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Instruction and assessment are interwoven in this document because they are not inherently separate experiences. All assessment tasks are appropriate for instruction, though all instructional tasks are not necessarily appropriate for assessment.
Assessment is an ongoing process. Because teachers teach, assess, reteach, and reassess continuously, both formally and informally, the two (instruction and assessment) cannot usefully be separated.
All terms in bold in print text are defined in the glossary.
Instructional assessment should be a process that allows teachers to adjust their instruction continuously to match the needs of students. Assessment should not be seen as siphoning teachers' energy away from their major task of instruction because assessment is not separate from instruction.
Instructional assessment should help students communicate what they know rather than what they do not know.
Assessment for guidance and improvement of learning is done to determine what development is occurring and to identify a student's strengths and weaknesses in all the communicative skills.
Assessment for diagnosis facilitates the improvement of instruction and teaching effectiveness.
Assessment for monitoring the outcomes of instruction is done to assess program strengths and weaknesses and guide professional development.
Innovative assessment practices place a high value on helping individual students improve rather than comparing them to other students; providing multiple opportunities to learn and assess learning; capturing students' diverse ways of knowing; focusing on what is valued in learning, rather than on what is most easily measured; and assessing in the same ways that teaching and learning are occurring.
Consideration of the students' prior knowledge is critical to both instruction and assessment. If the context is novel and challenging, the assessment task should be familiar. If context is familiar, then the assessment task should be novel and challenging.
Teachers should introduce assessment strategies to students and, when appropriate, give them samples of student work which demonstrate a range of performance levels, making the criteria clear and public.
A teacher must be able to select from a variety of instruction and assessment strategies to allow for a diverse set of experiences which match the diverse languages, cultures, or learning challenges of each student.
Things to Consider
Language acquisition and learning are developmental whether applied to first or additional languages, children or adults.
Things to Consider
Communication is an interdependent process, with people both expressing and receiving information.
Much of the work we do in life is done in groups or teams. Effective communication assumes that learners will be involved in group/collaborative work. Instructional assessment must model appropriate evaluation in group situations.
Cooperative group instruction is used for a number of different reasons:
Things to Consider
Three areas that need to be considered when developing a successful language instruction program
Stages of Expressive Language Proficiency
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Oral Language Proficiency |
Written Language Proficiency |
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Stage I |
Stage I |
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No comprehension of language |
Nonwriter |
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Active listener |
Active observer |
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Stage II-Preproduction |
Stage II-Preproduction |
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Some comprehension |
Pictures |
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No verbalization |
Scribbles |
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Letters |
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Stage III-Early Production |
Stage III-Early Production |
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Imitated verbalization |
Letter-sound relationships |
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Lacks structure |
Inventive spelling |
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Beginning fluency |
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Stage IV-Speech Emergence |
Stage IV-Writing Emergence |
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Simple spontaneous verbalization |
Isolated words |
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Combines words and phrases |
Short phrases |
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Limited accuracy |
Simple lists |
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Stage V-Intermediate Fluency |
Stage V-Intermediate Fluency |
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Controls basic structure |
Practical writing needs |
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Uses social language |
Notes/letters |
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Limited academic language |
General school work |
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Grammar consistent/not accurate |
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Growth in fluency |
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Using form |
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Developing accuracy |
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Stage VI-Advanced |
Stage VI-Advanced |
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Conversation clear and participatory |
Narration-description-summaries |
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Satisfies academic situations |
Good vocabulary |
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Fluency and ease of speech |
Good work order-simple sentences |
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Difficult-complex sentences |
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Good fluency, form |
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Fairly accurate |
adapted and compiled by Bev Williams, LSKD, 1993
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Principle 1: |
As much as possible, language learning should emulate authentic language use. (Heidi Bymes) |
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Principle 2: |
The goal of language learning is performance with language rather than knowledge about language. (Myriam Met) |
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Principle 3: |
Language learning is not additively sequential but is recursive and paced differently at various stages of acquisition. (Rebecca Oxford) |
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Principle 4: |
Language develops in a series of approximations toward native-like norms. Language learning is not the accumulation of perfectly mastered elements of grammar and vocabulary. Thus, learner errors are unavoidable. (Heidi Bymes) |
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Principle 5: |
Language proficiency involves both comprehension and production. Comprehension abilities tend to precede and exceed productive abilities. (Myriam Met) |
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Principle 6: |
Language is inextricably bound to culture. Language use requires an understanding of the cultural context within which communication takes place. (Jayne Osgood) |
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Principle 7: |
Language learning is complex. Instruction takes into account individual learning styles and rates, and also attends to teaching process strategies for successful learning. (Rebecca Oxford) |
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Principle 8: |
The ability to perform with language is facilitated when students actively engage in meaningful, authentic, and purposeful language learning tasks. (Myriam Met) |
Association For Supervision and Curriculum Development 1993
Community and staff support
Teacher with demonstrated receptive and productive language proficiency (both orally and in writing)
compiled by Helena Curtain
Instruction and Assessment of language learners is progressive and developmental. Students enter language programs at various ages and often at various levels of language proficiency. Students can meet the state standards at the various proficiency levels with performance standards identified for each level.
