Second Language Literacy - Christopher Newport University

Assessment

Second Language Literacy

We define Second Language Literacy as the ability to read, write, listen, and speak a language that is not your native language.

What We Expect Our Students to Learn

Students will demonstrate reading comprehension of a short text in the target language.

Sample: Who are we looking at?

All students enrolled in a 200-level foreign language course are required to take the final exam.

Measure: How are we rating their performance?

On the final exam, students will read passages in the foreign language and respond to short-answer questions in English.

Target: What score did we expect?

70% of students will score 70% (or above) on reading comprehension.

Findings: What score did our students earn?
  • Spanish: 86% of students scored 70% or higher.
    We plan to increase the difficulty of reading comprehension questions on the exam.
  • French: 90% of students scored 70% or higher.
    We will continue to develop reading activities that promote string proficiency in reading comprehension.
  • German: 43% of students scored 70% or higher.
    We will devote more class time, homework and assignments to reading comprehension strategies.

Students can compose a passage in the target language that a sympathetic native speaker could understand.

Sample: Who are we looking at?

All students enrolled in a 200-level foreign language course are required to take the final exam.

Measure: How are we rating their performance?

On the final exam, students will write a short passage in the target language.

Target: What score did we expect?

70% of students will score 70% (or above) on reading comprehension.

Findings: What score did our students earn?
  • Spanish: 88% or students scored 70% or higher.
    We will continue focusing on writing skills with in-class assignments, homework and exams.
  • French: 74% of students scored 70% or higher.
    We will develop more peer review writing activities to help improve students' confidence in writing.
  • German: 92% or students scored 70% or higher.
    We will encourage more in-class writing assignments to help students rely less on translation tools.

Students can answer questions on listening stimuli at the intermediate-low level on the ACTFL scale.

Sample: Who are we looking at?

All students enrolled in a 200-level foreign language course are required to take the final exam.

Measure: How are we rating their performance

On the final exam, students will answer 10 multiple-choice questions in the target language, based on material learned in two listening passages at the intermediate-low level.

Target: What score did we expect?

70% of students will score 70% (or above) on listening competency.

Findings: What score did our students earn?
  • Spanish: 97% of students scored 70% or higher.
    We modified the final exam to increase difficulty of listening sections.
  • French: 80% of students scored 70% or higher.
    We will continue assigning a variety of listening activities and conduct classes solely in French language.
  • German: 70% of students scored 70% or higher.
    We will continue assigning listening activities through in-class activities and homework.

Students can demonstrate the ability to accurately translate into English a Latin passage at the intermediate-mid level on the scale of the National Standards for Classical Language Learning.

Sample: Who are we looking at?

All students enrolled in a 200-level Latin course are required to take the final exam.

Measure: How are we rating their performance

On the final exam, students will translate a Latin passage at the intermediate-mid level into correct English.

Target: What score did we expect?

70% of students will score at the intermediate-mid level (or above) on translation ability.

Findings: What score did our students earn?
  • Latin: 73% of students scored 70% or higher.
    Continue using the newly adopted textbook for lower-level Latin classes, which helps with translation.
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