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2009-2010 Assessment of Student Learning
Department of Modern Languages
June 3, 2010
Major (or other aspect of your program being assessed): French and Spanish majors; beginning and
intermediate language students
I.
List the student learning goals for the program. (These should be the broad student learning
goals that are embedded in your departmental mission that remain the same from year to year.)
Goal 1: Majors will demonstrate cultural and historical awareness related to the target language.
Goal 2: Majors will demonstrate oral proficiency similar to the advanced-low level on the scale developed
by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL hereafter). (departmental
and ACTFL guidelines attached)
Goal 3: Majors will demonstrate writing proficiency similar to the advanced-low level on the ACTFL scale
(departmental and ACTFL guidelines attached).
II.
List 2-3 specific student learning goals in the program that were assessed during the
2009-2010 academic year. (These could either be student learning goals listed in Section I, or
parts of one or more of those goals.)
Goal 1: Majors will demonstrate cultural and historical awareness related to the target language.
Goal 2: Majors will demonstrate oral proficiency similar to the advanced-low level on the ACTFL scale
(departmental and ACTFL guidelines attached)
Goal 3: All students who seek the BA degree will demonstrate oral and written proficiency at the intermediate level.
Goal 4: All students at the elementary and intermediate levels will demonstrate reading and writing ability
appropriate to that student’s language enrollment.
III.
Describe the methods used during the 2009-2010 academic year to assess student learning for
each of the goals identified in Section II. (Methods could be exams, projects, assignments, or
other demonstrations of student learning. A brief explanation of the criteria by which student
learning was evaluated is helpful.)
Goal 1: Majors will demonstrate cultural and historical awareness related to the target language.
All majors took the departmental senior seminar and completed the senior writing portfolio. The
seminar included presentations focused on the literary, historical, cultural, and historical facets of
the nineteenth century and required students to research and present material concerning a specific
topic related to the major. One required item in the writing portfolio is a reflection on the cultural
awareness the student gained during study abroad.
Goal 2: Majors will demonstrate oral proficiency similar to the advanced-low level on the ACTFL scale.
We developed a departmental rubric based on the ACTFL guidelines and used the new rubric to
evaluate oral proficiency for all senior majors. (departmental and ACTFL guidelines attached)
Goal 3: All students who seek the BA degree will demonstrate oral and written proficiency at the intermediate level.
Oral proficiency: We administered the nationally normed University of Minnesota assessment for
Listening (CoLA) to all intermediate students (Fren201-202, Span201-202). Also, all intermediate
French students took 3 speaking tests, and completed 6 other speaking assignments each semester.
Spanish 202 students did three formal speaking activities in pairs; some were recorded.
Written proficiency: The intermediate spring students (Fren202 and Span202) had to write several
paragraphs on their final exams. These students also completed several assignments that required
increasing sophistication in paragraph writing. Attachments: Writing and speaking tasks for
French and Spanish; rubric for intermediate writing.
Fren202 students completed a series of 4 geography projects of increasing difficulty; each
chapter test required a paragraph appropriate to the vocabulary and structures of the chapter; the
final exam required 5 paragraphs. Details in attachment on French oral and written activities.
Span202: All students completed three written activities. Two were written in class,
one as part of the third exam. The activities were varied and tied to activities and grammar that
were being studied at the time. Details in attachment on Spanish oral and written activities.
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Goal 4: All students at the elementary and intermediate levels will demonstrate reading and writing ability
appropriate to that student’s language enrollment.
Reading ability: We administered the nationally normed University of Minnesota assessment for
Reading (CoRA) to all elementary and intermediate students (February and May for elementary
students; September and May for intermediate students).
Writing ability:
**For evaluation of intermediate writing, see Goal 3 section.
**For evaluation of elementary writing, see attached lists of writing tasks for the Fren112 and
Span112 courses; grading rubric is also attached. Students are expected to write short paragraphs
at this level.
Fren112 students had to write 3 paragraphs on the final exam, in addition to 2 paragraphs
per chapter throughout the spring semester. The tasks were directly related to the grammar points
and vocabulary of the chapter. By the end of the semester, the tasks included a range of verb
tenses, subjunctive mode, adverbs for spatial and temporal detail, comparative and superlative.
Span112 students were required to write 6 paragraphs (one paragraph per chapter) in
which they presented information related to history, geography and fine arts about different Spanish
speaking countries. They wrote those paragraphs in the present and simple past tenses. Students
were asked to write simple and compound sentences. They were also asked to use some cohesive
devices.
IV.
Summarize the data that was collected. (A few sentences or bullet points. Examples or data
sets may be attached as an appendix.)
Goal 1: Majors will demonstrate cultural and historical awareness related to the target language.
Senior seminar: The seminar research papers of all three students included significant attention to
the literary/historical/and cultural aspects of the topic they chose
SCR portfolio: The three seniors received good or superior ratings on their portfolio paper that
focused on the cultural aspects of the study abroad experience.
Goal 2: Majors will demonstrate oral proficiency similar to the advanced-low level on the ACTFL scale
(departmental and ACTFL guidelines attached)
All three seniors received an “advanced” or “superior” rating on the oral proficiency part of the
SCR.
Goal 3: All students who seek the BA degree will demonstrate oral and written proficiency at the intermediate level.
Oral proficiency (listening; CoLA scores for September and May):
Fren202: Students’ listening scores improved by a few points.
Span202: Only a small sample of students took this exam in Spanish. We do not have any scores
for comparison.
Oral proficiency (speaking):
Fren202: all students passed all speaking exams and speaking assignments (with C or higher).
Span202: all students passed the oral evaluation activity with at least a C.
