (Grabe, 2010 and Everson, 2008). What is MLA and why does it matter?

When learners are engaged with the learning of Chinese as a second language, their already developed level of MLA in their first language is not directly transferable to assist understanding of the new non-alphabetic language.

What is MLA and why does it matter? As a result, L2 learners who are new to Chinese language and culture need explicit teaching to raise their awareness of how characters work as a written system. Importantly, this needs to be done in comparison to English language. Literacy development in a second language is cognitively demanding. It involves these same elements but often without the powerful support of a surrounding oral culture and context. The strangeness of the additional language requires scaffolding. In the language classroom, analysis is prioritised alongside experience. Explicit, explanatory, and exploratory talk around language and literacy is a core element. Learners are supported to develop their own meta-awareness, to be able to think and talk about how the language works and about how they learn to use it. Similarly, for first language learners, literacy development that extends to additional domains and contexts of use requires comparative analysis that extends literacy development in their first language and English.  The Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages

What is MLA and why does it matter? MLA encompasses awareness of all aspects of language. In Chinese, orthographic awareness is especially important. This means students develop an understanding of: the key concepts of the system the internal features of characters in general the function of these features in individual Chinese characters. MLA Development

What is MLA and why does it matter? Indicators of students' orthographic MLA include: knowing about the nature and function of strokes, components and characters knowing about the structure and function of words and texts being able to identify and manipulate specific aspects of these features to assist their reading and writing, as well as their learning.

Reflective questions Having read the session above, reflect on the following: 1. What outcomes of character learning do you currently plan for in your own teaching? 2. If developing MLA is an important part of your programming, what examples of indicators of MLA development are appropriate at different year levels? 3. How can students' development of MLA be elicited as evidence of your program?

How to promote MLA in Chinese literacy development? To develop MLA in primary years, young second language learners need opportunities to be actively engaged in activities involving noticing, comparing and reflecting on the nature of literacy  in both Chinese and English. This means the learning is of an intercultural orientation.

A checklist of intercultural principles for MLA development in Chinese:  Active construction of ideas: Learners explore their own understandings and insights as they develop or build their knowledge of the Chinese writing system.  Making connections with prior knowledge: Learners activate their knowledge of the nature of English literacy as a basis for understanding the nature and challenges of learning to read and write in Chinese. How to promote MLA in Chinese literacy development?

and …  Social interaction in the classroom: Learning involves active participation in discussion and sharing of ideas among learners.  Reflection and responsibility: Learners constantly monitor and reflect on communicating and learning experiences to develop their own capability to express understandings with clarity, using terms appropriate for talking about literacy (MLA). How to promote MLA in Chinese literacy development?

 Principle 1: Active construction (versus teacher-centred talk) Learners engage actively in activities relating to understanding and applying knowledge of both Chinese and English writing systems. How to promote MLA in Chinese literacy development? Principles of designing and implementing class activities to promote MLA and literacy development:

 Principle 2: Making connections In learning, it is essential that learners' Metalinguistic Language Awareness of their first language is activated. By constantly mediating between Chinese and English, this learning experience becomes 'intercultural' to them. How to promote MLA in Chinese literacy development?

 Principle 3: Social interaction Learners participate in collective learning opportunities where sharing and joint decision-making are the key to understanding and confidence in language acquisition. How to promote MLA in Chinese literacy development?

 Principle 4: Reflection and responsibility Learners share their insights and express understandings through classroom talk and through challenging tasks that allow them to apply learning to new contexts. How to promote MLA in Chinese literacy development?

Additional features of effective literacy learning Make it:  conceptual and systematic  developmental  fun! How to promote MLA in Chinese literacy development?

Reflective questions Having seen some examples of activities in the classroom, reflect on the following: 1. How do the activities help to raise students' Metalinguistic Language Awareness? 2. How might each of these be adapted to your own classroom? 3. Why is raising learners' MLA a priority for your learners?

Conclusion Arguments exist about the most efficient way of teaching Chinese characters and developing students' literacy in Chinese. Teachers often ask questions such as: 'Where do I find time to do this kind of activity?' and 'How does this approach fit in with my overall program?'. This module provides alternative thought on the 'content' of teaching and learning, and challenges the view of Chinese literacy development as a one- by-one character accumulation process where 'learner awareness of processes for efficient character memorisation and recall and vocabulary acquisition remain undeveloped' (Scrimgeour, 2011). Instead of teaching characters in clusters under a theme or topic, development of MLA requires a different way of organising and sequencing how characters are taught. Finally, to make character learning relevant, interculture-oriented student- centred class activities need to be carefully designed and implemented.

References Everson, M 2008, Issues in Chinese literacy learning and implications for teacher development, in P Duff and P Lester (eds), Issues in Chinese language education and teacher development, University of British Columbia, Canada, p 70  78 Grabe, W 2010, 'Fluency in reading: Thirty-five years later', Reading in a foreign language, vol 22, no 1, pp 71  83 Koda, K 2005, Insights into second language reading: A cross-linguistic approach, Cambridge University Press, New York Nagy, W 2007, Metalinguistic awareness and the vocabulary  comprehension connection, in R Wagner, A Muse and K Tannenbaum (eds), Vocabulary acquisition: Implications for reading comprehension, pp 52  77

References (continued) Scrimgeour, A 2011, Issues and approaches to literacy development in Chinese second language classrooms, in L Tsung and K Cruickshank (eds), Teaching and Learning Chinese in Global Contexts, Continuum, London Shu, H, Anderson, R & Wu, N 2000, 'Phonetic awareness: Knowledge of orthography-phonology relationships in the character acquisition of Chinese children', Journal of Educational Psychology, vol 92, no 1, pp 56  62 Whitehurst, G & Lonigan, C 1998, 'Child development and emergent literacy', Child development, vol 69, no 3, pp 848  872