Assessment & What's the Big Idea

In the real Chinese classroom, we are going to complete Level 1 Chinese with talking about transportation and telling time.

In Chinese 3, we are talking about our daily schedule and getting around the school building.

In the intro course, we are signing the classroom and building with Chinese signs.

How can we make sure we will complete these with mastery and depth of understanding?

In a class at the University of MN we are looking at Wiggins & McTighe for the second language classroom, using Backwards Design:

1. Give some examples of “big ideas” (a la “UbD”) that might be appropriate in a language teaching context (emphasis on world and indigenous languages):

Learning a second language will help me be a global citizen. Learning a second language and culture will help me better understand my own. These are Essential Understandings in our IB Curriculum.

2. How do Wiggins and McTighe define assessment? p. 6 the act of determining the extent to which the desired results are on the way to being achieved and to what extent they have been achieved, in other words, gathering evidence of meeting desired results.

3. In a nutshell, what does “backward design” mean? Designing curriculum that begins with the end in mind and designs toward that end.

4. What do Wiggins and McTighe define as the “twin sins” of traditional design? What do these “twin sins” look like in a typical language classroom? Activity-focused teaching that can evolve into busywork and coverage-focused teaching like using the table of contents as the lesson plan. The activity of a pinata in a Spanish language classroom does not replace the clear language objectives of developing the Spanish vocabulary for such an event. The coverage of the pinata unit without regard to language objectives and cultural understandings would be simply coverage.

5. What is the difference between knowledge and understanding? Give an example that relates to the language teaching context. Knowledge is the fact that a Chinese character is called a hanzi. Understanding involves knowing and using hanzi as logographic.

6. Describe Stage 1: Identify desired results, highlighting the goals of the unit.

Established Goals are the State Standards and exit-level outcomes, for example, a student will be able to tell time in Chinese.

What understandings are desired: Students will understand the concept of time in their own culture and another culture.

Essential Questions: How do the Chinese tell time, and how is that alike/different from a Westerner.

What key knowledge and skills will students acquire: they will tell time in Chinese.

For Wiggins and McTighe are standards and goals the same? Goals and standards are the same. Goals are, for example, the State Standards. How would Wiggins & McTighe assess or critique our national standards for foreign language learning? They would fully support our national standards as these are as evidenced by p.59: "The Skill box is meant to include more than just long-term process objectives. The designer is also asked here to infer the enabling skills required by the unit performance goals, understandings, and questions ) and, therefore the complex performance tasks identified in Stage 2." This is completely in line with the National Standards for Second Language.

Questions related to Hall reading (1999) on Communication Standards:

1. In a sentence or two, describe the meaning of each of the communicative domains (or modes):

What key words would you use to associate with these modes?

Give a concrete example of a classroom task you have used to elicit each of these modes.

a. Interpersonal: 2 people communicating; conversation, dialogue, informal, spontaneous; a conversation between two classmates on a given topic

b. Interpretive: following an authentic text or film, explaining or interpreting; authentic, film, text, interpretation; seeing a film and explaining or interpreting the film.

c. Presentational: giving a formal presentation, with planning; report, speech, poster; a student researches and presents a regional weather report.

p. 60ff: Standards can be too numerous or too large/small or too nebulous, therefore the answer is to unpack them to reveal big ideas and core tasks.

General Question:

What constitutes language proficiency? In other words, what is important for assessment?

Foreign language proficiency is defined here as the ability to use the language modalities (listening, reading, writing, speaking), and to assume the cultural framework of the language being studied for the purpose of communicating ideas and information: Proficiency Guidelines of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL, 1982). from the CAL website