2:3 Memo for Miranda’s Progress Report

MEMORANDUM

To: Dr. Erika Paterson, Instructor, University of British Columbia

From: Miranda Tang, ENGL 301 Student

Date: March 15, 2023

Subject: ENGL 301 Progress Report: Proposal for Renovating Listening Training Approaches in Chinese Language Courses at UBC

Intended Audience

This report is intended for Dr. Wang, the Director of the Chinese Language Program at UBC.

Purpose and Significance of the Report

The purpose of this report is to suggest ways in which teachers in Chinese language courses at UBC can better support their students in developing listening skills. Listening plays a significant role in language learning: it is the starting point for understanding spoken words and promotes learners’ acquisition of new language forms from authentic materials. At the same time, listening is regarded as the most challenging skill for L2 learners, particularly those with lower proficiency. This report’s goal is to find out if there are any problems with the way Chinese language classes at UBC are taught now and to find out which teaching methods might be the best for helping students improve their listening skills. Educators may draw pedagogical implications from this report as a way to diagnose and adjust their teaching practices.

Report Objectives

The objectives of this report are:

• To gather insight into the present educational approaches adopted in Chinese language courses at UBC;
• To pinpoint the deficiencies that may exist in the listening training students receive in class;
• To learn what enhancements students taking Chinese language courses would like to see in terms of strengthening their listening skills;
• To discover which teaching approaches might be the most effective in terms of boosting learners’ listening skills;
• To determine what materials or tasks would best supplement such approaches.

Methods

The primary data comes from an online survey given to TAs and UBC students who are taking Chinese language classes. Attached is the link to the survey questions being used to gather data for this report: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8AHLXljnacq7Ifc

Secondary sources will include publications on effective teaching approaches in listening training.

Formal Report Outline

The formal report’s outline can be found at the following URL: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl30199c2022w2/2023/03/11/2-3-formal-report-outline

Research Plan

To accomplish the report’s objectives, I plan to:

• Compose survey questions;
• Distribute the survey to current TAs and UBC students taking Chinese language courses;
• Compile data and analyze survey responses to determine the weak points in listening training approaches;
• Conduct secondary research through a literature review to determine the most effective instructional strategies for enhancing the listening skills of students;
• Draw conclusions from a recent study done in China, where the researcher attested to the effectiveness of authentic materials in improving Chinese language learners’ listening skills;
• Think of practicable practices that can be implemented in UBC’s Chinese language courses to better support students’ development of listening skills, based on the survey results and literature review.

Writing Schedule

• March 15: Post-Formal Report Progress Report
• March 17: Once the survey is approved, send it to the current TAs and UBC students taking Chinese language classes
• March 23: Complete data gathering and compile the survey’s findings
• March 24: Analyze and compile data, then begin drafting a formal report
• March 17–24: Conduct a review of the literature in the field of listening instruction
• March 29: Post draft of the Formal Report
• April 3: Receive peer review and make appropriate edits
• April 9: Complete the final edits of the formal report.
• April 12: Formal Report due

Thank you for looking over my progress report. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns or inquiries.