Short description:

This volume comprises of chapters that deal with language proficiency relating to a wide range of language program issues including curriculum, assessment, learners and instructors, and skill development. The chapters cover various aspects of a broad-based proficiency initiative, focusing on numerous aspects of foreign language learning, including how skills develop, how assessments can inform curriculum, how learners and instructors view proficiency and proficiency assessment, and how individual use of technology furthers language learning. The concluding chapter points the way forward for issues and questions that need to be addressed.

?This collection provides a long-overdue update of one of the most enduring concepts in foreign language education of the past three decades: proficiency. The 16 chapters demonstrate how proficiency continues to inspire and anchor insightful SLA research designs, flexible frameworks for curricular innovation, meaningful assessment, and relevant professional development in postsecondary foreign language education. This volume will undoubtedly attract a broad readership, including SLA researchers, curriculum experts, test developers, teacher trainers, language program directors, and administrators. The insights will energize them in their shared commitment to optimize collegiate foreign language learning and thus to better serve our field?s most important stakeholder: the student in the undergraduate language classroom.? Per Urlaub, Middlebury College, VT, USA

Long description:

This volume comprises of chapters that deal with language proficiency relating to a wide range of language program issues including curriculum, assessment, learners and instructors, and skill development. The chapters cover various aspects of a broad-based proficiency initiative, focusing on numerous aspects of foreign language learning, including how skills develop, how assessments can inform curriculum, how learners and instructors view proficiency and proficiency assessment, and how individual use of technology furthers language learning. The concluding chapter points the way forward for issues and questions that need to be addressed.

Table of Contents:

Proficiency Testing in the U.S. Context: An Introduction; Susan M. Gass and Paula Winke.- The Power of Performance-Based Assessment: Languages as a Model for the Liberal Arts Enterprise; Benjamin Rifkin.- Part I: Curriculum: Vocabulary Size, Reading Proficiency and Curricular Design: The Case of College Chinese, German, Russian and Spanish; Jane Hacking, Fernando Rubio and Erwin Tschirner.- Picking up the PACE:  Proficiency Assessment for Curricular Enhancement; Dan Soneson and Elaine Tarone.- Assessment and Curriculum for Heritage Language Learners: Exploring Russian Data; Olga Kagan and Anna Kudyma.- Modern-Day Foreign Language Majors: Their Goals, Attainment, and Fit Within a 21^st Century Curriculum; Paula Winke, Susan M. Gass, and Emily Heidrich.- Part II: Assessments and Learning Outcomes: In Advanced L2 Reading Proficiency Assessments, Should the Question Language be in the L1 or the L2?: Does it Make a Difference? Troy Cox, Jennifer Bown, and Teresa Bell.- Proficiency vs. Performance: What Do the Tests Show? Fernando Rubio and Jane Hacking.- Exploring the Relationship Between Self-Assessments and OPIc Ratings of Oral Proficiency in French; Magda Tigchelaar.- Where Am I? Where Am I Going, and How Do I Get There?: Increasing Learner Agency Through Large-Scale Self Assessment in Language Learning; Gabriela Sweet, Sara Mack, and Anna Olivero-Agney.- Arabic Proficiency Improvement Through a Culture of Assessment; Katrien Vanpee and Dan Soneson.- A Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Skill Perspective on L2 Development in Study Abroad; Dan E. Davidson and Jane R. Shaw.- Part III: Instructors and Learners: Language Instructors Learning Together: Using Lesson Study in Higher Education; Beth Dillard.- U.S. Foreign Language Student Digital Literacy Habits: Factors Affecting Engagement; Jeffrey Maloney.- Linking Proficiency Test Scores to Classroom Instruction; Charlene Polio.- Afterword and Next Steps; Margaret Malone.