In order to determine student entry level as well as progress, proficiency recognition must occur. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines provide teachers with a scoring guide or rubric for determining the various proficiency levels-speaking, listening, reading, writing and culture. (See appendix for unabridged ACTFL guidelines.)
What follows are the Alaska Content Standards and Key Elements at three proficiency levels. At each level for each standard, there are suggested topics, performance standards, and sample instructional/assessment activities.
Proficiency Ranges for Content Standard A, Key Elements 1-3
Standard A: A student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one of which is English.
A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
Once we thought we were on the right tract when our students passed grammar tests and vocabulary quizzes. But when they were unable to say, "Pass the salt" at a restaurant, or they became tongue-tied when faced by a native speaker asking for directions, or couldn't carry on a conversation outside the limits of a memorized dialogue, we realized we needed to rethink how we can facilitate meaningful communication in our classrooms. The following pages suggest how to do this.
Meaningful communication is the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information through speech, gestures, writing, behavior, or a combination of these. It is through communication that we express ourselves and transmit or receive information. In order for these exchanges to be meaningful, our students need to be communicating about topics which interest them.
Below are topics which are age appropriate for the knowledge and experience of learners at their particular stages of linguistic and social development. They should be used throughout the first three key elements of Alaska World Languages Standard A.
Novice Appropriate Topics
Learners in this proficiency range begin with content topics close to the self, the home, and the school. These can include family, friends, home and house, classroom, animals, health, counting, days, dates, months, alphabet, colors, shapes, vehicles, weather, culturally significant foods, festivals, holidays, which all can be made part of the content as these become part of the background knowledge of the learner. Age appropriate literature, myths, arts, music, and games are essential content components, as well. As learners progress, they may be ready to use the vocabulary of geography, symbols and signs, daily routines, feelings, and topics from their studies in other areas such as science, the arts, math, and social studies. Content-based instruction in the language may become the norm by the upper elementary grades.
Exchanges with students of the target language using games and stories, drawings and photographs, and work supplies (notebooks, pens) can connect them to their counterparts in the local and global communities in profound, lasting ways. Adult resources, especially elders, bring perspective (stories, songs) that are of equal value to the learner.
Most practice at the early proficiency range is in social, face-to-face interaction with classmates, teacher, family, visitors, and community members. Technologies such as video, CD-ROM, and laserdisk offer a virtual reality, providing visual and auditory contexts. As reading develops, contexts can be print matter such as posters, charts, signs, short readings, rhymes, then dictionaries, stories, plays, graphs, maps, schedules, lists, notes, postcards, tickets, and magazines.
Intermediate Appropriate Topics
Topics at the intermediate range include all of those for the novice range, expanded to include broader areas of knowledge and interest. In addition, students in this range will communicate about school and schedules, extracurricular interests, sports and games, shopping and money, clothing and fashion, professions and work, transportation and travel. They will communicate about important historical and current cultural figures, places, and events. They will use the language to interact in social relationships, generally selecting topics of intense interest to their peer group. Topics from other disciplines such as topography, geography, problem-solving, folklore, the environment, the arts, and world events are possible areas for interdisciplinary or content-based language learning.
At this range, written contexts can be longer, such as paragraph-length culturally authentic readings and materials, appropriate literature, journals, notes, and letters. Contact with peers in the other culture(s) is central to any effort to connect their language learning with the real world. Day long exchanges with schools in communities where native speakers live can be an introduction to the world of travel and intercultural exchange. Where this is not possible, at least we can provide channels for pen-pal, video-pal, or e-mail conversations to occur. Adults such as elders and community members open their eyes to the possibilities for professional or vocational uses of the other language and respect for the language.
9-12 Age Appropriate Topics
In addition to all the topics mentioned for the novice range, this group increasingly communicates about topics beyond the self. Those closest to the self are, of course, still very important to them: family, school, travel, shopping, music, friends, etc. But these learners are becoming part of the larger world, they can use the language to discuss history, the arts, world events, cultures and civilizations, scientific advances, careers, important people, health issues, and social issues such as poverty, racism, sexism, and homelessness. Familiar topics can be used in more abstract ways to communicate about such things as educational systems, government and politics, social and international policies.
