STARTALK Updates: 2010 & 2011

2010 NCSSFL Meeting

Shuhan Wang, PhD

November 18, 2010

2011 STARTALK2011 Competition: October 4 – 31

Arabic Portuguese: teacher/combinationChinese Russian + studentDari + student SwahiliHindi TurkishPersian Urdu

2010: 134 Programs

Student Teacher Combined TOTALArabic 19 13 1 33Chinese 47 37 7 91Dari 0 4 0 4Hindi 12 8 0 20Persian 3 6 0 9Russian 0 6 0 6Swahili 3 3 0 6Turkish 2 3 0 5Urdu 3 5 0 8

2010 Enrollments

Language Students Teachers TotalArabic 603 263 866Chinese 3026 1401 4427Dari 0 2 2Hindi 386 80 466Persian 132 50 182Russian 0 44 44Swahili 27 11 38Turkish 31 15 46Urdu 39 15 54Total 4244 1881 6125

Student Programs by Grade Level

2010 Distribution of Programs

STARTALK Products as Resources

• Materials Collection– Resources for Teacher Development– Planning tools for teachers– Resource List: generic and language specific– Curriculum, unit, and lesson templates & guides

• 10 Teacher Training Videos sample• 12 Teacher Multimedia Workshops• Field Trip Paper & Guide

A serious domestic and international World Language Education Gap in the United States

9

Demands for World Language Education in the US Have Expanded and Changed

• Immersion and early language learning programs: Not just in high schools

• Emergent world languages: Not just traditionally taught languages

• Demonstrated student proficiency outcomes: Not just for exposure and a “taste” for different cultures

• Expanded delivery system and technological use in the classroom: Not just face to face and textbook-driven language learning

Require Language Study as part of the New Basic Skill Set

• Meaningful language study becomes part of the US educational programs

• Students’ learning outcomes in language study to be part of the accountability at the state or federal level

• Expand the increasingly narrowing world language offerings—to ensure linguistic diversity

Our Vision: An Additive Language Policy for All Students

Five Goals :(1) increase the number and effectiveness of language

education programs; (2) expand the range of languages offered; (3) begin language instruction at a younger age and

continue through a longer, articulated sequence; (4) establish clear expectations for students’ language

learning outcomes; and (5) expand access and opportunity to learn via both

traditional and innovative delivery systems.

An Agenda for Transforming World Language Education

Adapting to a Changing World

• Our outdated, fragmented, and inflexible system for producing world language teachers must be replaced by an expanded system responsive to our nation’s needs in the global age.

Big Questions to Answer:

1. What does it mean to be a highly effective world language teacher? What are the competencies (such as linguistic proficiency, content knowledge, and pedagogical skills) that world language teachers must possess and demonstrate to enable their students to attain high learning outcomes?

Big Questions to Answer:

2. What does it take to produce a highly effective world language teacher? Given an expanded and heterogeneous pool of prospective teachers, what kinds of preparation and certification programs must be in place to produce a sufficient number of effective world language teachers who can meet the increasing demand for varied world language programs?

Big Questions to Answer:

3. How can we, as a society, leverage resources across federal, state, local, and institutional boundaries to ensure that the supply of world language teachers meets the demand?

Seven Aspects of the teacher supply system

Teacher Com-

petencies

Certification

Capacity &

Quality

Data Collection

& Evaluation

Partner-ships

Available Tools for Determining Teacher Competencies: Need Coordination & Dialogues

Student Content

Standards

Teacher Standards (ACTFL/NCATE, INTASC, NPBTS,

TEAC)

ILR/ACTFL Proficiency

Scale

Assessments for Language &

Pedagogical Skills

Continuum of Teacher Development & Life Cycle of a WL Teacher

• Teacher Recruitment

• Teacher Preparation

• Certification/ Licensure

• Induction, PD & Lifelong Learning

Aspiring individuals Candidates/

Apprentices

Novice teachers

PracticingMaster/Teacher trainers

Recommendations• State government, education, and certification

agencies• Local education agencies• Institutions of higher education and teacher

education programs• National and Professional Organizations and

Institutes• Federal government

Consortium of Language Program DatabasesA STARTALK INITIATIVE

Partnering for the future:

Creating greater access to language programinformation through technology

ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward

Proficiency in Languages

• ACTFL is under contract from NFLC• ACTFL will provide an assessment of Chinese• Interpersonal Listening/Speaking• Novice Level• Piloted in the summer of 2010• Will deliver December 2010

Access the documents atSTARTALK Central:

http://www.startalk.umd.edu

Shuhan Wang swang@nflc.org