Articles tagged with ‘assessment’
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How knowing your best performance in Chinese can help you improve
When learning Chinese, it’s important to know how good your best performance is, because this determines the way you study. If your best performance is good enough, you mostly need high-volume practice, more of the same will get you there. But if your best performance isn’t good enough, you need to change tactics and go for high-quality practice instead.
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Is speaking more important than listening when learning Chinese?
It’s tempting to focus mostly on speaking when learning a foreign language. There’s nothing wrong with speaking from day one, but you shouldn’t allow that to overshadow your listening practice too much. Listening (and reading) accelerates your learning in a way that speaking (and writing) does not.
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How to find out how good your Chinese pronunciation really is
Evaluating pronunciation needn’t be hard, but many methods commonly used by teachers are deeply flawed, resulting in inaccurate error analysis. If we want to improve, we need to be clear about what we need to improve first. This article looks at some problems with commonly used methods to evaluate pronunciation and suggests some alternatives.
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The question you have to ask about your Chinese teacher or course
The most important question you should ask yourself about your current teacher or course is what you won’t learn. Since this isn’t something most teachers and schools like to talk about, it’s typically something you need to figure out on your own. This article discusses this question from various angles, highlighting the importance of being aware of what you need to study on your own.
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The importance of counting what counts when learning Chinese
The way in which we count proficiency or progress have a huge impact on how we study. This is relevant for teachers and students alike. Teachers should strive towards counting (grading) what counts (is important); students should do likewise when assessing themselves and also be aware of what kind of consequences counting the wrong things can have.
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