GLOBAL ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR ASSESSING CORE CURRCICULUM OBJECTIVES OF
ELEMENTARY FRENCH I – FREN 1234
PORTEFEUILLE CULTURELLE1
Description:
The Portefeuille Culturellel serves as an assessment of the student’s performance of the
core curriculum objectives of Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Social and Personal
Responsibility in the specific context of this course. Students will develop the portfolio based
upon three activities from the Connections Culturelles spreads in the Explorations text and
corresponding sub-sections (Connections, Culture, Comparaisons and Communauté).Each one
of the activities must be from a different chapter and a total of three activities must be
completed and corresponding work submitted as components of the portfolio. The activities in
the Connections Culturelles sub-sections are meant to be a starting point for further
investigation, analysis, and synthesis by the student. Students are also encouraged to refer to
the chapter sections titled En Directe, Rédaction, Lecture and Explorations Professionelles as
additional sources of ideas for activities to complete their portfolios. Students should choose
topics that interest them and demonstrate that they have adequately researched and
considered the topics in the framework of the core curriculum objectives. Sometimes, an
assignment from the sub-section Communauté may not be feasible. Thus, if a student is
interested in an activity from that section or one of the additional chapter sections referred to
above, he/she should consult with the instructor prior to beginning work.
In addition to the above textbook-based assignments, students may report on a
personal intercultural experience gained through a minimum of four (4) hours of volunteer
service in the local, regional, national or global French-speaking community through the service
projects of the French Club, another campus or community organization and/or through an
alternative Spring Break option. This option can “replace” one of the assignments based upon
the Connections Culturelles activities. However, the assignment must meet the same
submission requirements as the textbook-based tasks. Students must also request the
instructor’s permission prior to submitting this alternative assignment.
The Portefeuille Culturelle will also include a personal reflection essay on a specific
cultural topic based on one of the other assignments chosen for the Portefeuille or on a specific
cultural topic presented by the instructor. The cultural topic chosen by the student or
presented by the instructor will present students with an ethical dilemma or issues for
resolution. In the essay, students will identify their core beliefs and the origins of those core
beliefs, recognize the ethical issues presented and relationships between issues, state a
position on an ethical issue and connect their position to implied actions and consequences.2
1 The Portafolio Cultural Global Assessment Tool is based upon the Portafolio Cultural described by Mary Ann Blitt
and Margarita Casas, authors of Exploraciones, 2012. Cengage, in their document Teaching Culture with
Exploraciones, August 2011.
2
Modified from AACU Ethical Responsibility VALUE Rubric.
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GLOBAL ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR ASSESSING CORE CURRCICULUM OBJECTIVES OF
ELEMENTARY FRENCH I – FREN 1234
Format and submission of work:
Various formats of work will be accepted as components of the portfolio. However, if
students would like to submit work in a format other than the one described below, they
should first obtain the instructor’s permission. Students must keep in mind that the portfolio
will be an assessment of their demonstration of the core objectives listed above. Thus, the
portfolio must show evidence of development of these objectives. Any visual, auditory, or
technology-based submissions such as art work, theatrical or musical works, must be
accompanied by at least a half page explanation of how the submission fulfills the activity
chosen from the Connections Culturelles spread. For example, if a student were to submit a
sketch of a favorite building in town for the Connections architecture sub-section, the student
would also need to also submit at least a half page description of how his/her work answers or
fulfills the purpose of the corresponding Connections Culturelles
Portfolio documents may be submitted in French or a combination of English and French.
However, each of the three components of the portfolio must contain a minimum usage of
French as determined by each instructor (generally a minimum of four complete lines of
French). Students are expected to use French learned over the length of the course specifically
demonstrating grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic usage in the context of the varied cultures
of the French-speaking world.
Criteria for Assessment of Portefeuille Culturelle
Content: The Portefeuille



includes three assignments based on sub-sections Connections, Culture, Comparaisons and
Communauté and/or a personal intercultural experience as mentioned above
includes a personal reflection essay of at least one page (25-28 lines, font 10-12) on a specific
cultural topic that includes an ethical dilemma or address ethical perspectives related to culture.
meets the minimum requirement of at least one page per topic (25-28 lines, font 10-12) or the
minimum requirement of at least ½ page per topic (12-14 lines, font 10-12) if the student is
submitting work in an alternate format.
Critical thinking: The Portefeuille demonstrates inquiry, analysis, evaluation and synthesis of
information from various resources available in French and English on the topics of the
student’s choosing.
Communication: The Portefeuille demonstrates effective use of memorized vocabulary, highfrequency expressions, accurate grammatical usage and idiomatic expressions in the target
language to develop, interpret and express ideas with culturally appropriate sensitivity.
Furthermore, the Portefeuille demonstrates accurate interpretation of target language print
and multi-media resources.
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ELEMENTARY FRENCH I – FREN 1234
Personal Responsibility: The Portefeuille demonstrates the student’s ability to connect choices,
actions and consequences to ethical-decision making. In the form of a personal reflection essay
that addresses a culturally-bound ethical dilemma, the student identifies his/her core beliefs
and the origin of those beliefs, recognizes complex ethical issues and relationships between
issues, states a position on an ethical issue and connects his/her position to implied actions and
consequences. 3
Social responsibility: The Portefeuille shows evidence of the student’s intercultural
competence and knowledge of civic responsibility as demonstrated in the connections or
comparisons made by the student between his/her own culture and the target culture.
Rubric for Scoring Portefeuille Culturelle Criteria
Please see the attached document titled Rubric for Assessment of Portefeuille Culturelle.
Target Level of Attainment
Ninety percent of students will obtain a score of 70 % or better on this global assessment of the
core curriculum objectives specified above.
3
see note 2
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