Measuring French Student Literacy in Speaking,
Listening, Reading and Writing Tasks
Adina Alexandru, Ed.D.
Southington Public Schools
July 2013
Individual Brainstorming Activity
• What kind of language literacy measurement tool do you
use in your classes?
• How often do you use it? What does it tell you? (give
example)
• What is your preferred approach for measuring students’
progress towards literacy? Why?
• When you do not use it, how do you know your students
are making adequate progress? (give example)
• What are some of the biggest challenges you face when
using a literacy measurement tool?
Commonly Acceptable Measuring
Tools in FL: AAPPL, STAMP, OPI
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AAPPL
reading, writing, speaking and listening
– The ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages
addresses the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning and uses
today’s communication media in which test takers perform tasks such as:
participating in a virtual video chat, creating wikis, e-mailing, and using apps
to demonstrate language ability.
• Language and Modes of Communication
– The AAPPL Measure assesses:
• Interpersonal Listening/Speaking
• Presentational Writing
• Interpretive Reading and Writing
• Languages
– The AAPPL Measure is available in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Russian,
and Spanish.
STAMP
reading, writing, speaking, listening
STAMP is a web-based assessment used to determine proficiency in multiple languages at
any point along the learning path.
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Engages students with a computer-adaptive assessment
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Is based on field testing and expert panels. Tests are facilitated by a proctor.
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Reports scores by district/institution, school, class and individual at proficiency benchmarks
related to ACTFL levels Novice through Advanced. Reading and Listening scores are available
immediately. Writing and Speaking are scored externally by certified raters and available within 23 business days.
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Empowers informed decisions around staff development and instructional planning.
For students in grades 3-6, STAMP assesses:
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Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening proficiency in Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish, with
questions and graphics that are appropriate for these lower grades.
​For students in middle school through college, STAMP assesses:
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Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening proficiency in Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish.
Reading, Writing and Speaking proficiency in German and Italian.
OPI
testing ORAL skills
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What is the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview?
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What is the format of the OPI?
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The OPI, is a live 20-30 minute phone conversation, between a trained, certified ACTFL tester and the candidate.
It measures how well a person speaks a language.
The procedure is standardized in order to assess global speaking ability, measuring language production holistically by
determining patterns of strengths and weaknesses.
Through a series of personalized questions a sample of speech is elicited and rated against the proficiency levels described in
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines – Speaking or the Inter-Agency Language Roundtable Language Skill Level Descriptors – Speaking.
The primary goal of the OPI is the efficient elicitation of a ratable sample. To be ratable, a speech sample must clearly
demonstrate the highest sustained level of performance of the speaker (known as the “floor”) and the level at which the
speaker can no longer sustain the performance (known as the “ceiling”), over a variety of topics.
The OPI resembles a conversation, but in fact, the tester respects a strict elicitation protocol and structures the interview.
The four mandatory phases of the OPI are the: 1. Warm up, 2. Level checks, 3. Probes, 4. Wind down
How is the OPI rated?
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The OPI assesses language proficiency in terms of the ability to use the language effectively and appropriately in real-life
situations.
It does not address when, where, why, or the way in which a speaker has acquired his/her language.
The OPI is not an achievement test assessing a speaker’s acquisition of specific aspects of course and curriculum content,
nor is it tied to any specific method of instruction.
The OPI does not compare one individual’s performance to others, but each individual performance to the assessment criteria.
Did you try any of these 3 tests?
• How did it go?
• How did you use the results to inform your daily
instruction?
• How are you specifically understanding your
students’ needs in developing further their
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Listening skills
Reading skills
Speaking skills
Writing skills
• What do you do on a daily basis to establish these
needs?
What do you do if you do not have the financial
support for performing these tests?
• Rubrics for listening, reading, writing, reading
– IB - reading rubric - middle school level
– the language proficiency handhook – Chicago (p. 29, 42, 49, 57)
– 2012 ACTFL Proficiency levels
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Use of specific literacy strategies such as
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BIG FOX in reading
• Authentic tasks: selected response, constructed response, product
and performance tasks - are they valid measures of the targeted
understanding?
• French exchange – to boost listening and speaking skills
– Outperformance in national exams
– Stakeholder question why Voicethread vs. writing skills
– Facebook assignment – John Pac
Sample rubric: Presentational Speaking:
Cultural Comparison
• 5 Effective treatment of the topic within the context of the
task
• 4 Generally effective treatment of topic within the context of
the task
• 3 Suitable treatment of topic within the context of the task
• 2 Unsuitable treatment of topic within the context of the
task
• 1 Almost no treatment of topic within the context of the task
BOTTOMLINE: Assessment to improve learning
focuses on how well students are learning what we intend them to learn.
