Assessment of Young Students

Marcia RosenbuschNational K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center

Iowa State University

Eileen LorenzCenter for Applied Linguistics

Washington DC

Student Oral Proficiency

Assessment (SOPA)Goal: To find out what

students can docan do with the language they are learning.

K–12 Foreign Language Standards

• Standard 1: CommunicationInterpersonal ModeInterpretive ModePresentational Mode

• Standard 2: Cultures• Standard 3: Connections• Standard 4: Comparisons• Standard 5: Communities

Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. (1999). National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, et. al.

What Skills are Rated?

• Oral Fluency• Grammar• Vocabulary• Listening Comprehension

Each is derived from the ACTFL Guidelines, 1999.

• Warm Up: (Put students at ease) Introductions• Task 1: Fruits/other objects (Identify, name)

Goal: To assess listening, word-level speech

• Task 2: All about You (Answer informal questions)

• Task 3: Community or Classroom Activity (Follow/giving commands, describe)

• Wind down: Finish at student’s comfort level

Goal: To give students opportunity to create with language on familiar topics

Goal: To give students opportunity to create sentence-level speech

Non-Immersion SOPA

Task 1: Fruits

• Identifying (Where are the red fruit?)

• Naming (What is this fruit called?)

• Following instructions (Put the fruit here. Count them.)

Task 2: All About You

• All about you• Answering informal questions

How old are you?

What do you do on your birthday? Do you have brothers or sisters?

Would you like to have a sister/brother? Do you have a pet?What is it called?What is it like? Why?

Task 3: The Community • Identifying • Following instructions • Describing

What do you have there? Where is the red fire truck?Where is the fireman?Take the dog. The dog is playing with a ball in front of the apartment building. What is the mailman doing in the pet store? What is the woman doing?Why?

Wind Down

• Following instructions

• Positive ending, task students can complete successfully!

Simon says...

Touch your head; Raise your right hand; Touch your

left eye. Clap for both of you.

K–12 Foreign Language Standards 1–3

•Warm-up (Saludos) Interpersonal

•Identifying/Naming(Frutas) Interpretive, Interpersonal,(Animales) Making Connections

•Answering Informal Questions(Gustos y Vida Personal) Interpersonal, Interpretive,

Cultural Practices

•Giving Commands/Describing

(Como Crecen las Plantas) Interpretive, Interpersonal(El Ciclo de Aqua) Making Connections

•Narrating(Ricitos de Oro y los Tres Osos) PresentationalPresentational, Interpersonal

•Speaking to Persuade(Reglas Nuevas) Interpersonal, Interpretive,

PresentationalPresentational

•Wind-down (Simón Dice) Interpretive

•Cultural Awareness Cultural Products, Practices, Comparisons

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. (1999). Standards for foreign language learning: Preparing for the 21st century. Yonkers, NY: ACTFL.

SOPA Rating Scale:Main Levels

• Junior Novice• Junior Intermediate• Junior Advanced

COPE/SOPA Rating ScaleSublevels

Junior Advanced-High

Junior Novice-High

Junior Intermediate-High

Junior Advanced-MidJunior Advanced-Low

Junior Intermediate-Low

Junior Intermediate-Mid

Junior Novice-Mid

Junior Novice-Low

ForFor More InformationMore Information

SOPA training is offered through

• 2-day, live workshops

• Online training courses

Contact: Lynn Thompson (lynn@cal.org)

Or visit www.cal.org/topics/ta/flassess.html