More sophisticated uses of the contexts discussed for novice range continue as contexts for high school. Technologies, such as authentic print and visual media, TV, radio, films, and the Internet play increasing roles both inside and outside the classroom. The readings, always culturally authentic, are more lengthy and challenging; letters, journals, essays, novels, and plays are essential written contexts. Face to face interaction may include formal settings such as debates, group discussions.
High school learners are ready to test their knowledge in the broader community. Community service learning projects are a viable way to putting their language to use. School exchange programs, sister communities and schools in other regions or countries, summer exchanges, and semesters abroad are real possibilities for this age group. Visiting speakers who use languages in their jobs model the real thing for the young adult who is beginning to formulate plans for job, career, and lifestyle possibilities.
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Level 1: Novice Proficiency Range |
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Content Standard A: A student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one of which is English. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards
greet and respond to greetings introduce and respond to introductions ask and answer simple questions express likes and dislikes participate in conversations make and respond to requests follow simple directions obtain new information and knowledge describe sing and dance play read target vocabulary read and discuss literature
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Examples of Instructional/Assessment Activities (This column contains examples of the many possible ways the standards at the left can be taught and assessed in classrooms. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list.)
express opinions about favorite activities, toys, animals, foods, etc.
play a board or card game
recognize and read words used in a children's folk or fairy tale read aloud in class |
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*How It Looks in the Classroom Cutting pictures from magazines and other authentic publications or drawing their own, students make a classroom bulletin board, scrapbook, or collage of their interests and label them using the target language. Students may also bring in something to share from home, such as a favorite toy, travel photos, a book, or a person, to introduce, describe, and answer questions about in the target language. |
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Level 2: Intermediate-Low Proficiency Range
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Content Standard A: A student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one of which is English. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use sentences, strings of sentences, and recombinations of learned words, phrases, and memorized expressions, with frequency of errors proportionate to the complexity of communicative task to: complete Novice proficiency standards express and understand important ideas supported by a few details provide and obtain specific information, probe for detail read, discuss, write about literature describe, compare, and contrast accomplish simple tasks express needs state and support opinions use and understand expressions indicating emotion follow written directions and solve written problems |
Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities
write simple sentences as in a short note to a friend describing a new bicycle or snowmobile
write several sentences in the target language describing a character from a legend, and comparing him/her to someone you know participate in and transact a commercial situation such as buying an item at a store*
role-play emotions such as complaining, complimenting, feeling joy or pain follow written directions as in an authentic recipe to cook a dish or assemble a simple household item such as a mailbox |
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*How it Looks in the Classroom Students and teachers bring in empty boxes, cans, and other packaging to set up a school store in the classroom that reflects the cultures of the language of study. If such packaging is unavailable in the local community, students can design and create their own, based on advertisements in magazines and newspapers. Once this "store" is set up, students play roles of storekeepers and client, negotiating purchases and sales using homemade versions of the appropriate currency. |
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Level 3: Intermediate-Mid Proficiency Range |
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Content Standard A: A student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one of which is English. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use sentences and strings of sentences, fluid sentence-length and paragraph-length messages with frequency of errors proportionate to complexity of communicative task to: complete Intermediate Low proficiency standards narrate in the present, past, and future initiate and sustain conversations describe, compare, and contrast with longer text-types ask for and give clarification express and support opinions ask for and give directions express feelings and emotions circumlocute when at a loss for vocabulary read, discuss, write about authentic literature |
Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities
give sports commentary while watching a soundless video; write a precis of a short story or play read in class compare and contrast personal interest such as soccer, theater, or computer games by reading and writing e-mail correspondence to peers
role play a tourist looking for a specific location and a local resident helping him find it
read a modern novel or play; discuss characters, setting, and theme in class* |
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*How it Looks in the Classroom For homework, students have read a chapter of a story. They meet in pairs or threes to discuss the reading passage. Each group then designs a short script to dramatize the action of the chapter. They perform their dramatic sketches for one other group; observers give feedback on points which interfered with their understanding, such as grammar or pronunciation miscues or play misinterpretations. In this way, students discuss their reading with peers, work on writing and conversation skills, and get peer feedback which pushes them to be clearer communicators. The same activity would be appropriate for ESL or another language, with reading passages selected or adapted to the reading skills of the learners. |
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Level 4: Intermediate-High Proficiency Range |
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Content Standard A: A student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one of which is English. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use sentences, strings of sentences, and fluid sentence-length, paragraph-length, and essay-length messages with some patterns of errors which don't interfere with meaning to: complete Intermediate Mid proficiency standards initiate, sustain, and close a conversation with peers and non-peers ask for, receive, and offer advice express agreement and disagreement obtain and express new information and knowledge through extended discourse, e.g., spoken, written, videotaped read and understand authentic technical and non-technical materials paraphrase information read, view, interpret, analyze, discuss, and write about authentic literature |
Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities
role play to negotiate a compromise with a parent about weekend curfew write or prepare a videotaped report on a subject of particular interest
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*How it Looks in the Classroom For a humanities class, students of French, Spanish, and bilingual classes join forces to do a collaborative project examining the genre of stories of the fantastic or the supernatural. (Double language students read or view stories in both languages and can contribute multiple viewpoints to the conversation.) Each language group examines plot, characterization, and theme in several stories. Different language groups then come together to compare and contrast information across languages and cultures. The combined groups plan a unified visual presentation of their research; individuals prepare a written paper on the project. |
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Proficiency Ranges for Content Standard A, Key Element 4
Standard A: A student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one of which is English.
