Assessing Language Learners' Communication Skills via Authentic Communicative Performance Tasks
July 18–22, 2022
1-week face-to-face summer institute
"Performance is effectively assessed within tasks that test learners' knowledge and skills in real-world situations, that is, in 'authentic' contexts in which students use the language in their lives both within and outside of the classroom." (Shrum & Glisan)
Donna Clementi
This institute opens with a discussion of the phrase "performance towards proficiency" to highlight the connection between classroom performance and proficiency in real-world contexts. Working together, participants will create a list of characteristics of classroom activities and tasks that build learners' proficiency in the target language and will use the list to identify the purpose, effectiveness, and practicality of a variety of sample activities and tasks. With this background, participants will design receptive and productive communicative tasks for beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of proficiency.
The institute will then focus on the evaluation of the learners' performance on the tasks they create. Drawing on the performance descriptors identified by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), and the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA), participants will identify the domains (vocabulary, language control, text type, etc.) to evaluate learner performance on various tasks. Using model rubric scales and scoring guides, they will evaluate examples of learner performances on various tasks. Participants will then create rubrics for the tasks they designed earlier in the institute. The role and choice of formative assessments used in daily lessons to monitor learner progress towards greater proficiency will also be considered. As a capstone to the week, participants will apply their learning about task design and evaluation in the development of a standards-based Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA) to share with colleagues within this institute and also with a broader audience via the CARLA Assessment website.
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Program
Schedule (9am-4pm)
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After this institute, you will be able to:
- Compare characteristics of performance and proficiency as they relate to the meaning of "performance towards proficiency" in the world language classroom;
- Design receptive and productive communicative tasks for beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of proficiency;
- Identify commonalities among the ACTFL, CEFR, and WIDA performance descriptors for world language and ESL learning contexts;
- Evaluate the quality of several performance assessment tasks and rubrics, making suggestions for improvement as appropriate;
- Create formative assessments used in daily lessons to monitor learner progress in communication skills; and
- Design a standards-based integrated performance assessment (IPA) with appropriate rubrics and scoring guides.
Instructor
Donna Clementi is a well-known consultant and national speaker on curriculum and assessment development. With more than 30 years of experience teaching French grades K-12, Dr. Clementi is currently a world language methods instructor at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin.
Target Audience
This institute is designed for foreign language and ESL teachers at the late elementary through the postsecondary level, as well as teacher educators and preservice teachers. The institute is not intended for immersion teachers.
In a word, this experience was inspirational. This institute drew participants who taught a variety of languages and age groups, all of whom were excited to share knowledge and ideas about how we could improve the learning experiences of our students and sustain our passion for teaching world languages by devoting time to proven methods. I know that my participation in this workshop will fundamentally impact my growth as a teacher and the quality of instruction I provide to students.
