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Assessing The Oral Proficiency Of Adult Learners, “Heritage” And “Native” Speakers Using The Ilr Descriptions And Actfl Proficiency Guidelines: Considering The Challenges, Cynthia L. Martin
Assessing The Oral Proficiency Of Adult Learners, “Heritage” And “Native” Speakers Using The Ilr Descriptions And Actfl Proficiency Guidelines: Considering The Challenges, Cynthia L. Martin
Russian Language Journal
The ILR Descriptions – Speaking and the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines – Speaking trace their genesis to an oral proficiency assessment system first developed at the Foreign Service Institute in the 1950s to assess “foreign language users’ abilities according to a consistent scale.” The original purpose was clearly aimed at assessing the abilities of non-‐‑native, non-‐‑heritage adult foreign language learners, and this genesis is still reflected in the current ILR Descriptions and the ACTFL Guidelines. However, tools based on these descriptions/guidelines are increasingly being used to assess the abilities of language users who are not what we would consider to be …
Some Thoughts On The Societal Impact Of Linguistics, Arto Mustajoki
Some Thoughts On The Societal Impact Of Linguistics, Arto Mustajoki
Russian Language Journal
Today, scholars are obliged to justify the necessity of research in their own fields. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the channels of societal impact of linguistic research. In other words, I will try to answer the following question: in what ways is the work of scholars dealing with language(s) useful for society? The paper is based on my articles published in Finnish (Mustajoki 2005, 2011) and on oral presentations in various academic circles. I will first discuss some general ideas concerning the societal impact of research and researchers. I will then try to apply these ideas to …
Assessment Practices In Startalk Language Programs: A View Of Current Language Assessment Literacy, Margaret E. Malone, Megan J. Montee, Francesca Disilvio
Assessment Practices In Startalk Language Programs: A View Of Current Language Assessment Literacy, Margaret E. Malone, Megan J. Montee, Francesca Disilvio
Russian Language Journal
Assessment is essential to education, because it provides information on students’ progress toward learning goals. Reliable and valid assessment can provide not only important summative information, but also formative information to instructors and learners on both what has been learned and what remains to be learned. However, in order for assessment to be used effectively, instructors must understand the components of a reliable and valid assessment system and how to incorporate such a system into classroom testing. Many language instructors in the United States may lack basic knowledge of assessment and measurement (Popham, 2009).
Examining The Validity Of The 2010 Prototype Ap Russian Exam Through A College Comparability Study, Camelot Marshall
Examining The Validity Of The 2010 Prototype Ap Russian Exam Through A College Comparability Study, Camelot Marshall
Russian Language Journal
Since its inception twelve years ago, the Prototype AP® Russian Language and Culture Examination has developed into an assessment instrument that has increasingly become the culminating focus and a hallmark of high school Russian language study in select schools across the United States. Even more so, through the years of field-‐‑testing, piloting, and making the tests operational, the design, content, development, administration, and analyses of the exam have evolved into the model for American Councils’ online assessments of language proficiency not only for Russian, but also for Flagship programs. These tests are already being developed in Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Russian, …
A Case Study Of The Acquisition Of Narration In Russian: At The Intersection Of Foreign Language Education, Applied Linguistics, And Second Language Acquisition, Benjamin Rifkin
Russian Language Journal
Studies of students’ foreign language proficiency—including Carroll (1967), Magnan (1986), and Thompson (1996)—have shown that students in their fourth year of language study typically demonstrate oral proficiency in the intermediate range. Thompson’s study found the median score of students’ oral proficiency in the fourth year to be at the intermediate high/advanced threshold, but her subjects at this level of instruction were students at Middlebury’s summer language program and were tested in the last week of the program. In my own teaching practice, I have found that most of the students majoring in Russian at the University of Wisconsin-‐‑Madison graduate with …
Russian Heritage Language Speakers In The U.S.: A Profile, Olga Kagan
Russian Heritage Language Speakers In The U.S.: A Profile, Olga Kagan
Russian Language Journal
Brecht and Ingold (2002) advocate systematic efforts to develop heritage language (HL) pedagogy to remedy U.S. language deficits: “…because of [heritage language learners’(HLLs’)] existing language and cultural knowledge, they may require substantially less instructional time than other learners to develop these skills. This is especially true for speakers of the less commonly taught languages” (p. 1).
Taking The “L” Out Of Lctls: The Startalk Experience, Catherine Ingold, Mary Elizabeth Hart
Taking The “L” Out Of Lctls: The Startalk Experience, Catherine Ingold, Mary Elizabeth Hart
Russian Language Journal
The less commonly taught languages in the United States are often those most critical to national security. How, then, can the number of students learning these languages be increased, and how can high-‐‑quality instructors be produced to teach these languages? Having determined that foreign language skills are essential to diplomacy, economic competitiveness, and the security interests of the U.S., the Secretaries of State, Education, and Defense, and the Director of National Intelligence coordinated their efforts to expand language education beginning in kindergarten and continuing through elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and into the workforce (United States Department of Education, 2008). …
Language Matters: Some New Contributions From Sociology (Emanating From Richard Brecht’S Castle), John P. Robinson, William P. Rivers, Cynthia Costell, Jennifer Robinson
Language Matters: Some New Contributions From Sociology (Emanating From Richard Brecht’S Castle), John P. Robinson, William P. Rivers, Cynthia Costell, Jennifer Robinson
Russian Language Journal
As a result of the projects undertaken by the University of Maryland’s Center for the Advanced Study of Language, several new findings and insights have emerged from the highest quality data collections on Americans’ abilities in and attitudes toward foreign languages (FL). These involve the (now annual) language surveys conducted by the US Census Bureau and the bi-‐‑annual General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by the University of Chicago since 1972. The Census Bureau has been documenting foreign languages spoken at home and how well individuals can speak English in such households. The 2000-‐‑08 GSS has assessed whether adults can speak …