ACTFL Standards Research Articles

World languages for Black Linguistic Reparations

AbstractThis conceptual work highlights the history of Black erasure throughout the existence of world languages (WLs) as a field of study in the United States. It outlines the unique challenges faced by African descended learners who have and continue to pursue WL study in US classrooms. These include but are not limited to reduced local funding and programmatic expectations due to the remnants of anti‐Black educational policies, monolingual and imperial language ideologies prevalent in texts and pedagogical approaches, and generations of segregation in and outside of schools. Finally, this work proposes WLs serve as a site of Black Linguistic Reparations through, (1) the redistribution of resources in the field, (2) the repair of enacted WL teaching to meet the calls of ACTFL's standards for preparing students for communication in a pluralistic society, and (3) a recreation of the “world” as narrated through a global, rather than a white Western lens.

Exploring of Arabic Text Book for MA KMA 183 in 2019 Based on Mackey’s Theory and ACTFL Standards

This study aims to explore Arabic textbooks by looking at four elements, namely selection (material selection), gradation (ordering), presentation, and repetition in Arabic textbooks for Class XI MA Curriculum KMA 183 in 2019 according to the theory of William Francis Mackey and explore Arabic language skills on textbook content according to the ACTFL standard perspective. This study uses qualitative research methods with descriptive analysis techniques and content analysis sourced from documentation data in Arabic textbooks for Class XI MA Curriculum KMA 183 in 2019, related books, articles, and journals. The results of the study show that the Arabic language textbooks for class XI KMA 183 in 2019 as a whole have met the criteria of Mackey's theory in four aspects. In the element of selection, the book has met three criteria for validity in the content and components of the book, including the parts of learning objectives, the level of students' abilities, and the type of language used. Furthermore, the gradation aspect of each subject matter in chapters 1 to 6 consists of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and tarākib skills, each related to and supporting one another with deductive and inductive sequencing methods. In the presentation aspect, three procedures are used in the book: differentiation, intensive and pictorial procedures. Each stage of the book presentation uses two languages, Arabic and Indonesian, utilizing the help of image object media to make it easier for students to understand the material. In the aspect of repetition, several tadribāt and materials are presented repeatedly with different themes in each chapter in the four Arabic language skills. The analysis of Arabic skills on Arabic books for class XI KMA 183 in 2019 according to the ACTFL standard perspective is divided into three levels: intermediate, low, mid, and high. Each group is classified according to the content of the material, indicators, and evaluation of learning in each of the four mahārah in six chapters, namely mahārah istimā', kalām, qirā’ah, and kitābah.
 Keywords: ACTFL, Arabic Language, Text Book, Mackey's Theory
 Abstrak 
 Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk untuk mengeksplorasi buku ajar bahasa Arab dengan cara melihat empat unsur yaitu seleksi (pemilihan materi), gradasi (pengurutan), presentasi, repetisi dalam buku ajar bahasa Arab Kelas XI MA Kurikulum KMA 183 tahun 2019 menurut teori William Francis Mackey dan mengeksplorasi keterampilan bahasa Arab pada isi buku ajar menurut perspektif standar ACTFL. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif dengan teknik analisis deskriptif dan analisis konten yang bersumber dari data dokumentasi pada buku ajar bahasa Arab Kelas XI MA Kurikulum KMA 183 tahun 2019, buku, artikel dan jurnal yang terkait. Hasil dari penelitian menunjukkan bahwa buku ajar bahasa Arab kelas XI KMA 183 tahun 2019 secara keseluruhan telah telah memenuhi kriteria teori Mackey dalam empat aspek. Pada aspek seleksi, buku telah memenuhi tiga kriteria keabsahan pada isi dan komponenen buku diantaranya pada komponen tujuan pembelajaran, tingkat kemampuan siswa, tipe bahasa yang digunakan. Selanjutnya pada aspek gradasi setiap materi pelajaran pada bab 1 sampai 6 terdiri dari keterampilan menyimak, berbicara, membaca, menulis dan tarākib yang masing-masing setiap keterampilan berkaitan dan mendukung satu sama lain dengan matode pengurutan deduktif dan induktif.Pada aspek presentasi ada tiga prosedur yang digunakan pada buku yaitu prosedur differensiasi, ontensive dan piktorial. Setiap tahapan presentasi buku menggunakan dua bahasa yaitu bahasa Arab dan bahasa Indonesia dengan menggunakan bantuan media obyek gambar untuk memudahkan siswa dalam memahami materi. Pada aspek repetisi, ada beberapa tadribāt dan materi yang disajikan secara berulang dengan tema yang berbeda pada setiap babnya dalam empat keterampilan bahasa Arab. Adapun analisis keterampilan berbahasa Arab terhadap buku bahasa Arab kelas XI KMA 183 tahun 2019 menurut perspektif standar ACTFL terbagi menjadi tiga tingkatan yaitu intermediate low, mid dan high. Setiap tingkatan diklasifikasikan sesuai muatan materi, indikator, dan evaluasi pembelajaran pada setiap empat mahārah dalam enam bab, yaitu mahārah istimā’, kalām, qirā’ah, and kitābah.
 Kata Kunci: ACTFL, Bahasa Arab, Buku Teks, Teori Mackey

