AP Japanese Moves Forward

This is a brief report on the development of the Advanced Placement (AP) Japanese Language and Culture course and examination. Late last year, with input from the field, the College Board established the AP Japanese Task Force, comprising six high school-level teachers and six university-level teachers. The Task Force met three times between December 2004 and May 2005. The reports of the first two meetings have been posted at the College Board’s web site, http://apcentral.collegeboard.com. (Scroll down the opening page to “New World Language Courses,” under the “Update” heading, to navigate to the pages containing information on AP Japanese.)

The Task Force finished drafting AP Japanese Language and Culture course descriptions, specifications for developing the AP Japanese Language and Culture examination, and sample examination questions. It is worth noting that the AP Japanese Language and Culture course and examination are based on the philosophy and ideas of the National Standards. The examination is a proficiency-oriented, performance-based assessment in which examinees’ functional skills, rather than discrete grammar and lexical knowledge, are evaluated.

The College Board has just formed an AP Japanese Development Committee, which consists of three high school teachers and three university teachers. This committee will work with Educational Testing Service, which is contracted to develop and administer the AP Japanese Language and Culture examination, and develop the first AP Japanese examination, which will be administered in May 2007. Once the Committee approves the course description and examination specifications developed by the Task Force, they will be posted at the College Board website.

AP Japanese Language and Culture courses will be offered beginning in fall 2006. The College Board will provide high school teachers with a number of professional development opportunities, e.g., Pre-AP Workshop, AP Japanese Workshop, AP Japanese Summer Institute, and an online chat room. In addition, the College Board has been providing supporting tools and materials. Its AP Central web page includes sample course syllabi for AP Japanese courses, featured articles, reviews of teaching resources, an online discussion group, and so forth. Educational Testing Service will publish an AP Japanese Teacher’s Guide, which also will include sample course syllabi, lists of useful resources, teaching hints, etc.

Whether you will teach an AP Japanese course or not, there will be opportunities for you to get involved with AP Japanese. The AP Japanese Development Committee is a standing committee whose members rotate every year. The College Board is always looking for Japanese language teachers who are willing to serve on this committee. The test developed by the Development Committee will be pre-tested with university students. Your university can volunteer to be a pre-testing site. (The pre-test of the first AP Japanese examination is expected to start in spring, 2006.) The free-response part of AP Japanese examination is rated by Japanese teachers who are recruited from the field. You will be able to offer AP Japanese Workshops for the College Board. If you are interested in becoming a trainer, refer to its web page. Your campus can host one-day Pre-AP or AP Japanese workshops. Finally, the College Board will publish the results of the AP Japanese exam every year, which you can use for your research.

Japanese-language Information on the AP program (including the history of the program and a two-page Q & A document) is available on the ATJ website.

The creation of an AP Japanese Language and Culture course and examination will have a strong impact on our field, by raising the quality of Japanese language instruction in the United States, establishing artimeculation between secondary-level and post-secondary level Japanese language education, increasing the number of advanced-level Japanese language learners, and so on. I hope that you will actively get involved with the development and implementation of AP Japanese Language and Culture course and examination.

Y.-H. Tohsaku, Chair
AP Japanese Development Committee, University of California, San Diego

AP Japanese at ACTFL 2005

This year’s American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) conference in Baltimore, Nov. 17-20, (www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3581) will feature a number of sessions on Japanese language pedagogy, linguistics, classroom technology, and other topics. Two sessions will be held on the upcoming Japanese Advanced Placement (AP) program, one sponsored by the College Board and the other sponsored by the Alliance (AATJ). Both will provide information and support for teachers who will be administering the AP test, teaching AP courses, or welcoming students who have completed the AP program. The sessions are scheduled for Saturday, November 19. If you will be attending the ACTFL conference this year, please plan to attend one or both of these important sessions.

AP^(R) Japanese Language and Culture Online Event

A free on-line event, “Introducing AP Japanese Language and Culture” will be presented by The College Board on September 14, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. (EDT). During this interactive, live presentation, Masumi Reade, a member of the AP Japanese Task Force, will explain the development of the AP Japanese Language and Culture Course. Reade is a Japanese teacher at The Woodlands High School in The Woodlands, Texas. Reade will cover such topics as the AP Japanese Language and Culture Examination, the course description and its objectives, the course’s timeline for development (including workshops), the course’s benefits, the qualities/skills necessary for potential students and exam takers, and how “the five C’s” will be assessed on the exam. The event will include a question-and-answer session for participants.

College Board online events and workshops are presented using Elluminate online software. To attend this free event, you will first need to download and install Java Web^(TM) Start on your computer in order to access the event on Elluminate. For instructions for this free download and for system requirements, go to the following URL:http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/article/0,3045,149-0-0-36839,00.html.After you have installed Java Web Start, go to the following URL shortly before the start time to participate in the event:https://www.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/demo.jnlp?password=306503987.html.

If you encounter technical difficulties, contact: onlineevents@collegeboard.org. Participation will be limited to the first 100 people to log in.