Student Self-Assessment—Reading Proficiency

Abstract

This self-assessment of reading was designed for use in a variety of settings where the instructor wants to gauge students impressions of their reading skills. It was devised for use in two programs - one requiring a high level of proficiency and the other providing access to individuals with a range of proficiencies (from novice to native).  The assessment is intended as a guide to help instructors design appropriate assignments for a CLAC program where students are using English and another language.  It may also be used by instructors who ask students to draw on languages other than English to do research or investigations about course topies. This last example would be one way to internationalizing any course and could be used in situations that do not have formalized CLAC programs.  These self-assessment forms are modified veresion fo the "2012 ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines."

Description

This document is intended for students to assess their skills in reading of any target language. Students in classrooms outside of language departments don't often think, and too often aren't encouraged, to use their non-English languages skills to help them better undersstand course content. Faculty who incorporate this self-assessment and determine a specific use for it will be able to offer students meaningful opportunities to incroporate their foreign languages skills, and thus bringing international perspectives, into any course. By relying on students' skills, the class is not limited to only those languages in which the instrurctor has an intermediate to high level reading ability.

A student self-evaluation of readings skills helps instructors in content area courses understand the range of languages and abilities in his/her classroom. In this way, international and other multi-lingual students contribute unique perspecives to course content through their language-specific research and reading. The exercise also demonstrates the ways foreign language skills can be used in applied and real-life situations outside the language classroom, and the importance of language skills across a students academic and professional life.

Material Download(s)

Material Type(s)

• Activity

Author(s)

• Suronda Gonzalez
• Tanya Kinsella

Institution(s)

• Binghamton University
• University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

CLAC Model(s)

• Dual Degree
• Empowered/Independent study
• Immersion
• Infused
• Linked
• Modularized

Language(s)

• Any

Additional Information

This exercise can work for any language and there is no minimum level required.  The instructor must determine before administering the assessment appropriate ways for students to use their foreign language skills in the course (ex: drawing on foreign language resources in research, drawing on articles from sources written in the target language for in-class discussion and/or current event journals, etc.). This exercise can work with many subject areas and is particularly suited to those environments where students are seeking information on a particular topic. It is best to use this assessment early inthe semester so that there are several opportunities for students to use their non-English language skills. 

See also "Student Self-Assessment -- Speaking Proficiency" in the Clearinghouse.

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