Responding to Crisis with Creativity: Open Integrated Performance Assessments

The pandemic and social upheaval of 2020 and 2021 have given language instructors the mission -and obligation- of adapting their curriculum to multiple crises. Although these crises have abated somewhat with classes returning to campus, we will always face fluctuations in terms of the events affecting our language regions and communities. How can we address current affairs in our classes with as much plasticity as possible? This article discusses the use of open integrated performance assessments, students' attitudes toward these assessments, and offers a model for creating materials that respond to the ACTFL standards while also taking into account the issues of the day.

Expression Orale: Amérique Du Nord by Michèle Barféty et al.

Reviewed by: Expression Orale: Amérique Du Nord by Michèle Barféty et al. Shannon Becker Barféty, Michèle, Patricia Beaujoin, Fabien Olivry, et Denis Liakin. Expression orale: Amérique du Nord. CLE International, 2019. ISBN 978-2-09-035176-7. Pp. 128. Part of the Compétences series, Expression orale is intended for students at the B1 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which corresponds to approximately the Intermediate Mid to Advanced Low level in ACTFL standards. It is important to note that this book is intended for learners who will be communicating with speakers of Québécois French. The book is divided into five units, each containing three lessons and followed by a quiz called a "bilan." The lessons are divided into sections called "imiter," "interpréter," and "s'exprimer," a thoughtful strategy that allows the learner to progress from exercises centered on identification and repetition, to answering open-ended questions based on written and oral prompts, and finally to text-based discussions leading to a debate. Importantly, Expression orale maintains a focus on communication throughout, only addressing grammar in boxes of "outils" that provide students with important sentences and phrases that they can incorporate into their production. Among other tasks, learners are asked to verify oral comprehension, to repeat dialogues, to use clues to guess the context of dialogues, to exchange information, and to role play based on visual and audio prompts. This culminates in reading a text, answering discussion questions, and preparing a debate with classmates. After each unit, learners complete the bilan, a brief quiz worth 25 points containing only two exercises: one that requires them to fill in the blanks of a written dialogue using the various outils, or grammatical structures, from the preceding lesson, and one that asks them to fill in the blanks of a short text using words from a provided list of vocabulary. A particularly interesting activity, which appears only in the first bilan and is thereafter replaced by the text completion task, asks learners to read a sentence and decide which of three sentences below it is the best reformulation, i.e., containing the same information and synonyms of key words. Native speaker dialogues are used throughout the book, with audio files available online and transcripts in the back of the book. The quality of the dialogue recordings is high, and the speakers articulate clearly and at an appropriate speed for this level of learner. It is easy to imagine using elements of this book even beyond a conversation course, for example in a survey course to introduce learners to Québécois French. Visually, the format of the chapters is easy to follow, with clearly delineated sections and "outils" boxes that stand out from the text, and numerous pictures throughout. [End Page 201] Shannon Becker Northern Illinois University Copyright © 2020 American Association of Teachers of French

