Self-Assessment? How do you regularly measure your learning progress?

[makochan]

I tried to use the google forum search but couldn't find too much on this topic.

 

I'm aware of interview assessments like ACTFL or SOPI, but is there something you use by yourself to regularly measure/assess the progress you are making in Chinese?  Vocab/Reading is probably easier to self-assess.  But what about something like speaking or listening?

 

I currently feel like my reading/vocab skills are steadily improving.  I do Skritter daily (although I guess it doesn't necessarily mean I have mastered all my vocab/characters).

But my listening skills don't "feel" like they are improving as fast.  Therefore I've been trying to do more listening skills practice with my teacher and at home.  

 

Thanks!

 

My current state:

- Almost done with NPCR 2

- Finished HSK 1-4 flashcards in Skritter

- Read most of the 300/500 level Chinese Breeze graded readers

 

I'm aware of the Clavis Sinica applet and the ChinesePod level test:

http://www.clavisinica.com/character-test-applet.html

http://chinesepod.com/tools/tests

 

[renzhe]

Progress is very slow with listening comprehension, especially in the beginning. It's easy to feel progress by moving through a textbook or keeping track of flashcards, but listening works on a different scale. It's very likely that you're not noticing progress because it is there, but it is slow.

I'll pull a number out of my behind to illustrate the point -- listening practice is measured in hundreds of hours. After a hundred hours of useful listening (which means that you understand most of what is being said), you should notice an improvement, but you'll need many hundreds of hours before you get good at it.

It seems like you are making reasonable progress, but your level is probably still too low to get the most out of listening to native materials. I still recommend checking out the TV subforum, and trying some simpler TV shows, but for the time being I'd recommend continuing to work through NPCR and graded readers, as well as the related audio exercises and videos. They should form the majority of your studying at this level. A decent passive vocabulary and a decent grasp of basic grammar will help you more with listening in the long run.

At a certain point, though, you'll simply have to dedicate a large amount of your time to watching TV, listening to radio or conversing with real people. But since listening is difficult on its own, it helps if you are not getting repeatedly stuck on the simplest words and grammar patterns.

For everything else, this thread is all you need: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/24097-tv-series-recommendations-and-index-thread/ . Pick a show you like and watch all of it. Then pick the next one. I don't look at it as work, I look at it as entertainment.

[Olle Linge]

I wrote an article about benchmarking a while ago and while I don't use all of these methods all the time, I do use most of them occasionally. One thing I try to do regardless is to keep material I produce or record how I perform in different areas, regardless if I'm interested in benchmarking right now, because it's so useful to have that data should you need it (and it's impossible to create retroactively).

[icebear]

A decent way to self-assess is to repeat the same task over again every 3-6-12 months. Below are my rough suggestions, based just on my gut feeling of what is a reasonable bar.

• Reading - long form article (1000-10000 characters) - note how long it took, and how cumbersome it was (e.g. use of lookup, unknown grammar patterns)
• Listening - podcast at your maximum difficulty level from prior period - how much do you understand on your first listen. At higher levels a TV episode would be better.

These two give a very clear indication of what progress you are or are not making. What you could to today is find the most difficult article within your grasp (or maybe a book lesson), as well as the hardest podcast at the edge of your level, study them, bookmark them and forget about them. Return in 3-6 months. You might surprise yourself.

[tysond]

For listening ability, I keep around old podcasts/audio readings and occasionally go back to them, as suggested.

 

A Chinese Breeze 300 word level audio file (错错错) was hard/incomprehensible 12 months ago (so hard to understand I couldn't follow it), although I could read it slowly.  Now it is easy to listen to and follow.  The feeling of progress was great.  Limited vocabulary helps isolate pure listening skill versus a combination of unknown vocabulary + listening skill.  

 

Also, try the HSK listening tests - there are lots of samples and actual exams around, e.g. http://www.chinesetest.cn/gonewcontent.do?id=6428777#

Repeat these at various intervals and I think it can give you a good idea of progress.  

[makochan]

Thanks for all your input!

 

renzhe - I was afraid of that  .  Well it looks like I need to dig in my heels and really devote much more time and energy to listening practice.

 

Olle - Thanks for your reply.  I've been a great fan of your blog and somehow missed the fact that you had covered this topic.

 

icebear/tysond - I will try these ideas of revisiting material that I considered difficult/challenging in the past.  Also, as Olle suggested maybe I should do some recordings of myself or maybe write a quick journal entry to remember my comprehension level at that time.