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TitleEvaluating Interpretive Skills
SourceCASLS
Body

The purpose of this activity is to engage language learners in considerations of how they know the extent to which they are interpreting spoken, written, and signed texts well. It is appropriate for all levels of language learners.

Learning Outcomes:
Learners will be able to:

  • Identify an expert to work with to provide support and feedback
  • Identify community and environmental cues related to comprehension
  • Identify strategies for self-checking understanding

Mode(s): Interpretive

Materials: Assessing Interpretation Video, Interpretation Log

Procedure:

  1. Ask learners to brainstorm everything they interpret in a day. Their lists should include a variety of sources of input, including, but not limited to, text messages, spoken or signed conversations, text books, SMS alerts, street signs, commercials, print ads, websites, lectures, and live streams.
  2. Select one source of input. In a Think, Pair, Share format, ask learners, “If you were reading/listening/interpreting this in the target language on your own, how would you know if you were able to understand what was going on?” 
  3. Make a list of what learners share.
  4. Watch the Assessing Interpretation Video. Add new ideas to the list created in Step 3 as a class.
  5. Ask learners to choose one of the sources of input brainstormed in Step 1 to practice interpreting over the course of two weeks. 
  6. Using the Interpretation Log, ask learners to identify at least one expert to confer with to check understanding, a few community and environmental cues they will pay attention to in order to support understanding, and one way they will self-check their own understanding.
  7. To begin class over the next few days, ask for two volunteers to describe what they have been interpreting and how they have been assessing their progress. Ask the class to share their ideas about which approaches to assessment seem most useful and why.
Publishdate2020-11-09 02:15:01