STUDENT LEARNING ASSESSMENT PROGRAM
SUMMARY FORM AY 2008-2009
Degree and
Program Name:
Submitted By:
BA Foreign Languages
Stephen A. Canfield
Please complete a separate worksheet for each academic program
(major, minor) at each level (undergraduate, graduate) in your
department. Worksheets are due to CASA this year by June
15, 2009. Worksheets should be sent electronically to
kjsanders@eiu.edu and should also be submitted to your college
dean. For information about assessment or help with your
assessment plans, visit the Assessment webpage at
http://www.eiu.edu/~assess/ or contact Karla Sanders in CASA at
581-6056.
PART ONE
What are the learning
objectives?
How, where, and when are they
assessed?
What are the expectations?
What are the results?
1. Foreign Languages Majors
will, in their language of
concentration, achieve a
proficiency level of
Intermediate-High in
speaking, and listening as
described in the ACTFL
Proficiency Guidelines.
Modified Oral Proficiency
Interview administered once
after completion of second year
sequence and again during the
last two semesters of study.
Data will be collected and
evaluated by Dept. Assessment
Committee
ACTFL Proficiency
Guidelines (revised 1999).
See below.
Three (3) modified OPI
assessment interviews were
given to graduating seniors –
2 in German and 1 in French
during May 2009:
Results:
Meets expectations:
3
Twenty-four (24) interviews
were given to 4th semester
students (FLF/FLG/FLS
2202) chosen at random and
evaluated. .
As a mid-program benchmark, Majors in Foreign
Languages will, in their
language of concentration,
achieve a proficiency level of
Intermediate-Low in speaking
and listening as described in
the ACTFL Proficiency
Guidelines.
2. Foreign Languages Majors
will, in their language of
concentration, achieve a
proficiency level of
Intermediate-High in reading
and writing.
Committee/ person
responsible? How are
results shared?
Departmental
Assessment Committee
is responsible for
communicating these
results to the department
as a whole. The results
are shared in writing at
the same time as they are
submitted to CASA and
discussed in detail at our
first departmental
meeting of each year as
part of our annual
planning process.
Results:
Exceeds expectations:
4
Meets expectations:
19
Do not meet expectations: 1
Portfolio submitted containing
writing samples in the language
of concentration. Data collected
and evaluated by the Dept.
Assessment Committee.
ACTFL Proficiency
Guidelines (revised 1999).
Majors will document ability
to sustain coherent written
discourse on a chosen subject
for at least 1000 words.
Samples represent work from
upper division, writing
intensive courses.: 7 –
French; 6 – German
(Note: Writing samples were
collected from German
See above.
students but had not been
evaluated at the time of this
report. If necessary, we will
file an addend um to this
summary at a later date to
include the German writing
samples.)
Results: (French)
Exceeds expectations: 1
Meets expectations:
5
Do not meet expectations: 1
3. Majors will know manners,
customs, and ranges of
cultural expression including
the literatures of those who
speak their language of
concentration.
Materials from courses on
culture and literature as specified
in Undergraduate Catalog will be
incorporated into the student's
portfolio
In addition to portfolio
materials derived from class
work, student will document
having taken advantage of
opportunities to connect with
relevant language populations
outside of classroom setting,
e.g. extracurricular activities,
study abroad, travel.
4. Foreign Languages majors
will achieve a proficiency
level of at least Novice-High
in one language other than
their language of
concentration.
Successful completion of at least
two semesters of study in a
language other than the language
of concentration will be
documented in portfolio. Dept.
Assessment Comm.
See ACTFL Proficiency
Guidelines (revised 1999).
Portfolio contents have still
not been agreed upon.
Study Abroad:
During the assessment period
16 majors completed study
abroad experiences:
2 France
1 Québec
1 Mexico (internship)
12 Spain, Costa Rica,
Argentina
17 majors successfully
completed work at or above
the 1102 level in a language
other than their language of
concentration.
See above.
See above.
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines
Intermediate High
Speaking/Listening : Intermediate-High speakers are able to converse with ease and confidence when dealing with most routine tasks and social
situations of the Intermediate level. They are able to handle successfully many uncomplicated tasks and social situations requiring an exchange of
basic information related to work, school, recreation, particular interests and areas of competence, though hesitation and errors may be evident.
Intermediate-High speakers handle the tasks pertaining to the Advanced level, but they are unable to sustain performance at that level
over a variety of topics. With some consistency, speakers at the Intermediate-High level narrate and describe in major time frames
using connected discourse of paragraph length. However, their performance of these Advanced-level tasks will exhibit one or more
features of breakdown, such as the failure to maintain the narration or description semantically or syntactically in the appropriate
major time frame, the disintegration of
Reading: Intermediate-High readers are able to read consistently with full understanding simple connected texts dealing with basic
personal and social needs about which the reader has personal interest and/or knowledge. Can get some main ideas and information
from texts at the next higher level featuring description and narration. Structural complexity may interfere with comprehension; for
example, basic grammatical relations may be misinterpreted and temporal references may rely primarily on lexical items. Has some
difficulty with the cohesive factors in discourse, such as matching pronouns with referents. While texts do not differ significantly from
those at the Advanced level, comprehension is less consistent. May have to read material several times for understanding.
Writing: Able to meet most practical writing needs and limited social demands. Can take notes in some detail on familiar topics and
respond in writing to personal questions. Can write simple letters, brief synopses and paraphrases, summaries of biographical data,
work and school experience. In those languages relying primarily on content words and time expressions to express time, tense, or
aspect, some precision is displayed; where tense and/or aspect is expressed through verbal inflection, forms are produced rather
consistently, but not always accurately. An ability to describe and narrate in paragraphs is emerging. Rarely uses basic cohesive
elements such as pronominal substitutions or synonyms in written discourse. Writing, though faulty, is generally comprehensible to
natives used to the writing of non-natives.
PART TWO
We have experienced a one year hiatus in our assessment process. During SU2008 we began preparing our NCATE/ACTFL SPA Report (for
additional discussion of this process see Student Learning Assessment Program Summary Form Y 2009-2009 French/German/Spanish Teacher
Certification). This process has made us acutely aware that if we continue to implement the assessment standards currently imposed on our
majors, there will exist a significant disparity between expectations for our regular majors and those imposed upon our majors seeking teacher
certification. This disparity will be especially evident in the area or oral proficiency. We have since the beginning of the assessment program
imposed a goal of Intermediate-high as measured by the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. This level is consistent with national expectations as
well as with guidelines provided by ACTFL concerning reasonably expected outcomes for students learning a second language in a traditional,
non-intensive, undergraduate classroom/lab setting. It should also be noted that our program has always graduated majors at or above this
proficiency level.
In SU2004 NCATE/ACTFL raised the target proficiency level for teachers to Advanced-Low. As of this past year we have begun imposing this
level on our teacher certification candidates (see Student Learning Assessment Program Summary Form Y 2009-2009 French/German/Spanish
Teacher Certification). The question we face is whether we seek to impose this same proficiency level on all majors. During 08-09 our
department began discussions on the desirability of doing this as well as the curricular and assessment ramifications of making this shift. It is our
goal to resolve this primary issue within coming academic year 2009-2010. We will also be discussing potential changes in both curriculum
delivery and assessment procedures associated with the application of other current ACTFL Standards in addition to the traditional Proficiency
Guidelines.
PART THREE
See above.