A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
Where do World Languages teachers find opportunities for interdisciplinary connections?
Everywhere! As one teacher said, "When we view language as a means to learn, we can use it any time, in any discipline, in any way!"
Have you ever invited native speakers into your classroom for an art, theatre, music, or dance demonstration? Or played games from another culture during elementary school recess, using authentic words and phrases? Or invited students to sing for elders at a community center in a language other than English? Or provided European periodical articles about the effects of acid rain on Europe's forests? Standard A, Key Element 4 is about looking outside the world languages classroom and using the target language to connect with other disciplines. This key element asks teachers to look for opportunities to base some of their instructional program on what goes on in the other rooms of their schools.
A useful starting point for world language teachers to make interdisciplinary connections is to look at what kind of language functions are required to learn and teach the content of other disciplines. For example, when kindergarten students talk at the math center about sorting blocks by shape and size, they need to know the names of the shapes and how to describe their size. They could do the same math activiy in the target language, making a connection between world languages and mathematics. Similarly, a certain vocabulary and language structure are required of middle schoolers when they predict what will happen next in a story for English class or explain the effects of acid rain in science or follow instructions on how to chest-pass a basketball. And as high school students hypothesize what might happen in the future after a decade-long drought, criticize and peer-edit writing samples in English class, and express positions in a debate about the importance of money, they could be communicating in a language other than English.
Another way teachers work together successfully in our schools to connect world languages with the other disciplines is through content-based thematic units such as The Rainforest, The Immigrant Experience in the United States, or Dance around the World.
By looking for ways to match some of the teaching and learning experiences in the world language class with content or language functions used in other disciplines, students continue to develop skills in the target language while they reinforce previous learnings or while they acquire new information and knowledge.
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Level 1: Novice Range |
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Content Standard A: A student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one of which is English. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use learned words, phrases, and memorized expressions with no major repeated patterns of error to connect with at least two other disciplines such as: Arts
English/Language Arts
Healthy Life Skills
Mathematics Social Studies |
Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities describe students' drawings of their family members identify rhyming sounds in a children's poem or song in the target language compare and contrast healthy foods presented in a nutritional chart in health class with an authentic chart from the target culture *1 play games from the target cultures using key words and phrases *2 categorize information such as sorting geometric shapes catagorize information such as sorting mammals from non-mammals catagorize information such as urban sights from rural ones |
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*How it Looks in the Classroom *1 Spanish students learn about nutrition by studying real food packaging or informational food charts from the target country and comparing these to their own. They find out how different meals in South American countries satisfy nutritional requirements. They look for the relation between geography and the foods regions produce. They compare food advertising in magazines from the target and home cultures.*2 Students learn children's games from the target culture and enjoy playing them at school. They learn the key words or phrases necessary to play the game (e.g., "Red, Rover, Red Rover send Yurrliq right over!") They compare these to games they play in their culture. They discuss questions such as: What makes a game a game? What's the difference between a game and a sport? |
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Level 2: Intermediate Range |
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Content Standard A: A student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one of which is English. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use sentences, strings of sentences, and recombinations of learned words, phrases, and memorized expressions with frequency of errors proportionate to the complexity of communicative task to use language to connect with at least two other disciplines such as:
Healthy Life Skills
Mathematics
Social Studies
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Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities
receive instruction in the target language to perform a dance from the target culture infer and paraphrase in English "basic truths" * compare and contrast how people spend their leisure time in the local target cultures graph favorite activities of peers in local and target cultures recognize classical language roots of scientific terms (homo sapiens, appendectomy, etc.); predict weather conditions from different regions after studying authentic weather reports create various kinds of maps of world regions (topographical, political) in the target language using the vocabulary of geography and map-making |