Written proficiency:
Fren202: all students were able to write at or above the acceptable level for success in this course
(at least 3 on scale of 5, as described on departmental rubric). Students’ command of subjunctive is
uneven.
Span202: all students were able to write at or above the acceptable level for success in this course
(at least 3 on scale of 5, as described on departmental rubric).
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Goal 4: All students at the elementary and intermediate levels will demonstrate reading and writing ability
appropriate to that student’s language enrollment.
Reading proficiency (CoRA scores for February and May for 112 students; September and May for
202 students):
Fren112 and 202: Most students’ reading scores improved by a few points.
Span112 and 202: All students’ reading scores improved; degree of improvement varied.
Written proficiency:
Fren112: all students received 3 or higher (on scale of 5) for chapter writing assignments; on final
exam essays, 3 students (of 11) had essay scores below 3 (2 of those students also have learning
disabilities that significantly affect their ability to retain grammar and vocabulary; the third student
had missed a high number of class sessions due to personal problems).
Fren202: all students received 3 or higher (on scale of 5) for chapter writing assignments; on final
exam essays, 2 students (of 10) had essay scores of 2 or lower on 1 question.
Span112: all students received 78/100 or higher for chapter writing assignments. On the final
exam, all students completed dialogues and wrote paragraphs; they scored 82/100 or higher.
Span202: all students received at least 80% for the written portions of the final exam.
V.
State your department’s conclusions from the assessment data. (Your department’s interpretation of the data).
Goal 1: Majors will demonstrate cultural and historical awareness related to the target language.
Conclusion: Graduating language majors displayed a great interest in and knowledge of a wide
range of culture and history related to the target languages. Student feedback --in the form of
written assessment of the course-- was very positive. We conclude that the seminar and the portfolio assignment for cultural reflection are excellent ways of measuring student progress toward this
goal, and we will continue to use these requirements.
Goal 2: Majors will demonstrate oral proficiency similar to the advanced-low level on the ACTFL scale.
Conclusion: All three majors (two in Spanish, one in French) met departmental requirements for
this goal, scoring comfortably in the advanced-low range. We are satisfied with our learning goals
and rubrics, and our majors are meeting our goals.
Goal 3: All students who seek the BA degree will demonstrate oral and written proficiency at the intermediate level.
Conclusion (listening): This is the first year for which we have September and May listening
(CoLA) scores for our intermediate students. We will continue to use these tests for the next few
years to create a multi-year body of data.
Conclusion (speaking): While we all require speaking tasks in our intermediate courses, we have
not yet developed common goals and evaluation standards. The students are succeeding in individual courses, but we have not yet been able to compare data from teacher to teacher.
Conclusion (writing): While we all require writing tasks in our intermediate courses, we have not
yet developed common goals and evaluation standards. The students are succeeding in individual
courses, but we have not yet been able to compare data from teacher to teacher and across languages.
Goal 4: All students at the elementary and intermediate levels will demonstrate reading and writing ability
appropriate to that student’s language enrollment.
Conclusion (reading): The CoRA assessments provide a useful way to gauge our students’ reading
progress. We will continue to use them for the next few years to create a multi-year body of data.
Conclusion (writing--elementary): while our students are succeeding in their individual courses,
we need to develop common goals and similar tasks across languages so we can compare notes and
evaluate success.
Conclusion (writing--intermediate): see conclusions for Goal 3.
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VI.
Describe how your department will use these conclusions to improve student learning.
Goal 1: Majors will demonstrate cultural and historical awareness related to the target language.
We will continue to use our current strategies for this learning goal; they seem to work.
Goal 2: Majors will demonstrate oral proficiency similar to the advanced-low level on the ACTFL scale.
Our newly developed departmental rubric matches well the ACTFL scale. Our students are succeeding, and we feel that we have developed appropriate strategies for comparing results across
languages. We will continue to use our current strategies for this learning goal; they seem to work.
Goal 3: All students who seek the BA degree will demonstrate oral and written proficiency at the intermediate level.
We need to develop more effective ways to coordinate our efforts across languages. We know how
students do in individual courses, but we need to be able to compare successes across the intermediate level, regardless or professor or language. Next year we will work on setting common oral
and written goals for the beginning and intermediate levels. The CoLA assessment provides appropriate data for listening assessment but we need to change how we administer it so we receive a
full set of data.
Goal 4: All students at the elementary and intermediate levels will demonstrate reading and writing ability
appropriate to that student’s language enrollment.
We need to develop more effective ways to coordinate our efforts across languages. We know how
students do in individual courses, but we need to be able to compare successes across the intermediate level, regardless or professor or language. Next year we will work on setting common written
goals for the beginning and intermediate levels; The CoRA assessment provides appropriate data for
reading assessment but we need to change how we administer it so we receive a full set of data.
VII.
List 2-3 specific student learning goals in the program that your department wishes to assess
for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Goal 1: Majors will demonstrate cultural and historical awareness related to the target language.
Goal 2: All students who seek the BA degree will demonstrate oral and written proficiency at the intermediate level.
Goal 3: All students who complete the elementary level (Fren112 and Span112) will demonstrate oral and
written ability appropriate for entry into the intermediate level.
VIII.
Describe the methods to be used during the 2010-2011 academic year to assess the student
learning goals identified in Section VII.
Goal 1: continue to use the senior seminar and portfolio assignments to assess.
Goal 2: develop common assessments for speaking and writing to be used across languages at the intermediate level; continue to use the CoLA assessment for listening and the CoRA for reading.
Goal 3: develop common assessments for speaking and writing to be used across languages in the second
semester (112) courses; continue to use the CoLA assessment for listening and the CoRA for
reading.