Final Performance Report 1996-2000
The Second Language Assessment Project

During the third year of funding (1998 - 1999) and the extension year (1999 - 2000), project staff Cheryl Alcaya and Ursula Lentz focused on converting reading and writing assessment instruments developed in previous years of the grant to computer-delivered format, developing listening assessments, and creating new instruments at higher proficiency levels for computer delivery. They also made great strides in developing an efficient method for evaluating performance-based writing assessments online. In addition, a fully enrolled summer institute on assessment development was offered to teachers in July 1999 and July 2000. Each of these areas of endeavor is addressed in more detail below.

Development of computer-administered assessment instruments
Reading, writing, and listening assessments have been successfully converted to a computer-administered format. Although some assessment instruments and evaluation systems are not yet in final form, the Assessment Project made significant progress in understanding how to enhance and simplify its computer-administered instruments so that they are appealing and easy to use for both learners and test administrators. Project members received a great deal of feedback on the performance of the various pilot versions of the assessments through repeated trials of the instruments and through presentations to language teaching professionals at conferences and workshops. The feedback was implemented to ensure that these instruments play a useful role in the nationwide need for standards-based assessment. The status of the various assessment instruments is described in Figure 1.

Students who have taken the computer-delivered tests have also reported that they enjoyed the tests. One student who took the pilot of the listening test in French stated:

"I really like the format of this test ... I like being able to work at my own pace, and have the time I need to think about each question, instead of listening to a cassette tape and having a set amount of time to answer both easy and difficult questions. I liked the pictures too, to put together a setting. I felt very comfortable taking the test."

Dissemination of the Minnesota Language Proficiency Assessments
The Assessment Project's instruments - the Minnesota Language Proficiency Assessments (MLPA) - have drawn considerable attention because they address the need for benchmarks in standards-based language programs at both the secondary and post-secondary levels. For example, at ACTFL '99:

• Patricia Barr-Harrison, current president of NADSFL (National Association of District Supervisors of Foreign Languages), enthusiastically described the MLPA to NADSFL members at their annual meeting;

   

• June Phillips, ACTFL President Elect, discussed the visual support of reading texts in the MLPA as a model during a session on revisions to the ACTFL Guidelines;

   

• Dorry Kenyon, Associate Director of the National Capital Language Resource Center, cited the use of MLPA item types by NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) in its development of a Spanish language assessment to be administered nationwide.

During the past year, CARLA staff met with the World Languages Learning Area Supervisor and other officials of the State of Minnesota's Department of Children, Families, and Learning for discussions about the role the MLPA might play in measuring attainment of Minnesota's World Languages Standard. As a follow-up to these discussions, the Assessment Project was invited to present the MLPA to the Minnesota Educational Effectiveness Program's Winter 2000 conference so that more of the State's teachers and administrators are familiar with the assessments and the purpose for which they were developed.

The Assessment Project has received numerous inquiries about the MLPA from institutions across the United States. In Arizona, Karina Colentine of Yavapai College presented the assessments at a statewide meeting of members of the Foreign Languages Committee in February, 2000. A demonstration of the assessments in an exhibitors' session at ACTFL 2000 generated significant interest in the instruments. To date, the MLPA have been used in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Online rating tutorial and scoring module
Evaluation criteria and rater training are key components of assessments of oral and written performance. Many teachers of world languages would like to do more assessment of learners' productive skills, but the logistics make this difficult. Assessment Team members developed an online scoring system for its writing assessments that addressed some of these difficulties by providing:

• An online tutorial with numerous examples of rated samples and practice rating opportunities;
• A rating module that guides the rater through the process one step at a time;
• Access to rated samples and raters' comments, explaining why they made the decisions they did;
• A record keeping function that generates score reports.

Valuable feedback on this scoring module was collected and the information was used to create a more efficient and adaptable version to the many different computer configurations that exist in secondary and post-secondary institutions. A holistic approach to rating that the Assessment Project developed for use in a large-scale testing environment at the University of Minnesota will be adapted for online scoring, as it allows raters to evaluate written performance more quickly and efficiently than was possible with the initial model.

Return to the Final Performance Report 1996-2000