european symposium on benchmarking chinese...

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Friday, 19th October 2012

European Symposium on European Symposium on

Benchmarking Chinese Language Benchmarking Chinese Language

The European Benchmarking Chinese Language The European Benchmarking Chinese Language (EBCL) Project(EBCL) Project

This symposium is co-organised by

SOAS, University of London, UKUniversite Rennes 2, France

Freie Universität Berlin, GermanySapienza, Università di Roma, Italy

2Brussels, 19 October 2012

Welcome

Prof Anne PauwelsDirector, EBCL Project

Director, London Confucius Institute Dean, Faculty of Languages and Cultures, SOAS, University of London

Prof Wolfgang MackiewiczPresident of the Conseil européen pour les langues / European Language

CouncilChair of the European Commission’s Business Platform for MultilingualismHonorary Professor of English Philology at Freie Universität Berlin (FUB)

European Symposium on Benchmarking Chinese LanguageEuropean Symposium on Benchmarking Chinese Language

The EBCL Project 2

Introduction

Brussels, 19 October 2012


The EBCL Project 3

The Team

� Geschwister Scholl Gesamtschule, GE

� Collège-Lycée Emile Zola de Rennes, FR

� Convitto Nazionale "Vittorio EmanueleII“di Roma , IT

� Kingsford Community School, UK

Project partners Associated schools

� Freie University Berlin, GE

� University of Rennes II, FR

� “Sapienza” University of Rome, IT

� School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK

Project Director Advisory Board



The EBCL Project 4

The Project

� Background

� Description

� Achievements

� Challenges



The EBCL Project 5

Background

�What’s EBCL?

The European Benchmarking Chinese Language (EBCL) project aims at

creating a reference framework for Chinese Language learning,

teaching and assessment in Europe, based upon the Common

European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR).

European Benchmarking

Chinese Language Project

(Nov 2010)

http://ebcl.eu.com/



The EBCL Project

The Team

� Geschwister Scholl Gesamtschule, GE

� Collège-Lycée Emile Zola de Rennes, FR

� Convitto Nazionale "Vittorio EmanueleII“di Roma , IT

� Kingsford Community School, UK

Project partners Associated schools

� Freie University Berlin, GE

� University of Rennes II, FR

� “Sapienza” University of Rome, IT

� School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK

Project Director Advisory Board



The EBCL Project

Principles1. Based on CEFR, user oriented (learners, teachers, assessors,

institutions, etc.) and reference only

2. Rooted in the European context, but with due attention to the international society (esp. advanced levels)

3. Taken into consideration the linguistic features of the Chinese language as well as intercultural knowledge and skills

4. Taken into consideration the reality and development of Chinese language learning and teaching in Europe



The EBCL Project

Objectives – 1

1. Proposing a framework of competence descriptors for Chinese in European context

2. Raising awareness of social and linguistic differences between Chinese and European languages

3. Creating a network in Europe and beyond for universities, teachers, and other institutions concerned

4. Enhancing European Universities’ internationalization



The EBCL Project

Objectives – 2

5. Encouraging students’ mobility

6. Breaking away from the old tradition of a knowledge and structure based approach to teach Chinese in Europe and focus on a communicative approach.

7. Providing a tool for the production of a new generation of curricula/syllabi, textbooks etc. for the European context.



The EBCL Project

Timelines

Nov 2010 Jan-May 2011 20-21 May 2011 June-Oct 2011 14-15 Oct 2011

Project launch(London)

Survey, case studies and

project web construction

Rome Seminar: report on survey and next steps planning; open presentation

Proposed framework components at A1/A2 levels; language activities

Paris Seminar: open consultation and development

Jan 2011 27-29 Apr 2012 18-19 Jul 2012 Summer 2012 19-20 October 2012

Interim report transition

Berlin Seminar: consultation on key issues, open presentation

London seminar:

closed seminar on last key issues

Last revisions and preparation for Brussels Symposium

Brussels symposium: promotion and further development



The EBCL Project

Challenge 1: Levels

� CEFR has 6 language proficiency levels

Proficient user

Independent user

Basic user



The EBCL Project

Challenge 1: Levels� EBCL has the following language proficiency levels/sublevels