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*How it Looks in the Classroom Students learn an Inupiaq value each week in the language. They try to find an equivalent proverb in English, and discover why the language and symbols used may or may not be the same. The class creates a bilingual book of proverbs at the end of the year. |
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Level 3: Advanced-Low Range |
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Content Standard A: A student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one of which is English. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use sentences and strings of sentences, fluid sentence-length and paragraph-length messages with frequency of errors proportionate to complexity of communicative task to use language to connect with at least two other disciplines such as: Arts
English/Language Arts
Healthy Life Skills
Mathematics
Science
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Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities
research the life of an artist and write a paper * analyze the content of information in the media; for example, compare and contrast news reports from different cultures, or a signed vs. a close-captioned newscast relate teen social patterns of interaction to gender based roles in home and target cultures identify, describe, compare, and classify geometric figures in the target language describe the motion of a rolling ball and the forces involved (momentum, friction) compare primary sources about exploration of the "New World" in target language with those available in English |
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*How it Looks in the Classroom Students access classic art works displayed at the Louvre via CD/ROM in conjunction with an art history class. In French, they discuss the works, including giving their opinion of them. They write a paragraph description of a painting and see if their classmates can find which painting they described. They do a research paper on an artist of their choice. They discuss the relationship between historical events of the time and the subjects of the art work. |
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Level 4: Advanced-Mid Range |
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Content Standard A: A student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one of which is English. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use sentences and strings of sentences, fluid sentence-length and paragraph-length and essay-length messages with some pattern of errors which don't interfere with meaning to use language to connect with at least two other disciplines such as: Arts
English/Language Arts
Healthy Life Skills
Mathematics
Science
Science/Social Studies
Social Studies
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Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities
write a script from a folktale in the target language and put on a theatrical production for younger students
research substance abuse prevention strategies in the target culture make inferences and convincing arguments that are based on data, analysis from tables, charts, and graphs* hypothesize the results of a scientific experiment as part of writing down the procedure in the target language research and present alternative solutions to a political, social, or environmental problem in the target culture analyze coverage of an important current event in the media in the USA and in the target cultures
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*How it Looks in the Classroom Computer class is working on presenting data in, and analyzing data from, tables, charts, and graphs. They continue the work in their ESL class by preparing oral presentations to support inferences with convincing arguments. |
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Proficiency Ranges for Content Standard B
Standard B: A student should expand the student's knowledge of peoples and cultures through language study.
A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
How can we teach about culture in the world languages discipline?
The novelist Susan Power told a Boston Globe interviewer about growing up in Chicago. Among her fellow Native Americans it was considered impolite, she said, "to ask people direct questions about themselves, whereas among my non-Indian friends, you were considered rude if you did not ask questions and show an interest in people. So I was constantly having to make that shift."
This internal "shifting" is an ability that grows out of an awareness of what culture is and how culture influences behavior. It is a skill we help our students develop in the world languages classroom. To introduce learners to other peoples' ways of thinking and behaving, the world languages class lets its members "try on" and experience new cultures through language. World languages teachers should present all topics within a cultural context. The teaching of culture should not be merely presenting static facts and information about the culture; rather; students and teachers ask and consider answers to a series of questions:
What are the characteristics (ideas, behaviors, manifestations, cultural artifacts and symbols, etc.,) we talk about in order to describe someone's culture?
What different groups of people are represented within the culture, including people at different times of history and in different locales (for example, French speaking culture in Algeria, Canada, France, Haiti, etc.)
How is culture reflected in human behavior, language, the arts and sciences?
What are the differences and similarities among the students' cultures and cultures where the target language is/was used?
What is a cultural stereotype? What is a generalization? What are the ramifications of cultural stereotyping and generalizing?
How does learning about different cultures inform students' understanding of their own culture?
