Proficiency Guidelines for Students in Foreign Languages
Elementary
Foreign Language Proficiency Guidelines
After
one year of study, students should be able to carry out these communicative
tasks in the foreign language.
ASSESSMENT
CRITERIA |
LEVEL:
Elementary |
GLOBAL
TASKS/FUNCTIONS
Real-world
tasks |
- Make and respond
to simple requests for information
- Express preferences,
desires, statements of fact and non-detailed opinions
- Describe people,
places, and activities
- Locate main
information in spoken and written discourse
Structures:
present, past and future time |
CONTEXT
Circumstances
or settings |
- Use language
in informal settings for practical purposes
- Recognize
relationships of target language to its cultural products, practices
and perspectives
|
CONTENT
Topics
or themes |
- Communicate
about self
- Produce and
comprehend language for everyday activities and personal interests
|
ACCURACY
Acceptability |
- Communicate
meaning in known topics and contexts with general accuracy, but
with some hesitations
- Comprehend
main ideas such as setting, text type and basic facts from written
or oral passages
- May lack understanding
of details
- May require
repetition
- Produce language
understood by native speakers used to communicating with non-natives
|
TEXT
TYPE
Structure
of discourse |
- Produce single-sentence
discourse on known topics
- Produce imitative
paragraph-length description of narration including some cohesion
devices such as time or location markers and basic subordinators
|
Intermediate
Foreign Language Proficiency Guidelines
After
two years of study, students should be able to carry out these communicative
tasks. Performance descriptions include elementary level competencies
as well as the competencies listed below:
ASSESSMENT
CRITERIA |
LEVEL:
Intermediate |
GLOBAL
TASKS/FUNCTIONS
Real-world
tasks |
- Request, provide
and comprehend detailed information
- Express preferences
and desires
- Describe and
narrate personal experiences
- Initiate and
change topic of discussion
- Summarize
and analyze texts in writing
Structures:
present, past and future time, subjunctive and conditional moods |
CONTEXT
Circumstances
or settings |
- Function in
most informal settings
- Begin to integrate
target language with its cultural products, practices and perspectives
|
CONTENT
Topics
or themes |
- Produce and
comprehend language that consists of learned vocabulary and sentence
structure on familiar topics (comprehension not limited to everyday
topics)
- Comprehend
journalistic or facutal information about target culture, narrative
fictional tales
|
ACCURACY
Acceptability |
- Demonstrate
some control of syntax of complex structures
- Demonstrate
sufficient command of vocabulary and grammar structures to communicate
effectively
- Use appropriate
register
- Comprehend
main ideas and supporting details of sustained discourse when
contextual support is provided
- Produce language
understood by native speakers with limited contact with speech
of non-natives
|
TEXT
TYPE
Structure
of discourse |
- Produce multiple-sentence
discourse on known topics
- Produce
discourse of at least several paragraphs in length in writing
- Comprehend
sustained discourse and moderately complex texts in different
time frames, including hypotheticals, conjecture, and indirect
discourse.
|
Target
Proficiency Guidelines for Foreign Language Majors
After
four years of study, students should be able to initiate, sustain and
bring to closure a wide variety of communicative tasks with suitable accuracy
and confidence. (1) Speakers at the target level are characterized
by the ability to:
ASSESSMENT
CRITERIA |
LEVEL:
Advanced |
GLOBAL
TASKS/FUNCTIONS
Real-world
tasks |
- Narrate and
describe in major time frames (past, present and future) as well
as relate relevant and supporting facts
- Elaborate,
complain, apologize, express opinions and hypothesize
- Take meaningful
notes on lectures or lengthy discourse
- Take meaningful
reading notes
|
CONTEXT
Circumstances
or settings |
- Function in
most informal and some formal settings
- Integrate
target language with its cultural products, practices and perspectives
|
CONTENT
Topics
or themes |
- Produce material that consists of concrete topics (used in work, school, home, leisure activities) as well as events of current, public, and personal interest or personal relevance
- Use fairly extensive vocabulary although primarily generic in nature
|
ACCURACY
Acceptability |
- Demonstrate control of syntax of complex structures, but may compensate for an imperfect grasp of some forms or vocabulary with the use of communicative strategies (e.g., self-correction, paraphrasing, circumlocution, illustration)
- Convey message without misinterpretation or confusion
- Be understood by native interlocutors unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives
|
TEXT
TYPE
Structure
of discourse |
- Use connected discourse of paragraph length and substance
- Read newspaper articles, historical accounts, and literary and biographical works in the target language
|
(1)
Study abroad for at least one semester highly recommended.
Target
Proficiency Guidelines
for
French and Spanish Literature and Civilization
Upon
completion of the program (1), students should be able to demonstrate
in the target language the following:
CIVILIZATION |
LITERATURE |
- Ability
to define"civilization" and "culture" in general
- Ability
to discuss historical and contemporary differences between own
culture and target cultures
|
|
- Knowledge
of contemporary institutions and current social and political
issues in the target cultures
- Awareness
of the current relationship between target cultures and the rest
of the world
|
- Familiarity
with representative literary works, authors, genres and periods
in the literatures of the target cultures
|
- Knowledge
of social and political history of the target cultures
- Ability
to discuss major historical movements
- Awareness
of historical relationship of target cultures/countries to the
rest of the world
|
- Effective
comparisons within and across literary genres and periods
|
- Knowledge
of artistic and literary movements of the target cultures and
their relationship to historical movements
|
- Information
literacy in the discipline: skills in the search for, acquisition
of, and evaluation of relevant and reliable knowledge sources
|
(1)
Study abroad for at least one semester highly recommended.