#1 - Establish learning goals
• Create clear outcomes for student learning in
– Speaking
» Adina Alexandru – French Exchange - Toulouse
• The French project has been updated as follows:
All participating students need to post on this Facebook page the following by
April 29:
1. One authentic 3-5 minutes recording done in French with a French native
speaker as a result of an interview in Muret. Upload it from your Zen recorder.
This recording must be accompanied by a French written commentary to give
the setting/background of where the interview took place.
2. One picture taken by you while in France. This picture must be accompanied
by a commentary in French describing the setting/background
3. All Zen recorders and cleaned shirts must be returned to my office my
Monday, April 29!!
– Listening
– Reading (ex. Felag – reading)
– Writing
#2 - Provide learning opportunities
• VOKI – interpretive listening, presentational speaking
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My message
Student HW
• Cooking project
• La critique d’un film
• VIALOGUES
– interpersonal reading and writing, interpretive reading and
listening, presentational writing
• “Le racisme” link
• Cloze builder – interpretive reading
– Example link
More learning opportunities - by themes
Global challenges
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greenhouse effect
environment
Biodiversity
Destruction of coral reefs
Model AS level essay onsport
Beauty and Aesthetics
Haunted house story
Child labour
Binge drinking EN
Binge drinking FR
Euthanasia
Families and communities
Marriage and health
Violent clashes in Amiens
Nobel Peace Prize for the EU
Personal and public identities
Le point sur le Sida
GM crops
Should teachers give zero?
Snakes and ladders conversation game
AQA A2 stimulus cards by Richard Oates
Powerpoint on AQA A-level specification
Contemporary life
Prostitution – a prostitute’s account
Integration and immigration
Women’s rights – mini dossier
Household chores and divorce rates
Science and technology
Genome research
Solar energy
Pros and cons of electric cars
Other resources
Quelques journaux francophones
www.lemonde.fr
www.lefigaro.fr
www.leparisien.fr
www.lenouvelobs.fr
www.lesoir.be
www.tdg.ch
http://www.depechedekabylie.com/
http://www.elwatan.com
http://www.2424actu.info/index.php/revuesmedias/revue-medias-afrique/presse-cote-divoire
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/
http://www.ledevoir.com/
Quelques films :
La règle du jeu
Mr. Klein
Les emotifs
Potiche
La grande séduction (qc)
Les invasions barbares (qc)
M. Lazhar (qc)
Pure laine (qc) (série)
L’enfant (be)
Le hussard sur le toit
Mon meilleur ami
Les visiteurs
Les chtis
le papillon
La graine et le mulet
Le 8eme jour
Ridicule
Le fils (be)
Les femmes du 6eme étage
Comme une image
Rue cases- nègres
Kirikou la sorcière
Indochine
Indigène
La bataille d’Alger
Chocolat
Lumumba
More learning opportunities - Après lecture - Texte AP
Fellag
Choix multiple
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Quelle structure ou organisation est mise en place dans les villes concernant les
maquisards
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ils agissaient à leur propre volonté
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ils travaillaient seulement pendant la nuit sous la toile
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ils racolaient les sympathisants du Comité du Salut
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ils ne travaillaient pas d’une façon organise dans les villes mais
seulement dans les campagnes
Pourquoi le narrateur et ses amis boivent-ils?
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parce que l'air est très sec
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pour mieux comprendre la situation
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pour oublier leurs problèmes
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pour s'encourager
Que veut dire que le pays est mené "à vau-l'eau"?
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de pire en pire
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en danger
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à une résolution
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en confusion
Dans le texte (ligne….) qui sont les « maquisards » par rapport au Front
Islamique du Salut ? Quel rôle jouent-ils? Quel est leur but ?
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Ils sont de très bons copains avec les membres du Front
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Ce sont les protecteurs des valeurs traditionnelles datant du moyen âge
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ils s’opposent au Front
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Ce sont les membres de la Résistance dans le régime Vichy
#3 Assess Student Learning
gathering evidence of learning
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Formative – designed to capture students' progress toward program-level outcomes
Summative – to document student learning for external audiences; designed to capture students' achievement at
the end of their program of study
Direct – evidence of student learning which is tangible, visible, self-explanatory;
– Example: performances, interactions within group problem solving, or responses to questions or prompts
Indirect – capture students' perceptions of their learning and the educational environment that supports that
learning,
– Example: student satisfaction, alumni
Objective – one that needs no professional judgment to score correctly
– examples: multiple-choice, true-false exams
Subjective – yield many possible answers of varying quality
Traditional – e.g., objective tests, essay questions, and oral examinations
Performance – to demonstrate their skills rather than relate what they have learned through traditional tests; e.g.
projects. (authentic assessments when asking students to do a real-life task)
– Have two components:
• (i) the assignment or prompt that tells students what is expected of them and
• (ii) a scoring guide or rubric used to evaluate completed work.
