Genres in Contextualized World Language Assessment and Learning

Abstract

This chapter provides the theoretical and practical background for the integration of genre and functional linguistics as a tool for realizing contextualized assessment, instruction, and learning in the world language classroom. The argument for genre is linked to and motivated by assessment frameworks in the United States (i.e., the World-Readiness Standards for Language Learning (W-RSLL), the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, the ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners , and the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) from the European context. These policy and assessment tools guide contextualized and task-based world language teaching in the United States, Europe, and many parts of the world. As such, this chapter positions the assessment and instruction of language performance according to the three modes of communication described in the W-RSLL, the ACTFL Guidelines, and the CEFR. In this genre-based approach, communication within the three modes of communication is contexualized as spoken and written communicative genres. Informed by this functional linguistic view of communication as genres, a genre-based approach to backward design is described.