Foreword

IT IS A GREAT HONOR TO INTRODUCE THE PRESENT MLJ MONOGRAPH AS THE supplemental issue in Volume 104. In A Human Ecological Language Pedagogy, Glenn Levine has managed to create a holistic framework for language teaching and language learning that aligns with contemporary postmodern, dynamic, and multilingual theories. Building upon existing standards frameworks, such as the ACTFL Standards and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, Levine offers a comprehensive perspective based on fundamental components of a contemporary language education in today's increasingly diverse and mobile educational environments. At the core of this language pedagogy are the complex interconnections between local and global contexts, the engagement of human creativity, the imperative for social justice, and the fostering of compassion. To allow for the inclusion of many different dimensions of language learning and language teaching, Levine identifies Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) as the optimal metatheoretical framework to account for the interactive constructivist epistemology he proposes. However, different from previous teaching applications that tend to emphasize the similarities between CDST in cognition and the physical world, A Human Ecological Language Pedagogy takes a strongly ecological perspective, in which human interaction takes a central position. This signifies that Levine's pedagogy corroborates the commensurability of CDST and Sociocultural Theory. Although both theoretical approaches have shown spin-offs to language teaching, for neither of the theories a fully developed set of pedagogical implications had yet been accomplished. And this is exactly what we find in A Human Ecological Language Pedagogy. Not only the theoretical foundation of the book is profound and innovative, the timing of the book is also very appropriate. While many approaches to language teaching may still be based on assumptions of foreign language learning in traditional classroom situations, today's language learning context is in an ongoing transition in two major ways. The availability of online opportunities for authentic language contact, from gaming to social media, has transformed the context of language learning, inside and outside of the classroom. This change requires a new language pedagogy to accommodate teaching in the 21st century. And in addition to the change in the learning context and the opportunities for learning, a change affecting our perspective on language teaching is the changing type of learners. Due to the massive human migration (voluntary or forced) of people around the world, a new and urgent context for language learning and teaching has emerged. This has led to more and more diverse instructional settings than we have seen in recent history, which requires a new framework of language pedagogy, centered on present-day descriptions like multilingualism, translanguaging, and affordances. In Levine's monograph, L2 learning is not only defined as an instrumental means to a communicative end, but is seen as what he refers to as a “dynamic framing of identity” (Kramsch, 2009). I am convinced that the present monograph adds the critical dimension that is urgently required for a comprehensive conceptual framework and that the guidelines that the book provides are indispensable for the practice of language instruction in the 21st century. The new standards presented in Levine's monograph offer the supplementary requirements for a fully dynamic pedagogy, starting from the observation that the fundamental function of language is its usage in social and cultural interaction, and in which meaning making is not seen as a static entity, but as a continuous and dynamic process. Following these principles, Levine's contribution is a worthy tribute to the work of Leo van Lier, which served as a conceptual foundation for the monograph. A Human Ecological Language Pedagogy will be a valuable contribution to the research community interested in contemporary approaches to language teaching, but also a rich source of inspiration for today's language teachers. Wander Lowie, Monograph Series Editor

