1. Since its organization in 1919, the Pennsylvania Modern Language Association (PSMLA)
has worked to promote and facilitate foreign language education in this Commonwealth.
In 1995, PSMLA published the PSMLA Guide to Assessment: the Chapter Five Foreign
Language Outcome to assist teachers and districts in implementing the PA Chapter Five
curriculum regulation that mandated an Intermediate Low Level of speaking proficiency
(ACTFL Scale) for all PA students. Since then, much has happened. Chapter Five was
revoked with a new administration in Harrisburg and subsequently developed PA World
Language Standards have yet to be adopted by the State Board of Education. On a positive
note, national standards were written and distributed by ACTFL (1996) and more recently
(2000) the federal No Child Left Behind legislation designated world language learning as
a “core subject”.
The PSMLA Standards and Guide to Assessments: What to Teach and How to Test It! is the
revised edition of the original document mentioned above. As professionals, we should not
wait to enact standards and assess them district-wide. Whether mandated by the state or
not, we need to move ahead because it is the right thing to do! We, the writing team, hope
that this document will be a useful tool for all world language teachers, teacher educators,
curriculum directors, and other administrators who are interested in establishing standards-
based world language programs and assessing them district-wide.
PSMLA Standards and Guide to Assessments: What to Teach and How to Test It!
Writing Committee
Bonnie Adair Hauck, University of Pittsburgh
Deanna Baird, Upper St. Clair School District
Devin Browne, Pittsburgh Public Schools
Thekla Fall, Pittsburgh Public Schools
Carol Schneider, Franklin Regional School District
Published by the Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association
Copyright © 2003 by PSMLA. All rights reserved.
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3. Introduction
Since the 1970’s, teaching practices for second language development have transformed
dramatically from a discrete-point, grammar-driven approach to a focus on communicative
and functional use of authentic language (Canale, 1983; Richard-Amato, 1988). The
adoption of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century
provides the profession with a bold framework for second language development. The
Standards advocate a constructivist approach to language learning (Hall, 1993, Adair-
Hauck and Donato, 2002). A constructivist approach views students as whole learners who
bring a host of background information and knowledge to the language learning
experience. A constructivist approach to language development highlights that learners
acquire language:
• by participating in meaningful and real activities,
• interacting with peers and adults;
• by making approximations of real language;
• and at varying rates and in various stages even though they all go through similar
phases of development (Cooper, 1993).
Personal meaning-making or sense-making is at the core of a constructivist approach to
second language development. However, as Phillips (1995); Glisan (1998), and Liskin-
Gasparro, (1996) have pointed out, we have not seen this paradigm shift in second
language testing. Unfortunately, due to a number of practical considerations, such as
efficiency, time constraints, large numbers of students, insufficient staff and resource
materials, lack of assessment training for teachers, etc., we, as a profession, have relied on
the quick and easy “fast bullets” of pencil/paper achievement testing formats (Bachman,
1990; Shohamy, 1990). Unfortunately, many of our classroom achievement tests rely on
easily quantifiable testing procedures with frequently non-contextualized and discrete-point
items. Consequently, information gleaned from these achievement tests does not inform
either the teachers or the learners on regular bases as to whether our students will be able to
perform authentic tasks in the real world. Nor do they indicate student progress in attaining
world language standards!
This newly revised Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association (PSMLA) Guide to
Standards and Assessment: What to Teach and How to Test It! encourages districts to align
standards, instruction, and assessment. It presents
1) “What to Teach”—national standards that were written by the foremost world
language professionals in the country and a curriculum framework written by PSMLA
members, and
2) “ How to Test It” –assessment samples and models that highlight performance-
based assessment practices that work in tandem with a constructivist approach to language
development and relate to recommended standards.
In all of the examples, we are underscoring assessment practices that provide critical
feedback, so that learners can improve their language performance. With respect to
formative assessment, we are advocating the use of portfolio assessment since it provides a
window of opportunity to view language development over time. Wiggins (1994) defines
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4. portfolio as “assessment practices that reflect progress toward intended learning goals
which are collected over time, and include specific materials which are reviewed and
scored relative to criteria appropriate language performance” p. 190. Other examples given
may be used for both formative and summative purposes, as well as program evaluations.
The writers encourage districts to use and adapt these tools to develop their assessment
program, including district-wide testing that cuts across languages.
In this document, both the standards framework and assessment samples are tied to the
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Scale to provide a
common language and measurement tool.
