The Advanced Plancement (AP) Chinese Language and Culture, or better known as AP Chinese, is an ambitious course developed and delivered by the College Board with a view to integrate Chinese language and cultural studies into a fully immersive language program. The course is designed to meet a number of foreign language proficiency standards and guidelines for teaching and assessment, including the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), and Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century.0
As described in the course outline, the AP Chinese program offers three modules of learning (interpersonal, interpretive and presentational) aimed at five key knowledge bases (communication, cultures, connections, comparisons and communities). Much emphasis has being placed to provide a solid foundation for the students to explore their own study and understanding of the language and culture, and this is reflected in the method of teaching, which is mostly conducted in Chinese.
To assess the extend to which these ambitious goals have been achieved, the first AP Chinese exam was conducted, with varying degrees of success in terms of the administration and results of the test. The course outline clearly states a defined list of Learning Objectives, along with their corresponding Evidence of Learning, the basis of which dictates the underlying theme and structure of the AP Chinese exam. The AP Chinese test is an Internet-based test (iBT), with all the resources and materials to be administered and submitted using a computer-based test program. The student is presented with questions on a computer screen and a headset, and inputs responses using a keyboard and microphone.
The exam itself comprises of two main sections. Section I is a multi-choice test that assesses both inter-personal and interpretive skills over two parts. Part A focuses on listening skills applied to a range of conversational stimuli that assess their interpretive ability in realizing and understanding opinion, attitude and intent in speech, all within specific cultural or social contexts. Part B focuses on reading skills that follow similar assessment criteria, where the student is provided sample writing in a variety of contexts and asked to infer and extract information based on their understanding of the social and cultural application of written Chinese.
Section II is a free-response test that assesses interpretive and presentation skills over two parts. Part A (Written) requires the student to respond to a series of stimuli in different written formats and different contexts, each testing the student’s capacity to summarize the given information, and construct an appropriate response in both creative and analytical styles. Part B (Speaking) is probably the most interesting, yet challenging part of the exam, in which students are asked to engage in conversation on a diverse range of topics. The expression of personal opinions, understanding of various aspects of Chinese culture, and instructional or event planning dialogues that make up the main examination topics of this part.
The course outline and the examination format of the AP Chinese exam highlights the integrative nature of Chinese language and culture study that the College Board envisions as the future direction of language studies. Language education as a means of promoting cultural awareness and understanding, rather than just for communication purposes, should be the goal that educational institutions and teachers strive for, and the AP Chinese course lays out a solid foundation of how this can be achieved.