analysis of the ap chinese languageThe Advanced Placement Program (AP) is one of worldwide distinguished curriculums nowadays. The AP offers thirty-three standardized courses to high school students; it has enabled high school students to take college-level courses, and to grant college credit or placement. Most colleges and universities in the United States and universities in more than fifty-five countries outside the United States recognize the AP exam scores in the admission process and/or for credit and placement (College Board, 2010). The AP is well recognized internationally, and therefore it has high value to analyse its assessment tool. This paper is specifically to take a look ...view middle of the document...
The AP Chinese course also prepares students to demonstrate their Chinese proficiency level across five goal areas (Five Cs: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities) and three communicative modes (Interpersonal, Interpretive and Presentational) (College Board, 2010). 2004 Foreign Language National Assessment of Educational Progress (FL NAEP) framework (The National Assessment governing Board, 2000) points out that Communication is the main goal among five goal areas. The other four Cs: Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities are providing the meaningful context for language learning. Three communicative modes mentioned above place primary emphasis on the context and purpose of the communication. Interpersonal mode develops students' ability to engage in direct oral or written communication with others. Interpretive mode develops students' ability to demonstrate understanding of spoken and written communication within appropriate cultural contexts. Presentation mode develops students' ability to present, orally and/or in writing, information, concepts and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers (College Board, 2010).Analyse the AP Chinese ExamThe AP Chinese exam integrates Chinese cultural information with listening, speaking, reading and writing. The objective of the AP Chinese exam is to assess three communicative modes in Chinese language along with the knowledge of Chinese culture. Students should able to recognize and understand both spoken and written as well as demonstrate their ability to speak and write Chinese fluently and accurately in an appropriate manner (College Board, 2010).The AP Chinese exam is a proficiency test that tests students' overall ability in Chinese language with linking appropriate Chinese cultural content. Indeed the proficiency test is not limited to any curriculum or course, thus it is not necessary for students to take the AP Chinese course before they take the AP Chinese exam. The AP Chinese exam is a summative assessment that indicates how well students have accomplished the objectives (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010).The AP Chinese exam is a computer-based test. General advantages of computer-based test include: increased administration and scoring efficiency; reduced costs; improved test security, consistency and reliability, fewer response entry and recognition errors etc. (Thelwall, 2000). Students read directly from a computer screen, listen through a headset, type on a keyboard, and speak into a microphone. Students can choose to display the exam Chinese character version in traditional or simplified; they can also choose the typing input in Hanyu Pinyin or Zhuyin Fuhao. These choices have been considered students' different learning backgrounds and learning needs, students can choose what they are more familiar with in order to limit students' unnecessary learning burden.The AP Chinese exam assesses students' communication ability in two sections: multiple-cho...
