NihongoBC

NihongoBC surveyed Japanese teachers in the fall. Click to see survey results (PDF).

Here is the latest response to the BC Minister of Education:

Honourable S. Bond
Minister of Education
PO Box 9045
Stn Provincial Government
Victoria, BC
V8W 9E2
FAX 250-387-3200
minister.educ@gov.bc.ca

February 12th, 2007

Dear Ms. Bond,

Thank you for responding to the request for changes by Nihongo BC members (teachers of Japanese in BC) to the proposed Japanese 12 provincial exam. The Ministry response was shared with the members, and this letter is based on their feedback. We think that removing the need for Japanese teachers to ask questions to students is a significant logistical improvement. Secondly, we think that the letter you sent to administrators regarding the exam will also be helpful.

However, we remain adamant that the student monologue (oral topic response test) be removed from the exam. The monologue is not a valid test of students’ communicative ability and is an unnecessary burden on students. The written test already includes writing passages on story completion and themes and there is no need for students to monologue about thematic speaking topics such as “I don’t want to go to school today.” or “My friend has become sick”. The first part of the speaking test (general response to questions) and the listening test are sufficient without the monologue. Since most students who study Japanese 12 will take the Provincial exam, test practice and administration will take away much-needed class time in June. We are also concerned that the inclusion of too many additional test components may deter students from taking Japanese 12 in the future. This is a serious concern since teachers have worked hard for years to create Japanese programs that are communicative and popular with students.

We would greatly appreciate it if you could respect our opinions and remove the proposed monologue component (worth 6 marks). If it is absolutely necessary that the oral topic response test remain, we then request that the test follow the International Baccalaureate model. According to the syllabus of the IB, “The individual oral may take place at any time during the final year of the course. Before the day of the individual oral, candidates prepare a 3 to 4 minute presentation. The candidates should choose as a starting point support material that will enable them to reflect on the culture(s) studied during the course…” IB students are given ample time to prepare themselves for their oral test whereas the present format of the provincial exam allows students only 2 minutes to prepare for a monologue presentation on the spot. We strongly believe that students’ communicative skills be tested in the classroom by their own teachers based on the provincial exam rubric. Therefore, we propose that students prepare a 1 to 2-minute presentation on their chosen topic before the provincial exam. The classroom teachers can then evaluate students’ oral ability by asking questions and probing more deeply into their understanding of the topic during the exam time.

We hope that you will consider either deleting the oral topic response test or revising it to the proposed format. We believe that this is a workable compromise in implementing the many changes to the 2007 Japanese Provincial Exam.

The Japanese teachers also have a series of questions and recommendations that we would like answered by the Ministry. We hope that these questions will be answered point by point so that we may post them on the association website (nihongobc.com) for the members to read.

Yours sincerely,

Dave Thumm, JN Burnett Secondary School (dthumm@richmond.sd38.bc.ca)
Sachiko Renovich, Nihongo BC Co-Chairperson (renovich@shaw.ca)
Wendy Sokugawa, Nihongo BC Co-Chairperson (wsokugawa@sd35.bc.ca)
Brad Wilson, Nihongo BC Web Master (bwilson@sd69.bc.ca)
Michi Tsurumi, McMath Secondary School (mtsurumi@shaw.ca)
Kim Hirose, Steveston Secondary School (khirose@richmond.sd38.bc.ca)
Colleen Lee, Pinetree Secondary School (CoLee@sd43.bc.ca)
Sean Lenihan, (slenihan@sd43.bc.ca)

Cc Ms. Britta Gundersen-Bryden, Director, Assessment Branch
Cc Ms. Wendy Carr, President, B.C. Association of Teachers of Modern Languages
Cc Ms. Anita Chapman, Assistant Director, Professional and Social Issues Division, BCTF

Questions regarding the Japanese 12 Provincial Exam changes

1. During the time that teachers administer tests, other students in class need to be monitored. Where is the funding for teacher coverage?

2. Why is the oral and listening component not built into the Exam Schedule like the written component?

3. How are classes expected to make up for lost class time in June for the practice and administering of exams? (some schools will take several classes)

4. What happens with students who ‘freeze’ on the test and blank out due to extreme pressure? Are they given another chance?

5. How will the Ministry deal with test security and test validity when different schools (classes) are taking the test at different times? If cases are reported that students did share question topics, what will happen with the marks?

6. Will the test questions in the oral component scramble each time so that students cannot share question topics with others?

7. Will the student samples mentioned in the letter to Principals include possible scores and marking criteria? Teachers need student exemplars to anchor their marking.

8. If classroom teachers are the sole markers of the oral component, will the recorded oral evaluations be checked by an external examiner to provide feedback to teachers regarding the marking?

9. Does the Ministry have any contacts or reference sites that could be contacted regarding the logistics of the computer-based listening/speaking test?

10. Are there any guidelines regarding the number of students who can perform the test at the same time and the actual process by which an invigilator would handle multiple oral test takers?

11. What is the actual process of the oral component and its marking when multiple test taking occurs?

12. What is the deadline for the oral marks and test submissions?

Recommendations

1. That the Exam Writing and Review Team complete a run through of the test (including all of the features) in April, and if there are still technical problems, to cancel the component. Students should not have to go through a system if it is not 100% ready.

2. That the Ministry set up a formal Feedback Process so that students, teachers, and administrators can provide feedback about the exam after its administration.