Dilemma or Challenge for Chinese
Language Learning at Senior Level
in Victoria
Jixing Xu
Scotch College
• Introduction:
• In Victoria, Mandarin Chinese language teaching is on the
edge of becoming a community learning language
• a. a high dropout rate of non-background students of Chinese
at senior level;
• Requirement of VCE Chinese proficiency is well beyond nonbackground students’ ability
• Can’t compete with background students of Chinese
• Curriculum and assessment for Chinese SL are inadequate
• Eligibility policy needs to be changed
• 1. Issue of Current VCE Chinese
• Chinese programs started in the late ’50s and early ‘60s in
Victoria
• The real impetus during the Hawke government in the late
‘80s and early ‘90s, through NALSAS
• VCE formally started in 1992, one group of Chinese students
• Two groups in VCE Chinese started in 2001
• Three groups in VCE Chinese started in 2004, only Chinese has
three cohorts of VCE Year 12 students
Table 1: VCE Year 11 Chinese
Enrolment 2002-2010
Year\Group First
Language
(CFL)
Second
Language
(CSL)
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
635
936
1006
1147
1,275
653
540
470
975
758
Second
Language
Advanced
(CSLA)
320
380
355
362
Total
1,288
1,796
1,856
2,477
2,395
Table 2: VCE Year 12 Chinese Enrolment 2002-2010
Year\
Group
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
First
Second
Second
Language Language Language
(CFL)
(CSL)
Advanced
(CSLA)
1480
580
1868
719
318
1489
741
376
1722
697
341
1879
952
352
Total
2,060
2,905
2,606
2,760
3,183
Table 3: Total VCE Chinese Enrolment in Year 11 & 12,
2002-2010
Year\
Group
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
First
Second
Second
Total
Language Language Language
(CFL)
(CSL)
Advanced
(CSLA)
3,348
4,701
4,462
5,237
5,578
• Dr Jane Orton, 2008 Report
• a. At Year 12 nationally, 3 per cent of students take Chinese,
94% of whom are first language speakers of Chinese
• Non-background students are in the same class with native
speakers of Chinese
• 94% students drop out before Year 12
• Reasons for drop out:
• a. native speakers overwhelm in assessment in class
• b. lack of success in developing proficiency due to insufficient
time of instruction and teaching of certain aspects
• c. unsupportive environment
• 2. Eligibility Policy for Chinese
• Chinese First Language: for students of native or near-native
ability who have received more than 7 years of formal
schooling through the medium of Chinese in a country or
region (including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao)
where Chinese is an official or mother tongue language.
• Chinese Second Language Advanced: for students who have
had no more than 7 years of formal education through the
medium of Chinese in a country or region where Chinese is an
official or mother tongue language, and where the highest
level of education attained in a school where Chinese is the
medium of instruction is no greater than the equivalent of
Year 7 in a Victorian school.
• Chinese Second Language: for students who have had no
more than 12 months of education in a school where
Chinese is the medium of instruction, or who have had
less than 3 years’ residence in any of the VCAA
nominated countries or regions.
• Note: The time periods referred to in the above criteria
are to be counted cumulatively since the time of the
student’s birth. As the formal education commencement
age for a Victorian student is five years of age, all
applicants will be deemed to have commenced formal
education by the end of their fifth year of age, regardless
of the setting.
• Based on these categories, Australian Curriculum, Assessment
and Reporting Authority (ACARA) suggested renaming these
three cohorts as:
• First Language Learners: home speakers from the target
language society who have taken primary and early secondary
schooling in the target language; they have had their primary
socialisation in the language as well as literacy development
in that language;
• Second Language Learners: classroom learners who are
introduced to the target language at school;
• Heritage Learners: home speakers who have been educated in
Australia—they have existing knowledge of the target
language to varying degrees (for example, vocabulary
phonological accuracy, fluency and readiness to use the
language) and have a base ready for literacy development.
(see ACARA: Language-Initial Advice Paper, 2010, p.17)
• Debate and argument:
• Dr Orton: university incentives (ANU Japanese program)
• Paul Carolan: Second Language Learners with less than 10
weeks in China
• 3. Curriculum and Assessment
• Two VCE Chinese study designs: first language and combined
one for second language and second language advanced
• Not much change for first language study design since 2001
• Main changes for second language and second language
advanced study design:
• a. introduction of translation
• b. significant reduction of the weight of listening in both
coursework and end-of-year examinations
• Assessment: the relationship between the learning time
allocation and assessment
• Needs 4-5 times of hours more than learning an European
language
• Requirement of some 500 characters by Year 12
• Format and content of assessment