The assessment practices highlighted in this manual have been recommended by world
language teachers in Pennsylvania who are interested in integrating both performance-
based and standards-based language learning into their classroom. PSMLA is indeed
indebted to the following world language teachers and educators who have been extremely
generous in sharing their favorite assessment strategies and documents, contributing to
various committee projects, and helping to edit this document:
Bonnie Adair Hauck, University of Pittsburgh
Deanna Baird, Upper St. Clair School District
Jennifer Bartolini, University of Pittsburgh
Kathleen Boykin, Slippery Rock University
Devin Browne, Susan Cefola, Isabel De Espino Valdivia, Thekla Fall, Charlene Larkin,
Mina Levenson, Molly Miesse, Pamela Miller, Martha Moore, Wolfgang Weigner,
Barbara Weiss, Almut Wymard, all at Pittsburgh Public Schools
Richard Donato, University of Pittsburgh
Eileen Glisan, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Peg Grasso, Mt. Lebanon School District
Beverly Harris-Schenz, University of Pittsburgh
Frank Mulhern, LaSalle University
Vincent Remillard, St Francis University
Phyllis Rzodkiewicz, Millcreek Township School District
Carol Schneider, Franklin Regional School District
Nancy Sterniak, Penn-Trafford School District
Etsuko Takahashi, University of Pittsburgh
Bonnie Youngs, Carnegie Mellon University
And special thanks to McDougal Littell Company for their support.
__________
Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to inform and Improve Student
Performance. (1998) Wiggins, G. Jossey-Bass Inc., San Francisco, CA
Teaching, Testing and Assessment: Making the Connection (1994). National Textbook
Company. Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Charles R.
Hancock, Editor.
Standards for Foreign Language Learning Project. (1996). Standards for foreign
language learning project: Preparing for the 21st century. Yonkers, NY.
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5. Table of Contents
I. The Foundation 1
Section One: Aligning the Pieces 1
Aligning Standards, Instruction, and Assessment 2
Chart 1: National Standards for Foreign Language Learning 3
Chart 2: From Traditional Instruction to Proficiency-Based Instruction 4
Characteristics of Standards-Based Performance Assignments/Assessment 5
Chart 3: Traditional versus Performance Assessment Methods 6
Chart 4: From Traditional Assessment to Performance-Based Assessment 7
Section Two: Using the Superglue, the ACTFL Scale 9
Why use the ACTFL Scale? 10
How well do you know the ACTFL Scale? Take this quiz!
11
The ACTFL Scale and Interview
12
II. What to Teach…
15
Section One: Standards and Instructional Guidelines
15
The PSMLA Standards and Instructional Guidelines:
16
Integrating Communication, Cultures, Connections, and Communities
The ACTFL Performance Guidelines for K-12 Learners
40
III. …and How to Test It!
41
Section One: Sample District-Wide Implementation
41
Why District-Wide Assessment?
44
Practical Tips for Department Chairs to Establish a District-Wide
46
Assessment Program
Districts with Assessment Articulated Across the Grade Levels 52
Upper St. Clair School District
52
Pittsburgh Public Schools
54
Section Two: Sample Performance-Based Assessment Tools
57
A Rationale for Portfolio Assessment
58
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6. Guide to World Language Portfolio Assessment
59
Sample Portfolio Projects, Tasks, and Rubrics
66
Advertising a Product
67
Your Heritage Country Brochure
68
One-on-One Interviews
70
Telling Tales
71
Contemporary Issues
72
Sample End-of-Year Portfolio Assessment
73
USC FLES Program Assessment
77
PPS District-wide Proficiency Testing
79
Speaking Rubric
80
Situations for Communication (PPS SITCOMMS)
81
Level 3 Interpersonal Speaking Tasks – Analytical Rubric
86
Level 3 Presentational Tasks – Analytical Rubric
87
Assessing the Interpretive mode of Communication
88
“To Be or Not to Be Cellular” 90
Sample Proficiency Checklists
95
End of Grade 8 Checklist
95
Speaking Checklist
96
Proficiency Checklists
ACTFL Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs)
104
IV. Appendices
107
Appendix 1: Recommended Resources
108
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7. Appendix 2: French, German, Japanese, and Spanish Proficiency Interviews 112
Appendix 3: Investigating the Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI)
131
as an Assessment Tool for Second Language Oral Proficiency
Appendix 4: PPS Guide for Students and Parents
163
Appendix 5: How Did You Do? Answers to the ACTFL Scale Quiz
166
Appendix 6: The ACTFL OPI for ACE College Credit Recommendation 167
Appendix 7: PPS Standards Poster
169
Appendix 8: Glossary 1, ACTFL Terminology
170
Glossary 2, PSMLA Guide Terminology
171
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