The National Standards for Foreign Language Learning
may be found at the ACTFL site. This is a good beginning for anyone
unfamiliar with the Standards movement in foreign language education.
National
Standards for Foreign Language Learning
(Executive Summary) |
Once you have learned about the Standards, then you need to begin to address them in your curriculum. But how? You will find several suggestions in the following articles: "Meeting the National Standards: Now What Do I Do?" or the abridged ERIC Digest version, both by Jean W. LeLoup and Robert Ponterio.
A wonderful Standards resource is available online from the Embassy
of Spain: Materiales.
Each issue contains many different activities, using authentic materials
and online resources. Beginning with the November
1998 issue, the National Standards are specifically identified for
each lesson. There are lessons geared to the following levels: elemental,
intermedio,
y avanzado.
Spanish Standards: AATSP
The Standards for Learning Spanish follow the
National Standards in their goal areas (5 Cs) and individual standards.
Sample Progress Indicators are given for Grades 4, 8, 12, and 16 to underscore
the desired continuity and sequencing of FL study. Finally, thirteen
learning exemplary scenarios are included in the volume.
The National
Council of State Supervisors of Foreign Languages home page has
links to many state departments of education and state foreign language
state association home pages. In addition, several states have links
to their particular foreign language standards pages. This site will
be a very useful resource as more states develop their curriculum frameworks
for the standards and post them on the web.
Following are brief summaries of work on foreign language standards being done at the state level. Please visit the individual state standards pages for a more complete description of the state standards for each particular state.
Illinois
Illinois Learning Standards: Foreign Languages
Three goals: (1) Communication, (2) Culture and Geography, and (3) Connections and Applications. These goal areas have descriptors at each of five stages of language proficiency. The five stages are designed to correspond to the students' expected level of progress as they study the language.
Stage One: Beginning
Stage Two: Beginning Intermediate
Stage Three: Intermediate
Stage Four: Advanced Intermediate
Stage Five: Advanced
The Stage One (Beginning) benchmarks need to be mastered first regardless of whether the study begins in elementary school, middle school or high school, with mastery of the other stages following in sequence. In short-term programs (e.g., current 2 - 4 year programs) students may not be able to achieve mastery of the more advanced stages.
Massachusetts
Foreign Language Curriculum Framework
Core Concept: Language learning is never just about words. Language is the medium in which human beings think and by which they express what they have thought. The study of language—any language— is therefore the study of everything that pertains to human nature, as humans understand it.
State framework has 5 strands and 8 standards.
Strands: Communication (3 Standards), Cultures (1 Standard), Connections (1 Standard), Comparisons, (2 Standards), and Communities (1 Standard).
New York
Languages Other Than English (LOTE) Curriculum Guide on the web
Modern Languages for Communication - New York State Syllabus
Includes Classical, Foreign, Native American, and American Sign Languages. State framework has 2 standards: Communication and Culture.
Ohio
Academic Content Standards - Foreign Language
Elaborate competency-based model w/strands by grade levels: aligned with National Standards goal areas of Communication, Culture, Comparisons, Connections, Communities.