En Avant! Beginning French by Bruce Anderson, Annabelle Dolidon

THE FRENCH REVIEW, Vol. 89, No. 3, March 2016 Printed in U.S.A. Methods and Materials edited by Frédérique Grim 185 Anderson, Bruce, and Annabelle Dolidon. En Avant! Beginning French. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2016. ISBN 978-0-07-338646-1. Pp. 509. $197. Given the authors of this communicatively-oriented college textbook, it should be no surprise to those working in the field that its approach is centralized around principles of applied linguistics. Within this grounded framework, some of En Avant!’s greatest strengths include its systematic integration of vocabulary, grammatical structures, and culture into every chapter, including videos, readings, music, and film. This approach may aid instructors in preparing linguistically- and culturally-competent learners. Attending to intercultural competency, the book regularly prompts students to consider the similarities and differences between the target cultures and language with their native languages and cultures. The way the authors have presented the use of English in French cultures may allow for instructors to open cultural and linguistic discussions to the ways in which French is used in Anglophone contexts. New to the second edition,Le coin beaux-arts,which presents fine arts in each of the even numbered chapters, differentiates this textbook from many currently on the market.Additionally, the textbook includes both Québécois and French speakers, beginning to attend more concretely to la francophonie. For students, the Learn Smart” adaptive learning tool and the study tips guide learners toward taking ownership over their own education. Further, the systematic review and recycling of materials as well as the early presentation of late-acquired structures for recognition only allow students and instructors alike to more comfortably move through the material. Chapter sixteen is dedicated to a grammatical review, incorporating an additional opportunity for review and synthesis of the material into the textbook. The authors provide significant amounts of support to instructors such as communicative activities addressing all four skills throughout the textbook and a number of supplemental materials, which are compatible with Blackboard and MH Campus course management platforms. For this reason, En Avant! may be especially useful to instructors who are early in their careers. The Tegrity video creator may be particularly useful for those taking a flipped classroom approach and to those teaching blended courses. Further, the ACTFL standards are fully integrated into the supplemental Assignment Builder tool for instructors. Despite its numerous strengths, instructors seeking a beginning textbook written exclusively in French may not find the vocabulary glossed in English and the informational sections in English in chapters one through four ideal.However,the book does begin to transition the learner to primarily in French in the text of chapter five, retaining the English glosses in the vocabulary section at the end of the chapter and the learning objectives in English at the beginning of the chapter. University of South Dakota Kris Aric Knisely Blanco, José. D’accord 1: langue et culture du monde francophone. Boston:Vista, 2015. ISBN 978-1-61857-866-2. Pp. 352. $105.60. This textbook is attractive, well-organized, and comes with a wide variety of supplemental materials to meet the needs of any classroom. There are eight units although unit 8 is repeated as unit 1 in the level-two text. The units are divided into two parts related to a theme. The “A” and “B” sections each have a Contexte (vocabulary ), Roman-Photo, Culture, Structure, and Synthèse, followed by a single Savoir-Faire section. The vocabulary and concepts are illustrated with a mix of photographs and drawings. One point of confusion for some students is the fact that not all words are in the word list on the side of the page; some are included in text boxes, or as labels in the illustrations. There is a complete list at the end of each unit, but students will need to be directed to find that. The vocabulary lists are on the lengthy side, but teachers can choose to limit the number of words. The culture readings start off in English, and transition to French in chapter 3. This choice seems good as it gives students some information about France right away, and allows them to...

Greening the German Classroom: Starting Points for a Cultural Lesson

AbstractThe article presents and discusses materials for a cultural lesson about Green Germany. An introductory mini‐unit frames the over‐all student learning objective: students should be able to respond to the questions “Where are we?” and “Where are we going?” with regard to the natural environment. Three different units then help students with these questions. The first two units describe where people in Germany and the US are; the third helps them reflect on where we are going and where their generation can help take us. Although the ACTFL Standards are not addressed explicitly, implicit treatment of these can be recognized in the approach presented. Communication about this cultural topic helps students see comparisons, connections, and communities.

Bringing the Museum into the Classroom, and the Class into the Museum: An Approach for Content‐Based Instruction

Through the example of a fourth‐semester course on modern German history, this article explores the application of interactive and experiential learning models inspired by museum pedagogy. In response to the ACTFL Standards and the 2007 MLA report, the teaching of culture has become a priority and educators continue to seek innovative ways to teach culture and to attain the goals of “comparisons” and “connections,” as well as translingual and transcultural competence. This article demonstrates that museum strategies can be productively transferred to content‐based foreign language instruction to provide learning experiences in which students interact critically with the objects of cultural archives. Both actual and virtual museum visits, as well as the integration of primary materials in the classroom, can further students' transcultural competence and critical thinking about the interrelations of culture and language, as well as provide intellectually and aesthetically engaging learning experiences.

