ERIC Number: EJ1074605
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Sep
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0015-718X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Designing and Sustaining a Foreign Language Writing Proficiency Assessment Program at the Postsecondary Level
Bernhardt, Elizabeth; Molitoris, Joan; Romeo, Ken; Lin, Nina; Valderrama, Patricia
Foreign Language Annals, v48 n3 p329-349 Sep 2015
Writing in postsecondary foreign language contexts in North America has received far less attention in the curriculum than the development of oral proficiency. This article describes one institution's process of confronting the challenges not only of recognizing the contribution of writing to students' overall linguistic development, but also of implementing a program-wide process of assessing writing proficiency. The article reports writing proficiency ratings that were collected over a 5-year period for more than 4,000 learners in 10 languages, poses questions regarding the proficiency levels that postsecondary learners achieved across 2 years of foreign language instruction, and relates writing proficiency scores to Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview ratings for a subset of students. The article also articulates the crucial relationship between professional development and writing as well as the role of technology in collecting and assessing writing samples.
Descriptors: Writing Skills, Postsecondary Education, Second Language Instruction, Language Proficiency, Faculty Development, Technology Uses in Education, Scores, Longitudinal Studies, Writing Instruction, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: North America
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A