View Content #17585

by Mandy Gettler, CASLS Associate Director

Many models exist to help students practice and perfect their language skills. To encourage students to use language outside of the classroom and attend to accuracy, the University of Oregon's Chinese Flagship Program uses peer language partners (PLPs). Peer language partners are native Chinese speakers who meet with students learning Chinese for a few hours each week.

"Partners are trained to help students build conversational language skills in Mandarin that's appropriate for social and academic settings," explains Chinese Flagship Program Coordinator Genevieve Beecher. For example, PLPs and Flagship students may discuss similarities and differences between Chinese and American cultures or work on a specific homework assignment together.

In addition, these pairs work together outside of class to use Chinese in meaningful ways. For example, the PLPs and the Flagship students may read magazine articles together and discuss them or conduct mock interviews to help students prepare for Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPI). PLPs help students improve all areas of competency – reading, listening, speaking, writing, and cultural knowledge.

"Flagship students share that their PLPs are interesting to talk with and have been good friends to them," Genevieve states. "Students also recommend PLPs to others, because they encourage critical thinking, which students appreciate."

"I have other resources that would benefit Chinese students as well, but I really enjoy meeting my PLP each week," says one Flagship student. Other students advocate for adding additional PLPs to the program so that they can meet more often. 

The Oregon Chinese Flagship Program is funded by The Language Flagship through the National Security Education Program.