9 JUN 2006

 

Dear Jiancheng, Lili, Huang, Crystal, Eastman, and Colleagues:

I just had an inspired idea about the starting format of this China-based research study: Let’s do it in all three obvious sectors right from the start! Jiancheng and possibly you, Lili, could spearhead the collecting of data at higher-education facilities, starting in your own, of course. You, Crystal and Eastman, could sample the acceptance of this “contract-driven” communicative classroom in the private sector, at Embassies, for example. And any two responsible friends of yours in the commercial education sector(s), such as what Europe calls “Poly Tech” schools, (or in two primary schools such as the one Shirley is in) could be the third leg of this study. This would provide a competitive environment without losers! Each would simply contribute data to the study from their strata of need.

It might even be wise to have the first six starting on a shoestring budget, to not allow set-up expenses to be a valid deterrent for large-scale implementation of it . . . presuming that the study warrants the so doing. If this two-year pilot fails to produce confirmation of my predictions, no one has lost much. The setup costs (purchasing the ClozeOnline.cn Web address and transferring my clozeonline.us site to it) will be minimal. I suggest that Huang at huangy@gdufs.edu.cn, an aspiring Web site developer (whom I met on the ride home from the symposium), be given the “first right of refusal,” as we call it. He seemed to be an earnest seeker of fair self-advancement and, in my opinion, a responsible keeper of the archives. In fact, Huang, please speak up publicly if you wish to be the one who gets this important aspect of the study operational (including a Wiki environment.)

To help Huang make a reasoned commitment, you should decide early what all needs to be translated into Mandarin. The students’ entry page and the teachers’ Wiki pages are probably all you “need”; the rest could be translated on an “as needed” basis. As to the English corpora, if the Chinese publishing houses don’t want to have their graded readers included, I have enough to get started . . . about one hundred 60-word paragraphs in each of the grades 2 through 6 (grade2, grade3, etc.), and I have well over a hundred in the grade2test, grade3test, etc files in the [Teacher] folders.

In review of other notes, the classic C-Test format is: One sentence + 20 deletions + one or more meaningful sentences to provide clues during the (in our case, communicative) restoration process. In a recent email from Dr. Raatz, co-author of the original C-Test study, he strongly recommended that we use the original format, which was: “Deleting the second half of every second word, starting with the second word of the second sentence.” I agreed. However, my program allows for teacher discretion with beginners by first working in the 50%+ directory. The official choice (on words with 3, 5, 7, etc. characters) is 50%-, the default on the current site. In working with a couple of second-graders who were deemed “remedial,” I started with paragraphs/excerpts in the 50%+ folder. They responded with, “Oh, that’s easy.” However, I didn’t switch to the regular “grade2-“ folder until I was sure they were hooked on this process (of further internalizing the meaning of a book in order to assure getting full marks on the quiz).

Please role model the process by communicating your thoughts . . . whatever they are.

Here’s to success!

Click HERE to see a group photo:
Joe on top row (black suit), Lili two heads below, and Jiancheng in the middle (blue shirt)