Portledge in the Now.

Helping students become proficient in a foreign language

Jessie Jang
In the fall of 2019, I took a class on Standards-Based Curriculum and Assessment in Teaching Foreign Language.  The course emphasized curriculum development and assessment considering state standards.  Throughout the course, the professor shared how the public-school foreign language curriculum is being revised in order to help students become more proficient in the target language.  The curriculum will allow students to experience learning a new language in a more authentic and real way.
The revised World Language Curriculum makes every attempt to emphasize the 5C’s of language learning from ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language).  The five world readiness standards for learning languages are communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities. 

Five World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (www.actfl.org):
  1. Communication: communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situations and for multiple purposes.
  2. Cultures: Interact with cultural competence and understanding.
  3. Connections: Connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations.
  4. Comparisons: Develop insight into the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence.
  5. Communities: Communicate and interact with cultural competence in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.
Throughout the course, I was constantly thinking about how I can apply this learning into my teaching.  How can I transfer this knowledge to a classroom where students are used to learning language through worksheets and rote memorization.  How can I help my students become proficient in Spanish? 

One of the main takeaways from the course is a statement that the professor made.  “If you’re not in the target language 90% of the time, you’re teaching about the language and not the language.”  

From this standpoint, I strive to speak in the target language as much as I can.  Although it is challenging to adhere to this every time in my classes, I can accomplish this through the three modes of communication:  Interpersonal, Interpretive and Presentational.

The three modes of communication is defined as the following: (www.actfl.org)
  1. Interpersonal Communication: Learners interact and negotiate meaning in spoken, signed, or written conversations to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions.
  2. Interpretive Communication: Learners understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read or viewed on a variety of topics.
  3. Presentational Communication: Learners present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media and adapting to various audiences of listeners, readers, or viewers (Cutshall, 2012).
Some formative assessments I implemented throughout the semester with the principles learned in the course were the following:
  • ask students: ¿Cómo te sientes? In the beginning of class
  • movie discussion: students discuss a movie completely in Spanish  
  • turn and talk with a partner about a topic such as family, school or likes/dislikes etc.
  • explain a character from the movie with at least five sentences
  • teach a mini-lesson on a topic such as por vs para, reciprocal reflexives or stressed possessive adjectives under the guidance of the teacher
  • spontaneous conversations: students walk around and talk to a classmate on a topic asking at least 3 questions
  • create a movie trailer in Spanish with iMovie
Through a combination of interpretive, interpersonal and presentational activities, I have learned that I can foster a classroom environment more conducive to speaking and thinking in the target language. 

Reference:
Cutshall, Sandy. More Than a Decade of Standards: Integrating “Communication” in Your Language Instruction. Language Educator, 2012 https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/publications/standards/World-ReadinessStandardsforLearningLanguages.pdf https://www.actfl.org/publications/all/world-readiness-standards-learning-languages/standards-summary
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