The Massachusetts World Languages Framework, October 1995 Draft, Permission Pending -
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Level 1: Novice Range |
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Content Standard B: A student should expand the student's knowledge of peoples and cultures through language study. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use selected words, phrases, and expressions with no major repeated patterns of error to:
Identify cultural and linguistic characteristics
Compare and contrast cultural and linguistic characteristics, identifying similarities and differences
React appropriately in a social situation
Examine and analyze cultural contributions of diverse groups |
Examples of Instructional/Assessment Activities Children listen to a fable or legend over several lessons, and discuss how the characters' actions represent their culture(s). Throughout the year, learners are exposed to a variety of poetry, music, visual materials, artistic expressions, and community members. They identify cultural and linguistic characteristics of each as part of an ongoing investigation of the question, "What is culture?" After learning alphabet and counting songs in the target language, students compare them to the ones they know in English. Groups of learners compare and contrast housing structures in a variety of regions of their own culture and of the culture being studied.* In all class interactions, students converse using appropriate gestures and interpersonal distance. Students practice using appropriate expressions of regret when they accidentally bump into each other, step on a toe, or cause something to fall from another's desk. Throughout the year, students hear stories, songs, etc., from different regions where the language is spoken, and discuss their similarities and differences. Students exchange drawings and songs with target culture pen pal from different areas where world language is used, and name similarities and differences in subject matter and themes. |
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*How it Looks in the Classroom A Japanese class learns about housing structures in Japan; the materials available for home construction in various regions of Japan, the importance of earthquake-proofing measures in Japanese homes. As they learn these things, they pursue a similar line of questioning about their own housing structures. They make drawings of their own homes; they learn that not all students in the class live in the same kind of structures; they learn that certain regions of our state and country require earthquake- or flood-proofing measures; they learn about the materials available for building in Alaska; they learn how their own homes are an expression of their culture(s). |
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Level 2: Intermediate-Low Range |
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Content Standard B: A student should expand the student's knowledge of peoples and cultures through language study. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards Students will use sentences and strings of sentences, and recombinations of words, phrases, and expressions, with frequency of errors proportionate to the complexity of the communicative task to: Identify cultural and linguistic characteristics
React appropriately in a social situation
Examine and analyze cultural contributions of diverse groups. |
Examples of Instructional/Assessment Activities
Students identify and list cultural indicators in literature and write descriptions for use in an oral report.* In role-plays, students demonstrate appropriate attention-getting devices for various settings: a restaurant, a bus stop, a classroom, interrupting two people's conversation to a ask a question, etc. Students write sentences describing the contributions of culturally diverse groups to the U.S. (or other region's) culture, history, language, literature, etc. |
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*How it Looks in the Classroom In a classics class, students read a text, picking out the main ideas. In groups, they discuss how each item teaches them something about the culture of the past. They compare similarities to and differences from the modern world. Groups make a collection of items or photos, using library sources, CD-ROM encyclopedias, homemade models of famous landmarks, postcards from modern countries where the language was once used. They describe the relation of their collected items to the texts they have read in class. |
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Level 3: Intermediate-Mid Range |
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Content Standard B: A student should expand the student's knowledge of peoples and cultures through language study. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards Students will use sentences and strings of sentences, and paragraph-length messages with frequency of errors proportionate to the complexity of the communicative task to: Identify cultural and linguistic characteristics
Compare and contrast cultural and linguistic characteristics, identifying similarities and differences
React appropriately in a social situation
Examine and analyze cultural contributions of diverse groups |
Examples of Instructional/Assessment Activities Students write a target language version of the fable "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse" to compare rural and urban experiences in the target culture. Learners explain the cultural basis for words, proverbs, or phrases unique to the target culture. (For example, in American English, what does it mean to be "out in left field?") Individuals locate and organize information to research the target culture; for example, they use the library, mass media, technological media, interviews, or personal observation to conduct a research project. In order to question generalizations made about the culture, students role play a conflict between cultures and its resolution, pointing out stereotypes, opinions, and facts. Students discuss conventions in the home and target cultures, and relate these to behaviors such as schooling, dating, marriage, work, family.* Students write an analysis of the actions and choices of a character in literature in terms of the character's societal and cultural norms and characteristics. Learners create an art project based on an artifact from the culture, explaining its history and uses; they compare it to similar objects from other regions where the language is used.
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*How it Looks in the Classroom Students in an advanced proficiency French class write letters via email or fax to a variety of students in France, northern Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, French Canada, the Caribbean, and a Haitian bilingual class in Cambridge, MA. As a class they brainstorm what questions to ask their pen pals about schooling customs and expectations in their regions. After answers have been received, students role-play the responses of their pen pals for their classmates. |
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level 4: Intermediate-High/Advanced Range |
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Content Standard B: A student should expand the student's knowledge of peoples and cultures through language study. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards Students will use sentences and strings of sentences, and paragraph-length messages with frequency of errors proportionate to the complexity of the communicative task to: Identify cultural and linguistic characteristics
Compare and contrast cultural and linguistic characteristics, identifying similarities and differences
React appropriately in a social situation |
Examples of Instructional/Assessment Activities (This column contains examples of the many possible ways the standards at the left can be taught and assessed in the classrooms. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list.)
Students learn to use an etymological diction-ary to trace, compare, and describe linguistic roots; for example, why does the Spanish word perro not derive from the Latin root canis, while in French and Italian, chien and cane do? A student writes a short story about the faux pas of a guest to another culture who was unaware of cultural differences. Learners analyze the cultural context of the dialogue of a play; a group dramatizes a scene, showing what inferences have been drawn from the dialogue. |
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*How it Looks in the Classroom In a French class, students are given situational cultural dilemmas to analyze and resolve: A Middle Eastern woman is working as a nurse in the United States of America. In the hospital where she works, everyone calls her by her first name. She finds this lack of formality demoralizing and so upsetting that she considers quitting her job, but decides to speak to her supervisor about the problem. Individuals hypothesize about why this happened, then discuss in groups what might happen next, and how both sides of the cultural gap could deal openly with the problem. As part of their research, students interview community members about the dilemma and its possible solutions. Discussions, interviews, and presentations are carried out in the target language. Adult Basic Education classes can use this sort of activity for both linguistic practice and cultural understanding. ESL students, as well as students of other languages, profit from the opportunity to discuss and analyze puzzling cultural situations. |
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Proficiency Ranges For Content Standard C
Content Standard C: A student should possess the language skills and cultural knowledge necessary to participate successfully in multilingual communities and the international marketplace.
