Evaluating a Year 9 Mandarin Chinese Assessment Task

Introduction to the Assessment Task

This paper evaluates a Chinese assessment task item designed to test a student's ability to communicate in the Mandarin Chinese target language. In doing so, it identifies the suitability of the task for the intended year level and required teaching and learning. Portions of the assessment task item may be considered problematic in the following ways: poorly articulated or described; not carefully matched to criteria; and/or failing to meet particular syllabus requirements.

The evaluation focuses on three core concerns: the assessment's suitability for the Year 9 Chinese level; the assessment's relevance to course objectives as reflected in required teaching and learning; and the assessment's ability to provide students with sufficient opportunity to demonstrate performance against particular criteria, including the selection and description of those criteria and standards.

Cultural Knowledge and Language Learning

Learning a language requires the acquisition of cultural knowledge as well. Without cultural information and context, meaningful expression in the target language is not truly possible. What is considered polite conversation in one language may be highly offensive in another. The assessment under review launches directly into instructions about how to write a letter of self-introduction in Chinese to a pen-pal. Before any such attempt at communication in Chinese is made, however, there should first be a tutorial in basic Chinese etiquette and culture.

This preparatory instruction would involve learning about the routines and lifestyles of young people living in China. Such grounding should be provided prior to performing an exercise in letter writing in the target language (Queensland Studies Authority, 2010). Without it, students are placed in a position where they may inadvertently communicate in a culturally inappropriate manner — hardly a constructive starting point for a language course.

Alignment with Syllabus and Criteria

Given the format of the assessment, it is poorly articulated and described, and is not carefully matched to criteria. While the assessment does nominally meet syllabus requirements, those requirements are themselves defective, since more specific assessment criteria are not spelled out in the syllabus. Neither the assessment nor the syllabus addresses the level of knowledge that the student is expected to have regarding Chinese culture and etiquette. If such knowledge were a prerequisite, there is nothing in the syllabus or other materials to indicate what level of prior knowledge, if any, is necessary to take the course successfully.

It is also worth noting that a curriculum based on a situation likely to cause embarrassment to a student is not a sound pedagogical approach. A better strategy would be to provide a brief tutorial before the assessment task, giving students a taste of what the course entails. This would more accurately and fairly test their abilities to express themselves in the target language and culture, and would provide students with a positive first experience of multicultural interaction. Such an approach would bring the assessment more in line with the Queensland essential learnings framework. Even at a lower or intermediate level, it is important to give students a positive starting point. As it stands, the assessment is also unclear from the teacher's perspective (Queensland Government DET Education, 2008).

Conclusion

An assessment is intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, or abilities in a particular area being assessed. At its best, an educational assessment is not merely a document — it is a process of documenting, in measurable terms, knowledge, beliefs, skills, and attitudes. A well-designed assessment can and should focus on the individual learner, a learning community (such as a class, workshop, or other organized group), an institution, or an educational system as a whole. It is of paramount importance to recognize that the purposes, assessments, and practices in education depend on the theoretical framework that students, teachers, and other stakeholders bring, including their assumptions and beliefs about the assessment process.