The National Standards have been created to help instructors focus on how language is used in real-life situations. By measuring achievement in each standard, instructors can better understand what the students will gain by completing an activity, set of activities, end of a lesson, unit, or entire semester within the scope of communication ability, cultural knowledge, understanding of the nature of language and culture, and ability to use the language to acquire information and participate in the communities where it is spoken. Tracking success in each category of the 5 Cs as well as creating a balance of activities that can help achieve curriculum goals, is seen as essential by ACTFL as well as most departments around the country.
Students:
May not see this as important in tracking progress. Other tracking areas such as 21st century skills and Bloom’s Taxonomy may be more valuable for tracking development and showing integrated skills learned in their language courses.
Instructors:
It is very helpful when planning their syllabus/assigning and reports could help them see weak areas, standards that are overused or underused, and areas of great success in their program. Not only should we show the quantity of activities within each standard by section/chapter/entire course, but also the average scores. Although the average scores is a subjective measurement (it depends on what instructors assign, how they grade each activity, etc...), it is the only way we could help them assess success in this area. The scores would be a general, yet valuable view of their success with the standards in any course.
Tagging: Each activity or content section will be tagged with one or more of the following:
Communication: The ability to convey and receive messages based on the three modes of Communication; interpersonal, or two-way interaction with someone else; interpretive, the ability to understand and interpret a one-way aural or written text; and presentational, the ability to present information in either a written or oral format. These modes reflect how people communicate in real life. The examples included in the World Language Skills map reflect these modes of communication.
Cultures: As the teaching of language and culture are inextricably intertwined, students learn to understand the culture of the people who speak the target language through learning about the products and practices of the culture and how those relate to the perspectives of the people of that culture.
Connections: Students are able to access knowledge in other disciplines through the target language and to reinforce concepts already learned in these disciplines in the language classroom.
Comparisons: As students learn a new language and culture, they develop insight into their own language and culture, thus providing them with a deeper understanding of how language works and how cultures reflect the perspectives, practices, and products of the people who speak that language.
Students:
May not see this as important in tracking progress. Other tracking areas such as 21st century skills and Bloom’s Taxonomy may be more valuable for tracking development and showing integrated skills learned in their language courses.
Instructors:
It is very helpful when planning their syllabus/assigning and reports could help them see weak areas, standards that are overused or underused, and areas of great success in their program. Not only should we show the quantity of activities within each standard by section/chapter/entire course, but also the average scores. Although the average scores is a subjective measurement (it depends on what instructors assign, how they grade each activity, etc...), it is the only way we could help them assess success in this area. The scores would be a general, yet valuable view of their success with the standards in any course.
Tagging: Each activity or content section will be tagged with one or more of the following:
Communication: The ability to convey and receive messages based on the three modes of Communication; interpersonal, or two-way interaction with someone else; interpretive, the ability to understand and interpret a one-way aural or written text; and presentational, the ability to present information in either a written or oral format. These modes reflect how people communicate in real life. The examples included in the World Language Skills map reflect these modes of communication.
Cultures: As the teaching of language and culture are inextricably intertwined, students learn to understand the culture of the people who speak the target language through learning about the products and practices of the culture and how those relate to the perspectives of the people of that culture.
Connections: Students are able to access knowledge in other disciplines through the target language and to reinforce concepts already learned in these disciplines in the language classroom.
Comparisons: As students learn a new language and culture, they develop insight into their own language and culture, thus providing them with a deeper understanding of how language works and how cultures reflect the perspectives, practices, and products of the people who speak that language.