Languages and Literatures Program Assessment AY2017-2018

Oral proficiency at the Intermediate-High to Advanced-Low level, as outlined by the ACTFL guidelines.

A student who has attained oral proficiency in another language is able to communicate with people from other countries and that student understands and values cultural diversity. Oral proficiency at the Intermediate-High to Advanced-Low level, as outlined by the ACTFL guidelines therefore aligns with the college’s mission to inspire students to be globally aware citizens.

A student can only attain oral proficiency by engaging in active learning. The type of teaching and learning in the language classroom--active and student-centered--that leads to oral proficiency aligns with the college planning goal of providing students with “a rigorous, challenging, and active learning experience in close working relationships with faculty.” Additionally, the learning outcome of oral proficiency aligns with the promotion of “international and global learning.”

This intended student learning outcome is aligned with the college’s GLOBE framework. A student who has attained oral proficiency in another language has done so as a result of integrative and applied learning. In addition, oral proficiency in another language is a tangible and valuable practical skill.

Procedures & Criterion for

Success

A grade of C- or better is required for all 300 and 400-level courses in fulfillment of the 30-hour requirement for the major.

All B.A. students in French or Spanish: Adolescence Education are required to take the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and pass at the Advanced Low or above level of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) in order to be eligible to student teach. The OPI test is administered by an independent testing agency and the OPI is internationally recognized as a reliable, standardized measure of spoken language proficiency.

Of the 8 recorded OPI Exams for Spanish for 2017-2018, 5 students passed: 4 with Advanced Low (AL) and 1 with Advanced Mid (AM). In 2017-2018 there was one French major who took the OPI. That student passed with a rating of Advanced-Mid level, which exceeds the Advanced-Low requirement.

In Spanish, we are considering requiring SPAN 300 (Oral Communication) for our majors, minors, Elementary Ed with Spanish concentration and Adolescent Ed with Spanish. This needs to be approved at our dept meeting before we can write the UCC proposal.

It was assumed that students would acquire the oral skills via study abroad, therefore, SPAN 300 wasn’t mandatory. However, experience has demonstrated the need to be able to balance at the upper-level courses both the oral and written skills. Subsequently, it would benefit students to have one of their initial upper-level foundation courses focus solely on oral communication skill improvement (SPAN 300). These skills would help them participate more actively and confidently in subsequent classes and would prepare them to succeed in the OPI. Spanish 300 and 301 may be taken concurrently but would be prerequisites for subsequent courses.

In FREN 320, which is a course that all B.A. students in French: Adolescence Education, we will be implementing increased oral workshops based on the criteria and expectations of the ACTFL.

We would like to require or encourage all majors in French and Spanish to take the OPI prior to graduation. Certification of language proficiency by means of the OPI would be a great addition to their resumes. In addition, it would be immensely useful for tracking assessment.

Procedures & Criterion for

In-class oral exams and student presentations.

Frequent in-class oral exams are administered on a regular basis at professor discretion. Oral proficiency is tested daily by different means: writing critiques, on-the-spot questioning of individual students, short dialogues and presentations.

The majority of students are exceeding the student learning outcome; however, students in FREN 325, SPAN 300 and SPAN 324 struggled to meet the student learning outcome of Intermediate-High to Advanced-Low. Students in GER 202  struggled to meet the student learning outcome of Intermediate-Mid, but the students in GER 388 exceeded the student learning outcome.

Analyzing the data, it seems that students struggle to meet the learning outcomes in courses that either completely immerse students in speaking the target language for the first time (GER 202 and SPAN 300) or that cover new and/or specialized topics (FREN 325 and SPAN 324). We believe that the gap between expectations and outcomes could be decreased with more scaffolded reading and speaking activities that include a lot of low-stakes opportunities for students to learn and practice the vocabulary and grammar. Additionally, we will encourage students to participate in conversation clubs and cultural activities that use the target language.

Proficiency in writing at the Intermediate-High to Advanced-Low level, as outlined by the ACTFL guidelines.

