Program/Discipline/Course Assessment Report
Discipline: Foreign Languages (Russian)
Course Number: RUS 111
School/Unit: School of Liberal Arts
Submitted by: Nadya Surikova-Klein
Contributing Faculty: Nancy Faires
Academic Year: 2009-2010
Complete and submit your assessment report to your Academic Dean. As needed, please attach supporting documents and/or a narrative description of the assessment activities in
your program or discipline.
Program or Discipline
Outcomes
In the boxes below,
summarize the outcomes
assessed in your program or
discipline during the last
year.
Assessment Measures
Assessment Results
Use of Results
In the boxes below,
summarize the methods
used to assess program or
discipline outcomes during
the last year.
In the boxes below, summarize the
results of your assessment activities
during the last year.
In the boxes below, summarize how
you are or how you plan to use the
results to improve student learning.
Outcome #1:
A variety of visual
aids were used. After
the students learned
the Cyrillic alphabet
they were required to
do all their home
assignments in cursive
Russian only.
In the fall 2009 semester, all the
students have mastered the
Cyrillic alphabet (100%); some
were so good at writing in
cursive Russian that their
written work looked almost like
calligraphy (20%); all the
students were able to
differentiate between the
printed and handwritten letters
and texts (100%).
The assessment indicated that
There is no need to revise
the students were able to write
the assessment plan in this
and read in Russian without
respect.
difficulty. Because it is an
essential element of learning the
Russian language it has created
a foundation to proceed with
teaching and learning the basic
Russian grammar.
The ability to speak
Russian correctly and
to be understood by
others depends on
how well the students
can articulate the
vowels and the
consonants as well as
In the fall 2009 semester, all the
students of the Russian 111
class were able to learn to
pronounce correctly hard and
soft Russian consonants,
fricatives and distinctive
vowels. The students were able
to speak Russian and be
The assessment indicated that
the accuracy level was nearly
100%.
The Cyrillic alphabet,
its use in print and
cursive. The students
will be able to identify
the letters of the Cyrillic
alphabet, will read
printed texts and write
in cursive Russian.
Outcome #2:
Russian phonetic
system is very different
from that of the English
language. Apart from
the fact that there are 33
letters and signs in the
Cyrillic alphabet (while
Effect on the Program or
Discipline
Based on the results of this year,
will you revise your assessment
plan? If so, please summarize
how and why in the boxes
below.
There is no need to revise
the assessment plan as far
as phonetics is concerned.
in the Latin alphabet
there are 26 letters),
there are some Russian
sounds that are difficult
to learn.
how to use the proper
intonation. A
specially designed
phonetic course (with
CDs) was used to
teach the standard
Russian
pronunciation.
understood by their fellow
students during conversational
practice in class.
Because the concept
of grammatical
gender, especially that
of neuter gender (if
students are familiar
with other Romance
or Germanic
languages), is nonexistent in the English
language, the
students were required
to identify every
noun, pronoun or
adjective they came
across.
In the fall 2009 semester, the
students of the Russian 111
class were able to comprehend
this important concept. Several
tests were given on the subject
of gender. Most students (90%)
got an A or an A- on these tests.
Outcome #3
The concept of
grammatical genders is
extremely important in
learning Russian. Only
after having understood
the concept will the
students be able to think
in Russian while other
elements of grammar
are introduced.
The Exercise Book
compiled by the
instructor was used in
class and every home
assignment was
graded.
While reading new texts or
writing essays of their own the
students demonstrated their full
understanding of the concept of
grammatical genders and rarely
made mistakes.
Remarkably, during
conversations in class (in
Russian) they used their sense
of humor to illustrate mistakes
the other students made.
The assessment indicated that
the students were beginning to
think in Russian. It was
especially evident during oral
tests when the students were
asked to describe themselves,
their families, activities, likes
and dislikes, Only few of the
students (10 %) were hesitant
while using Russian words in a
correct way as far as
grammatical gender is
concerned.
It needs to be pointed out
that the vocabulary of the
first semester Russian class
is limited by design. The
students should feel
comfortable using correctly
most of the time only
nouns, pronouns,
adjectives and verbs they
learned during the
semester. Whether a
revision of the assessment
plan is in order remains to
be seen. It depends on the
composition of a particular
class.
Program/Discipline/Course Assessment Report
Discipline: Foreign Languages (Russian)
Course Number: RUS 111
School/Unit: School of Liberal Arts
Submitted by: Nadya Surikova-Klein
Contributing Faculty: Nancy Faires
Academic Year: 2009-2010
For Discipline Assessment Reports:
I have reviewed this report:
_______________________________________________
Department Chair
Date_______________
_______________________________________________
Dean
Date_______________
_______________________________________________
Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Services
Date________________