Perspectives on the German Energiewende: Culture and Ecology in German Instruction

AbstractThis article addresses a dual desire for teaching units that (1) incorporate green issues into the language curriculum, (2) fulfill the need for comparative cultural studies in the language classroom, and (3) incorporate the ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning. Included are a review of recent approaches to teaching culture in the German curriculum, the role of the Standards in culture instruction, and an instructional approach, Stationenlernen, that may be adaptable to teaching culture. After reflection on affective considerations and the intercultural stance, the article outlines a teaching unit for intermediate and early‐advanced German instruction. The exploration of the German Energiewende and cultural perspectives that underlie the resistance to atomic energy in Germany will appeal to instructors challenged with integrating environmental culture into the German curriculum.

ACTFL Standards and Their Implications to Taiwanese English Teacher Education and Professional Development

In this globalized world, the growing importance of English learning has attracted more and more attention from researchers and educators, as the implementation of the new “English Lively Curriculum” in Taiwan demonstrates. The quality of English teachers is crucial in determining the quality of our English education, especially in an EFL environment like Taiwan. This study aims to examine the ACTFL Standards for the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers in the US and their implications to English teacher education in Taiwan. Beginning with a review of foreign language teaching in the US, the ACTFL six new standards are introduced in detail. After this, the qualification processes and problems of the evaluation of English teacher education in Taiwan are discussed. Finally, by interviewing Taiwanese in-service English teachers, the possible implications of ACTFL standards to teacher education policy and institutions for Teacher Education in Taiwan are explored. Some of the implications include emphasizing the exposure to the ACTFL standards in Taiwanese teacher education programs and the need for a certificate from a well-organized English proficiency exam. In addition, the insufficient qualified English teacher and teaching resources in some rural districts should be improved by national policy.

Hey Good Lookin’, Whatcha Got Cookin’? “Tout à côté cuisine” in the Intermediate French Classroom

THE ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning (or the “five Cs”) are the goals of today’s foreign language classrooms. A sad reality is the time constraints instructors face when trying to cover all aspects of language learning—reading, writing, speaking, listening, and cultural informa tion—while providing authentic language and documents for learners to examine. This article presents a unit in a fifth-semester intermediate French course at Purdue University, into which authentic video—two episodes of a French cooking show—was integrated. It should be noted that these activities can be adapted for most levels of French language learning. Recent research (Magnan; MLA; Byrnes; Melin) has highlighted that acquisition of proficiency in L2 should incorporate the ability to engage with L2 culture(s) through its texts (prose, poetry, and film): The goal is to give students the chance to position themselves in relation to distinct viewpoints and distinct cultures and to make connections between language and other symbolic ways of making meaning, connections between languages and other disciplines, and connections between language and culture. (Kern 367) Simply put, as we teach students communication skills in the L2, we also need to introduce subjects and concepts for them to communicate about, especially with speakers of the L2 who do not share their L1. Cooking shows, as an intact televised work, provide a context for language practice. Omaggio Hadley cites contextualization as a basic principle of communicative language teaching (CLT). Film and video, in this case televised culinary programs, model authentic language, intro duce culture, and give students something to communicate about, in a realistic context. Content-based instruction (CBI) and task-based lan guage teaching (TBLT) are also natural homes for cooking shows and

On Teaching Grammar

Abstract There are two major arguments for including grammar in the university Spanish curriculum: 1) that grammar identifies productive patterns that can serve as organizing principles for learning, and 2) that the structure of Spanish constitutes part of the knowledge that a humanities-based education is designed to impart. Recent research in the focus on form model has superseded the dichotomous debate on acquisition versus learning and provided a research-based justification for using grammar to focus student attention on productive patterns. Grammar should also play a role beyond the basic language sequence; because one of the defining characteristics of a language is its grammar, it is a natural component of cultural studies (a view supported by the ACTFL standards). Restricting the debate about teaching grammar to the realm of applied linguistics produces unrealistic expectations for the language classes and a lost opportunity for engagement with language data in the culture classes.