Similar to a student who has attained oral proficiency in another language, a student who is proficient in writing another language is able to communicate with people from other countries and that student understands and values cultural diversity. Students who are able to communicate in writing in another language are able to follow the news and popular culture of other countries and communities. These students are therefore inspired to become “socially responsible and globally aware citizens.”    

When a student becomes proficient in writing in another language it is often through the promotion of “international and global learning” because the student learning to write by reading and critiquing model texts from a variety of international sources--literary, journalistic and popular culture. It addition, proficiency in writing is attained in the classroom through “close working relationships with faculty,” as writing develops throughout the semester with faculty reading and critiquing multiple drafts and instructing students on the writing process.

The Department of Languages and Literatures has, as a program goal, that all major demonstrate that they can attain proficiency in writing of at least the level of Advanced-Low, as outline by the ACTFL guidelines.

Procedures & Criterion for

A grade of C- or better is required for all 300 and 400-level courses in fulfillment of the 30-hour requirement for the major.

For all B.A. students in French or Spanish, an exit writing exam is required. The exam must be taken before the end of the junior year or, if studying abroad, immediately after returning to Geneseo but not earlier than the junior year. The exam consists of a 500-600 words essay handwritten in Spanish or French. The topic is selected by the faculty of the department from a topic of general knowledge.

Students must pass at the Advanced Low or above level of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The Exit Written Exam takes into consideration not only grammar and vocabulary but also the development of the theme, the organization of the essay, the complexity of the language and the ability to present and synthesize information.

From Fall 2017 to Summer 2018, 17 students took the Exit Writing Exam. 13 of them in Spanish, 4 in French. With an 88.2% of success, only two of them didn’t pass it. The average was 77.29 which is Advance-Mid. The exam is blind peer-reviewed by two professors in the department. In the event of a gap higher than 10 points between the two peer reviewers (faculty), a third professor will rate the exam. This only happened once which indicates that all professor’s criteria of evaluation fall into alignment

Our students scored higher than the level required by ACTFL. Subsequently, our students at the Advance-Mid “demonstrated the ability to narrate and describe with detail in all major time frames with good control of aspect; good control of the most frequently used target-language syntactic structures and they were able to express thoughts clearly and with some elaboration.” (adapted from ACTFL, Proficiency Guidelines 2012).

In the light of the fact that our students scored higher than the minimum level required, we can sustain that our students writing skills are better than expected and show a consistent preparedness from lower levels up. A combination of low-stakes writing assignments with readings throughout all courses -starting with 201- reveals a good students performance on the writing achievement test. Results demonstrate that our students have developed a capacity for critical thinking in writing and are able to express clearly and precisely their thoughts in a second language.

Procedures & Criterion for

Low-stakes writing assignments throughout the semester.

Writing assignments include Explication de texte as well as Research Papers. Shorter frequent writing exercises are performed on a daily or weekly basis in class.  Success students will demonstrate ability to explain complex matters, develop arguments and use description and narration.  

In Writing Communication (Span 301) students have to write 3 short essays and 3 long essays using different styles (essay, letter, film critic, research paper, autobiography).

In all upper-level writing classes, students practice peer review techniques and learn how to cite following MLA guidelines.  Being able to identify plagiarism plays also a big role in our writing classes.

FREN 301 is the first time in the 300-level that students receive  intensive instruction in writing, so while students may struggle in 301 it is because they are confronting and negotiating higher-level writing skills and more abstract topics for the first time. In the future, FREN 201 and 202 will be putting more emphasis on writing skills. We believe that the gap in successful attainment of the learning outcome in SPAN 324 and SPAN 335 may be due to the way in which SPAN courses are rotated throughout the year: after taking SPAN 301 the next courses students can take are SPAN 324 or 335, both of which represent a big jump in linguistic expectations, compared to SPAN 306 and SPAN 313. We may consider altering the course rotation so that students can take another 300-level SPAN class to ease their transition into the higher-level SPAN courses.  

Procedures & Criterion for

Procedures & Criterion for