2015 CLTA-WA Spring Workshop
Empowering students with Well-designed and successfully-implemented tasks and rubrics
Presenter: Dr. Miao-fen Tseng (曾妙芬)
Co-sponsors:
CIWA (Confucius Institute of the State of Washington) East Asia Center, Jackson School of International Studies, UW, Seattle
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, WA
Date: March 28, 2015 @ 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location: Thomson Hall Rm 101, UW
Cost: Free for members $20.00 for non-members
(CLTA-WA annual membership fee: $30.00 )
Registration: http://goo.gl/ip4u5Y
The participants who attend the workshop in its entirety will receive six clock hours. No partial clock-hours will be given.
Workshop Description: Inspired by the Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) featuring student-centeredness and authenticity, the presenter has pilot-tested a series of authentic and pedagogical tasks along with task-specific checklists and rubrics in light of empirical research projects at the regional and national levels since 2008. In this presentation, the presenter will synthesize the common features of the TBLT based on multiple definitions in the literature, analyze field-tested sample tasks, and identify, discuss, and critique best practices for creating the feasible framework for task-supported language teaching through the illustration of different types of tasks and rubrics for general and specific purposes. The presenter will also showcase useful and appropriate authentic materials and summarize effective principles for material selection to help create formative and summative assessments in authentic learning settings for world language and CFL learners. After the presentation, teacher participants will be able to:
1. Understand the advantages of incorporating tasks in instruction; 2. Distinguish exercises from pedagogical and authentic tasks; 3. Get familiar with different types of tasks and rubrics for assessments; 4. Identify and apply strategies for effective task implementation; 5. Incorporate a wide array of authentic materials to create single and well-sequenced tasks across three communicative modes.
Presenter Bio:
Dr. Miao-fen Tseng (曾妙芬) is the Inaugural Director of the Institute of World Languages and Associate Professor of Chinese in the Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Virginia (UVa). Since 2008, she has received approximately $70,0000 from the US federal government to develop and direct the Virginia STARTALK Chinese Teacher Academy and the Virginia STRATALK Chinese Student Academy. She has been invited by the National Foreign Service Center to serve on STARTALK Task Force in 2014-15. Her enduring passion in Chinese language education has driven her to proactively involve in extensive services such as serving as the K-12 program evaluator, OPI certified tester, advisor for guest teachers from Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), and offering graduate level courses in teaching Chinese as a foreign language in the US, China, and Taiwan under the auspices of various collaborative initiatives and professional development programs. Many of her trainees are now teaching at secondary and post-secondary institutions in the U.S. and abroad. She has also actively played different roles in the national development of AP Chinese since 2004, including, but are not limited to, AP Chinese consultant and academic advisor for AP Chinese and Japanese course audit. She has actively promoted Chinese language and culture nationally and internationally and is the founder and president of the Chinese Language Teachers Association of Virginia (2009-2013) and a member of the CLTA Board of Directors (2011-14). Her Intermediate Chinese was recognized as one of the top ten undergraduate Chinese language courses in a nationwide study of Chinese courses completed by the Educational Policy Improvement Center in Oregon in 2007. She also received the Ron Walton Presentation Prize and the Jiede Empirical Research grant awarded by the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA) and is the author of numerous articles and three books: AP Chinese Language and Culture Teacher’s Guide, Promoting Professionalism in Teaching AP Chinese (推動專業化的AP中文教學: 大學二年級中文教學成功模式的探討與應用), and The Handbook of Tasks and Rubrics for Teaching Mandarin Chinese (Volume I).
Schedule:
8:00-8:30 Registration
Morning
8:30-8:45: Opening
8:40-10:15 Presentation 10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-12:00: Presentation
12:00-12:45 Lunch(on your own)
Afternoon
12:45-2:00 Presentation
2:00–2:15: Break
2:15-3:45: Presentation
3:45-4:00: Closing