How can we make connections between the world languages classroom and the real world?
We've all had students greet each other and exchange names in the second language in our classrooms. We've assigned roles of client and storekeeper, hotel clerk and guest to practice different units of vocabulary. Role-playing and simulating real life activities can give our students valuable opportunities to practice their second language skills. But who can forget the thrill of our own first attempts at communicating in a new language with native speakers? These encounters made all our classroom lessons suddenly have meaning for us. We stumbled over our words, but our listeners actually understood us! Suddenly there was a purpose to our learning.
Imagine replicating that meaningfulness on a continual basis! Study of the target language becomes even more vibrant when teachers and students transcend the restrictions of a traditional classroom. By inviting native speakers into the classroom through face-to-face, written, or recorded encounters and taking our students out of the classroom on field trips into the community or on field trips via technology, we enrich the experience of teaching and learning a world language.
Students should experience more than one means of expressing the language. One teacher cannot demonstrate the many language varieties within a language alone. Through making use of community resources (face to face whenever possible, or via technology), we can help students become aware of the varieties among dialects, rates of speech, and expression and their accompanying cultural implications.
In this standard we seek to make connections between the world languages classroom and the real world not just because it makes our lessons more meaningful, but because it also encourages the lifelong participation of our students in the local and global communities. Standard C encourages this present and future real-world use of the languages by focusing students' attention on (1) interaction with native speakers from the community and (2) professional and vocational applications of the language in local and global communities.
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Level 1: Novice Range |
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Content Standard C: A student should possess the language skills and cultural knowledge necessary to participate successfully in multilingual communities and the international marketplace. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use learned words and phrases and memorized expressions with no major repeated patterns of errors to:
identify careers where knowing more than one language is useful
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Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities use the appropriate forms of address in the target language with native speakers contact native users of the target language inside and outside of the classroom* recognize and label job titles of community helpers in target language learn key words and one or more phrases specific to certain jobs/technologies use numbers and simple technology-specific terms |
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*How it looks in the classroom Students exchange drawings that depict everyday life in their village or city with students from a target language community. They learn a vocabulary for talking about the things which appear in their counterparts' drawings. They observe and discuss such things as clothing, shelter, foods, jobs, hunting, and survival in the drawings they receive. As writing skills increase, they each write a sentence-length note and compile the sentences as a letter to their counterpart class. They send and receive "time capsules" including such items as school photos, empty school milk cartons, a homework assignment notebook, and/or an assortment of unusual pencils. |
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Level 2: Intermediate-Low Range |
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Content Standard C: A student should possess the language skills and cultural knowledge necessary to participate successfully in multilingual communities and the international marketplace. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use sentences, strings of sentences, and recombinations of learned words and phrases and memorized expressions with frequency of errors proportionate to the complexity of communicative task to: participate in local and global communities
identify careers where knowing more than one language is useful |
Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities
exchange letters, newsletters, greeting cards, video or audio tapes with native users of the target language read want ads in local and target culture newspapers categorize job-related vocabularies according to job/technology |
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*How it looks in the classroom Students in a rural school talk with elders or practice their new language skills by setting up an exchange with another school. Students in an urban center create their own "two-way bilingual" exchange by meeting twice a month (in person or via technology link) with a class of ESL students whose native language is the target language. Each meeting consists of planned activities and interviews, one-half of the time being reserved for speaking in English, and the other half in the other language. Parents from both groups of students are encouraged to visit and share their experiences using both languages. They create intercultural dialogue interviews which go "on air" over the school's closed circuit TV or public address system as a weekly "talk" show. |
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Level 3: Intermediate-Mid range |
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Content Standard C: A student should possess the language skills and cultural knowledge necessary to participate successfully in multilingual communities and the international marketplace. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use sentences, strings of sentences, and recombinations of learned words, phrases, and memorized expressions with frequency of errors proportionate to the complexity of the communicative task to: identify the major skills needed for a variety of jobs where knowing a language in addition to English is an asset
interact with community members (near and far)
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Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities
fill out a job application in target language interview community members about a specific topic of community interest through mail, e-mail, a survey in the newspaper, face-to-face interview, taped or videotaped interview* listen to a presentation by a native speaker about careers |
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*How it looks in the classroom Students of all world languages work with community members to compile a collection of stories from several generations of immigrants or elders with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds in the community. To gather the stories, the students put up notices requesting interviews in public libraries, elders' homes, the community center, a local nursing home, area universities, etc. Students then conduct the interviews face-to-face and record the stories or exchange written correspondence. Once the stories are collected, they work through an editing process; then the stories are compiled into a collection to distribute to the community. The stories are presented in the target language with an English translation. Photographs and illustrations done by the students accompany the writing. |
