Promoting Journal Writing as a Child-Centered Approach in Second Language Acquisition for Preschool Children

• In Event: Early Childhood Teacher Research for Professional Development: Teacher Inquiry Projects in Diverse School Contexts

Abstract

This teacher research was conducted at a Bay Area international school, in its Chinese program. Growing up receiving teacher-directed education in China, and later on having immigrated to the United States to study early childhood education, the presenter has been intrigued by the concept of inquiry to promote dual language learning in her classroom. Despite understanding the western, early childhood philosophies and practices, the presenter has struggled to implement learner-centered techniques in her practice. She would like to teach children Mandarin by genuinely empowering them as active learners, not as passive receivers of language.

The presenter will describe how a journal activity that she uses with three-year-old children has evolved and progressed over the past five years from a simple daily drawing to a comprehensive documentation and communication tool among children, teachers, and parents. This teacher researcher has witnessed tremendous improvement in the children’s substantive, Chinese language learning and an increase in their desire to learn the language. Data included observations during journal activities; photographs of children’s play around their language journals; audio-recordings of children’s conversation; and the presenter’s own self-reflective documentation journals.

The findings showed how journal writing promotes children’s interest in learning to communicate in Chinese. More importantly, this presenter will emphasize that the new teaching method has encouraged children to form positive self-identities as Chinese descendants. Finally, the findings also proved the benefits of using technology in assisting children’s listening and speaking skills in learning their second language. The presenter will share how different teaching instructions will bring different learning outcomes in children’s second language acquisition, and she will emphasize the benefits of conducting a teacher inquiry project, as it helped her to develop and implement diverse, language instruction methods.

Author

• Ying Liang, silicon valley international school