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Content Type: 3
Title: Putting Proficiency on a Scale
Body:
Linda Forrest, CASLS Research Director
Last week, we discussed what language proficiency is. And whatever it is, every instructor knows that some students seem to have more or less of it when compared to other students. Instructors and students alike often describe these abilities with words such as ‘beginning’ or ‘advanced,’ but there is no way to know whether one person’s ‘advanced’ means the same thing as the next person’s. At the same time, test developers need to provide test users with meaningful interpretations of the scores their tests produce. The answer to these issues is for all parties to describe proficiency using a well-defined scale.
A scale is a set of descriptions of abilities to communicate in a language. No universal scale for language proficiency exists, so each test developer is faced with the task of developing their own scale. Other groups have developed additional scales. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) developed a scale widely used by U.S. language professionals. Across the Atlantic Ocean, the European Union developed the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) as an international standard for describing language ability. The Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) has its own standard grading scale for rating U.S. Federal-level employees.
The plethora of proficiency scales can be confusing at first, but a good understanding of at least one scale is important for language educators. Each scale describes a continuum of langauge abilities from no language ability at all to the most superior ability into a number of distinguishable levels. For each level, a descriptor is developed which explains the types of communicative tasks a learner would handle successfully if they had that level of ability. Descriptors may mention a variety of factors, such as subject areas a learner can handle, the type of language they can produce (isolated words, sentence strings, paragraphs, etc.), the breadth of their vocabulary, their ability to use grammatical features such as tense, how well they can be understood by interlocutors, as well as areas that may give them difficulty.
Although no descriptor on any scale will perfectly describe the language abilities are any particular individual, there is almost always a category that provides a ‘reasonably accurate’ portrayal. By carefully considering the descriptors, learners are able to see the overall picture of their progress through the waypoints along the road of language proficiency.
Here are three language proficiency scales to investigate:
ALTA: https://www.altalang.com/language-testing/alta-scale/
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines: https://www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/actfl-proficiency-guidelines-2012
ILR: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILR_scale
Source: CASLS
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Content Type: 4
Title: Connecting Language Proficiency to the World
Body:
This week’s activity was developed in the spirit of helping learners unpack language proficiency. We recommend using this activity at the beginning of any language course or program targeted to student learners.
Objectives:
Learners will be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of whaat language proficiency means.
- Draw connections between language proficiency and their lives in the world.
Modes: Interpersonal, Presentational, and Interpretive
Materials:
Copies of the proficiency scale that you use
Procedure:
1. Introduce learners to the terms and/or overarching description for the proficiency scale that you use. For example, if you use the ACTFL Proficiency Scale, you will introduce them to the following terms: Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, and Distinguished.
2. Ask students to predict what each level means in practice. To engage in this prediction, instruct them to work in groups to think of some activity in the world and provide examples for what someone engaging in that activity might look like at each level. For example, for the activity of “cooking,” learners might say:
Novice: Making toast
Intermediate: Making a sandwich
Advanced: Cooking a full meal
Superior: Cooking a three-course meal
Distinguished: Cooking for a large, fancy banquet
3. Next, have learners relate their predictions to language learning. What do they think that people should be able to do with language at each level? Have them document those predictions. Then, as a class, discuss responses in order to make a corporate prediction of what each proficiency level means. Document it on the board or on some other large surface (butcher paper or the like) that everyone can easily read.
4. After that, provide learners with the descriptions that are available of each language proficiency level. Allow them to compare and contrast the class’s predictions with the actual descriptions. Use this time as an opportunity to highlight for learners the importance of communicative competence over grammatical competence. This action willhopefully plant the seeds for language play and risk-taking over the course of the rest of the course of language study.
5. Finally, explain to learners what the proficiency expectations are in your specific course and allow them to set 1-3 goals for the school year.
Source: CASLS
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Content Type: 5
Title: STARTALK Fall Conference 2019: TELL-ing About Our Principles in Practice
Body:
STARTALK is a component of the National Security Language Initiative. It’s mission is to increase the teaching of strategic world languages while simultaneously supporting continued growth for teachers and the exploration of cutting-edge approaches to language learning. STARTALKS’s (https://startalk.umd.edu/public/) conference last weekend was in service of furthering this mission. At the conference, the STARTALK team underscored the importance of continued professional development. Facilitators provided a space for teachers to share, collaborate, and explore using the TELL Framework (http://www.tellproject.org/framework/) as a guide.
The Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) conducted a session at the conference focusing on reflective practice as a means to facilitate a student-centered classroom. During the workshop, participants explored the principles of reflective practice and how they relate to the student experience through the use of Catalyst (https://catalyst.uoregon.edu/), an online platform that utilizes the TELL Framework to foster goal setting, reflection, and professional collaboration among educators. As always, CASLS is thrilled to have taken part in STARTALK’s fall conference and warmly thanks those who participated in the workshop. CASLS also thanks the team at NFLC and PEARLL for their ongoing collaboration.
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Source: CASLS
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Content Type: 1
Title: Book: Voices of a City Market
Body:
From: https://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-3206.html
While at its heart, Voices of a City Market is an ethnography, it provides compelling information about translanguaging and the inner-workings of a multilingual city. This book breaks new ground as it represents various people in a superdiverse city as they go about their daily lives. It has been described as poetic, polyphonic, and compelling.
To learn more, go to: http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781788925082
Source: Adrian Blackledge and Angela Creese
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Title: Conference: 5th Annual CLIC Conference: Diversity Across Settings of Language Use & Learning: Identity, Culture, and Gender
Body:
From: http://languagediversity.rice.edu/
The 5th Annual CLIC Conference will be held in Houston, TX, from April 17th to 19th, 2020, and its main theme is the development of a multidimensional definition of language acquisition through the lenses of different social settings. Currently, a call for proposals has been issued with a deadline of December 1, 2019.
More details: http://languagediversity.rice.edu/call-for-papers/
Source: The Center for Languages & Intercultural Communication at Rice University
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Title: Call: Christopher Brumfit Essay Prize 2020
Body:
From: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-teaching/christopher-brumfit-essay-prize
In order to win this prize, the journal Language Teaching has issued a call for essays that critically address an aspect of second language acquisition. The prize includes £500 credit for the Cambridge University Press catalogue, and the essay will be prioritized for publication in the first available issue of the journal.
For more information: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-teaching/christopher-brumfit-essay-prize
Source: Cambridge University Press
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Title: Call: Applied Linguistics, Linguistic Theories, Semantics, Sociolinguistics, Ling & Literature / Argotica
Body:
From: https://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-3808.html
The online journal Argotica has issued a call for papers that explore the relationship among jargon, geography, socio-cultural space, and learned language. Proposals must be submitted by April 15, 2020, and they can be in English, French, Italian, or Spanish.
Details can be found at: https://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-3808.html
Source: Linguist List
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Content Type: 1
Title: Colorado Springs Police Now Have a Guide with 30 ASL Signs
Body:
From: https://efficientgov.com/blog/2019/07/26/colorado-springs-police-now-have-guide-with-30-asl-signs/
This article details the work within the Colorado Springs Police Department to educate officers with a few basic signs to improve their interactions with the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. These “Signs of the Law” include basic signs such as “license,” “speeding,” and “lawyer.” This work has been completed with the assistance of the Rocky Mountain ADA Center.
Read more at: https://efficientgov.com/blog/2019/07/26/colorado-springs-police-now-have-guide-with-30-asl-signs/
Source: Efficient Gov
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Content Type: 1
Title: The Inuit Agree on a Common Writing System
Body:
From: https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2019/10/03/the-inuit-agree-on-a-common-writing-system
This article depicts how a task force comprised of different Inuit dialect speakers developed a new writing system that can be used universally in Inuit without depending on syllabics which proved difficult to be adapted into typed language. The new writing system took eight years to be developed and has worked hard to leave no dialect behind.
Read the whole article at: https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2019/10/03/the-inuit-agree-on-a-common-writing-system
Source: The Economist
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Title: Arabic Culture Syllabi
Body:
From: http://www.melaniemagidow.com/2019/10/10/syllabi/
This resource provides teachers with a couple of sample syllabi from pre-modern and contemporary Arabic courses. The sample syllabi provide teachers with a starting point to see how others have designed their Arabic courses in the past and what topics those courses emphasize.
View the full resource at: http://www.melaniemagidow.com/2019/10/10/syllabi/
Source: Marhaba Language Expertise
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