Spanish and Service-Learning: Pedagogy and Praxis

An increasing number of Spanish instructors are turning to service-learning to enhance student learning, especially in oral comprehension, conversation, and cultural understanding. Even in areas with a relatively small, but rapidly expanding, Latino population, it is possible and desirable to place students in direct contact with native Spanish speakers, through links between the university and various community agencies. Evidence is mounting that when service-learning is well-planned and monitored and pedagogically tied to specific academic goals, objectives, methods, and assessment, it can be a significant tool in reaching ACTFL's standards for foreign language learning. Using analysis of self-assessment of students at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, who worked in the local public health department, this article reports a discussion of the degree to which those standards, known as the five C's? communicating, cultures, connections, comparisons, communities?were met.

Beyond "Struwwelpeter": Using German Picture Books for Cultural Exploration

In recent years, the inclusion of authentic texts in foreign language teaching has become an accepted practice due to the emphasis on communicative and content-based language instruction and more recently, the implementation of the ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning. The goals of these approaches are to gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures, to develop insight into the nature of language, and to communicate with speakers of the target language. Authentic texts are ideal vehicles to fulfill these goals. They help students learn about the various aspects of the target culture through language which was intended for native speakers and thus provide excellent venues for not only studying real language use, but also for extrapolating beliefs and underlying values of the target culture. For these reasons, current textbooks for beginners include authentic materials such as cartoons, postcards, advertisements, graphs, letters, brochures, and scripts for films. For intermediate and more advanced language students, young adult literature has recently been added to the treasure trove of authentic texts. It has been used successfully in the German classroom as evidenced by frequent presentations at national conferences, the establishment of Anne Green's website for sharing teaching materials, and the many articles that have appeared in Die Unterrichtspraxis since the focus issue on Jugendliteratur in 1998. Young adult literature is appreciated as a rich resource because it offers students opportunities to increase their linguistic proficiency, aids cultural exploration, provides an introduction to literary analysis and appreciation, and increases students' reading enjoyment (Kast, Moeller, Moffit). The same claims can be made for authentic picture books, but up to now, few instructors have explored this genre for its usefulness in FL instruction, Struwwelpeter and Max und Moritz notwithstanding. For the last few years, I have experimented with German picture books as supplements to the topics in my intermediate college level textbooks. Since most second year German textbooks currently on the market in the US cover a wide array of cultural and historical issues (e.g., gender roles, world of work, environment, education, multicultural society, Nazi past), it was not difficult to find picture books that could be studied to add new perspectives and depth to these topics. I use them not so much for language acquisition or grammar practice as there are other texts (including textbook selections) that are better suited for those objectives; rather I find them to be ideal vehicles for cultural exploration. Picture books are authentic documents written for the intellectual and social education of the very young, and therefore provide unique opportunities for our students to study behaviors, beliefs, and values that the target culture holds dear. In this article, I want to share my experiences with reading German picture books in the intermediate language classes. First, I will briefly discuss the history of German children's books since 1945. Then, I will address advantages and possible problems related to using such books and provide practical suggestions for teaching them. In the end, using one specific book as example, I will demonstrate how these books may be taught. It is my hope that other educators will be encouraged to enlarge their methodological repertory and implement some of my suggestions in their classrooms.

Building Community and Posting Projects: Creating “Student Pages” in Web‐Based and Web‐Enhanced Courses

Abstract: The author presents pedagogical arguments for integrating web‐based student pages into intermediate‐ and upper‐level foreign language courses. She shows how web‐based student pages used for community‐building activities and the presentation of culture projects contribute to meeting the five C's — Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities — as they are outlined in the 1996 ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning. Based on the author's experience with web‐based student pages in an online German course, this article offers models that can be applied in both web‐based and web‐enhanced foreign language courses.