The EBCL Project

(for literal competences)

Challenge 2: Descriptors/Can-do statements

� CEFR has Action-oriented Can-do statements for the different abilities

Reception

(Spoken/Written)

Production

(Spoken/Written)

Interaction

(Spoken/Written)



The EBCL Project

15

EBCL major resources

� Bank of CEFR-related Descriptors:

� CEFR descriptors

� ELP (European Language Portfolio) self assessment descriptors

� EAQUALS (European Association for Quality Language Services) bank of descriptors

� Japanese Foundation ‘Can do’ statements

� International Curriculum for Chinese Language Education国际汉语教学通用课程大纲 (Beijing, 2010)

� Profiles of major European languages

� Profilo della lingua italiana (Florence, 2010)

� Profile Deutsch (Berlin, 2005)

� Niveau A1 pour le français (Paris, 2007)

� English Profile (Cambridge, 2012)



The EBCL Project

16

EBCL project methodology

� Intuitive, qualitative approach

�Prescriptive vs. descriptive

Data 1Data 2Data 3…Data n

CEFR DescriptorsProposed EBCL

Descriptors

ELP/ EAQUALS

Japanese/Chinese



The EBCL Project

Achievement 1:

�A1.1/A1/A1+/A2/A2+ level descriptors

� Reception

� Production

� Interaction

� Graphemic control

� Reception

� Production

� Interaction

� Communication Strategies

Spoken

Written



The EBCL Project

Achievement 2 Generic and Illustrative Descriptors

Reception/Production/Interaction Spoken

Graphemic/Orthographic Control

Reception/Production/Interaction Written

Communication Strategies

Pragmatic Components

(List of Language Functions)

Sociolinguistic Components

(List of Themes/Topics)

Linguistic Components

(vocabulary/character,

grapheme, grammar, etc.)

*Intercultural components

(knowledge, attitude, skills,

critical cultural awareness)



The EBCL Project

Other challenges and issues

�What’s the role of Pinyin and where to include it?

�Does writing with electronic devices mean being able to write in Chinese?

�Aside from a list of lexical items, is a list of characters needed?



The EBCL Project

Challenges – lexical/character items

� Prof Joel Bellassen

� PPT link



The EBCL Project

Comments

�Prof Mike ByramEmeritus Professor, School of Education, University of Durham, UK

�Prof Henning KlöterJohannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

�Dr Valerie PellattSenior Lecturer, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle UniversityDPD, Chinese-English Interpreting and Translating Programme

�YIN Wenying LEFEBVREIA-IPR de Chinois, Inspector of Chinese Pedagogy, Paris Rectorat



The EBCL Project

Further Actions – 1

� The current EBCL project is the end of Phase 1.

� Refine the current descriptors and examples

(based on the feedback/suggestions from participants)

� A more refined version for schools?

� Grammatical accuracy / control

� Exploring the Intercultural dimension



The EBCL Project 22


� In Phase 2:

� Full scale of framework (B1-C1)

� B1-B2 lexical items (cf. English Profile)

� Textbooks?

� Developing Chinese language portfolio

� Online resources, e.g. for self assessment

� Implementation and empirical validation

� Building corpora of Chinese language use for European learners



The EBCL Project 23


� To organise a series of seminars and/or conferences to further raise the awareness of the EBCL and help update the existing EBCL documents.

Suggested seminars:

� EBCL and teaching

(e.g. new approaches in Chinese language teaching)

� EBCL and assessment

� EBCL and lexical selection

� Europe-wide CTL – be part of it!



The EBCL Project 24

Questions from the floor



The EBCL Project

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