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Level 4: Intermediate-High/Advanced Range |
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Content Standard C: A student should possess the language skills and cultural knowledge necessary to participate successfully in multilingual communities and the international marketplace. A student who meets this content standard should be able to:
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Performance Standards All students will use sentences and strings of sentences, fluid sentence-length, paragraph-length, and essay-length messages with some patterns of errors which don't interfere with meaning to:
interact with community members (near and far) with more extensive community contact and involvement |
Examples of Instruction/Assessment Activities volunteer in a community project, such as working as an aide in a hospital perform a job related skill with a native speaker, for example, an oil change, or a hospital admission write a brochure, resume, or trade manual for your vocational area conduct a community needs assessment for a social services agency, for example, local services available to victims of domestic violence write an editorial in the target language for a newspaper or magazine work as a helper in an elementary world languages class, reading stories, leading games, etc.* |
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*How it looks in the classroom High school students receive course credit for working one full quarter in an elementary classroom as world languages classroom aides. They work with children in small groups on such projects as: games, puppet dialogues, story reading, story telling and writing, letter writing and illustrating, videotaping, writing by e-mail, math and science skills in target language, map drawing, dance, and music. |
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Traditionally, assessment has emphasized the measurement of defined, discrete, routine skills through testing (Herman, Aschbacher, & Winters, 1992). Traditional assessment instruments are often multiple choice and scored on the basis of the number of correct answers. In such tests, there is usually only one "right" answer that the student needs to recognize or reiterate. Measurement of a given body of knowledge or product is verified by the student's performance on the test. There is often little relationship between the test and instructional content. Moreover, this approach has been limited to assessment of student outcomes and has provided little information about teaching and learning processes.
More recently, educators have put increasing emphasis on measuring the processes inherent in learning and teaching. New assessments require students to apply and integrate what they know by emphasizing complex skills (e.g., ability to analyze, generalize, hypothesize) within a relevant, meaningful context. Open ended, complex problems challenge students and encourage them to draw their own inferences. In addition, alternative methods of assessment are being advocated as more than just tests; they are, rather, an integral part of classroom instruction. Assessments that fit in this category include performance testing, portfolios, exhibits, demonstrations, and dialogue journals. These approaches also call for more student involvement in planning assessment, interpreting the results of assessment, and in self-assessment. The following chart summarizes the characteristics of these two approaches to assessment and their use and gives common formats of each.
reproduced from
K-8 Foreign Language Assessment: A Bibliography
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Traditional Assessment |
Alternative Assessment |
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Characteristics
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Characteristics
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Uses
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Uses
learning outcomes learning processes instructional processes instructional objectives
student involvement and ownership of assessment and learning collaboration between students and teachers
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Common Formats
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Common Formats
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reproduced from
K-8 Foreign Language Assessment: A Bibliography
An assessment strategy is an assessment task performed by a student, yielding data collected by one of several methods and analyzed by an evaluator using an assessment instrument. A teacher will mix and match as appropriate from the columns below. Each of these can be used to assess any content standard or combination of standards in one or multiple content areas.
Note that what is often called "professional judgment" is an assessment of student work (assessment task) by the teacher (evaluator) using one or more data collection methods and applying an internalized scoring guide (assessment instrument). These judgments are valid and useful to the extent that the scoring guide has been made clear to students and parents before they are applied.
The range of assessment tasks and tools has expanded in recent years as we have moved toward increasingly rich assessment strategies. Samples of assessment tasks and assessment instruments follow.
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Assessment Tasks |
EVALUATORS |
ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS |
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Receptive/Productive Performances |
Teacher |
Scoring Guides |
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Pattern Books |
Self |
Rubrics |
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Scavenger Hunt |
Peer |
Checklist |
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Story Retelling |
Outside expert |
Anecdotal notes |
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Language Master |
Older student |
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Pen Pals |
Community Panel |
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Picture Composition |
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Recipes |
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Skits |
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Mapping and Webbing |
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Sequencing |
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Narrated Puppet Theatre |
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Fantasy Experience |
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Questions and Answers |
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Creative Movement, Song, and Dance |
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Calendar |
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Familiar Assessment Tasks |
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True-False |
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Matching |
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Multiple Choice |
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Completion |
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Essay |
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Samples of assessment tasks used in classrooms are illustrated on the following pages. These are examples only and not intended to be exhaustive.