Local – created by faculty and/or staff
Published – those published by an organization external to the institution and used by several institutions
Quantitative – use structured, predetermined response options that can be summarized into meaningful numbers
and analyzed statistically
Qualitative – use flexible methods and are analyzed by looking for recurring patterns and themes; e.g., reflective
writing, notes, etc.
#4 use the results
• Socrative to interpret the results from
– cloze builder
– Voki
– Vialogues – listening, writing
• Poll everywhere - standard web technology. It is an easy way to
gather live responses in any venue: conferences, presentations,
classrooms, radio, tv, print. Example: favorite conference
Socrative
Quick Overview
• Teachers and students can use Socrative on any device with a web browser
(tablets, smartphones, laptops, iPod Touches, etc.).
• Teachers login at t.socrative.com by entering their email and password.
• Students login at m.socrative.com by entering the "virtual room number"
provided by the teacher. Students will then see "Waiting for teacher to start
an activity...".
• Teachers initiate an activity by selecting it on their main screen (e.g. Multiple
Choice, T/F, Quick Quiz).
• Students respond on their devices.
• Students' results are visible on the Teacher's screen or sent in an email.
• Example: SOC-278185 = room # 90614
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**** A similar but more simplistic app. is MOARS (Mobile Audience Response System). MOARS is a
free, open-source system for students to use with iPod Touch or iPhones only.
Teaching Speaking and Listening by…
• Learning about comprehension and collaboration
» Use basic statements to maintain conversation around family,
school events, celebrations – keep it simple! (N)
» Compare and contrast to express preferences and opinions,
ask questions and initiate conversation. Encourage students to
propose solutions to common real life problems. (I)
» Exchange, support and discuss opinions on global issues and
historical themes (A)
• Presentation of knowledge and ideas
» Present with a variety of digital media, visual displays short
messages and familiar reports (N)
» Develop presentations on academic or cultural topics (I)
» Present a synthesis of research on current events with the
audience in mind
SansSpace
school virtual language lab
• Student files
Teaching Writing by…
• Discussing text types and
purposes
– Create charts to identify pros and
cons of an argument (N)
– Use strings of sentences to state
an opinion (I)
– Use paragraphs to analyze
products of a culture (A)
• Producing and distributing
writing via a wide range of
media
– Use of print and digital tools
– Demonstrate awareness of errors
and self correcting skills
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Range of writing
– Write using a limited range of vocabulary (N)
– Write emails or short messages and work
collaboratively (I)
– Demonstrate control of extended vocab. and
idiomatic expressions and present ideas of
global significance (A)
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Research to build and present
knowledge
– Explain practices, products or issues using 2
credible sources (N)
– Explore global issues and evaluate credibility
of sources (I)
– Approach and handle text intended for
native speakers and weigh relevat evidence
across cultures (A)
Teaching Reading by…
• Presenting key ideas and details through the use of:
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graphs and charts (N)
familiar topics (I)
current and historical topics (A)
• Helping the students to understand
craft and structure by the use of:
• Oral and written descriptions (N)
• New vocabulary, expressions, context clues (I)
• Specialized technical, informational and
literary texts that present cultural nuances (A)
• Integrating knowledge and ideas
• Use highly predictable contexts such as illustrations,
captions, cognates, etc. (N)
• Integrate multiple texts that contain idiomatic phrases (I)
• Identify the threads of the argument with supporting details
(A)
Teaching Reading by…
• Presenting a wide range of
readings and text complexity
by:
– using a variety of media:
illustrated texts, posters,
advertisements (N)
– Using comprehension strategies
such as redundancy,
restatement, paraphrasing (I)
– Bringing a variety of technical,
informational and literary texts
.
Bonus: Evernote
• Basically, you can dump everything in there—
from written or typed notes to photo
snapshots or videos to voice recordings—and
count on retrieving them later either with the
reliable search or your own tagging/notebook
organization
• it helps the unorganized get organized
EVERNOTE
Thank you!
For more information…
You can contact me at:
grigore@comcast.net
aalexandru@southingtonschools.org
Presentation web site:
http://alexandrua.wikispaces.com/AATF+-+Chicago+2012
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
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