|
How
Well Should Students Be able to Use the Language and Demonstrate Their
Knowledge
of the Language and Culture As A Result Of Studying Another
Language and Culture?
The
ACTFL Performance Guidelines for K-12 Learners
The Standards for Foreign Language Learning have answered the question
of “what” should be taught in American foreign language classrooms.
Subsequent efforts by states and local school districts have further
defined what should be taught to American students learning foreign
languages…
What has heretofore been missing is the answer to the question “how
well” should students be expected to do the “what.” These
guidelines, or “performance standards,” provide information to
teachers and administrators about how well students can be expected to do
the “what” from the content standards. ACTFL Web Site
As
the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning describe what
students should know and be able to do, the ACTFL Performance Guidelines
for K-12 Learners describe how
well those students should be able to demonstrate that
knowledge and those skills.
These guidelines were developed in response
to the demand from the profession for guidelines designed specifically
to describe K-12 students whose language learning has been within a
classroom.
The performance descriptors of the K-12 Proficiency Guidelines follow the
assessment criteria of the original ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines:
• Functions, tasks
•
Context/content
•
Text type
•
Accuracy .
They are written for
three benchmark levels, indicating multiple entry points in the K-12
system of language courses:
•
K-4
•
K-8
•
K-12
They describe learner performance for
each level and each mode in terms of:
•
Comprehensibility
(How well is the student is understood?)
•
Comprehension
(How well does the student understand?)
•
Language Control
(How accurate is the student’s communication?)
• Vocabulary
Usage (How extensive and
appropriate is the student’s vocabulary?)
• Communication
Strategies (What
strategies does the student use to communicate
in the language?)
• Cultural
Awareness (What
awareness of the practices, perspectives and products
of the target
culture and of his/her own culture
does the student demonstrate?)
The
following are extracts from the K-12 Performance Guidelines and are in no
way intended to be a complete representation of the information contained
in that document. A complete copy of the guidelines with full explanations
is available on the ACTFL web site.
 Comprehensibility:
how well are they understood?
Novice
Learner Range
(K-4, of 5-8 or 9-10)
Interpersonal:
rely primarily on memorized phrases and short sentences during
highly predictable interactions on very familiar topics.
Presentational:
use short, memorized phrases and sentences in oral and written
presentations.
Intermediate Learner
(Grades
K-8 or 7-12)
Interpersonal:
express their own thoughts using sentences and strings of sentences
when interacting on familiar topics in present time.
Presentational:
express their own thoughts, describe and narrate, using sentences
and strings of sentences, in oral and written presentations on
familiar topics.
Pre-advanced
Learner
(Grades K-12)
Interpersonal:
narrate and describe using connected sentences and paragraphs
in present and other time frames when interacting on topics of
personal, school and community interest.
Presentational:
report,
narrate and describe, using connected sentences,
paragraph-length and longer forms of discourse, in oral and written
presentations on topics of personal, school and community interest.
Comprehension: how well do
they understand?
Novice
Learner Range
(K-4, of 5-8 or 9-10)
Interpersonal:
comprehend general information and vocabulary when the
communication partner uses objects, visuals, and gestures in
speaking or writing.
Interpretive:
understand sort, simple conversations and narratives (live or
Intermediate Learner (Grades
K-8 or 7-12)
Interpersonal:
comprehend general concepts and messages about familiar and occasionally
unfamiliar topics.
Interpretive:
understand longer, more complex conversations and narratives as
well as recorded material in familiar contexts.
Pre-advanced
Learner
(Grades K-12)
Interpersonal:
comprehend main ideas and most details on a variety of areas
to comprehend both spoken and written messages.
Language Control:
How accurate is their language?
Novice
Learner Range
(K-4, of 5-8 or 9-10)
Interpersonal: comprehend
messages that include predominately familiar
Intermediate
Learner (Grades
K-8 or 7-12)
Interpersonal: comprehend messages that include some unfamiliar grammatical
structures.
Interpretive:
derive meaning by comparing target language structures with
those
Presentational:
formulate oral and written presentations on familiar topics,
using a range of sentences and
strings of sentences primarily in present time but also, with preparation,
in past and future time.
Pre-advanced
Learner
(Grades K-12)
Interpersonal:
comprehend messages that include
unfamiliar grammatical structures.
Interpretive:
deduce meaning in unfamiliar language passages by classifying
words or concepts according to word order or grammatical use.
Presentational:
accurately formulate paragraph-length and longer oral and
written presentations in present time, on topics of personal, school,
community,
and global interest.
The
above are samples from the K-12 Performance Guidelines for
Comprehensibility, Comprehension and
Language Control. Similar descriptions of the K-12 language learner
are found in the areas of Vocabulary Use, Communication Strategies and
Cultural Awareness.
|
